Shaitan
Apr 15 2007, 07:54 PM
Hi all!
Just started a game with an imported halfelven FC.
Goodberries: I feel it's too little you get, five berries giving you only 2 HP each until level 12. That's a long time for a MC. This game heavily relies on healing. On the other hand making them stackable in stacks with more than 10 could compensate for this. Well... Sikret prolly had his thoughts about this...
Randomization: Really, really cool feature. I just love this. Perhaps adding more components to this one? like Darkon Zerths blade (Spelling?) or the Fortress Shield. Now it takes a bit longer to solve the Burglered Bookkeeper with RoHI
Regards
Shaitan
Apr 15 2007, 09:11 PM
Suna Seni: Really tough fight at the start. I got to meet her right after the slums, so it took me some reloads (at least five) and a good deal of luck. Fun to see something else waylaying you
Romulas
Apr 15 2007, 11:56 PM
Just to add a few cents here, trying to understand how scrolls work and at what level they are cast at. My fighter was hit by a flame arrow from those copper coronet guards that did 6 lines of damage from the feedback window, makes me think he was hit by 6 flame arrows. Now from the spell description, you get 1 then 1 every 5 levels, so either that mage cast the spell at level 25/30 or had a scroll that cast at that level.
Lehtinin must really be rich to be able to afford a 25th level mage for guard duty, so where does he hide his money.
Romulas
Shaitan
Apr 16 2007, 05:31 AM
@Romulas: You don't by any chance have the G3 tweak "Cast spell per level"?
thetruth
Apr 16 2007, 10:04 AM
@Romulas
All the spells from scrolls are cast at level 10.
In this case though I don't think that the C.Coronet mages use scrolls of Flame Arrows. They cast those from memory.
Note also that if you take 6 lines of damage it means that you got hit by 3 Flame Arrows only, since each arrow does Fire and Piercing dmg (half Fire dmg with a successful save).
(EDIT: No actually for each Flame Arrow correspond 3 lines of damage: 1 for the Piercing and 2 for the Fire dmg, if you save then you get only 1 line for the Fire dmg. So it is possible that those Mages can be of 10 level).
The easiest way to protect your fighter would be the Shield of Reflection (reflects them back), but IIRC that shield is in the randomization program so Fire res. could be a solution.
Sikret
Apr 16 2007, 01:05 PM
They are F/Ms. 10th level in fighter class and 11th level in mage class. As thetruth said, they cast Flame Arrows from memory.
Romulas
Apr 16 2007, 01:17 PM
No, I don't have the g3 fixpack, very few other mods actually. Thanks thetruth for explaining this, it never occured to me that each arrow did 2 types of damage so would give 2 reports of damage for each arrow, and I read the spell description even, arggg.
Romulas
Sikret
Apr 16 2007, 01:55 PM
QUOTE(Shaitan @ Apr 16 2007, 01:41 AM)
Suna Seni: Really tough fight at the start. I got to meet her right after the slums, so it took me some reloads (at least five) and a good deal of luck. Fun to see something else waylaying you
You met them quite soon; so you did a great job by beating them. Congratulations!
I usually meet them a bit later in the game when I'm back from my first trip to country-side. But that's perhaps because I usually get out of the city quite early just to have Valygar in my party ASAP and perhaps to go to Tradesmeet (right from Umar Hills) to teach one or two lessons to those shadow druids.
Romulas
Apr 16 2007, 02:12 PM
I have found that after resting at least once then going to the bridge district you get hit with the encounter. One time I went to the government district to get trademeet and umar hills on the map then went to the bridge district and wamo, there they were. Only by luck did my spell go off first, if theirs go off first its curtains.
Romulas
Shaitan
Apr 17 2007, 07:20 AM
Slavers: I just went through the sewers, and emerged at capt. Hagan. Now I reloaded 3 times and have to do some thinking. I guess he's improved too
mayhaps I should try to go the other way? Or can I lure them back into the sewers? Well it's an other experience anyway.
