Sword Coast Stratagems II vs Tactics

[Guest Cric]

Hello im looking for a difficulty increasing mod with

 

-encounters which do not force me to use-or-else the cloak of cheese, or the shield of cheese.

-no dragon wing buffet 10 times per round nonsense

-no extra loot. The original SoA game had a money scarcity and i want it to remain this way.

-fully buffed mages. if i can fully partybuff before going in, one could expect enemies be adequately prepared for that.

-High level SoA enemies using HLA spells/abilities( why shouldnt lvl20+ mages use lvl20+ features)

 

So far i have found these two. It does not need to be super ultra difficult. Which would be closer to the above points. Thanks!

[coaster]

Tactics is a very mixed bag. There are some decent components (eg. Smarter Mages & Liches) mixed up with some terrible ones (eg. Improved Ilyich; Kuroisan; Red Badge). SixofSpades pretty much hits the nail on the head listing which are good and which are not with his review:

 

http://www.geocities.com/sixospades/review/tactics2.htm

 

Tactics also has it's fair share of cheating enemies, and excessive loot in some encounters (City Encounters).

 

I've found SCSII is of consistent (good) quality, is more up to date, incorporates some of the better components of Tactics (Improved Bodhi, Improved D'Arnise Keep), works nicely with (and fixes some bugs of) Ascension, and has huge amounts of customisation (eg. yes you can select whether high level SoA enemies have HLAs or not, and you can select the degree of pre-buffing of enemies). The quantity of extra loot is pretty minimal. You can choose to remove the Shield of Cheese from the game and move the cloak of Cheese to a more difficult-to-obtain location. What's not to like?

 

Since SCSII came out I have used it in every BG2 playthrough and don't really bother with Tactics anymore. As far as I am concerned it has been superceded by SCSII.

[Bearwere]

-encounters which do not force me to use-or-else the cloak of cheese, or the shield of cheese.

nobody can force you but yourself.

-no extra loot. The original SoA game had a money scarcity and i want it to remain this way.

scarcity? Are you sure you're talkig about Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn?

-fully buffed mages. if i can fully partybuff before going in, one could expect enemies be adequately prepared for that.

-High level SoA enemies using HLA spells/abilities( why shouldnt lvl20+ mages use lvl20+ features)

both of these you can find in SCS2. And regret of it)

[SirLancelot]

both of these you can find in SCS2. And regret of it)

 

They are optional. SCS I & II are fully customizable.

 

-

no extra loot. The original SoA game had a money scarcity and i want it to remain this way.

 

Try Store Prices: http://www.shsforums.net/index.php?act=ST&...234&t=22790

[Cric]

@coaster

Thanks for a review, definitely sounds very interesting. Im reading that horrid wilting is broken in v8? (affecting everyone?)

 

@SirLancelot

This looks like a bg1 mod. Probably hard to estimate the amount of gained loot vs needed goods for another game/mod.

 

@Bearwere

Encounters can be designed with specific items or powers in mind. Sure nobody "forces" anyone to use magic as well, but the game will become unbeatable.

[DavidW]

@coaster

Thanks for a review, definitely sounds very interesting. Im reading that horrid wilting is broken in v8? (affecting everyone?)

 

Not as far as I know. (Where did you find that?)

[Cric]

http://forums.gibberlings3.net/index.php?s...mp;#entry129562

 

here, it is mentioned in the pinned v8 thread. A lot of abbreviations there, hard to judge if they are talking about some specific part of SCS, or some other mod.

[aVENGER_(RR)]

A lot of abbreviations there, hard to judge if they are talking about some specific part of SCS, or some other mod.

 

A component of Galactygon's SpellPack mod makes Horrid Wilting into a hostile (non-party friendly) area effect spell. If that component is used together with other tactical mods (such as SCSII or Rogue Rebalancing) it will lead to odd AI behaviour.

