Progress report for IA v5, New features you will see soon Options

[Selvanus]

Okay, sorry I haven't gotten back to you guys, I thought there would be SOME delay in the replies, but obviously not...
Anyways, yes, I suppose you could just Shadow Keep her into a mage/thief again, or, as I would do, a plain thief, since I didn't dual class her in Baldur's Gate I. I suppose it makes sense to have more minions and spies and the sort if you take too long. It's already hard enough, why not just make everything harder, eh?

[Selvanus]

Sorry for double posting, and posting probably in the wrong topic, (but either I can't find the suggestions for the mod topic, or there isn't one) Anyways, I just found it quite odd that some of the demons in SoA and ToB don't have Demon Hearts just because they aren't in some weird plane. So, I thought that some of the major demons, (such as the one at the deep gnome village in Underdark, Swirfenbelm?) should have a demon heart at least, if not all the Baalors and etc. in the game, (except for summoned ones, of course). If this is in the wrong section, please move it because I couldn't find the suggestion topic. (Edit) And another thing, I was reading the readmes of IA, (because Sikret basically told me to), and I saw that in one of the readmes, can't remember which, it said that enemy spell casters CAN'T, (or shouldn't, at least), break the rules. If this is so, and they have to play legally, I ask you why when a battle starts, about ten protections, (more or less), pop up on an enemy spell caster like they had just activated three chain contingency's, which, I find quite ridiculously retarded and makes it harder than it should be. If you can't do this feat, no matter what level you are in spell casting, I don't see why other random Copper Cornet Guards whom are wizards, should. (Edit) Another blasted edit. I'm not meaning the extremely strong guys, such as the Shade Lord, or Firkraag, I mean just random low level wizards/sorcerer's casting so many protection spells at once. Like the Cowled Wizards, they only have spells that are at max like level 6. It doesn't make alot of sense that they have a bunch of Chain Contingency in store, even though they can't cast it.

This post has been edited by Selvanus: Nov 9 2007, 04:29 AM

[Stu]

The pre-battle casting script is designed to even out the playing field in regard to pre-casting. The idea behind it is that the PC can spend 5 or so rounds buffing before running into a fight against an enemy who is (in the vanilla game) completely unprepared. The script is not a contingency, it cannot be done part way through battle and is designed purely to alleviate the engine restriction of the enemy not being able to intelligently anticipate the entry of the pc and cast a few spells before he comes into sight.
Demon heart thing is probably more of a gameplay mechanic - I mean they're meant to be rare right? Don't you end up burying the demon in the deep gnome village?

[Baronius]

If this is in the wrong section, please move it because I couldn't find the suggestion topic.

No problem. Generally, if you can't find the proper topic, feel free to start a new one. I've moved the posts (because they have nothing to do with IA bug reports) to this new thread.

[Sikret]

I thought that some of the major demons, (such as the one at the deep gnome village in Underdark, Swirfenbelm?) should have a demon heart at least, if not all the Baalors and etc.

The demon in Deep gnome's village actually already has a droppable heart in IA v4.2. Don't you think that you need to play the mod for at least one run-through before making suggestions? Otherwise, you will run into the risk of suggesting something which is already there in the mod.

As for the other point, just reade Stu's reply.

[Sikret]

If this is in the wrong section, please move it because I couldn't find the suggestion topic.

No problem. Generally, if you can't find the proper topic, feel free to start a new one. I've moved the posts (because they have nothing to do with IA bug reports) to this new thread.

And I merged it with the "progress Report for IA v5" topic (as it is the topic players should typically send their suggestions to).

Thanks.

[Selvanus]

I thought that some of the major demons, (such as the one at the deep gnome village in Underdark, Swirfenbelm?) should have a demon heart at least, if not all the Baalors and etc.

The demon in Deep gnome's village actually already has a droppable heart in IA v4.2. Don't you think that you need to play the mod for at least one run-through before making suggestions? Otherwise, you will run into the risk of suggesting something which is already there in the mod.

As for the other point, just reade Stu's reply.

Oh, really? I did kill it. I don't remember it dropping a demon heart, but than again, I never get anything from demons, so I probably didn't even bother to see if he dropped anything.

The pre-battle casting script is designed to even out the playing field in regard to pre-casting. The idea behind it is that the PC can spend 5 or so rounds buffing before running into a fight against an enemy who is (in the vanilla game) completely unprepared. The script is not a contingency, it cannot be done part way through battle and is designed purely to alleviate the engine restriction of the enemy not being able to intelligently anticipate the entry of the pc and cast a few spells before he comes into sight.
Demon heart thing is probably more of a gameplay mechanic - I mean they're meant to be rare right? Don't you end up burying the demon in the deep gnome village?

