IA 5.0 experiences by saros, [Topic split by Baronius] Options

[saros]

Editor's foreword (by Sikret):

Since we have thoroughly tested most of the things saros reports in this thread and have found most of them totally false and misleading, we would like to emphasize that the content of this thread is not reliable and can even be misleading for new players. It's worth noting however that none of the things he has written (not even one single word) has been deleted. We could of course delete the entire topic, because we are not supposed to publish false and forged reports about Improved Anvil, but we decided to keep it as an evidence to show how the game should NOT be played for future reference.

saros is playing the game in an illegitimate way with lots of cheats. Many of the things he reports are totally false and can be misleading for other players. So, those who want to read reliable information about IA, should not waste their time reading this thread, because it can affect their mentality about the mod in an invalid and misleading way. As he has admitted in one of his own posts, he is just playing the mod in order to prove that he can win it with a solo character even if it means using cheap methods and cheats.

Even worse than his cheats are his lies. He has reported several nonexistent bugs; for example, each time he fails to win a battle, he retorts by saying that the battle was bugged and such things. Improved Anvil's testing team has thoroughly examined all of his alleged bug reports and has found all of them to be false and fake. Some of them can be interpreted as mistakes of an unskilled player who doesn't observe the events carefully, but some others are so obvious that they can only be interpreted as deliberate and intentional lies.

The best way to tell a lie and make it believable is to tell a big lie and then say "everyone is welcome to test it for himself". This is exactly what saros does. Of course, everyone is indeed welcome to test what he reports and see that he is lying (as we did), but saros is counting on psychological effect of his words and knows that most players won't actually test what he says. I don't really understand what motivates him and what is his purpose of writing so many lies. As I said, most of the lies he writes can't really be interpreted as simple mistakes; they are so obvious that can only be intentional. To see a concrete example of his lies click here. Examples of his lies and false reports are really numerous, but I don't have any extra time to waste on composing a complete list of them.

Of course, at first, we decided to help saros play the mod in a legitimate way in a friendly tone, but he kept refusing to listen.

Cheaters never prosper. True winners never cheat. Liars are even worse than cheaters.

As a newer and recent discovery, saros had actually more than one nickname(s) here at BWL and had cross-posted some of his lies with another nickname as well. When someone is not honest, he is not honest in many ways.

==============================================


Hi again.

I'd also like to share my experience so far with the fifth version of the IA mod and I will describe some methods which may prove helpful to all. This is my intention. Some of the methods are pure cheese by certain player's standard, but none of them is cheating. And I have an absolutely official installation of the required only components in the right order, with the exception of an added Happy tweak from the EoU mod. According to Sikret, it's no big deal.

My personal opinion is that everyone is welcome to play the mod as he/she wants. With this I mean with or without cheesy methods. I personally do not like cheating.

The experience I've collected so far concerns primarily the first hard steps in Athkatla, and some methods to create a higher level party.

In Chateau Irenicus, it is good for the PC to play solo through the dungeon. It would be immensely helpful if the PC is some sort of wizard or thief, because these classes offer an additional xp boost (from traps, locks and scrolls).
If the PC is not a thief, then he/she may consider joining Yoshimo, but only for the traps and locks in the dungeon, meaning that Yoshi should be avoided until everything else is cleared. Avoiding him is easily done via Invisibility, Hide In Shadows or Sanctuary.
After the PC has cleared the way to the exit, he then may start to collect NPCs: first Minsc, then(after temporarily disbanding Minsc) Jaheira, and finally Yoshimo. This way, the joining NPCs will be with a starting xp of 161 000. If an NPC is joined right away after the start of the game, his or her xp will be only 90 000.
This way, not only your PC will get more overall xp in chapter 1, but also the joined NPCs will have 71 000 free xp points gained.

SPOILER!

If you want to gain some extra xp, leave one Mephit portal active and kill spawning mephits. Sure, they offer only 420 xp points, but their spawning is endless if the portal is alive.
If your PC is a Cleric/Wizard of some kind, then combining Animate Dead and Invisibility cast on the Ice Mephit Portal will provide you with some free time to read a book or watch a movie while your PC gains xp. Skeletons are immune to cold damage, they stay 8 hours, and if they do not see the Invisible mephit portal, then they don't attack it, but instead attack only spawning Ice Mephits

After going out, and collecting the quest xp reward for chapter 1, it would be wise to kick everyone out of the party and temporarily play solo. The logic in this is, that most of the new NPCs will join a high level character also at higher levels(up to 1.2 million xp for a joining NPC).