[SirLancelot]

@SirLancelot

This looks like a bg1 mod. Probably hard to estimate the amount of gained loot vs needed goods for another game/mod.

 

http://www.shsforums.net/index.php?showtopic=31483&st=40

[Bearwere]

This looks like a bg1 mod. Probably hard to estimate the amount of gained loot vs needed goods for another game/mod.

this mod may be used with any IE game (or so it claims. It's compatible with BG2 for sure). Nor tactics nor scs2 really add much loot, so money balance stays roughly the same.

 

Encounters can be designed with specific items or powers in mind. Sure nobody "forces" anyone to use magic as well, but the game will become unbeatable.

No, actually vanilla game is pretty well beatable with any single class. With Tactics, it's harder but not much different. With SCS2, playing without a mage is a tough exercise.

[Cric]

@aVENGER_(RR)

Ah i see. My misunderstanding then.

 

 

@Bearwere

Now look

 

im not sure whats your point, you arent really replying to the quoted text.

 

Nobody claimed the game isnt beatable solo. You understand words no-m-a-g-i-c? Its not the same as "caster". Its not the same as running with pro/undead/magic and simulacra. And who claimed that money mod is incompatible with bg2? nobody. And that BS about how tactics does not add any loot. have you even played the mod. ... gods. If you cannot see how using/(or not) certain items can turn the encounter difficulty in any direction, from normal to easy or to impossible, and problems it poses to mod designers, then youre beyond hope.

 

On a related note improved Ilyich maybe is not meant to be regularly played but he is part of tactics. And you want to beat that solo with a generic lvl7 fighter, and calling that "not much different from vanilla" You must be the greatest tactician in the world. lol.

 

Money issue is different for every party, but w/o abusing bags, reselling stuff or any other exploits, my 6ppl party in Ch.5 just had enough gold to buy all the necessary stuff, excluding interesting items, excluding all the high level spells(had to steal that) etc etc. Though admittedly it went in a wrong direction soon after. Not sure what your point is, again. (if any)

[Bearwere]

Nobody claimed the game isnt beatable solo. You understand words no-m-a-g-i-c? Its not the same as "caster". Its not the same as running with pro/undead/magic and simulacra.

Yes, I actually thought about arcane/divine magic when replying. But I think even "strict" no-magic game is not as hard as boring.

What I was trying to say is that tactics and scs has different approaches to difficulty. With tactics, you can just have more htipoints than in original game, better saves, lower thac0 - and this is enough. With scs - not always.

And who claimed that money mod is incompatible with bg2? nobody.

it seemed to me that it was your concern.

 

On a related note improved Ilyich maybe is not meant to be regularly played but he is part of tactics. And you want to beat that solo with a generic lvl7 fighter, and calling that "not much different from vanilla" You must be the greatest tactician in the world. lol.

About ilyich - I beat him once, then never installed (this is crazy).

[Icendoan]

Either the greatest tactician in the world or running a custom gametesting script.

 

(My one looks like this)

IF
See(NearestEnemyOf(Myself))
THEN
RESPONSE #100
 Kill(NearestEnemyOf(Myself))
END

 

 

Icen

[Cric]

-setup-scscii.exe should be Setup-Scsii.exe ( ok this one is probably not important, but all others look this way)

-Two times it says "add HLA to clerics who are able to cast lvl9 spells" which should be "lvl7" probably.

 

Anyway the second mob i meet in the game kicked my ass. (summoned ogre mage). Further feedback impossible, party lost in the woods. Im very missing the option to keep cannon fodder remain cannon fodder and strong enemies stay strong. But this is probably by design?

[DavidW]

Anyway the second mob i meet in the game kicked my ass. (summoned ogre mage). Further feedback impossible, party lost in the woods. Im very missing the option to keep cannon fodder remain cannon fodder and strong enemies stay strong. But this is probably by design?

 

Not exactly... cannon fodder don't usually get stronger, just brighter. But that can sometimes make a lot of difference (especially where spellcasters are concerned).