Stworca Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Hello there, and welcome. I've been asked to re-write my PM to the creator of SCSII as a thread on forums, so without further ado.. SPOILERS WARNING! If you havent yet played SCSII (or Baldurs Gate II) do not read this post. It contains info about some encounters and -will- ruin your fun! First of all i would like to salute you, for making a very solid tactical mod, with the best scripting i've seen so far in Baldurs Gate II. I've spotted several buggs however. Other then that i would like to share few personal thoughts on some encounters (you may just ignore them completely, but i would appreciate if you'd read them). I've been playing version 9 of SCSII, with g3 tweaks, ascension, g3 fixes, valen, solaufein (just so i can see how SCSII works with eclipse party, if at all) few tactics components - illyich, gnome in docks, kuroisan, ritual, anti-paladin kit and crypt king -, longer road and wheels of prophecy. Played on Insane with xp cap, no reloads (this means, i did not face any encounter more then once when i was writing this down in my notepad.) Note : I did not yet start TOB portion of the game. I've finished first 3 levels of WK so far. I didn't have any of the Bioware NPCs, and Valen was the only character who had any banters at all (in case this matters) Starting with buggs that i've encountered: Beholder "knockback ray" is pure awesomeness! But it sometimes ignores collision (sends you flying through holes and pits, places you 'within' walls. I think its when more then one uses the telekinesis ray on the same person at the same time.) Alhoon stands idle while you lure the other mind flayers out of his chamber. Beholders are shooting rays out of visual range (rarely, yet still) Undead CAN be blinded! (or at least a message 'blinded' is showing up) It is still possible to exploit the "Talk to" bugg against enemies that dont start hostile. Firkraag either does not use his "Dragon claws" item, or it is a silly +2 (or less) enchancement item. (intentional?) (He had "Weapon Ineffective" message when attacking Valen. Shadow dragon in Temple Ruins did not have this problem) but his remove magic sequencer sure is very clever. (damn those 160 damage, aoe breath attacks ) Liches dont use potions that they for some reason have (mainly 2 greater healing potions per lich. Maybe i - they - was just unlucky, for Lavok used his potion after he turned invisible, but it was the only lich who did. and since i installed 'spawn liches as random mobs' i had quite a few fights with those.) Liches dont have any resistance to missle / piercing / electrical damage even tho they are skeletons (intentional?) Thaxll'ssillyia (shadow dragon beneath temple ruins) level draining breath attack is single target / has minimal aoe (intentional?) Same goes for Black Dragon in Suld. Improved Shade Lord fight is great, but it lacks "X levels drained" info on party members when it occurs. The group of druids that fights trolls (outside druid grove) does not turn hostile if you kill one of them before trolls are wiped out. If you kill the rakshasa in disguise (Adratha, in druid grove) fast enough, the adds that spawn are non-hostile noblemen. Shambling mounds in druid grove give no xp Amnish guards attack cowled wizards when they gate in to kill you for illegal usage of magic. In spellhold.. AR1513.. when you kill the kobold summoned by the ancient book, every single kobold and mephit in the crystal room is aggroed even if the doors are closed. Lich had morale failure! (its the first time i ever saw undead running away cause of anything else then turn undead) Spellhold AR1514. The 3 clay golems get aggroed when you fight werewolves (or the stone golem.. i aint sure. They ran out of their room before i got there) Either Simulacrum or Mislead image of Irenicus, when you fight him in asylum, leaves a dead body when destroyed (or maybe even the mage himself can be killed?) and for some reason the crazy mages remain living when he vanishes. Drow wizards have normal healing potions only! (the ones that were useless even in BG1 after you reached lvl 5) Mind Flayers have some strange skill called "balistic attack" (even tho they dont have any weapons..) which scores 80+ dmg. After exiting underdark, if you manage to kill Bodhi and Irenicus (The living one) without resting, dream with Ellessime still occurs when you first rest in hell. If your character has Globe of Invulnerability spell active when turning in tears of Bhaal, he gets "Spell ineffective" message for each one (buffs are still applied) Irenicus in hell was unkillable in slayer form (the dialogue did not trigger) And after a while he started running around randomly.. I had to wait till he regenerated a bit and stared attacking again, before beign able to wipe him out. Many mages dont have any items at all (except for potions and items like ring of gaxx which are the whole reason to fight them. What i mean is - no robes and no staves), and while most of them