I suggest completing the Circus tent for the xp and spell scrolls, and afterwards, sleeping over in order to wait for the first two night encounters. As we all know, these contain gems, gold and several spell scrolls, namely Find Familiar, Spell Thrust, Stoneskin, Minor Spell Turning, Disintegrate and Contingency. All of these are useful, most are qute rare and hard to come by.

The most dangerous part of the solo starting strategy are the first two random city encounters, and especially the first one, Suna Seni. I've had experience with her party with a low level solo F/M/T and F/M/C. It's easy for a F/M/C to win this battle with the proper domination/disabling spells. It's harder for a F/M/T since the two actually active classes in the battle are the fighter and mage, the thief does absolutely nothing. Here is my experience:

SPOILER!

Suna Seni and her goons have various immunities and protection spells running. The most effective strategy so far was casting a Greater Malinson, followed by a couple of Web spells. The big problem here is the lack of spell slots at lower levels. My F/M/T entered this fight equipped with two +3 long swords, Stoneskined, Improved Invisible, with two Rings of Protection equipped, with Spirit Armor, Shield, Blur, Pro Evil, Mirror Image, with Frost Giant strength potion consumed, with Draw Upon Holy Might and also Hasted. This can be done the following way:

Creating two +3 swords, memorizing Stoneskin, rest.
Casting Stoneskin, memorizing Spirit Armor and Greater Malinson, rest.
Casting Spirit Armor, consuming an Oil of Speed, a Potion of Frost Giant Strength(from Ribald), casting the rest of the buffs in proper order. An Improved Invisibility should be activated from a scroll on top of all of this.

When the battle started, my PC disrupted the cleric's True Sight spell by engaging him in melee. Afterwards, I began to circle around in order to avoid the melee fighters. My AC was -14 anyway due to buffs. Afterwards I activated Web. Web has a chance to catch everyone, including Suna Seni, but the cleric and the mage are immune to its effects. No matter. The cleric falls in a couple of rounds. The mage cannot survive long in melee, even with his Mirror Image and Stoneskin. But I found it more convenient to carry two additional scrolls of Web and one of Improved Invisibility, just in case anything goes wrong. And furthermore, it is good to focus on Suna Seni while she's webbed, since she dies in a couple of rounds, and afterwards to concentrate on the enemy wizard.

The PC can save without failure vs the web effects while his Improved Invisibility is still active.

When the cleric, mage and Suna Seni are dead, the rest of the fight is relatively easy.

My third level slots were filled with Fireball spells, which work great on malinsoned webbed enemies: they're like sitting ducks.

The second random city encounter is much easier thanx to the Breach spell obtained from the corpse of the first encounter's enemy wizard, and fewer enemy fighters.

There are a few unmodded quests in Athkatla. No need to rush to Trademeet.

The relatively free xp which may be collected(apart from spell scrolls for an arcane caster):

Copper Coronet: fight with Amalas
Outside Copper Coronet: fight with Corvale
Find out what happened to Montaron: catching the bird without completing the quest(yet). Xzar may be looted for his scrolls and gems. Spectral Harpists may be killed for extra xp.
The Graveyard quests plus all of the monsters in the crypts, except for the Spider Lair.
The kidnappers who buried Tirdir(bridge)
Mae'var's quest, without getting the quest xp reward from Renal.
The illithium ore quest.
(revised)
The skinner murders.

Note: It is not necessary to collect the Reputation rewards from such quests. Remember that by donating gold to a temple you can raise your reputation up to 16, and afterwards collect reputation reward from both this and the Circus Tent quest.

SPOILER!

There are other ways to gain a lot of xp and gold, and spell scrolls, and green protection scrolls, and potions, ammo or even some enchanted items:

Looting amnish guards who interrupt the party's rest on the streets of Athkatla: a decent hasted thief can do it. These guards carry sometimes valuable spell scrolls.