Regards
Sikret
Apr 17 2007, 09:44 AM
QUOTE(Romulas @ Apr 16 2007, 06:42 PM)
I have found that after resting at least once then going to the bridge district you get hit with the encounter. One time I went to the government district to get trademeet and umar hills on the map then went to the bridge district and wamo, there they were. Only by luck did my spell go off first, if theirs go off first its curtains.
Yes, going to bridge district is a bad choice early in the game. If you have noticed, in your dialogue with the inspector in bridge district, you have the dialogue option to say that you have had your experience with random attacks. I guess, in order to make this dialogue option valid, the original game is designed so that going to bridge district without having the first random encounter is not possible.
Magnus_025
Apr 17 2007, 03:19 PM
I started a new game yesterday with a Vagrant pc and IA v4.1 (I like the kit for now, but with a CON of 19 aren't you supposed to regenerate at a slow rate? My Pc does not regenerate himself at all, but it's ok, I don't mind) and after going to the Government I got waylaid by Suna Seni. I won the battle without much difficulty but only because I have Yasraena in my party (mod Npc) and her MR saved her from Greater Command.
She and my PC saved from the Greater Command spell but got confused. Good luck made them attack the enemies instead of their sleeping companions (Aerie, Yoshimo, Xan and Jaheira) which would have ended in a reload. What was funny is that Xan and the enemy mage did cast Confusion at the same time so both parties had almost all their members confused. It was a funny battle which was won only because of my good luck. I think that it will be the last battle in which I enjoy, suffering will be my next feeling.
But no matter how much I have to reload, I will learn how to defeat those powerful enemies and will learn new tactics!!!
So, Sikret, you have a fan here!!! I will be glad to play it with a ranger and a wizard Pc and will write any suggestions for IA v5. In the meantime, please don't forget Mansur!!!
Shaitan
Apr 17 2007, 06:23 PM
Regeneration starts at 20 con
Shaitan
Apr 17 2007, 07:19 PM
Slavers Ship: Finally! What a fight, it's really challenging, awsome! Tuigans bow has been replaced too
It took me around two hours to crack this nut, but it's really a relief. Are the assasins spawning or what??
Edit: Note to self; Whisper Spider sure is annoying
Sikret
Apr 18 2007, 10:41 AM
QUOTE(Magnus_025 @ Apr 17 2007, 07:49 PM)
What was funny is that Xan and the enemy mage did cast Confusion at the same time so both parties had almost all their members confused. It was a funny battle which was won only because of my good luck.
Interesting and funny indeed! So, you just sat down and watched how confused characters of both sides slaughtered each other?
QUOTE
So, Sikret, you have a fan here!!! I will be glad to play it with a ranger and a wizard Pc and will write any suggestions for IA v5. In the meantime, please don't forget Mansur!!!
Thanks, Magnus!
I'll be looking forward to reading your posts and suggestions.
Sikret
Apr 18 2007, 10:48 AM
QUOTE(Shaitan @ Apr 17 2007, 11:49 PM)
Edit: Note to self; Whisper Spider sure is annoying
Yep, beware of their vexing whispers and web lariats!
Magnus_025
Apr 18 2007, 11:43 AM
Yep, Sikret, I just sat and waited them to kill each other. The only ones who weren't confused were the enemy wizard and one of the figthers, but he panicked after a few hits of my confused PC (who luckily adressed the enemy with his flail and long sword - imagine which items I intend to forge for him
- instead of the weak Xan or Aerie who were sleeping by his side). Yasraena decided to focus on Suna Seni first and then in the enemy mage. By the time Confusion expired, my party woke up and finished the job.
Ah, thanks for the new scrolls on the enemy mage corpse, the battle is challenging but those scrolls are very useful indeed!!! (and let me save money). Come to think of it I think that if not a bug, something weird happened: the enemy mage sure casted some spells (buffs, confusion and some more) but at one moment in the battle she decided to hit Yasraena with her staff. Is this supposed to happen or is a bug? If it helps, I don't have any incompatible mod installed and followed the installation instructions ALMOST perfectly. I say almost because I forgot to install Tower of Deception before IA and didn't want to reinstall everything again
. I haven't had any problems except that thing but because ToD has nothing to do with IA I didn't worried a lot.
