Positive feedback featuring a plea for tactical advice Options

[Ballad]

Thank you, Sikret!

I have finally gotten around to playing Improved Anvil, and wow, I'm stunned. The mod really makes the game feel fresh and fun... and so excruciatingly difficult. No, I'm not complaining, after all difficulty's what I've been looking for. I'm truly impressed with the improved AI and the new scripts: now it seems like the enemies actually know what they are doing. Most of the battles which used to be cakewalk are at least moderately challenging now. Generally speaking I'm very happy with Improved Anvil.

The first "between area"-battle (the one with Suna-Seni and Eldarin) was especially memorable. I only had four members in my party and hardly any equipment, yet I managed to beat them on the first try. Monster summoning is a really underestimated spell: with haste and defensive harmony even those puny dire wolves can wreak some serious havoc. The sewer encounter (Hatchetman) was a little more difficult but didn't take too many reloads either. I then started the Planar Prison quest but ended up postponing it because of the new elite bounty huntress who kept ripping my lowbie party to shreds regardless of what I tried. After some aimless estate plundering I concluded my day with the beastmaster and the slavers in the Slums.

Even though no battle is easy in IA, I find mages (especially higher level ones) extremely difficult to beat. Am I missing something or is Spell Immunity: Abjuration really unremovable? Every counter-protection spell out there (Breach, Spell Thrust, Pierce Magic, Dispel & Remove Magic etc.) seems to be of that spell school so there's practically no way to touch the mage until the immunity expires. The only way I've managed to beat them is to cast every possible protection on my party, then circle the spellchucker as long as his/her protections last. Now, I'm 99% certain that you are not intended to fight them that way, so... What am I doing wrong?

This post has been edited by Ballad: Apr 21 2007, 02:40 AM

[thetruth]

@Ballad

I am glad you are enjoying the mod
As for Mages of IA, Romulas explained very well how it works.

SI:Abjuration can be brought down only by Ruby Ray.
Spell Shield can be removed even by a single Magic Missile, but since enemy mages have usually other protections like Globe of Invulnerability, S.Turning or S.Trap they will be blocked.

So the best way is to use multiple Ruby Rays in order to remove their protections.

At low levels things are pretty difficult against enemy Mages and the melee approach (with a bit of micromanagement) seems to be the most effective.
Protection from elemental dmg (and PfMagic dmg later), can help a lot.
Death Ward (mainly on your party mage) and Chaotic Commands are also extremely useful.

Also since enemies use Remove Magic a lot, sending a character with SI:Abjuration against them first is a good tactic. That's why F/Ms are very useful in a party.

And summons are not totally useless since the enemy doesn't have infinite Death spells.