Dropping your reputation to 3 or lower(despised) and starting to kill Amnish patrols which appear. Those come with a standard equipment and some random item slots. The standard equipment includes five full plate mails per patrol, which are worth from six to nine thousand gp when sold on the market.
The random item slots may contain one of the following:

1. A random magical item. Those are occasionally of +1 enchantment, but there are exceptions, like Short Bow +2 or even a Spear +3.
2. A potion. The potions may be: of Healing, Oil of Resurgence, Potion of Vitality, Potion of Strength, Potion of Invisibility, Potion of Fortitude, Potion of Agility, Elixir of Health.
3. A random jewel or a small sum of gold. The most valuable gem that may be obtained this way is the Black Opal, while the most valuable necklace is the laeral's tear.
4. A spell scroll. Here is the (almost) full list:

Magic Missile
Shield
Burning Hands
Protection from Evil
Shocking Grasp
Color Spray
Minor Spell Turning
Monster Summoning III
(these low level scrolls can be dropped far more seldom than the higher level scrolls)

Summon Nishruu
Carrion Summons
Prot from Magic Energy
Globe of Invulnerability
True Sight(very seldom)
Mislead(very seldom)
Death Spell
Tenser's Transformation
Spell Sequencer
Spell Turning
Sphere of Chaos
Summon Harkeashar/Djinni/Efreeti
Mordenkainen's sword
Protection from Elements
Ruby Ray of Reversal
Khelben's Warding Whip
Control Undead
Cacofiend
Spell Trigger
Protection from Energy
Pierce Shield
ADHW
Incendiary Cloud
Tenser's partial
Summon Fiend
Spell Trap

Green scrolls:
Cursed scroll of Petrification
Prot from Cold
Prot from Fire
Prot from Poison
Prot from Level Drain

Killing Amnish guards may continue as much as one wants. This way may be collected free xp, gold and scrolls.

There is a price, however. After the first few won battles with such patrols, a bug appears, and arcane spellcasting on the streets does not trigger the appearance of Cowled wizard patrols. I've tested it. So no fight is possible with the Cowled wizards after this exploit is deployed. And since they carry some valuable scrolls like Improved haste, this is a waste somehow.

[saros]

Hi saros,

Ehm… saros, I really hope you are kidding here.

A “normal” F/M/T can solo Ascension’s ToB in no-reloads mode until the very final battle with the right tactics.
I can’t even immagine what a F/M/T without the EXP cap, EoU components and the powerful weapons/items of IA could do…

Actually you can kill Ascension’s Yagashura in less than 4 rounds here, since his resistance drops over time

Yes, in fact, many classes can solo Ascension on a no reload. I've managed even to successfully solo a Wizard Slayer on Insane Ascension with relatively few reloads. Thanx to great equipment, of course, which has been nerfed/removed in IA. Both mods are great, I admit as much. Ascension cannot compare to IA, concerning the WK and SoA encounters: in IA these are a lot more harder, challenging and interesting. Well, maybe except Tougher Demogorgon in Ascension.

I simply mentioned that Ascension Illasera and her goons are a lot more powerful than IA Illasera. Also, in Ascension Gromnir's group were some very tough characters, which are not present in IA.

You're probably right about Ascension Yaga shura, but still, the IA one seems a lot more fragile, even in the first rounds of combat.

And now, the latest encounter, Abazigal. Now, I have to say, that IA Abazigal looks a bit tougher than the Ascension one, or at least their armies are of equal strength.

IA Azi seems tough, at least until one knows what to do. Here's how my F/M/T devised an always working strategy:

