Talking about the first time..., Some questions regarding compatibilities and such Options

[Arkain]

Greetings!

First of all: Hey there, I am new. And happy to have joined the BWL rather than limiting myself to just reading

...

Ok, now what was my thread about? Ah, right.
I was just thinking about starting a new game, as I finished my M/C. Fun . This time I am going to try a F/M/C and as Improved Anvil v4+ requires a new game anyway I could try it as well. Difficult battles and stuff.
Now the problem I have is to decide which things to uninstall from my mod-list, mostly concerning battles, as follows:

Saerileth: Now, do I have to uninstallt it to have no problems or do I have to not have her in my group at all? Though it might be a doubtable question why I should keep a NPC mod if I can't use the NPC . I rather like her though...

Tactics: Is there anything I can keep? Like "The Ritual" or the F/I in the docks? Or may one of the contents cause problems?

Ascension: Now I *can* leave Demogorgon and the core component (the final battle, that is) untouched but have to uninstall the tougher bhaalspawn, correct?

Kiara and Zaya: First of all it includes some battles in the mod (at least one which needs to be fought and one encounter which can be installed seperately) and more important there is a component for a harder Suldanessalar, consisting of tougher monsters (like mariliths and such instead of... whatever lurked around before). There is a tougher Irenicus at the tree of life component as well. Problems?

Ease of Use: Nothing about compatibility but rather about the readme: "- Wear Magical Armor AND Magic Rings (Recommended)" I always considered this some sort of cheat, or at least cheesy. Care to tell me why it's recommended?

Planar Sphere mod: Well, it's some expanded mage stronghold. IA seems to add some content to this stronghold as well... may there be problems? I guess if so it would be the best way to do the "normal" PS stuff first and do the PS mod content afterwards, correct? Are the new quests (or whatever) avaiable before the regular routine (the disciples, the fanatics... is there anything else?) is finished?

I guess the rest won't cause anything vicious... uh.. I hope
Now... on to the next questions. Talking about partyplay... I have no clue whom I should take with me, so I hope there are some tipps regarding this topic. I thought about:

F/M/C
Keldorn
Valygar
Cernd
Jan (*sigh*)
In ToB: Irenicus

As I wished for some extra muscle I decided to take Keldorn as he's useful everytime . Even more so with the new holy avenger. Or so I hope. Valygar ist one guy I just have to try with TLR installed. Hoping for some interesting banters with Jon. Cernd because I want to take him once... and intend to use the auramaster kit. Jan because Imoen is annoying. As is Nalia. Not because they are so whiny or weak or anything ^^ ... I just love to use traps from time to time or to dispel illusions via a thief. Jan seems to be the only option apart from a multiyplayer character. The problem with this party is that I have no full time mage. Jan is a half time mage and I am a "triple cripple" mage. So until ToB there will be no real mage in the party. Same with cleric btw, but I guess the F/M/C can do it anyway with some help from Cernd. I hope (yep, hoping for many things)
Next problem: no romance =/. Though the Valygar romance might do the trick. Gonna try it anyway when he's in the party, right?
Yet another "next problem" ^^: Weapon profiencies. How the heck should I distribute those? Any tipps? My guess for Keldorn would be to go the two handed weapon way, thus quarterstaffs, halberds, two handed swords and spears. As there are many good swords and halberds etc. around the choice about what to use as the main weapon may be tough, Carsomyr get's boring after a while...
Valygar would be the stealthy guy with katanas to backstab. Well... and then? Long swords? Daggers? Gaaah... *sob* so many choices, so few profiency points.
The F/M/C would go for the blunt weapons of course. So flails and hammers, I guess. Any other ideas? Maybe quarterstaffs because of the SoM? Two weapon style, shield, or two handed weapons (read: quarterstaffs *sigh*)? Somewhat hard to make a choice. For every fighter character... especially when there are sooo many nice upgrades to be done
Oh, and what about the usual Carsomyr +6 upgrade made by Cespenar? The eye of tyr seems to be something reserved for the old Carsomyr.

This post has been edited by Arkain: May 8 2007, 04:00 PM

[rbeverjr]

Some brief comments:

If Sikret recommends a mod, then a new IA player should probably follow his recommendations. IA is tough. Mods that makes things easier simply means less reloading for new players (like me).

If a mod is not listed in the installation notes for IA as conflicting AND you know it doesn't alter a specific area that IA alters, then many times it will work fine. Sometimes, it will work any way as long as you follow the very important instruction of installing IA last. If you have a specific favorite mod, you could ask Sikret if he knows about any compatibility issues in regards to that mod.

The FMC cleric will be very tough towards the end of the game, presuming you have removed the XP caps and added the HLA expansions. On the other hand, I feel that the game becomes much easier (but still very challenging), once you have gained XP and GP/equipment. The take home message here is that a character that is tough in the early game is very desirable. Two of the most valuable characters on my team are the ranger 7-cleric and the sorcerer. I heartily recommend that you at least take these 2 characters in addition to whatever else you want to take. If you don't want to use Shadow Keeper, then the protagonist can be ranger 7-cleric, allowing the ranger extra quests. There are several sorcerer NPCs available, such as Tashia and Kelsey. I also advise you take someone with a very good THAC0.

This post has been edited by rbeverjr: May 8 2007, 04:35 PM