It's a problem with the new UI (v2.0+).
The overlay doesn't prevent you from dropping items into a slot, and subsequently picking up what was in that slot.
It only prevents you from picking up an item with an empty cursor.
The same overlay is used whenever a character is "not controllable" - death, maze, helpless, confusion, panic, morale failure, etc... the only difference is that a dead character is always "too far away".
Perhaps someone can help me. I am thinking about Deathblow and Greater Deathblow - I was wondering if there was a list of enemies that were susceptible to either - both for vanilla and for SCS.
@alice_ashpool: You can use the Extended Search function in Near Infinity to draw a complete list of critters level 10 and below and level 12 and below; you can customize the search to specify. There shouldn't be much difference with SCS installed, I don't think.
The short answer is that those HLAs let you take down mind flayers quickly. I don't believe there are any other meaningful enemies that would be dispatched more easily with (Greater) Deathblow than with (Greater) Whirlwind Attack.
However, Blackrazor and the Short Sword of Mask both give you methods of draining levels, so (Greater) Deathblow could be useful as a finisher for certain enemies if you knew their normal levels from Near Infinity (both weapons, like Gram, could drain vulnerable enemies even further anyway, but the Deathblow HLAs don't depend on luck).
Deathblows are also very good at tearing through groups of drow. My current run had a wish for party-wide Greater Deathblow while I was fighting House Jae'llat, and that meant instant kills on all but the named house members in there. Since I already had party-wide improved haste from another wish, it was all over very quickly.
Sadly, the one time I drew that option while fighting the forces of Ust Natha, the genie got interrupted and the buff failed.
Deathblow/Greater Deathblow are Slay effects, so undead and constructs are generally immune. Almost all of the monster immunity items that protect against poison also protect against Slay.
Magical sword summons can be taken down by deathblows, however - they're level 10, with no Slay immunity, and dealing zero damage is no problem for the effect.
I am running M'Khiim as a PC and am considering giving her a male goblin consort and thought that a true neutral berserker or barbarian would be suitable.
However I have no idea what restrictions there should be on his attributes. Would it be possible for any of them to be higher than 18? Which of them should be lower than 18?
Also what resistances should they have? Similar to a dwarf or gnome?
Suggestions very welcome.
EDIT
I have just been examining the stats of the goblins in the game and have discovered this:
Maximum Strength: 17
Maximum Dexterity: 17
Maximum Constitution: 17
Maximum Intelligence: 14
Maximum Wisdom: 17
Maximum Charisma: 15
So creating a goblin with those stats is certainly legal if I come up with a roll of 97.
Such a roll is extremely rare!
It looks to me as if high intelligence and charisma would be inappropriate, but I am wondering if 18 in Strength, Dexterity and Constitution would be OK. I don't know of any information in this regard other than that which I have discovered for myself using Keeper.
The roll in the game that I am currently playing was 92!
When I looked at their resistances. It gave me a clue as to which race they were created from.
I would suspect human because there are goblin shamans and wizards and that appears to be the case. Their resistances are not high like dwarves. So when I roll a goblin, I will just use a human roll and avoid high intelligence and charisma.
Ever since I switched my laptop to the new setup, where I lie down when using it, I haven't touched my Bounty Hunter run. While I'd like to get back to it, my hands are very clumsy in the new positions and my ability to use the computer in general is just slower and less accurate. I've been afraid to resume the run, lest my disability end up killing the run when I press Alt instead of the spacebar, or struggle to kite properly, or just get too tired or bored and end up resorting to a strategy that requires less micro but is also less safe.
I'm not sure when I'll get back to that run. I've pondered trying out lower-difficulty runs to suit the limitations I'm working under, but I don't know what will happen to the solo Bounty Hunter run.
You don't think of Baldur's Gate as a game that requires precise hand movements, but one of the things I'm learning these days is that a disability can have an impact even on the simplest tasks. It's not just that I can't do heavy lifting; the disability influences almost everything in my day to day life.
This is probably too broad a question to give a simple answer, but I want to finally install SCS to have a working installation with it before 2.6, in case of compatibility issues (I did a full SCS install a while ago but couldn't play yet, then lost files due to messed up registry for other reasons).
So, I want to try it for no-reload, and there's such an overwhelming number of tweaks and changes, but from reading I've got the impression that full SCS is too hard for no-reload, especially if tried for the first time. I know there's the changed difficulty slider which I plan to set to Tactician, and I also know that there are many many options that are totally up to personal taste and I'll have to figure out by trial and error if I like the settings.