Buffs were normal. Spell Turning was summoned from the Book. Spell Trap from SoTM. Prot from Elec was cast. Illusion buffs also. Impr Invis and Impr Haste from a Cloak. SI: A was also present. PC drank 8 Wish created potions of Cold Res and 4 Wish created Potions of Absorbtion in order to add 40 bonus crushing AC modifier(vs Golems inside), and to foil any Cold or Elec lowering resistance tactic of enemies. A potion of Fire G str was also consumed.
Azi gave speech, contingencies trigger(SI:D). Mine too: ProME, ProMW, GoI, Spell Defl. PC cast Sequencer(pro Fire, pro Cold, Remove Magic), then attacked Azi. His True Sight casting was interrupted. Azi cast ProMW. PC cast Pierce Shield, removing Azi's spell shield, and killed 2 Salamanders. Azi cast Hardiness. PC cast Pierce shield, removing Azi's GoI and killed the last Salamander around. Azi cast Stoneskin. PC released a Wand of Spell Striking Breach charge, removing Azi's ProMW, Stoneskin and Hardiness.
Using a ProMW, 2 more Breach charges in the right time and melee, PC forced Azi to transform, with minimal spell losses. A CC was shot by Azi with 3 FoD spells, which filled some of the PC's lost spells(1 ProMW, 1 SI: A and Proelectricity: should've replaced that spell after casting with either Breach or SI).

Azi transformed. An Ice and Ultra golem appeared to assist him, and also, a Frost Salamander Prince. Azi started buffeting, shockwaving, Ruby raying, etc. PC's tactic:
ProMW active at all times.
Impr Alacrity( five memorized):
Defensive buffs activated. Spellstrike on Azi(cast time 1, sixth 9 lvl spell). Remove Magic on Azi(Azi stoneskined almost immediately and kept raying). Spell Turning, Spell Deflection, Spell Trap, Spell Shield, another Turning(spell protections get dispelled all of the time). In between spell protections were cast ProMW, Stoneskin, Evasion, Gr evasion, Avoid Death, Hardiness, SI: A, GWW and Critical. IA ended, but not GWW and Criticals, so PC killed the Salamander prince with their help.

Note: right when PC saw the Ice golem, he pulled out the sword of Arvoreen from the pack and equipped in in the off hand. Not only the Ice golem shoots Freezing Wind, but apparently Azi also has some sort of Slow effect with no save against it. The sword was the only weapon that could aid me and I could still recast my ImprHaste. Using Free Action scroll(or Golden Cat figurine) would deprive me of the option to refresh my Impr Haste.

With Volcano main and Sword of Arvoreen off, keeping all protective buffs active(Azi lost the Raying battle), PC slew the Ice golem. Very slowly. No luck with the special fire damage from the axe.
Then PC cast Teleport field.

Note: PC was cornered. No chance to reach Azi. PC had to make some room. Killing all enemies was almost impossible. Telefield was the easiest way to scatter around the Amber golems so that PC could reach Azi for melee.

Azi had very few protections. He kept buffeting PC , but PC kept approaching him for melee. Finally, the rest of the enemies surrounded PC while he was near Azi.
With an Improved Alacrity, PC got rid of Azi's defences. With the Answerer main and the Sword of Arvoreen off, PC quickly slew Azi.

The newest adventures of Saros:

Sendai's enclave.

Nothing much worth mentioning inside. The Slavemaster was improved, with lots of resistances and Hardinesses, and additional tough summons - warrior spirits. No big deal, though.
The Drow were improved too, but not much.
Odamaron has some allies now(Skeleton Grandlords, Greater Bone Golems), but is otherwise a pathetic lich.
Dyatha is unmodded. So is Ogremoch.
The drow captain with the Bowstring of Gong is improved: he's now a good F/M. Nothing scary though.
The mind flayers & ulitharids are maybe one of the most pathetic monsters in this mod.

Sendai herself:
The statues and drow support are unmodded. Meaning: very easy to get rid of. And it's good to kill all of the drow fighters and mages before killing the last of the statues.
Sendai without the statues: summons a Gem, a Coin golem, and her Pet.
The Pet has good resistances, nice melee abilities(didn't notice what they were exactly since my PC was under permanent ProMW), and a powerful Roar which deafens everyone in its area of effect(no save). I tried a scroll of Neutralize poison(says that it cures Deafness), but either it didn't work, or the beast deafened me immediately(it was still alive). The Pet and the Golems were killed with Critical hits.
Fortunately, mainly relying on Breach charges from a wand and the Answerer main-handed, PC succeeded to both interrupt Sendai's spells and dispel her protections. Sendai apparently has very low AC, but after several hits with the Answerer, she's an easy prey. PC had his ProMW casting failed a couple of times due to Deafening, but this wasn't essential for the fight.