Yes, that's all very well, but I never pre-buff unless I know I'm going to be fighting. (Which, everytime I play, I don't ever memorize where the battles are), so I guess other's do . And think of it this way, if you run into a room when you're going to kill everyone, when usually there's no battles, they ARE going to be completely unprepared. I mean, if they're waiting for you, sure, like Jon Irenicus, (even though he didn't get this script, at least, not in my game), but I don't understand why lazy guards whom work at the Copper Cornet get this script, for they're not going to cast these spells everyday, are they? No, they should have to start casting them, because they don't fight every day, in fact, if I remember right, in the slaver compound the guy said something about bribing the Amnish Soldiers into not arresting them, so it's not like they're even going to fight Amnish Soldiers either. All I'm trying to get across here is that guys like Copper Cornet Guards, or Drow Priestess' shouldn't get these buffs at the second a battle starts because they're going to be unprepared. Whereas say the Shade Lord or Irenicus should get these buffs because they ARE prepared for you. Obviously Irencius knew you got out of the Gauntlet. Obviously the Shade Lord felt a disturbance in the temple, it's not like they're going to sit there and go unprotected while you put a sword through their gut.

(Edit) Oh yes, and sometimes I repeat myself by accident. :S

This post has been edited by Selvanus: Nov 9 2007, 07:54 PM

[Sikret]

I thought that some of the major demons, (such as the one at the deep gnome village in Underdark, Swirfenbelm?) should have a demon heart at least, if not all the Baalors and etc.

The demon in Deep gnome's village actually already has a droppable heart in IA v4.2. Don't you think that you need to play the mod for at least one run-through before making suggestions? Otherwise, you will run into the risk of suggesting something which is already there in the mod.

As for the other point, just reade Stu's reply.

Oh, really? I did kill it. I don't remember it dropping a demon heart, but than again, I never get anything from demons, so I probably didn't even bother to see if he dropped anything.

You didn't bother to see what he drops and yet you suggest to add something to him which he already has?

I ask you why when a battle starts, about ten protections, (more or less), pop up on an enemy spell caster like they had just activated three chain contingency's...If you can't do this feat, no matter what level you are in spell casting, I don't see why other random Copper Cornet Guards whom are wizards, should.

I think just like the case of the demon (above) you are again talking about something you don't remember exactly or you didn't bother to notice accurately. Copper Coronet guards have only three pre-buffing spells: Stoneskin + Ghost Armor + Minor Globe of Invulnerability. If having these three requires 3 Chain Contingencies, then perhaps you are playing a different game than BG2.

I'm tired of such exaggerations. They waste my time, because they make me go and check something unnecessarily just to find out that the report was baseless. This will only delay the release of the mod's next version. My time is very limited.

[DavidW]

I think the "three Chain Contingencies" thing is meant to be rhetorical, not literal.

Isn't the literal point, though, whether general pre-buffing is justified? Note that Minor Globe, at least, is a "short-term" spell that couldn't plausibly be case hours in advance, so if the script auto-casts it, it's got to be justified on "well, the PC gets the chance to put up short-term spells, so why shouldn't we" lines. (I approve of general pre-buffing, personally, but the argument against is pretty defensible.)

[luan]

I think the experience itself is more important than underlying mechanics. BG2 would simply be way too easy for me otherwise.

Regardless, using our imagination we can justify almost anything. Maybe the wizards hearing the death cries of their coworkers would be strong incentive to buff up. Or more simply, perhaps they just felt something was wrong (sixth sense, intuition, etc)

[Sikret]

The general question of why enemies pre-buff has been discussed countless times before; and in this thread, it was also answered by Stu (a few posts earlier); however, since Selvanus had reported that Copper Coronet guards had about ten spells as their pre-buffs, I thought that there might be something wrong there. I checked and it wasn't true.

This post has been edited by Sikret: Nov 10 2007, 12:57 AM

[Shaitan]

How's the testing going? It's been some days since the last addition to the progress repport, so perhaps we're close now tho version 5?

Regards

[Sikret]

I have seen the rise of nations. I have seen to their sunders. Even the ancient Netheril empire were but sapling villages while I sored the skies! Steel yourself mortal, before you is a power as old as the sword coast itself!

Guess who says this in IA v5?

Luan has written this impressive paragraph and it's now added to the dialogue of the one you can easily guess. Thanks Luan!

[Caedwyr]

Sorry for double posting, and posting probably in the wrong topic, (but either I can't find the suggestions for the mod topic, or there isn't one) Anyways, I just found it quite odd that some of the demons in SoA and ToB don't have Demon Hearts just because they aren't in some weird plane. So, I thought that some of the major demons, (such as the one at the deep gnome village in Underdark, Swirfenbelm?) should have a demon heart at least, if not all the Baalors and etc. in the game, (except for summoned ones, of course).

Killing a demon pretty much any place, but outside the planar sphere when you are parked in the Abyss does not actually kill the demon. It merely banishes it back to the Abyss. Hence, it leaves no body and there isn't any heart to harvest. Its one of the features of an outsider.