There is one highly relevant point that I don't think anybody has yet mentioned:
This encounter is precisely what one should expect given the plot of Baldur's Gate.
Starting in Candlekeep, CHARNAME is informed via dialogue and rumours that trade across the Sword Coast has been brought to a standstill by extremely dangerous bandits preying upon the trade routes.
This being so, wouldn't it be strange if CHARNAME never encountered any extremely dangerous bandits while travelling the trade routes of the Sword Coast?
i have actually survived this fight on insane difficulty with charname, imoen, xzar and montaron without anyone dying before at being level 1 characters
but then other times as soon as i unpause the game i die instantly haha
Part of the issue here is that the encounter is "balanced" with rarity. It only appears if you're traveling on the main road, and only during a narrow window of the day. Those road travel segments have low encounter chances, with many not being able to trigger encounters at all, so you have a very high chance of completely avoiding the encounter by pure random chance. I've certainly never run into it in chapter 1.
For gameplay purposes, a higher chance of bandit encounters in smaller numbers would be better. That, or scaling the number of bandits to the size/level of the party like wilderness random encounters do.
I like the ten bandit ambush. I think it's exciting. And even at first level most of the party will survive it if you move straight to the edge of the map. As soon as you move you put yourself out of range of half of the bandits at which point your ten bandit ambush becomes a five bandit ambush. And if your party's order of march has put guys in armour at the front and back and the ones with a lousy armour class in the middle then there is a reasonable chance the more vulnerable ones won't even be targeted.
And I love it when the bandits try to pull the same trick later in the game. Because revenge is sweet.
It's worth noting that how lethal the encounter is depends a fair bit on your setup.
For example, it is deadlier in both original pre-enhanced BG1 due to slower movement speeds and in SCS due to smarter targeting by the AI.
Still, at level 1 it is fairly deadly unless you plan a fair bit around surviving it. It's actually easier to not get screwed solo, as then you can just use invisibility (hard to do so for the entire party at that point of the game).
I haven't tested this for a while but I think if you hide in the shadows just before you leave an area you will still be in the shadows when you arrive in the next area. You will then of course emerge from the shadows but it gives you a moment to act before enemies see you. I used to do it when soloing as a thief so I could roleplay moving stealthily through the countryside.
Comments
This encounter is precisely what one should expect given the plot of Baldur's Gate.
Starting in Candlekeep, CHARNAME is informed via dialogue and rumours that trade across the Sword Coast has been brought to a standstill by extremely dangerous bandits preying upon the trade routes.
This being so, wouldn't it be strange if CHARNAME never encountered any extremely dangerous bandits while travelling the trade routes of the Sword Coast?
but then other times as soon as i unpause the game i die instantly haha
you win some, you lose some, good times
This ambush is fine. You can get invis pots and then cast invis pretty quickly. Its certainly not an auto-kill ambush for a solo run.
If you are doing a solo no reload, and start as a mage, I think dying here is totally on you.
For gameplay purposes, a higher chance of bandit encounters in smaller numbers would be better. That, or scaling the number of bandits to the size/level of the party like wilderness random encounters do.
And I love it when the bandits try to pull the same trick later in the game. Because revenge is sweet.
For example, it is deadlier in both original pre-enhanced BG1 due to slower movement speeds and in SCS due to smarter targeting by the AI.
Still, at level 1 it is fairly deadly unless you plan a fair bit around surviving it. It's actually easier to not get screwed solo, as then you can just use invisibility (hard to do so for the entire party at that point of the game).