Note: maybe Remove Curse or Neutralize poison(scroll) after killing the Pet would've solved my problem with deafness.

Balthazar, the Chosens of Cyric and the Ravager were unmodded.

Now, however, PC has met with his greatest challenge so far, the Rakshasa prince and his army(I don't know if this is what they call the Epic Divine Challenge).

Notes on this fight with a solo(so far).
The Rakshasa prince has very good resistances(at least 100% to elements, poison, acid, magical damage), absolute(I think) immunity to magic, including Dispel and Remove magic, attacks with melee attacks that dispels spell elemental buffs(much like other Rakshasas), regenerates at high speed, and apparently uses Absolute Immunity.
Also, in the start of the fight, he summons 2 Ultra golems and a Supreme golem.
In the subsequent rounds(over a certain period of course) the Rakshasa prince gates 2 Noble Rakshasas.
One Noble rakshasa, on the other hand, has the ability to summon periodically 2*Horrid Rakshasas.
Also, the Rakshasa Prince uses a special ability called "Universal Purge Magic", which obviously dispells all character buffs, no matter where are the characters on the battlefield. I think he uses it once every 10 (?) rounds(or maybe 15, or even 20, not sure completely).
The rakshasas, of course, all have Abi-dalzim's horrid wilting, the Noble ones have also Dragon Breath, and they all have Remove magic spells. Thanx God, no one has released Breach yet(so I guess no one has it).
The Rakshasa prince is surrounded by a Repulse field, which apparently serves as a powerful Fireshield, dealing (I think) magical damage to any who deals any damage to the Prince, and has also other features, which my PC has so far saved against every time.
Also the Prince shoots Sequencers when PC is vulnerable, those sequencers contain Greater Malinson + Emotion spells.
The Prince also tends to use CC with 3 ADHW when PC is vulnerable(after a Purge Magic).

The Supreme golem has no Purge Magic, but has good melee abilities, summons Elemental Golems over time, and also has his own Fireshield, which punishes each successful hit with powerful elemental damage from(apparently) at least 4 types(my guesses are Fire, Elec, Acid and Cold). Plus, he has great physical resistances too(even the most powerful hits deal 2 or maximum 3 damage per strike to him). He doesn't regenerate.

The Ultra golems summon Amber golems, and have good melee abilities, otherwise they're weak.

Keeping PC alive is not a big problem. I have collected 71 scrolls of Protection from Magical Weapons so far, have 8 more memorized, and I usually shoot(after a Purge magic) a Trigger with ProMagicEnergy, ProMagicWeapons and Prot from Fire(thus negating AoE rakshasa spells and all melee attacks). The big problem is how on earth to hurt the Rakshasa Prince so that he starts using his Absolute Immunities.

Problem partially solved. The only option so far:
Potion of Fire Giant Str consumed(PC have 35 of those total, and also 13 potions of Cloud and 13 of Storm Giant str
Spell Immunity Abjuration active: while my PC's spell buffs cannot be dispelled by enemy Remove Magic due to PC's high level, the potiion buffs will be immediately dispelled, and I need my str at 25 at all times.

Staff of the Ram main armament(deals 8 or 9 points of Crushing damage per strike to the Prince, plus 1 point of Piercing damage, so total 9 or 10 per strike).

Combo: Improved Alacrity + GWW + Critical(Rakshasa prince wears a helmet, but he has very low AC, so Critical is essential to ensure that every strike hits)+10 strikes. Critical + GWW+ 8 strikes. Critical + GWW + ProMW + 10 strikes.
Usually, 1 such combo is enough to bring the Prince to Injured, and he activates his Absolute Immunity. Under its protection, the Prince regenerates fully, and PC has to resort to the same tactic again, and I don't really know how many AI does the Prince have. Even if I have 7 memorized Improved Alacrities, and use some scrolls: Spell Trap(also from SoTM) + Power Word Kill in order to refresh my Improved Alacrities without resorting to unreliable Wishing, still, refreshing of vital HLA is impossible, and I would probably need a lot more than 20 Criticals and 20 GWW+WW attacks in order to slay the Prince. So the final tactic(somewhat resorting to chance) would be:
Having 5 Wish and 2 Improved Alacrities memorized.
Keeping ProMW active at all times(8 memorized).
Hitting the Prince with the described above combo.
Watching out for Universal Purge magic: my aura must be clean so that immediately shooting of lifesaving Spell Trigger is possible.
Reloading the Spell Trigger afterwards.
Activating Spell Trap.
Wishing for Rest.
If none of the 5 Wishes grant me the needed Rest, I will try to recharge the Wishes with the help of PW: Kill scrolls(14 total assembled).
If none of this works, PW: Reload is the only option I can think of.