Can I have problems? If you say so I will reinstall everything.
Bye!
Sikret
Apr 18 2007, 12:24 PM
QUOTE(Magnus_025 @ Apr 18 2007, 04:13 PM)
Come to think of it I think that if not a bug, something weird happened: the enemy mage sure casted some spells (buffs, confusion and some more) but at one moment in the battle she decided to hit Yasraena with her staff. Is this supposed to happen or is a bug?
She doesn't have many spells. Once she casts them, she starts to attack physically. Their cleric is more dangerous than their mage. But you had successfully confused him.
Magnus_025
Apr 18 2007, 01:52 PM
Yes, I got a little scared when their cleric casted his buffs (so many and so quickly). I thought I was going to reload sooner than later, but everything turned out fine after all. Tonight I'll play a little more, but I have two questions:
-The installation issue I told in my previous message is going to screw things up? As ToD is a mod which takes place in a brand new area I hope I will not find any incompatibility but I don't now anything about modding. Can someone tell me anything?
-I read the post about which party should be better to play IA, but I want to know if is almost impossible to beat the game (with IA) with a party of six characters. I love party interactions, npc relationships and such, so if I could have ten party members I would. I don't care about the maximum level I can reach or those kind of things but I need to know if I'm going to fail every new or enhanced battle because of that. My current party compositions (and intended for the whole game) is:
PC - Vagrant
Jaheira -Fighter/Druid (healing and fighting and she is my fav character)
Aerie -Cleric/Mage (romance)
Xan -Enchanter (no Evocation spells, but one more spell per level and a very good mod)
Yoshimo - Needed thief, until Imoen comes back
Yasraena - the needed hacker
Has someone beaten IA v3 (or v4 the test team) with a similar party?
Shaitan
Apr 18 2007, 02:35 PM
D'arnise Keep: Nice with a flailhead on the Greater Yuanti. It seems a more worthy price for beating him. The door up/down from the catapultarea to 2nd level in D'arnise Keep has disappeared. Why?
Sikret
Apr 19 2007, 08:10 AM
QUOTE(Magnus_025 @ Apr 18 2007, 06:22 PM)
-The installation issue I told in my previous message is going to screw things up? As ToD is a mod which takes place in a brand new area I hope I will not find any incompatibility but I don't now anything about modding. Can someone tell me anything?
I don't think that it will cause problems, but if you want to be sure, just uninstall IA and install it again. In this way it will become your last installed mod. Note that hitting the RE-install option will not do. You need to uninstall IA completely and install it again to make sure that it is the last installed mod.
QUOTE
I read the post about which party should be better to play IA, but I want to know if is almost impossible to beat the game (with IA) with a party of six characters.
On the contrary, it is most recommended to have as many party members as possible. 6 members is the ideal party number.
Shaitan
Apr 19 2007, 09:28 AM
Nalias Keep: I need a bit of help beating Torgal, he doesn't seem to take any further damage (has his regen. been improved??). I can get him on barely damaged.
Edit: I succeded! It helped me killing his Gem golem first. And tons of healing potions and luck and realoads. Whoa now I would like a break...
Regards
Shaitan
Apr 19 2007, 11:40 AM
Horrid Rakshasa; no easy fight and only touchable by +3, so he should be left alone next time.
BTW Sikret did you see what I mentioned about missing doors earlier?
Regards
Sikret
Apr 19 2007, 02:37 PM
QUOTE(Shaitan @ Apr 19 2007, 04:10 PM)
BTW Sikret did you see what I mentioned about missing doors earlier?
You still have access to the roof through the keep's yard.
Shaitan
Apr 19 2007, 06:39 PM
Yes I did go that way, I just wondered if this was intentionally (of course it was...)
Mongerman
Apr 20 2007, 12:19 AM
Actaully, I would recommand a 4 party member for easier encounters to reach higher levels quickly. In my past games, a f/t, b/c, mage and f/m was sufficient for most encounters.
