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

[Ballad]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I, too, think that SI: Abjuration is a little too overpowered in its current form. Also, every mage shouldn't have it. The mage that has caused me the most pain so far is the improved Slave Wizard in the slaver ship building. I think it's pretty safe to say that Irenicus is easier to beat in the unmodded game.

Speaking of the slave ship building, I think it's way overdone (fun nevertheless, just horribly frustrating at the same time). First, the assassins that keep appearing out of nowhere are a godawful pain in the backside. I've always hated infinitely respawning mobs and thought it was unrealistic. I mean, how many assassins can one ship hold? 100, 1000, 10000? And why don't they give any exp? They really aren't that easy to kill... Also, why does the door slam shut behind you? Is there a logical reason for it? Now, I could live with the door if you were allowed to rest inside the ship, but you are not. That's really a problem since the constantly popping assassins drain your spells and health really, really fast. The worst of all is the new Slaver Wizard which I already mentioned above. To a low lever party (yes, the quest is intended for relatively low level characters) he's next to impossible. SI:Abjuration prevents you from doing anything at all. Your best bet is to play hide and seek until his protections wear off. Of course, the rapidly spawning assassins make this tactic a lot harder than what you could think. Last but not least, why is the slave golem only vulnerable to piercing weapons? The halberd+1 doesn't help much if you don't have any proficiency points in it. When I first encountered the beast, I didn't really have any other piercing weapons on me (apart from Jan's crossbow bolts). Needless to say, I got my ass handed to me.

This post has been edited by Ballad: Apr 21 2007, 10:57 PM

[Sikret]

The mage that has caused me the most pain so far is the improved Slave Wizard in the slaver ship building. I think it's pretty safe to say that Irenicus is easier to beat in the unmodded game.

He is a 14th level mage and his collection of memorized spells doesn't go beyond the number of spells a 14th level mage can legally memorize. He just uses a good combat script and behaves intelligently. He doesn't do anything which your own 14th level mage cannot do. If he behaves better than Irenicus in the unmodded game, it's just because he utilizes his spells and abilities in a good way.

First, the assassins that keep appearing out of nowhere are a godawful pain in the backside. I've always hated infinitely respawning mobs and thought it was unrealistic. I mean, how many assassins can one ship hold? 100, 1000, 10000?

For every 7 rounds you waste time inside the ship, one assassin will come to attack you. Seven rounds in the game is equalt to 42 seconds (Real Time). Hence, if you waste time or stay inside the ship for 7 minutes (Real Time), you will see 10 assassins. In order to see 10,000 assassins, you should have stayed inside the ship (without killing Haegan and his party) for 7000 minutes (Real Time) and in order to see 1000 assassins you should have wasted time for 700 minutes (Real Time). 7000 minutes is equal to about 116 hours (Real Time) and 700 minutes is about more than 11 hours (Real Time).

Needless to add that wasting so much time during the battle is cheesy and the assassin spawning program was exactly an anti-cheese precaution. If you fight normally without killing time, you will not see more than 30 -50 assassins which is a reasonable number for being hidden inside a ship.

And why don't they give any exp?

Beccause players could use the cheesy way to stay idle for killing more assassins to gain extra XP. The additional XP for the increased difficulty is actually added to Captain Haegan and other people inside the ship (to compensate the additional diffculty the assassins will cause).

Also, why does the door slam shut behind you? Is there a logical reason for it?

It seems to me logical that a slaver gang could have set the proper mechanism to shut the door behind intruders. Use imagination and you will find justification for all such cases, IMO.

This post has been edited by Sikret: Apr 22 2007, 08:05 AM

[rbeverjr]

For every 7 rounds you waste time inside the ship, one assassin will come to attack you. Seven rounds in the game is equalt to 42 seconds (Real Time). Hence, if you waste time or stay inside the ship for 7 minutes (Real Time), you will see 10 assassins. In order to see 10,000 assassins, you should have stayed inside the ship (without killing Haegan and his party) for 7000 minutes (Real Time) and in order to see 1000 assassins you should have wasted time for 700 minutes (Real Time). 7000 minutes is equal to about 116 hours (Real Time) and 700 minutes is about more than 11 hours (Real Time).

Are you sure?! What is the base number of bad guys? I had a stack of assassins so deep, it took a shovel to sort through the treasure - most of which I left. Any way, it seemed they were appearing from hiding 1/4 seconds real time in my game (using 4.1 now). That quadruple damage hurts! Any way, I didn't wait around in any combat; I took them down as quickly as I could manage - not as quick as I would have liked vs the uber cleric, uber wizard, and fast chopping captain. Does this timer depend on computer speed? I'm operating on an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 at 3100 MHz if that matters.

This post has been edited by rbeverjr: Apr 23 2007, 07:55 PM