For now, the greatest problem is balancing my spellcasting and surviving after a Purge Magic.
After getting rid of the Purge Magic and the Prince, I think I can easily handle the rest of the enemies.

BTW: If anyone knows: Does killing the Supreme golem and the Ultra Golems weaken the Rakshasa Prince or no? Because I can kill them without much problems(just watching out for Purge magic is enough).

A very important discovery!

I don't know if anyone has reported this yet, but here's how my last attempt to kill the Rakshasas and Golems turned out:

The odds are indeed overwhelming. However, the Rakshasa prince himself had provided me with the solution!

Apparently, his Repulse Field spell counts as a 9 lvl Fireshield spell. Meaning, that a character who is protected by Spell Trap, can(with 4 strikes) recharge four 9th level spells or lower. Afterwards, since the Spell Trap is consumed, it must be recast. But this is totally irrelevant since this strategy provides me with(an already cast) Spell Trap, and other three spells. This is, in fact, an ultimate spell recharging reserve. This means endless Wishes too, which on the other hand means assured Resting when HLAs are all used up. This of course means: no need to save HLAs for later, or ProMW(and also no need to use scrolls), and also means almost permanent Improved Alacrity(boy I already feel like a Dragon).

I previously thought that my character refreshed his spells with PW: Kill scrolls. After testing, I found out that PW:K scrolls, if cast by the protagonist on the protagonist(with spell trap on of course) will not recharge any 9th level spells at all!

So now the big question is: do I keep the Rakshasa prince and his unlimited spell recharging combo, or do I kill him. More testing will be done, and the results will be written down here.

Another thing: Apparently the Supreme Golem's 'Elemental Backlash' is also a 9th level Fireshield, which can also be used for spell recharging.

Universal Purge Magic will take effect immediately even under Time Stop, and will dispel all spell/potion/scroll buffs on all characters and ally summons, except for Improved Alacrity, and the 'undispellable' buffs like Potions of Barbarian Essence or Scroll of Protection from Level Drain.

The Rakshasa prince takes a normal amount of damage from an ImprHasted character with 25 str, Black Blade of Disaster main handed, and the Answerer off-hand, after a couple of Critical stikes(afterwards, the Answerer keeps his AC high enough for my PC to hit every time, and BBoD has the best weapon damage output in the entire game).

I would like to install some screenshots, so I want some help to show me how it can be done here.

Anyway, I've just successfully completed the Epic Divine Challenge for the first time.

Note: This tactic still works with reloading. I haven't perfected it yet.

The initiating of the fight is a very crucial moment. With quickly pacing, the PC can determine the spawning point of the Rakshasa prince, and his golems. This is absolutely essential for this tactic in a no reload game. You see, the battle is more like counting of rounds and spell durations, if it weren't for the Prince's Purge Magics(a total of 5).

Using one of the containers in the Pocket plane, Aerie, Haer'dalis, Jaheira and Minsc(summoned and disbanded, neutral NPCs), PC managed to summon the Ultra Golems and the Rakshasa Prince in such a manner, that the Prince wasn't able to reach PC. PC quickly ran away in the SW room(first pocket plane challenge room), followed by only the Supreme golem.

Here I could post some screenshots to show how this can be done every time.

Also, the Supreme Golem doesn't need to follow PC: he can also be trapped in between neutral NPCs and the large Ultra Golems, much like the Prince. If he follows, it is better for him and his summoned golems to be killed without additional buffing: especially NO SI recast and NO Spell Trap, i.e. no spell protections(I think that they trigger the Universal Purge magic if cast on top of many other buffs). Only necessary buffing is allowed: ProMW(while the Supreme's still alive, I think that his melee attack actually lowers elemental resistances by 10%),ImprHaste and illusionary buffs: blur, mirror image, invisibility.

