How did you handle the situation outside Bridgefort, and why?

Kogorn

I'm curious to see what peoples' thoughts are on either of the two options here. Would you consider one route evil, and the other good? Is one route better than other for strategic reasons?

Kogorn

I surrendered. If you spend some time talking to the people in the Bridgefort camp you quickly realize that they aren't exactly "evil." In fact, if you choose to surrender, the general quickly kills the mage who protests letting you go, and lets your party leave without incident.

On the other hand, letting Caelar's army take the fort could result in a strategic mishap, mainly, opening up your army to being flanked. I don't know if this actually happens later in the game, but RP-wise it is at least still a possible strategic blunder.

It was a hard call, but in the end I chose to surrender after destroying the supplies. Yes, they could technically flank me, but they would be poorly equipped while doing it. In addition, my character was good and I didn't want to waste the lives of my defenders and some good people in Caelar's army.

Moradin

I'm playing a good-aligned party at the moment. I chose to attack the invaders and it was a damn nice battle. In my next play-through I will probably push for surrender, just to see what happens.

elminster

Ahh man there are way more than 2 options. In broad terms there are at least 3. Technically if you go strictly by what journal entries are added (and how things play out) theres like at least 7 or 8. Beyond that you also have multiple ways of doing things that will get you the same outcomes.

(also I may miss some with this post. I covered the QA test cases for this section of the game so I'm pretty experienced with it)

(super spoilers upcoming)

You can

Attacking
- Directly attack the fort without getting help
- Attack the fort with help from the flaming fist and bridgefort (either starting from within the fort or starting from back at the flaming fist camp
- Get Bridgefort to attack the fort without securing flaming fist help
- Betray the fort and force the drawbridge down, only to then decide that you are going to use this moment to start the attack
- Say you are going to surrender, only to then decide that you are going to use this moment to attack.

Surrender

- Surrender the fort and reveal your identity in the process.
- Surrender the fort and not reveal your identity.


Betrayal

- Betray the fort by pickpocketing the key from Mari
- Attempt to betray the fort by trying to convince Mari to drop the bridge (but not be sufficiently strong or persuasive (you will need to have gotten the quest to do this I believe). This leads to you fighting the inhabitants of bridgefort and you will need to find a way to force the drawbridge down (by getting the key for it) in order to stop their hostility.
- Convincing Mari to lower the bridge (you need to have gotten the quest to convince her).

Purudaya

No quarter given.

My one complaint: if you choose to attack, you are only given the options of leading the charge with the Fists or leading the charge with the Defenders (the one you don't choose shows up after the battle begins). I would have liked an option that took advantage of my ability to infiltrate the camp - let CHARNAME start the fight from within, sabotage something, etc.

EDIT: Missed the post by @elminster

If you attack the Crusader camp from within, do the defenders/fists join the fight?

Kogorn

I too wished there was a way to sabotage the crusader camp. Their army vastly outguns that of the defenders, and it would have been nice to weaken them a little bit.

It's suggested, for example, that there's a way to free the caged trolls to cause chaos in the crusader camp, but for the life of me I couldn't find a way to do it.

moody_mage

@elminster. Did you encounter any instances of Khalid dying in this battle? With EEKeeper I got him to survive the scripted event there which will instakill any first level characters, however he was no-where to be seen afterwards.

As I've progressed it's not something I can check for and submit a bug report for.

elminster

Depending on what direction you take and the starting difficulty level the chances of him dying will probably vary greatly. But yea he can die.

Kogorn

@elminster

Is there any way to sabotage Caelar's camp before triggering the Bridgeport defense? The player has essentially free access to the camp beforehand. It's implied, at the very least, that there's a way to free the caged trolls to cause some mischief for example, but I could never figure out how to do it.

If not, it seems like this was a missed opportunity to make the Bridgeport scenario a little more interactive. I went ahead and put an entry in the feature request tab, just in case.

I otherwise really loved this scenario--the plight of desperate defenders was depicted very well.

redline

Is there justification for betraying the fort other than just "being a #$%&"? Given that you can't actually join Caelar at any point, I would find it hard to justify that path, even on an evil run. Unless you're just going for a watch-the-world-burn approach.

elminster

You can utilize the trolls at a later point in the story.

illathid

I surrendered. I figured it denied the enemy their goal (the supplies) while risking nothing for the coalition.

Inconnu

Crushed the crusade. Rallied Bridgefort, informed the Fist, and lead the charge with the defenders. A torrent of fireballs, chaos and horror spells, and insect plagues later, the crusade was smashed into oblivion by the combined coalition forces and The Barghest personally felled by Dorn. One of the most fun battles in the series, in my opinion.