Now what I'm asking is just this: Are there some features that I should absolutely, definitely under all circumstances skip if I try no-reload with SCS for the first time, or should I just do a full install with all tweaks and improvements, although I'll probably get my ass handed to me repeatedly, and just accept it as part of the learning curve?
With the new SCS versions, most of the difficulty is in the difficulty slider. The trickiest part of the mod propably used to be how much arcane spellcasters get to pre-buff - if you're playing on tactical, I think the amount is something a player new to the mod can handle, provided they have some idea of what to expect. With the general expectations of: "All spellcasters are tough opponents" and the knowledge of "How to remove each important protective spell", I would give it a try. Certainly, this changes the power and usefullness of many spells compared to the basic game.
A lot of the added difficulty is just about knowledge of the game and/or the mod. The randomized WKIII-Maze could be rough if you don't have enough non-magic-based immunities, improved spiders can surprise you if you don't know about giant spiders and their new single-target web; Of course, some knowledge of the IWD spells is required if they are added into the game. A look into the readme is, I think, essential for dealing with "Smarter Beholders" and "Smarter Mindflayers" - if you don't want to check out their abilities first, you might want to skip these. Improved vampires are tough, but I think the sheer amount of powerful anti-undead options does make it possible to deal with them with the right amount of care.
If you have never played SCS or followed any SCS runs, "Improved Deployment for Parties fo Assassins" might be a skip, though I think the component is quite fun and if you have some idea of what might happen, it isn't all that difficult to deal with. With the other tactical challenges, just keep in mind that "Improved" often really does mean "Improved by A LOT" - these are the battles you might want to do later in the game. If you have never checked out how the Sarevok battle works with SCS, you might want to look it up (in the readme or by reading a few descriptions) - if you want to avoid any spoilers, you might want to skip it.
Same is true for the tougher Opening Dungeon in BG2 - if you don't want to check the readme, it might be a skip, otherwise there could be a nasty surprise in store for you. Improved Random Encounters is, surprisingly, one of the toughest additions in my opinion. Travelling under Invisibility 10'radius in BG2 does make it very doable, though.
Improved Abazigal's Lair can be really tough. I think it's doable, but without spoilers, I wouldn't really try it out.
One of the least-used component is: Items are taken from the Party in Spellhold. This one depends heavily on the party you're using. The first time I played with this, it completely crippled my group, the second time around was a lot of fun - just think about whether you could handle Spellhold with only a few basic items or not.
One nasty surprise which ended one of my runs is a general change in SCS that I want to mention just in case: The City Gates Lich errects a forcefield in his tiny room which doesn't allow your party to leave unless he's dead.
So, the short version: I think that, on tactical, no option HAS to be skipped, but I would recommend reading the readme - otherwise, there are about a dozen potentially nasty surprises which could end a run simply based on limited knowledge of the mod. Of course, some people enjoy being surprised, so if that's what you like, you can certainly go for it, though some of these surprises are almost certainly lethal for first-timers (at least they were for me).
With the new SCS versions, most of the difficulty is in the difficulty slider. The trickiest part of the mod propably used to be how much arcane spellcasters get to pre-buff - if you're playing on tactical, I think the amount is something a player new to the mod can handle, provided they have some idea of what to expect. With the general expectations of: "All spellcasters are tough opponents" and the knowledge of "How to remove each important protective spell", I would give it a try. Certainly, this changes the power and usefullness of many spells compared to the basic game.
A lot of the added difficulty is just about knowledge of the game and/or the mod. The randomized WKIII-Maze could be rough if you don't have enough non-magic-based immunities, improved spiders can surprise you if you don't know about giant spiders and their new single-target web; Of course, some knowledge of the IWD spells is required if they are added into the game. A look into the readme is, I think, essential for dealing with "Smarter Beholders" and "Smarter Mindflayers" - if you don't want to check out their abilities first, you might want to skip these. Improved vampires are tough, but I think the sheer amount of powerful anti-undead options does make it possible to deal with them with the right amount of care.
