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how to choose party members to lead during walking?

Tomasz79Tomasz79 Member Posts: 2
in New Players (NO SPOILERS!)
Hi, I'm just playing BG1 for the first time, and it's hard yet pretty great, except for times it reminds me I'm not as strong as I thought..

Anyway, in the help for new players and tips topic is a line: "When walking into new areas/exploring, make sure to lead out with your fighte"

How to do it? Whenever I place my fighter upfront, and select whole party and start to move, he moves to the back and freaking archers and girls go first!

Thanks in adv.

Tom

Comments

  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    Tomasz79 said:

    Hi, I'm just playing BG1 for the first time, and it's hard yet pretty great, except for times it reminds me I'm not as strong as I thought..

    Anyway, in the help for new players and tips topic is a line: "When walking into new areas/exploring, make sure to lead out with your fighte"

    How to do it? Whenever I place my fighter upfront, and select whole party and start to move, he moves to the back and freaking archers and girls go first!

    Thanks in adv.

    Tom

    Try changing your formation at the bottom of the screen, the highlighted dot represents your PC.

    You can change the order of your party by shifting their portraits up and down. The portrait at the very top is also your party leader, whose charisma is used for NPC reactions and when you buy stuff at shops, although you can always manually select a different character to do the talking.
  • zur312zur312 Member Posts: 1,366
    fighter should be the leader of the party (top portrait) ->than other fighters ->other armored -> less armored ->thiefs/mages on the back
  • CaptRoryCaptRory Member Posts: 1,660
    My advice is go to a safe area and play around with party formations and the order of portraits until you're happy. Also keep in mind that different party members can move at different speeds. So if your archers and squishies move faster than your tanks they're still going to get there first.
  • Tomasz79Tomasz79 Member Posts: 2
    Thanks guys good advices :) Checking it out.....
  • ambrennanambrennan Member Posts: 173
    One caveat: Due to bad path finding, it's not uncommon for the formation to break up and mages to overtake the fighters even if they nominally walk at the same speed (until you get boots of speed for the tanks).
  • ZanathKariashiZanathKariashi Member Posts: 2,869
    using the staggered line formation helps with that.

    Also, whoever is in your top spot is used for charisma checks, so keep that in mind (though there's only like 7 or so in the whole saga, and the rewards are generally (GENERALLY) pretty minor, so you wouldn't lose anything important if you happen to miss them.
  • TJ_HookerTJ_Hooker Member Posts: 2,438
    ZanathKariashi said:

    Also, whoever is in your top spot is used for charisma checks[...]

    Are you sure? I know that the game uses the CHA of the party leader when determining store prices, but I think otherwise the checks are done on whoever initiated conversation.
  • ZanathKariashiZanathKariashi Member Posts: 2,869
    Reasonably sure...though my highest CHA is always top spot and I always use them for talking to quest givers...so...could be wrong.
  • TyranusTyranus Member Posts: 268
    Just make sure you're always scouting ahead of your main party with a Thief or invisible Mage. If you do that, you never have to worry about walking into a fight blind.
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,264
    edited August 2013
    TJ_Hooker said:

    ZanathKariashi said:

    Also, whoever is in your top spot is used for charisma checks[...]

    Are you sure? I know that the game uses the CHA of the party leader when determining store prices, but I think otherwise the checks are done on whoever initiated conversation.
    I ALWAYS lead with my highest charisma person. You never know when you will need to use that charisma. Also ZanathKariashi is correct.
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,264
    edited August 2013
    ZanathKariashi said:

    Also, whoever is in your top spot is used for charisma checks, so keep that in mind (though there's only like 7 or so in the whole saga, and the rewards are generally (GENERALLY) pretty minor, so you wouldn't lose anything important if you happen to miss them.

    Well, partially correct. I am sure there are FAR more than 7 charisma checks in the whole saga. Probably more like several hundred, maybe a thousand or so. I have no idea how many there actually are but I know they appear frequently throughout the whole series.

    Actually, come to think of it, there probably are just 7 or so charisma checks, BUT there are tons of reaction checks in the saga. Since your charisma (along with your reputation) contributes to your reaction score; the party leader's charisma affects many encounters.
    Post edited by Tresset on
  • KaltzorKaltzor Member Posts: 1,050
    zur312 said:

    fighter should be the leader of the party (top portrait) ->than other fighters ->other armored -> less armored ->thiefs/mages on the back

    I find it to work best when you have the more highly armored people in the front, fighters and such, in the middle mages and thieves... Then in the back cleric and such... That way the weaker classes are more protected by being surrounded by classes being able to take a hit...
  • UnferthUnferth Member Posts: 27
    "Girls" can be fighters.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited August 2013
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • ogrebogreb Member Posts: 98
    With formation settings you can put the highest Charisma ( if squishy) in the back or middle, while still being the one the game targets to initiate random dialogue.
    I put the tanks upfront
    Druids, clerics,archers etc second.
    Mages , thieves in back.

    I use thieves to scout and find traps. See the layout of the next encounter, inside and outdoors.
    In tight areas and due to pathfinding I will pause a lot and make sure everyone is where they need to be going.
    Nothing like seeing your mage half way across the map due to pathfinding problem. Tripping traps and triggering unfound enemies. Sheesh.
    You can lure enemies away piece meal if you want..just have your thief creep in and aggro them one by one. Boss fights excluded.

    Just use formation option..right click on them for more. If the top portrait is high charisma person...doesn't matter where he is in formation. Dialogue will initiate with that person.
    Keeps any squishy silver tongues alive longer.
  • ChildofBhaal599ChildofBhaal599 Member Posts: 1,781
    hey man girls are equal here. the ladies of baldur's gate can be one of those Olympic strength guys. they can be better and lift up to 1600 lbs with the help of equipment :)
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