"Thief Controlled" one of the best scripts in the entire two games of BG1 & BG2... But flawed.

1130210

I love getting a lot out of the BG scripts in the games. By picking the right ones you remove a lot of the cut-and-paste effort out of the games when confronted with weaker groups of enemies. These occurrences are countless in both games.

In BG1 you get very strong from the expansion pack, and if you're a "completionist" (that's not a real word, hence, the quotes), you can really do a lot by setting all scripts for most of your characters to "Standard Attack" or "Fighter Aggressive", the latter being more of a supplement for someone like a ranger or paladin.

In BG2 the battles are tough, but one rests a lot. In fact, if you're playing on core settings, and you've beaten the games (BG1 included) about 5-6 times each, then you tend to always rest after a battle or before and not beef up your party. This has the odd effect of throwing multitudes of crappy enemies against you (Yuan-Ti, Orcs, crappy Kobolds in the sewers, drow raiding parties in the Underdark *yawn*).

In essence, I've played these games so much. Sometimes I'm in the mood for a weak battle, and actually I'll finish all the fights above with almost, not one hit on any of my characters in the party. Or else at least my characters were healed by a cleric or Jaheira during a battle. But, there are times where I *HATE* *HATE* *HATE* to click to control all my characters and click on one enemy. This also has the added effect of almost always getting at least one person in your party down to near-death health, rather than if the AI kicked in or you were using the right scripts.

With the scripts kicked in, your fighter type characters (Jaheira, Viconia, Kagain, Shar-teel, Dorn, Khalid ect..) will just attack the enemy nearest of them. Then, you just need to click (as the battle starts or when a character gets to their respective enemy) about whether if you want someone to use a spell.

By the way *PRO TIP*: Standard Attack is better for BG1 and Fighter Aggressive is better for BG2. Don't ask me why, but the fighters with Fighter Aggressive in BG2 act like crazy kamikaze jet fighter pilots. They will literally CHASE down a fleeing enemy or any enemy that changes his attack, and quite effectively actually. While the Standard Attack script is okay, its use is oddly unwelcome in BG2, and in BG1 Fighter Aggressive was NEVER as effective for me as it was in BG2.

So what about the other scripts? Well, they're okay. I stress --okay-- because, if you use a spell casting script for someone like Jaheira (Cleric Aggressive), she'll only tend to use spells she was programmed to use. Admittedly, Druid classes don't have a crap ton of spells. If anything, they need more. A LOT more. But because of this I really turn my head when I have 5-6 offensive spells memorized for her and she's just standing. The only spell she EVER uses is a magic cudgel and a cloak of fear. So then I find myself YELLING and YELLING at Jaheira like she can listen to me about all the spells she WASN'T programmed to use.

I must have used every script multiple times. I started playing these games since my Sophomore year of high school, needless to say that was about 7-8 years ago. So minus the "bard" scripts I've tried a lot of different combinations. Granted, I have at least tried the bard scripts, though I reckon they are only pertaining to bards. I never play with bard characters and rarely are they in party, so therefore I don't use them.

This now brings us to the point of this discussion. The script "Thief Controlled" is the best script, but why does it NOT work? I'm not talking about the spell casting scripts above, as I could really not care less about those ones. I already explained how I use Fighter Standard and Fighter Aggressive and they're pretty good for what they do when utilized.

To go into more detail, Thief Controlled says you're given control of two keys. The "D" key and the "V" key. The "D" key says (through dialogue that pops up in-game) when you press it that it changed whether the thief will ALWAYS attempt to hide in the shadows or ALWAYS detect traps, even when none are around. The "V" key is the same except it tells the AI whether you want it always attacking enemies or just standing around with its hand in its pockets.

This script is almost the most useful. Later in BG2, Imoen or any other thief will backstab for 5x the damage and do upward of 91 - 100+ hitpoints of damage. All you need to do is use the script and micromanage your thief to go behind an enemy. So, what's the problem? THE SCRIPT IS BROKEN.

Don't get me wrong the thieves hide in the shadows, the thieves detect traps, and the thieves stand around not attacking if you tell them not to. BUT, telling them to attack in a standard fashion by pressing "V" -- *This Thief is now ALWAYS attacking enemies*, which is what pops up -- DOESN'T WORK. It's so annoying because in these little, tiny battles where I HATE micromanagement, Imoen or Tiax or Montaron or freaking Yoshimo are just standing around most of the time not doing anything!

This play through especially I gave the script to Rasaad. Oh, did I mention Monks are some of the most INSANELY powerful, awesome classes in the game? Rasaad is still just standing around and doesn't know how to do a standard attack to save his life. He's in the shadows and that's fantastic, and he has those awesome spells, and he is a mega BEAST at killing anyone practically. But he's just standing there. This script is simple programming, as the thief just needs to walk up to the nearest enemy and attack.

If you think I'm complaining, I'm not. These ARE my favorite games. I even got annoyed playing Pillars of Eternity because the scripts weren't so specific as Baldur's Gate's were. In a nutshell, I don't hate the scripts. I hate one script. I hate the script which really is the most useful script in the game, but doesn't work because it's so annoyingly stupid it's not even funny. In closing, I don't want Imoen or Yoshimo to literally go *behind* an enemy, but I do want them to at least walk up to the enemy and attack. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, these 100+ hour games can get so frustrating.

semiticgoddess

I usually only use the BG2 scripts to get party fighters to attack crowds. I'll give the Standard Attack script to my front line, but not the spellcasters in my party, and turn it on when I want them to clean up trash spawns without me clicking on them.

Otherwise, I prefer to maintain very close control over every party member, making sure the front line is applying pressure in exactly the right places, and that the enemy is applying pressure only to my party's strong points. I will often give multiple orders to a single character within a single round, even if the character is an unkitted fighter with no spell to cast and no potion to drink.

I tend to use hotkeys to simplify micromanagement, rather than scripts. The number keys 1-6 can select each of the 6 party members individually, and the 7-0 keys (and the = sign if you're using vanilla) can select multiple party members. You can put your thief in slot 5, click 5 whenever you need it, and map a few hotkeys to essential thief functions. So, you map thieving skills, detect traps, and hide in shadows to E, F, and V, respectively and those three keys will let you use all of the thief skills with relative ease and minimal clicking.

Use enough hotkeys, and pretty much the only thing you ever have to click is at the center of the screen, where the action is happening.

1130210

@semiticgod that sounds like a great idea. I want to try that out. I'm almost done with Baldur's Gate 1, so when I reach BGII I'll put it to the test for my thief characters.