If you have never played SCS or followed any SCS runs, "Improved Deployment for Parties fo Assassins" might be a skip, though I think the component is quite fun and if you have some idea of what might happen, it isn't all that difficult to deal with. With the other tactical challenges, just keep in mind that "Improved" often really does mean "Improved by A LOT" - these are the battles you might want to do later in the game. If you have never checked out how the Sarevok battle works with SCS, you might want to look it up (in the readme or by reading a few descriptions) - if you want to avoid any spoilers, you might want to skip it.
Same is true for the tougher Opening Dungeon in BG2 - if you don't want to check the readme, it might be a skip, otherwise there could be a nasty surprise in store for you. Improved Random Encounters is, surprisingly, one of the toughest additions in my opinion. Travelling under Invisibility 10'radius in BG2 does make it very doable, though.
Improved Abazigal's Lair can be really tough. I think it's doable, but without spoilers, I wouldn't really try it out.
One of the least-used component is: Items are taken from the Party in Spellhold. This one depends heavily on the party you're using. The first time I played with this, it completely crippled my group, the second time around was a lot of fun - just think about whether you could handle Spellhold with only a few basic items or not.
One nasty surprise which ended one of my runs is a general change in SCS that I want to mention just in case: The City Gates Lich errects a forcefield in his tiny room which doesn't allow your party to leave unless he's dead.
So, the short version: I think that, on tactical, no option HAS to be skipped, but I would recommend reading the readme - otherwise, there are about a dozen potentially nasty surprises which could end a run simply based on limited knowledge of the mod. Of course, some people enjoy being surprised, so if that's what you like, you can certainly go for it, though some of these surprises are almost certainly lethal for first-timers (at least they were for me).
Thanks, that's already very helpful. Most runs I've read are using many different mods so that I can't tell which is SCS and which isn't. Also, not all descriptions are that detailed.
So I guess I'll thoroughly go through the readme, skip the assassins thing and improved mindflayers/beholders (I hate them enough as they are), brush up my knowledge of counterspells and IWD spells, and possibly aim for Charname-death-only-reload first instead of no-reload, which seems more fun to me than knowing what to expect in every encounter in advance. If I start with no-reload right away, I might not see Athkatla before I have grandchildren.
My personal opinion is that BG with SCS is a very different game if you never played with this mod. And I usually don't try no-reloading games I play for the first time. It's just a recipe for failure - might be someone's choice, but I would prefer not to do it.
Imagine playing Pillar of Eternity for the first time on the PotD difficulty or Divinity: Original Sin 1&2 games for the first time on the Tactician difficulty with a no-reload approach.
A no-reload run, or even a minimal reload run are extreme challenges for those who know the games inside out. At your place, @Arvia , I would just try to play the game normally, not save-scumming and reloading for 100 times, but still normally. Only this way you will be able to understand how certain encounters work, how magic combat works, etc. And in this case, I would install all components to the maximum.
You don't think of Baldur's Gate as a game that requires precise hand movements, but one of the things I'm learning these days is that a disability can have an impact even on the simplest tasks. It's not just that I can't do heavy lifting; the disability influences almost everything in my day to day life.
My personal opinion is that BG with SCS is a very different game if you never played with this mod. And I usually don't try no-reloading games I play for the first time. It's just a recipe for failure - might be someone's choice, but I would prefer not to do it.
Imagine playing Pillar of Eternity for the first time on the PotD difficulty or Divinity: Original Sin 1&2 games for the first time on the Tactician difficulty with a no-reload approach.
A no-reload run, or even a minimal reload run are extreme challenges for those who know the games inside out. At your place, @Arvia , I would just try to play the game normally, not save-scumming and reloading for 100 times, but still normally. Only this way you will be able to understand how certain encounters work, how magic combat works, etc. And in this case, I would install all components to the maximum.
You're probably right. Perhaps I'll do the full install and just take a casual approach towards character death. No save-scumming of course, but maybe reloading if I barely survived a difficulty encounter or lost several NPCs, so that I can try out a different tactic.
Thanks for the input and the different perspectives, really appreciated!
You don't think of Baldur's Gate as a game that requires precise hand movements, but one of the things I'm learning these days is that a disability can have an impact even on the simplest tasks. It's not just that I can't do heavy lifting; the disability influences almost everything in my day to day life.
Don't worry, friend. My life is still otherwise incredibly awesome every day.
Today I went to help out a new friend clean up their apartment, got a chance to say some sweet and affirming things to three other folks in my community, and I got closer to another new friend that I'm going to try to introduce to my support group and all the sweet folks over there.
