Hello, can someone recommend installation component set and difficulty for me? i played SCS a lot - and while using it insane no double damage is fine, double damage is doable but with reloads. I'd like to have a good challenge but I'd rather avoid cheese. Gonna play whole saga. Probably reload only when charname dies, other outcomes are going to be swallowed bravely
This question comes up and I'm going to repost a message I made on my discord earlier this month:
I've made this comparison before, and I believe it still holds true. SCS, to my understanding, saw a lack in realistic AI scripting for enemies and went about creating better scripts. This had the wonderful byproduct of making the game more challenging. Tactics Remix is looking at it a little differently and my main focus is to have fun, challenging fights. This has a byproduct of me creating some really good scripts. SCS claims to "play fair", and for the most part it does, but it doesn't always. I would say Tactics Remix is in the same vein as this as I want my scripts to also play fair. However, there are times where the rule of fun outweighs the rule of fair, so I may break some rules so encounters are more fun to play.
As for fights and enemies themselves, I work within the heritage of the original Tactics. Many golems can use ranged attacks, dragons will have frequent uses of wing buffet, fire giants have a lot coming at you, etc. Additionally, I pull up the 5e monster manuals when I go about updating various enemies in the games. We are not playing 5e, but there is a lot of inspiration to be had in converting 5e monsters into 2e. Additionally, many monsters have had time to marinate over the decades and they may behave a little differently or have updated abilities.
I've coded enemy scripts to be aggressive, and have adjusted a bit off of player feedback on things that work, don't work, or can be improved upon. One big difference you'll notice off the bat is that your back line is not safe in Tactics Remix like it may be in SCS as my attack targeting is much more advanced. With EEex, it gets even better, and enemies will more frequently switch off a target to another more high priority target. My enemies will also shift their attacks if they see you have a caster who is casting in order to attempt to force a spell interruption (something SCS is unable to do).
Tactics Remix for IWDEE is coming along nicely, and I hope to have it wrapped up soon. I'll likely release a pre-alpha version for IWDEE along with a myriad of other tweaks and fixes that will carry over to the BG portion of the game. Namely, a couple lua files were not making their way over or be read by the game so there was some slight unoptimization that will be corrected.
I‘m allready using Tactics for my current IWD playthrough. It‘s hard at the beginning, because you‘re lacking the recources for improved shadows and yetis, and the Dragons eye dungeon is pretty hard as well, but it‘s doable on normal and core rules, and much more fun than SCS.
That's wonderful to hear! I haven't had a chance to test any of it yet and I'm just trying to play out how the fights go in my mind. Happy to hear it is translating into fun and engaging gameplay.
I think ill try insane no double damage, looking forward very much, hopefully it will refresh my fun
just one question - what are you Guys and maybe yours @morpheus562 as the creator views on uncoscious instead of dead component? I find it interesting and more in tune with modern D&D but what about the balance of difficulty of the game?
I use and am testing it in my EET playthrough; however, it is still a bit of a work in progress. Every once in awhile a character will be knocked unconscious and then immediately pop back up again and not able to die. It is not frequent, and I am trying to narrow down if it is a script timing issue or if some effects are not going through/being blocked.
For IWDEE, I forgot to check the component as compatible with the game. As such, I'm just going to play without it for my current TR IWDEE test run.
> views on uncoscious instead of dead component? I find it interesting and more in tune with modern D&D but what about the balance of difficulty of the game?
It would depend on the implementation of course, but let's assume it is an implementation that is without bugs. In that case I think having a range before death (e. g. unconscious) makes a lot of sense to me. Other RPGs have had that by the way; not sure when DnD switched to it (we, aka my old pen and paper group, played other RPGs before also including DnD).
I guess the biggest question is: what would you view as a default implementation for unconsciousness? Default DnD rules?
(This also relates to timers with regard to regeneration, such as when party members suddenly jump up - or enemies coming back, typically trolls with regeneration; I found many spirit trolls to be particularly annoying here. In the game there are some mods with regard to revenants, such as one of Argent77's mod - killing these revenants can be a bit tedious, depending on available weapons. At the end it will depend on how well balanced it is.)