Shaitan
Apr 20 2007, 08:15 AM
I do like to use NPCs because of the interjections and their histories. I like the enhanced special items of ie Keldorn and Valygar.
I usually use Jaheira for romance (and the ring of wizardry) and mod NPC Kivan (from BG1). The others depends on my PC.
Shaitan
Apr 20 2007, 09:18 AM
Uh I desperately need help against the meteors(?) the Cambion thwors at me. I allmost gets him killed, and then BAM, all my party are gone...
Sikret
Apr 20 2007, 12:40 PM
What's your protagonist's class, Shaitan? How did you get the ring of wizardry?
Shaitan
Apr 20 2007, 02:48 PM
RoW is a part of the Harper plot AFAIK. I play a F/C Halfelf. How can I counteract Meteors?
Sikret
Apr 20 2007, 03:03 PM
QUOTE(Shaitan @ Apr 20 2007, 07:18 PM)
RoW is a part of the Harper plot AFAIK. I play a F/C Halfelf.
Ok, I asked this, because if you were playing a mage, then it would be better for you to ask the apprenti to make the robe for you instead of the ring. But now, it doesn't make much difference, because even if you have the robe you won't be able to upgrade it without a mage protagonist.
QUOTE
How can I counteract Meteors?
Protection From Fire (spells and/or potions), Improved Mantle or pfmw. (BTW, which cambion you were referring to?)
thetruth
Apr 20 2007, 04:23 PM
Shaitan is talking probably about the Warden in the Planar Prison and with Meteors he means the Comet probably.
It is a very difficult battle in early game.
Prot. from Fire will protect from Comet (high MR as well).
Shaitan if you want give us some info about your party.
Shaitan
Apr 20 2007, 04:43 PM
Yeah I took this quest because earlier it was easy enough on in IA 3. Yes I meant the warden, and I guess comet is the right name as thetruth states.
I will be able to protect myself with prot. from fire (both potions and spells), I'll give you the result in a couple of hours.
My party consists of:
F/C
Jaheira (romance)
Kivan
Minsc
Aerie
Nalia
We have around 925000 xp at this stage.
I guess the Warden in't the only one slinging Comets?
Regards
angiras
Apr 21 2007, 04:52 AM
Ive noticed that several of the harder and sometimes new enemies in Act II use HLAs. Of course, its also mentioned in the readme somewhere, and not necessarily recommended to visit everywhere before underdark.
.
Sikret
Apr 21 2007, 07:44 AM
Ah, I thought Shaitan was talking about Melf Meteors.
@Shaitan
With an F/C protagonist you will not see the new quests added to the game via the expanded strongholds (though you will still see the "post-firkraag" ones). I'm sure you had this in mind when choosing your protagonist's class. Perhaps, you have left them for your next game-through.
Shaitan
Apr 21 2007, 08:43 AM
Hi!
I succeded after many reloads in beating the Warden - whoa it made a really tough opponent to beat.
I managed to run into another type of spider - a scary one! - Ghost spider.
I consider to do a new PC type before I come to far in the game - To gain some of the new materials.
@Sikret: I would be pleased if a list of ie 10-15 of the easier quests were available. I now the recommended from IA3, but I see very big differences between these two version.
Regards
Shaitan
Dec 1 2007, 03:12 PM
Time for a thread ressurection. I'll try to give some comments here as my game slowly progresses.
I found out, that playing a Swashbuckler 10/ Cleric x isn't as easy anymore. Before I only needed 650.000 xp to reach my thief skills again, and now I need 725.000 xp. It takes a good while longer, and T->C isn't that good in IA (I think so far) compared to good ol' SoA days.
Edit1: Uhh Squeezed - heh I'll postpone the Keep Viper for later, as he seems too tough to my party:
PC Vagrant dual Longsword/Flail L 10
Jaheira L 9/11 dual club/scimitar (as in all my tutugames)
Keldorn L 10 Hallowed Redeemer
NPC Swashie>Cleric L 10 War hammer + shield
Xan L11 Sling
Nalia L11 Short Bow
Edit2: So I managed to beat the Greater Yuanti, wasn't he worth 25.000 xp in ver. 4,2? Anyway Keldorn, CC, and loads of breaches worked wonder on him. I can't get emotion to work on him, but I managed anyway. And now for the Keep Viper
Edit3: This time the Keep Viper were easier, so I went on for Torgal. I think after five reloads that I have to postpone him - Poor Keldorn
I think he's harder this time, perhaps also gaining the help from the two Giant Trolls saves Torgal ome precious time.