A hypothetical situation: a player is skilled enough to have an 80% chance, per attempt, of no-reloading an unmodded BG2: SOA and TOB.
What might his percentage chance be if he plays SCS with "AI enhancements" on "Tactical" difficulty but NO other changes (e.g. no "Tactical Challenges for BG2" etc)?
What about his chance playing SCS with "AI enhancements" on "Insane" WITH all Tactical Challenges for BG2 installed? Please assume full knowledge of SCS spoilers.
@Arvia
Have you decided on a protagonist (class, kit, race etc)? Also, you might consider installing "Smarter Beholders" because the antimagic ray they use is FAR less dangerous (and closer to the official rules) with this component installed (see the readme). However, the Shield of Balduran won't keep you as safe anymore...
A hypothetical situation: a player is skilled enough to have an 80% chance, per attempt, of no-reloading an unmodded BG2: SOA and TOB.
What might his percentage chance be if he plays SCS with "AI enhancements" on "Tactical" difficulty but NO other changes (e.g. no "Tactical Challenges for BG2" etc)?
What about his chance playing SCS with "AI enhancements" on "Insane" WITH all Tactical Challenges for BG2 installed? Please assume full knowledge of SCS spoilers.
@Arvia
Have you decided on a protagonist (class, kit, race etc)? Also, you might consider installing "Smarter Beholders" because the antimagic ray they use is FAR less dangerous (and closer to the official rules) with this component installed (see the readme). However, the Shield of Balduran won't keep you as safe anymore...
I'm undecided about which class and kit yet. I think I should stick to the classes I'm most familiar with and leave experimenting to unmodded runs. I have copied my folder, downloaded SCS, Ascension and the NPC mods that I want, and will start installing only when I'm sure which components to use, I'm still busy with the readme and the IWD spells and need to read more about the tricky little details of some spells jn general.
My most played class is paladin and my favorite kit there the Undead Hunter, but I think for my first SCS attempt I'll pick cavalier, because it's the safest bet for BG concerning immunities, and still not bad in SoA. Their only disadvantage is no missile weapons, but I usually play with a full party, so that shouldn't matter much. I'll just have to think carefully which party members to use or if I have to create a custom party, because I'll definitely want more than one mage. (for example, in unmodded run I go with the canon party with Dynaheir, but I'd definitely want someone with Greater Malison if things get more tricky)
Anyway, I'm in the middle of Mass Effect 3 to finish first, so I have time to consider my options.
As I said before to others, I'm very grateful for the suggestions.
@Arvia For no reloads Neera is out as a mage. In my current game a wild surge killed her AND my other mage. As the battle was against ankhegs it was no big deal, but imagine that in a battle against Khaark for example.
Xan is fine particularly if you have Xan's New Groove installed.
I suppose it is difficult to list a good number as an estimate regarding my hypothetical situation from earlier... Without having played SCS I'd say 70% and 5-10% respectively.
@Arvia
I thought I'd ask as I am very much thinking of a different protagonist for an SCS Insane AI enhancements run. Some of these protagonists might otherwise be considered OP. Originally I went with a Dwarf fighter. They are good at surviving due to good HP and good saves.
I remember looking at it some time ago. I think it was something like:
0% damage = Uninjured
up to 25% Barely Injured
up to 50% Injured
up to 75% Badly Injured
up to 100% Near Death
The cut offs are not consistent across the different types of markers though. I think exactly 25% will show as Injured if you use the mouse to check status, but the HP indicators above heads will only show that as Barely Injured.
Looking for some info on AC-tanking and hit chance for various enemies in ToB. Wondering if its worth stacking more on my monk since she has a pleasantly low -16AC base with current gear with some possibilities for taking it lower with different gear.
For instance -18AC with Yamato offhand and ring of earth control. -17 with another -2 vs evil with some rejigging without compromising MR%. Theoretical max that I can think of off the top of my head that a monk could get to would be -21AC with another -2 vs Evil, or -22AC base, with the addition of DMM blur (dispels though) and lavender loun stone (there are some serious penalties for doing this, (swap 10% HP for a flat +5, and lose 1 thac0 and 1 to every save, ouch). So my question is, is there anywhere where I can find out what hit chance for enemies are with various AC scores to see if there is any sort of trade off for marginal advantage.
I don't think there's anywhere systematic. It's not too hard to look up specific enemies, but there can be a lot of factors.