Kogorn

So...does anybody know a way to win the battle WITHOUT gaining two reputation points? part of the reason I decided to surrender was because winning caused me to gain 2 points, making Viconia leave my party >_<

elminster

Purudaya said:

If you attack the Crusader camp from within, do the defenders/fists join the fight?

Attacking the camp from within isn't considered to be any different than force attacking it from outside the camp. The defenders of Bridefort will join the fight but from what I recall the flaming fist will take longer to arrive.

Kogorn

@elminster

Do you know if there's a way to win the battle without getting the 2 points of rep at the end? doing so causes Viconia to leave me

TStael

Mean: would have, or did.

If this the Khalid dying and vanishing bug thing, I had no choice but to attack with no troops at my back. Murderous campaigns with no provocation are not my thing, primarily, but hey-ho, it's ok.

If you mean the dueling thing, yes, I did agree to that one as well.

Even if "Swashbucker" class can hardly win that one at core rules. Dual-wielding low levels means poor THACO on both hands; being a non-fighter means poorer THACO anyway, and being a Swashbuckler means woeful backstab! This duel should be a bit class specific, IMO.

Alexisisinneed

I surrendered after I had that dude destroy the supplies in there. Why I did that was it was the least bloody choice to do. I always chose the least bloody option when possible because I wanted to be a positive influnce on Caelar.

Svar

I chose to surrender, but destroy the supplies. My Charname believes very adamantly in the sanctity of life, whether it be that of an ally, an enemy, or an innocent, so naturally I went for the most peaceful option. She's also very clever, so of course she's going to think of a way to still stop the crusaders from getting what they really came for.

Diogenes42

Greetings friends. I chose to fight the Crusaders, for the simple reason that I wanted to see if I could. It turned out to be surprisingly easy.

Rhelna

I wrecked them. I wrecked them soooo good.

sirchet

I crushed them and all who stand before the son of Bhaal!

wubble

I found it great fun to fight. I hasted the flaming fist and glitterdusted the enemies, it went rather quickly after that.

minsc4prez

Purudaya said:

No quarter given.

My one complaint: if you choose to attack, you are only given the options of leading the charge with the Fists or leading the charge with the Defenders (the one you don't choose shows up after the battle begins). I would have liked an option that took advantage of my ability to infiltrate the camp - let CHARNAME start the fight from within, sabotage something, etc.

EDIT: Missed the post by @elminster

If you attack the Crusader camp from within, do the defenders/fists join the fight?

My character was a pretty badass blade, so i just ended up assaulting the enemy head on with only my part for support.
I thought ahead and had Safana lay a few well placed traps in the camp so in a way i guess i did do some infiltration and sabotage haha.

Ardanis

Kogorn said:

So...does anybody know a way to win the battle WITHOUT gaining two reputation points? part of the reason I decided to surrender was because winning caused me to gain 2 points, making Viconia leave my party >_<</p>

Sabotage, then change your mind and start a fight. The reputation penalty/bonus will nullify each other. I don't quite remember if Bridgefortians will stay to support you in battle if you do that, however.

Mrpenfold666

due to a bug where khalid died i had no choice but to go on a murder spree (get it....murder spree, child of murder....get it? lol)

fatnlazy

I chose to fight. Khalid died. I gained 2 rep points. People in camp don't seem to like me now. How do I gain rep and lose friends?

Stoibs

Being that Khalid was part of my original BG1 party and playthrough, it made thematic sense for us to rejoin forces and push back the invaders out of the drawbridge while the fists caught them in a pincer attack. (Plus this meant that Khalid didn't die as an NPC during the assault)

Felt more epic and was a cooler sequence than the end-game 'main' siege in my opinion, which felt a bit flat all things considered.

Francois

I'm playing a neutral kensai. It would have been bad strategy to let them have the keep. To save lives I would have been willing to let the enemy surrender, but it's not an option (as far as I know).

Krotos

I surrendered the keep after having destroyed the supplies and doing every single boon for each side. I'm playing a chaotic good Wild Mage, who fights only if there's no other option left.

Also there's another betrayal option available: You can slaughter Bridgefort by delivering the wardstone to Kherm, allowing them to storm in through the portal.

Escarche

@Krotos

Actually giving wardstone to Kherm is not doing anything. Instead, he's sending you through portal on a mission of opening fort's gates. You can betray Bridgefort, when you'll do THAT. This option reminded me so much of Gothic 2