Sikret
Dec 2 2007, 10:13 AM
QUOTE(Shaitan @ Dec 1 2007, 07:42 PM)
Poor Keldorn
hehe
, having Keldorn in party is really double-edged. He has no chance against TorGal even if you return later (unless you postpone it to much later near the end of the SOA portion of the game). TorGal is a high level cleric; to resist his turning ability, Keldorn needs to level up quite a lot. In general, if an evil cleric is 3 levels higher than Keldorn, he will turn him successfully.
Shaitan
Dec 2 2007, 10:31 AM
I found, that when Torgal starts turning the resist fear spell I buffed him and the others with disappeared, I could then throw another to avoid him being turned. Of course that required a lot of resist fear spells in my priests spellbooks.
Shaitan
Dec 8 2007, 08:20 PM
So I had an hour or so to play this evening, and I went for the Unseeing Eye quest. I skipped the spiders at the bridge - for now - but I'd give Thassal (sp?) a try. He was definitly improved. And also the bone golems feature was nice: At first I didn't protect my party with resist fear, I should had done that
. Then I went for Thassal and the skeleton lord. Those two in combination now really chunks my party, so I guess I also has to postpone them to later.
Q: I'm around level 9-10, I guess taking on Thassal and his croons now is a bit to early?
Q: Can I come back for Thassal after doing the rest of the beholder quest?
The idea of changing the level progression is good, and makes the way I choose the quests more difficault.
Raven
Dec 8 2007, 09:32 PM
QUOTE(Shaitan @ Dec 8 2007, 08:20 PM)
Q: I'm around level 9-10, I guess taking on Thassal and his croons now is a bit to early?
I'd say so, yep.
QUOTE
Q: Can I come back for Thassal after doing the rest of the beholder quest?
Yes - provided you got Tad to let you into the pit before killing the Unseeing Eye - which you obviously have done.
lroumen
Dec 10 2007, 10:16 AM
Since this is a nitpicking + suggestions thread I think I can add my own suggestions to those above, correct? I'm going to put them in spoilertags, because they are... spoilers.
I found some inconsistencies and weirdness in the improved encounter of Mekrath and his Imp.
SPOILER!I did the Mekrath+Sewer Imp quest and I found some strange things occurring.
1. The Earth elementals could see my invisible vagrant (hidden in shadows) whilst the Imp was unable to find me (and he doesn't wander to my party whilst the elementals could be lured). He could cast Mordenkainen's Swords, but not True Sight. That is odd. Maybe give him Oracle or True Sight at least.
2. If you go collect the reward from Mekrath you have to talk to him before he responds. Strangely, he does not immediately react to offensive attacks and you can exploit that to ease his fight. Mekrath is Stoneskinned when you meet him, but you can attack him and remove his skins without him turning hostile. When he is deskinned, you can pause the game, set 3-4 NPCs to cast a spell on him and set your warriors to hit him. If timed well you can damage him and quickly talk to get the reward before he dies.
Two possible improvements to avoid said exploit could be:
a ) He initiates conversation when he sees you and you have the mirror in the inventory of a party member.
b ) He responds to hostile attacks/spells or if you chip off one or more of his stoneskins.
3. I reloaded and fought Mekrath as normal, but then another strange thing happened. I managed to polymorph him into a squirrel (yey!), but he kept on casting his spells (abi-dalzim's horrid wilting for instance and wiped half my party (boo!)). I also managed to put miscast magic on him, but none of his 20 following spells failed at all (suppsed to be 60% I believe, so 12 should have failed if my math is good). I think that should both be fixed. I did manage to beat him luckily.