For example, here's a fire giant from Yaga-Shura's army (YSFIRE02) with SCS:
- Base THAC0 zero
- Strength 22 (+4 to hit)
- Weapon deals slashing damage and has +3 to hit.
- Giant has grandmastery (+3 to hit).
- Giant starts battle by using Enrage (+2 to hit for ten rounds).
- Giant has two-handed style (crit on 19).
- Giant gets fighter HLAs, varying by installation. Maybe that's a Whirlwind Attack and your AC will serve you well. Maybe it's a Critical Strike and AC won't help you at all.
And of course, every swing has a 10% chance of being a critical for (2d12+16)x2 slashing and 1d12 fire.
(From my non-spellcasting run. That giant was also enraged for another +2 to the base damage.)
Non-warriors can be tanked. Lower-level enemies can be tanked, and often aren't even carrying weapons that can hit you. Epic warriors, and their monster equivalents ... will find ways to hit you anyway.
Has anyone tried @OlvynChuru’s rework of the Icewind Dale Heart of Fury mode? It sounds very interesting... but also a bit on the tricky side for no-reloading given the amount of changes it makes to the base game. I also suspect its design goals may not be quite in accord with my own taste, which is more toward low-level simplification rather than high-level complexity.
Has anyone tried @OlvynChuru’s rework of the Icewind Dale Heart of Fury mode? It sounds very interesting... but also a bit on the tricky side for no-reloading given the amount of changes it makes to the base game. I also suspect its design goals may not be quite in accord with my own taste, which is more toward low-level simplification rather than high-level complexity.
the first goblin elite used critical strike and then i was killed by the three wolves. 10/10 will play again.
Has anyone tried @OlvynChuru’s rework of the Icewind Dale Heart of Fury mode? It sounds very interesting... but also a bit on the tricky side for no-reloading given the amount of changes it makes to the base game. I also suspect its design goals may not be quite in accord with my own taste, which is more toward low-level simplification rather than high-level complexity.
It's probably best not to try Improved Heart of Fury Mode as a no-reload. You'd have to really know what you were doing. I've never come close to no-reloading it myself.
Comments
The overlay doesn't prevent you from dropping items into a slot, and subsequently picking up what was in that slot.
It only prevents you from picking up an item with an empty cursor.
The same overlay is used whenever a character is "not controllable" - death, maze, helpless, confusion, panic, morale failure, etc... the only difference is that a dead character is always "too far away".
The short answer is that those HLAs let you take down mind flayers quickly. I don't believe there are any other meaningful enemies that would be dispatched more easily with (Greater) Deathblow than with (Greater) Whirlwind Attack.
However, Blackrazor and the Short Sword of Mask both give you methods of draining levels, so (Greater) Deathblow could be useful as a finisher for certain enemies if you knew their normal levels from Near Infinity (both weapons, like Gram, could drain vulnerable enemies even further anyway, but the Deathblow HLAs don't depend on luck).
Sadly, the one time I drew that option while fighting the forces of Ust Natha, the genie got interrupted and the buff failed.
Deathblow/Greater Deathblow are Slay effects, so undead and constructs are generally immune. Almost all of the monster immunity items that protect against poison also protect against Slay.
Magical sword summons can be taken down by deathblows, however - they're level 10, with no Slay immunity, and dealing zero damage is no problem for the effect.
So, in short - if you take deathblows into the Underdark sequence, you won't be disappointed.
yeah, I just found this out as I went through the Unseeing Eye - pretty wow.
However I have no idea what restrictions there should be on his attributes. Would it be possible for any of them to be higher than 18? Which of them should be lower than 18?
Also what resistances should they have? Similar to a dwarf or gnome?
Suggestions very welcome.
EDIT
I have just been examining the stats of the goblins in the game and have discovered this:
Maximum Strength: 17
Maximum Dexterity: 17
Maximum Constitution: 17
Maximum Intelligence: 14
Maximum Wisdom: 17
Maximum Charisma: 15
So creating a goblin with those stats is certainly legal if I come up with a roll of 97.
Such a roll is extremely rare!
It looks to me as if high intelligence and charisma would be inappropriate, but I am wondering if 18 in Strength, Dexterity and Constitution would be OK. I don't know of any information in this regard other than that which I have discovered for myself using Keeper.
The roll in the game that I am currently playing was 92!
When I looked at their resistances. It gave me a clue as to which race they were created from.