When reduced to 0hp, a character will be knocked unconscious instead of outright killed. Once combat ends, characters knocked unconscious will regain consciousness at 2hp. When knocked unconscious, characters will have 1 minute for the fight to end or they will die. Additionally, when knocked unconscious characters will be subjected to one of the following for 8 hours (these will stack with each other if you get knocked unconscious multiple times): Constitution penalty, Dexterity penalty, Intelligence penalty, Wisdom penalty, Thac0 penalty, damage penalty, AC penalty, movement rate penalty, casting speed penalty, and increased chance for miscast magic. Unconscious characters cannot be mortally damaged by enemies.
Exaltation spells will make a character regain consciousness in the middle of combat; however, the character is at risk of perma-death if they are again reduced to 0hp within 2 minutes of initially being knocked unconscious.
Finally, certain things will outright kill a character instead of knocking them unconscious (e.g., Level Drain, Ability Score drain, disintegration, petrification, imprisonment, etc.).
Morpheus, any plans on when to release a proper IWD Version of Tactics? I must admit, that the Dragons Eye Dungeon is giving me hell with Tactics as is. The Yuan-Ti Elites and Lizardmen Shaman seem to be designed for more experienced and well equipped BG2 Parties I guess...
Do you have your weidu log and the report with the exact errors being thrown? The version you are seeing is a pre-release and much older than what I am working on, so it may be possible its already fixed. Dragon's Eye is absolutely brutal in the pre-release version you installed, and it is toned down heavily for the released version.
I don't update spook, so you are likely looking at vanilla spook behavior.
btw Morpheus,
since I'm actually playing IWD and going to try Heart of Fury mode, I was wondering if Tactics does anything with Baldurs Gate's LoB? Are there any plans on incorporating both modes into something "playable" paired together with TR?
I've been hands off HoF and LoB modes; however, I do check for them in all of my difficulty checks. For example, instead of checking Difficulty(HARDEST), I do DifficultyGT(HARD) to account for those modes and insane difficulty at the higher end difficulty checks. I do not make attempts to balance for either, and I imagine you are going to have a very interesting/difficult time.
Comments
Tactics Remix for IWDEE is coming along nicely, and I hope to have it wrapped up soon. I'll likely release a pre-alpha version for IWDEE along with a myriad of other tweaks and fixes that will carry over to the BG portion of the game. Namely, a couple lua files were not making their way over or be read by the game so there was some slight unoptimization that will be corrected.
I‘m looking forward to the next update.
just one question - what are you Guys and maybe yours @morpheus562 as the creator views on uncoscious instead of dead component? I find it interesting and more in tune with modern D&D but what about the balance of difficulty of the game?
For IWDEE, I forgot to check the component as compatible with the game. As such, I'm just going to play without it for my current TR IWDEE test run.
It would depend on the implementation of course, but let's assume it is an implementation that is without bugs. In that case I think having a range before death (e. g. unconscious) makes a lot of sense to me. Other RPGs have had that by the way; not sure when DnD switched to it (we, aka my old pen and paper group, played other RPGs before also including DnD).
I guess the biggest question is: what would you view as a default implementation for unconsciousness? Default DnD rules?
(This also relates to timers with regard to regeneration, such as when party members suddenly jump up - or enemies coming back, typically trolls with regeneration; I found many spirit trolls to be particularly annoying here. In the game there are some mods with regard to revenants, such as one of Argent77's mod - killing these revenants can be a bit tedious, depending on available weapons. At the end it will depend on how well balanced it is.)
Penalty part is very fair and i like it
I'd love to see it implemented without bugs - I'd definitely try it.
i kinda think about P&P sessions and bg3 honor mode - i think whole dying situation is better handled there
something is wrong here though:
NOT INSTALLED DUE TO ERRORS Smarter Mages -> Mocniejsi yeti IWD:EE (Morpheus562)
NOT INSTALLED DUE TO ERRORS Smarter Mages -> Mocniejsze cienie IWD:EE (Morpheus562)
SUCCESSFULLY INSTALLED Smarter Divine Casters -> Mocniejsi yeti IWD:EE (Morpheus562)
Press ENTER to exit.
mocniejsi yeti - "stronger yeti"
mocniejsze cienie -"stronger shadows"
for both mages and divine casters instead of menu for mages and divine casters respetively there were only options about shadows and yetis (1) and (2)
I don't update spook, so you are likely looking at vanilla spook behavior.
since I'm actually playing IWD and going to try Heart of Fury mode, I was wondering if Tactics does anything with Baldurs Gate's LoB? Are there any plans on incorporating both modes into something "playable" paired together with TR?