After the Supreme and his other golems were dead, the PC forced the Prince to use all his Universal Purge Magics.

This tactic had been made solely to twist the game engine: PC continually buffs with useless buffs, casts Spell Immunity on top and waits for an Universal Purge Magic. I have to work it out perfectly: I am still not aware what combinations exactly force the Prince to use Purge Magic, so I did a couple of reloads here.

With the 5 purge magics of the Prince used, PC casts the important buffs, Spell Trap on top and rushes right in the middle of the Ultra Golems, Supreme Golem(if still alive), and the Rakshasa prince. This is also essential, since later, when minions surround the PC, he may be unable to reach his targets for spell recharging/melee.

The game is now a spell duration and round duration count:

Note: When PC is under Haste or Improved Haste effect, the game splits each round in two. Meaning, that ProMW will last 8 End round: Autopause messages, Spell Immunity will last 40 End Round messages, ProMagicEnergy will last 400 End Round messages.

Note: Rakshasa Prince and Supreme golem are surrounded by 9th level permanent type of Fireshield. The Amber Golems, summoned by the Ultra Golems, are each surrounded by a 6th level permanent Fireshield. So, each successful hit on the Rakshasa Prince or the Supreme golem actually recharges 9th level spell or lower for the duration of the Spell Trap(i.e. 4 spells total). But if PC hits the Rakshasa Prince only once, he will still have 21 spell levels, meaning that if he hits an Amber golem afterwards 4 times, he will recharge 5 instead of just 4 vital spells(the spell trap itself + 4 sixth level or lower spells). Since in this combat the most used spells were: Protection from Magical Weapons/Energy, Impr Haste, Spell Immunity(6th and 5th level), and Spell trap, Black Blade of Disaster and Improved Alacrity(very seldom, 9th level spells), it is actually most beneficial to use the Amber golems for spell recharge often, since this way is regained an additional spell.

Protection from Magical Energy stacks. This is somehow irrelevant, unless the PC gets hit by the Rakshasa prince(lowers all resistances, magical and physical by 25%), but still, this meant: no moment of expiration of ProMagicEnergy(via recasting of ProME spell), as is with the other Protection from different elements type spells. For instance, I used green scrolls of Prot from Fire(12 hour duration) to ensure that there will never be a moment when I'm unprotected from fire(many Dragon Breaths). But I also was normally protected from Fire via the wizard spell in case I'm too absent and forget to recast SI:A.

Protection from Magical Weapons must be recast immediately after every 7th Autopause: End turn message, so that it doesn't expire. The count for the time of the next refreshment begins immediately.

An eye must be kept on SI:A. It is essential to be refreshed, since if it's not, my PC would lose some of his spell buffs(like Black Blade of Disaster, Spell Trap too I think), and all of his potion(Fire Giant Str) and scroll(greem scrolls of prot from Fire*2 and Elec*2) buffs.

In between refreshing ProMW there is time to be cast 2 spells(or to use 2 items). Don't forget that 2 messages 'Autopause: Round End' mean 1 actual round. As we all know, aura cleansing requires 1 round(2 messages).

Spell Trap must be used when PC's short on spells. My PC used no Ring of Wizardry in this fight(instead RoP +4 plus the Improved ring of Gaxx, great saves are required), so his vital buffs were(after the Purge magics were all used up):

ProFire ProCold ProAcid ProLigtning from scrolls(I have collected all of them, used 2* each scroll)
ProFire from spell.
8 memorized Spell Immunities(5 went for enemy Purge magics)
7 memorized ProMW, 71 scrolls in quickslot
1 memorized Impr Haste(9 Impr Cloaks can be activated for the Supreme golem solo if he follows, actually no more than 4 are needed)
1 memorized ProMagicEnergy(and 20 scrolls in pack, 1 used in the Supreme golem solo)
A lifesaving Spell Trigger with ProMagicEnergy, ProFire and ProMW spells.
7th and 8th level spells were almost useless in this fight. I used ProElements and ProEnergy to lure the Rakshasa prince to use Purge Magics, and afterwards I erased the used ones(this way preventing them from regaining with Spell Trap combo - I didn't need them anyways)
2 Spell Triggers memorized(just in case, didn't use them either)
9th level: 3 Impr Alacrities, 1 BBoD, 3 Spell Traps.