I would suspect human because there are goblin shamans and wizards and that appears to be the case. Their resistances are not high like dwarves. So when I roll a goblin, I will just use a human roll and avoid high intelligence and charisma.
Here is my goblin charname:
I'm not sure when I'll get back to that run. I've pondered trying out lower-difficulty runs to suit the limitations I'm working under, but I don't know what will happen to the solo Bounty Hunter run.
So, I want to try it for no-reload, and there's such an overwhelming number of tweaks and changes, but from reading I've got the impression that full SCS is too hard for no-reload, especially if tried for the first time. I know there's the changed difficulty slider which I plan to set to Tactician, and I also know that there are many many options that are totally up to personal taste and I'll have to figure out by trial and error if I like the settings.
Now what I'm asking is just this: Are there some features that I should absolutely, definitely under all circumstances skip if I try no-reload with SCS for the first time, or should I just do a full install with all tweaks and improvements, although I'll probably get my ass handed to me repeatedly, and just accept it as part of the learning curve?
A lot of the added difficulty is just about knowledge of the game and/or the mod. The randomized WKIII-Maze could be rough if you don't have enough non-magic-based immunities, improved spiders can surprise you if you don't know about giant spiders and their new single-target web; Of course, some knowledge of the IWD spells is required if they are added into the game. A look into the readme is, I think, essential for dealing with "Smarter Beholders" and "Smarter Mindflayers" - if you don't want to check out their abilities first, you might want to skip these. Improved vampires are tough, but I think the sheer amount of powerful anti-undead options does make it possible to deal with them with the right amount of care.
If you have never played SCS or followed any SCS runs, "Improved Deployment for Parties fo Assassins" might be a skip, though I think the component is quite fun and if you have some idea of what might happen, it isn't all that difficult to deal with. With the other tactical challenges, just keep in mind that "Improved" often really does mean "Improved by A LOT" - these are the battles you might want to do later in the game. If you have never checked out how the Sarevok battle works with SCS, you might want to look it up (in the readme or by reading a few descriptions) - if you want to avoid any spoilers, you might want to skip it.
Same is true for the tougher Opening Dungeon in BG2 - if you don't want to check the readme, it might be a skip, otherwise there could be a nasty surprise in store for you. Improved Random Encounters is, surprisingly, one of the toughest additions in my opinion. Travelling under Invisibility 10'radius in BG2 does make it very doable, though.
Improved Abazigal's Lair can be really tough. I think it's doable, but without spoilers, I wouldn't really try it out.
One of the least-used component is: Items are taken from the Party in Spellhold. This one depends heavily on the party you're using. The first time I played with this, it completely crippled my group, the second time around was a lot of fun - just think about whether you could handle Spellhold with only a few basic items or not.
One nasty surprise which ended one of my runs is a general change in SCS that I want to mention just in case: The City Gates Lich errects a forcefield in his tiny room which doesn't allow your party to leave unless he's dead.
So, the short version: I think that, on tactical, no option HAS to be skipped, but I would recommend reading the readme - otherwise, there are about a dozen potentially nasty surprises which could end a run simply based on limited knowledge of the mod. Of course, some people enjoy being surprised, so if that's what you like, you can certainly go for it, though some of these surprises are almost certainly lethal for first-timers (at least they were for me).
Thanks, that's already very helpful. Most runs I've read are using many different mods so that I can't tell which is SCS and which isn't. Also, not all descriptions are that detailed.
So I guess I'll thoroughly go through the readme, skip the assassins thing and improved mindflayers/beholders (I hate them enough as they are), brush up my knowledge of counterspells and IWD spells, and possibly aim for Charname-death-only-reload first instead of no-reload, which seems more fun to me than knowing what to expect in every encounter in advance. If I start with no-reload right away, I might not see Athkatla before I have grandchildren.
Imagine playing Pillar of Eternity for the first time on the PotD difficulty or Divinity: Original Sin 1&2 games for the first time on the Tactician difficulty with a no-reload approach.
A no-reload run, or even a minimal reload run are extreme challenges for those who know the games inside out. At your place, @Arvia , I would just try to play the game normally, not save-scumming and reloading for 100 times, but still normally. Only this way you will be able to understand how certain encounters work, how magic combat works, etc. And in this case, I would install all components to the maximum.