4. In Mekrath's Lair there is a group of a greater yuan-ti, a yuan-ti mage, 2 minotaurs and 2 umber hulks. I walked past the mage who wasted his true sight when I was exploring the place where Haer'Dalis was hanging out. Then I started my battle with those 6 creatures.
a ) I killed the hulks with death spell
b ) I kept my vagrant hidden to block the greater yaun-ti and minotaur from getting to my party.
c ) The yuan-ti mage had a protective sequencer that puzzled me (8 spells iirc... uhm, shield, spell immunity divination, stoneskin, mirror image, fireshield, globe of invulnerability.... and things of the sort?... whilst my Nalia can barely cast level 5 spells. are the yuan-ti mages normally even that high in level?). Anyways, the strange thing was that I used Anomen to cast 3x Holy Smite on the blocked minotaurs and they took some nice damage. The weird thing was that they still showed as unhurt. How can that be?
5. Slightly unrelated to Mekrath.
It is odd that most creatures cast True Sight and do nothing but stand there waiting if they do not find you. An improvement would be to have those creatures cast something else like Oracle instead (from a scroll) to do a quick dispell in the area. If they do not find you, it's not a True Sight that is wasted. True Sight is for when you are in a fight, not for a fast dispell beforehand, that's just silly.
Or alternatively, if they do cast True Sight, at least have them wander around a little with their party to see if they can find you and take the fight to you.
Shaitan
Dec 10 2007, 08:52 PM
To me ettercaps seems slightly slower in their reaction, it takes a while before they attacks, are they changed somehow?
Sikret
Dec 10 2007, 09:24 PM
QUOTE(Shaitan @ Dec 11 2007, 01:22 AM)
To me ettercaps seems slightly slower in their reaction, it takes a while before they attacks, are they changed somehow?
They check your protections and shift target if their weapons are ineffective and try to hit a different target who is not immune, Just that. It shouldn't slow them really as many other creatures do the same checks. Are you sure that it's not just an impression? Are they noticeably slow? I didn't notice it in my own run-through.
Shaitan
Dec 11 2007, 03:10 AM
Well maybe, but as an example take those four on the way to Gaal in the sewers in the cleric stronghold quest. I managed to kill two them before they even seemd to charge at me...
Sikret
Dec 11 2007, 08:05 AM
@Iroumen
Thanks for the report and suggestions. Will test Mekrath and the Imp in my own run-through and will apply refinements if needed. The report regarding Polymorphed creatures still running their scripts is a vanilla game issue, though I have never seen it myself (as I don't use 'Polymorph Others' spell) and haven't received any reports from testers about it either (apparently testers were not fans of that spell either
); but I will test and fix it.
Clown
Dec 11 2007, 08:23 AM
Been playing the latest version for a couple of weeks now and would firstly like to thank Sikret and his testers for another great job, its proving to be very enjoyable and an even greater challenge.
However I have come across one issue also relating to Mekrath and his imp or more accurately their summons. They both summon skeleton warriors however these warriors will refuse to attack a disabled target meaning if you send one character in alone and they get held or stunned the skeleton warriors just stand around rather than trying to finish you off. The other summons however have no such problem, I know this is no major issue but thought I may as well mention it as it seemed strange.
Sikret
Dec 11 2007, 08:59 PM
Has any of you (who played Mekrath) noticed or checked the staircase at the eastern end of Mekrath's place?
(In the vanilla game it was an incomplete staricase. The mouse curser on it was a question mark and if you clicked, you would read that the construction was incomplete and couldn't be used. It's different now.)
Vardaman
Dec 11 2007, 09:24 PM
QUOTE(Sikret @ Dec 11 2007, 02:59 PM)
Has any of you (who played Mekrath) noticed or checked the staircase at the eastern end of Mekrath's place?
(In the vanilla game it was an incomplete staricase. The mouse curser on it was a question mark and if you clicked, you would read that the construction was incomplete and couldn't be used. It's different now.)
I'll have to go back and check it out.
Spike
Dec 11 2007, 09:40 PM
Yeah, i've noted that. If I remember correctly, there was something analogously to that:
SPOILER!"You cant enter because something is missing "
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