The rest of the spells are irrelevant. Although I used several times Prot from Evil, Blur and Spirit Armor, I find those spells not very necessary for this fight. Stoneskin was recast just once, when the Purge magics ended.

Important equipment: 10* each Green prot scroll(fire 20, just in case), 35 potions of Fire G Str, Staff of the Magi(Spell Trap if anything goes wrong), 14 scrolls of Spell Trap in pack.

Weapons: The Answerer, Hammer of Thor, Scarlet Ninja-to.

The fight:

No purge magic! Good. PC focuses and kills the 1. Supreme golem(in this case already dead), 2. Ultra golems(with recasting vital buffs and refreshing spells via Spell Trap when needed). The rest of the golems are irrelevant, although 3 Amber golems were near PC. Great!

PC focuses on the Rakshasa prince. First, hits with the Answerer main and Scarlet off, and Str 25(Fire Giant Str Potion 22, Girdle of Lordly Might +3). When Rakshasa prince's AC is weakened enough, PC transfers Answerer in off hand, and casts Black Blade of Disaster. The BBoD deals enough damage, while the Answerer with 2 hits per round keeps the Rakshasa prince's AC high enough for hitting successfully.
Buffs are constantly refreshed: ProMagicWeapons and SI: A are the most important. Of course, ImprHaste(1 memorized) is important too, but it's no big deal to forget to recast it for a round or two, since it's not that vital.
Rakshasa Prince was brought to Injured. He casts Absolute Immunity. His AI cannot be dispelled by any means, so PC used the time of expiration(4 rounds) to refresh his spells via Spell Trap.
When the Prince's AI had expired, so does the effect of the Answerer. Meaning, PC holds Black Blade in his main hand, Answerer off and has almost no chance of weakening the Prince's AC until the duration of the BBoD expires(18 rounds total). Here maybe a good place to use Montolio's Cloak, but since I forgot his Clasp somewhere in Athkatla, I couldn't assemble it. Also it would be a good time to switch the Circlet of Golden Flowers for the Helm of Balduran for a while(again, for THAC0 bonus), but without the Cloak, this proved out pointless. So I used additional Spell Traps, recharged all vital spells to max and waited for BBoD to expire. BBoD expired, I used the Answerer main and Scarlet off, much like the previous time, and then switched(again) to Answerer off and cast the refreshed via Spell trap Black Blade of Disaster.

This tactic had been repeated 12 more times. The Prince has 12 Absolute Immunities: the first 6 are cast: 2 at Injured, 2 at Badly Injured, 2 at Near-Death. The second 6 are also cast in the same manner. In the meantime, PC refreshed continuously his buffs via Spell Trap, the Prince and some Amber golems. Finally, the Prince gave his defeat speech and left with all of his army.

Frankly, my main concern was how to deal with the rest of his army, but it seems like I worried in vain.

Note: This is a long and ungrateful battle, but since I already know all of its principles, it woudn't be hard to be repeated, just very, very annoying. When I have 10 free hours, I maybe will.

Note: I don't know if I can beat IA Mellisan, but I'm at least going to try. Anyway, I doubt that anyone of you thought possible for a solo to reach this far, just playing with what's inside the mod itself(no external program or CLUAconsole cheats)

Note: The bag of holding recharging bug works for some of the items(Improved Cloaks of Protection), but I don't use it.

Hmph. Seems like Mel was unmodded, totally vanilla. Not even Ascension...well, then it seems that the toughest fight in the whole game is the EDE. I guess that this concludes my testing of the mod, folks. It apparently can be won by a solo F/M/T with exploits on Insane, probably in a no reload insane game too (with lots of attention, of course). It (may) also be won by a F/M/C(in this particular case, use of The Answerer in EDE is impossible, but there are other buffs that will be used which increase THAC0 and damage, most importantly Aid, Chant, Holy Power and Righteous Magic).

Thanx Sikret for making such a great mod! Keep up the good work, Sikret! I am absolutely positive that the next version will be impossible to beat with a solo character.