You're probably right. Perhaps I'll do the full install and just take a casual approach towards character death. No save-scumming of course, but maybe reloading if I barely survived a difficulty encounter or lost several NPCs, so that I can try out a different tactic.
Thanks for the input and the different perspectives, really appreciated!
Today I went to help out a new friend clean up their apartment, got a chance to say some sweet and affirming things to three other folks in my community, and I got closer to another new friend that I'm going to try to introduce to my support group and all the sweet folks over there.
No it doesn't.
What might his percentage chance be if he plays SCS with "AI enhancements" on "Tactical" difficulty but NO other changes (e.g. no "Tactical Challenges for BG2" etc)?
What about his chance playing SCS with "AI enhancements" on "Insane" WITH all Tactical Challenges for BG2 installed? Please assume full knowledge of SCS spoilers.
@Arvia
Have you decided on a protagonist (class, kit, race etc)? Also, you might consider installing "Smarter Beholders" because the antimagic ray they use is FAR less dangerous (and closer to the official rules) with this component installed (see the readme). However, the Shield of Balduran won't keep you as safe anymore...
I'm undecided about which class and kit yet. I think I should stick to the classes I'm most familiar with and leave experimenting to unmodded runs. I have copied my folder, downloaded SCS, Ascension and the NPC mods that I want, and will start installing only when I'm sure which components to use, I'm still busy with the readme and the IWD spells and need to read more about the tricky little details of some spells jn general.
My most played class is paladin and my favorite kit there the Undead Hunter, but I think for my first SCS attempt I'll pick cavalier, because it's the safest bet for BG concerning immunities, and still not bad in SoA. Their only disadvantage is no missile weapons, but I usually play with a full party, so that shouldn't matter much. I'll just have to think carefully which party members to use or if I have to create a custom party, because I'll definitely want more than one mage. (for example, in unmodded run I go with the canon party with Dynaheir, but I'd definitely want someone with Greater Malison if things get more tricky)
Anyway, I'm in the middle of Mass Effect 3 to finish first, so I have time to consider my options.
As I said before to others, I'm very grateful for the suggestions.
Xan is fine particularly if you have Xan's New Groove installed.
@Arvia
I thought I'd ask as I am very much thinking of a different protagonist for an SCS Insane AI enhancements run. Some of these protagonists might otherwise be considered OP. Originally I went with a Dwarf fighter. They are good at surviving due to good HP and good saves.
0% damage = Uninjured
up to 25% Barely Injured
up to 50% Injured
up to 75% Badly Injured
up to 100% Near Death
The cut offs are not consistent across the different types of markers though. I think exactly 25% will show as Injured if you use the mouse to check status, but the HP indicators above heads will only show that as Barely Injured.
For instance -18AC with Yamato offhand and ring of earth control. -17 with another -2 vs evil with some rejigging without compromising MR%. Theoretical max that I can think of off the top of my head that a monk could get to would be -21AC with another -2 vs Evil, or -22AC base, with the addition of DMM blur (dispels though) and lavender loun stone (there are some serious penalties for doing this, (swap 10% HP for a flat +5, and lose 1 thac0 and 1 to every save, ouch). So my question is, is there anywhere where I can find out what hit chance for enemies are with various AC scores to see if there is any sort of trade off for marginal advantage.
For example, here's a fire giant from Yaga-Shura's army (YSFIRE02) with SCS:
- Base THAC0 zero
- Strength 22 (+4 to hit)
- Weapon deals slashing damage and has +3 to hit.
- Giant has grandmastery (+3 to hit).
- Giant starts battle by using Enrage (+2 to hit for ten rounds).
- Giant has two-handed style (crit on 19).
- Giant gets fighter HLAs, varying by installation. Maybe that's a Whirlwind Attack and your AC will serve you well. Maybe it's a Critical Strike and AC won't help you at all.
And of course, every swing has a 10% chance of being a critical for (2d12+16)x2 slashing and 1d12 fire.
(From my non-spellcasting run. That giant was also enraged for another +2 to the base damage.)
Non-warriors can be tanked. Lower-level enemies can be tanked, and often aren't even carrying weapons that can hit you. Epic warriors, and their monster equivalents ... will find ways to hit you anyway.
the first goblin elite used critical strike and then i was killed by the three wolves. 10/10 will play again.
It's probably best not to try Improved Heart of Fury Mode as a no-reload. You'd have to really know what you were doing. I've never come close to no-reloading it myself.