Spellpack and SCS AI Options

[DavidW]

I'm in the process of revising the AI in the original Sword Coast Stratagems, and I've probably got time to make some modest allowance for the possibility of Spellpack being installed. It would be helpful to know:

(i) some foolproof way of detecting if Spellpack is installed;
(ii) your advice on how clerics, druids and mages optimised for the old spellset ought to be rethinking their strategy and spell choices if Spellpack is installed (L1-5 spells only).

If this turns out to be viable, I'll extend it to SCSII in the fullness of time.

[DavidW]

Thanks. I'll give that lot some thought and see how much is conveniently implementable in SCS.

Regarding Call Lightning, I'm quite surprised those blocks work - have you tested them? (The game handles offscreen targetting pretty suboptimally).

Regarding Invisibility, I do use it to buff.

Does Summon Insects still work normally?

[Galactygon]

Regarding Call Lightning, I'm quite surprised those blocks work - have you tested them? (The game handles offscreen targetting pretty suboptimally).

Yes, they work. You cannot really do elaborate checks unless you summon an invisible .cre offscreen that sets your LastSeenBy() for you and starts shouting.

But in cases like this, a brute check does the intended job very well.

Does Summon Insects still work normally?

I forgot to cover this, so now I will.

If you are speaking of the 3rd level spell, I haven't touched Summon Insects. Of the insect spells, I have so far only changed Insect Plague.

It sets the same stat as vanilla's, so you will not have to worry about spellcasters attempting to pull of a spell in the middle of the swarm. Something I forgot to mention is that some of the enemies might start swinging at the insects, since they are pretty much invisible creatures with an overlay and some effects slapped on. There is nothing wrong with this, but more intelligent creatures (INT>7) should try and get out of the insects.

The insects have their CLASS set to 63. So Detect([0.0.0.63]) and Range([0.0.0.63],15) should work. If you could, exclude the classes 41 and 63 from all your spellcasting blocks (with the exceptions below), because everyonce inawhile, the insects are subject to a not optimally placed chaos.

I would allow for mages to cast Agannazar's Scorcher/Fireball/Dispel at the swarm if the battle is taking INDOORS. Outdoors, we can assume there is enough room to circumvent the swarm. Fireshield and such are always effective, but not flaming swords (as per the Spell Description).

One more thing I forgot to mention from last time is that you can place permanent Webs in dungeons or forests; they look really nice and allows the party to rest. Place WEB.cres at your leisure, roughly 2 foot circles apart.

-Galactygon