are just cannon fodder which are not our concern, some powerfull ones (important ones) should have some items. Even a Knave Robe and Excelent Quaterstaff would make some difference reality-wise. The unequipped (some are partialy unequipped) mages are : Zallanora (and her party), Tolgerias, Irenicus!, Perth the Adept (but this one is crazy.. so lack of items can be explained), Lonk the Sane (not the crazed mages tho.), Tanova!, Suneer, Lavok and all liches.. except Kangaxx who's improsonment explains lack of items.. Mentioned above mages lack proficiencies (again, only the named, quest ones are important) Six glabrezu Encounter in WK maze (great idea to increase their number!) : Demons that are out of visual range stand idle while you wipe their friends Pit fiend in WK maze (in the room where magic does not work) looks like slayer The djinn created by enemy wish spell, when struck with aoe spell (it occured only once, cause of Ruby ray of reversal) stays till he is unsummoned (few rounds) Now as for few 'thoughts' on the encounters (some minor buggs too) that will increase the difficulty slightly.. But are focused on fixing some holes in game reality. Celestial Fury guards need not to follow the party downstairs one by one, to get slaughtered. They trapped the upper floor and retreated there for a reason, why leave the defensive ground? And why do it alone? Since the game auto-saves when you go upstairs, maybe you could close the exit until Sion is dead ("The way is blocked by Sion's magic, You need to kill him in order to exit this place") Mekrath should get a familiar to help him if adventurers turn hostile. Maybe add an alarm (when party enters his tower) that causes the mage to summon a long staying mob or two (elemental mainly, or few skeletons) as well as buffing up regardless of "prebuff" selected. All in all he trapped his home quite nicely, but without much sense. If interlopers would be quiet enough, all his traps would be disarmed and his whole stuff stolen. Also, his yuan ti allies dont seem to be of much help.. Maybe change yuan-ti spawn trigger, and link them to the mage? Liches that guard Kangaxx body parts should use teleport field asap. Unseeing Eye should get help from cultists when attacked. Both in their base or his lair. (player should get warned by one of the 'rebels' about a party of cultist priests beign sent to the lair recently) Kangaxx REALY should use teleport field asap! Samia's (in Firkraags hold) party mage, when you refuse to aid her, should not spawn right next to party (if this is even possible) cause its certain death. If player is prepared, then even his scripted buffs wont trigger. Conster (who is sent by Firkraag to defend the prisoner) could have summoned a creature or two while waiting for party (for he KNOWS they'll come and will need all the aid he can get). When player is attacking elder brain in Illithid's Lair, all remaining living mind flayers should gate in to protect their "boss". The player should be warned about that by the githyanki tho, for it increases the difficulty greatly, but is very realistic. Cowled Wizards (who gate in when you use magic) should use teleport field aswell as soon as they can. Fighter - Mages preffer using Melf's Minute Meteors instead of their superior melee skills (speaking of Weimer's gnome/illusionist, who normaly hacked everything with his staff.) I've never seen enemy mages use "Emotion" spell (and the spell is simply amazing. Allows a single mage / sorcerer to solo Solaufein's eclipse party) Zallanora should get added to the list of mages in SOA that get HLA's. She should even get HLA's regardless of any lists, and not just Dragons Breath. After all, she is the most powerfull mage in BG2, with earth shattering lvl. And all she has is a quaterstaff? Zallanora also gives incorrect xp value. She also does not seem to have all the spells that a rank 35 mage would (at least she does not use them, and trust me when i say that fight with her took very long.. With a party of lvl 9 characters!) Her wrath should be feared! I would love to see her encounter improved, upgraded. Perhaps adding powerfull golems (magical ones!) to prevent people from farming cowled wizards when they exit Irenicus Estate. Last but not least, Zallanora, and many other powerfull enemies, should have some magical items with them. Even minor ones (so they wont make party too powerfull). It makes no sense that powerfull enemies dont have even a single ring of protection +1 or a necklage of.. say.. death warding. Sometimes there are magical items that they could use in a box right next to them! Again i 'care' only for the named ones with some power. At least think about giving HIGH level mages rings of protection obtained via Limited Wish spell. Now.. To the most important encounter in your mod, and the main reason why i installed it Drow City Defenses! (few buggs, and additional thought on the whole fight) Defenses of Ust'Natha are absolutely fantastic! I love this addition! When Matron Mother of Ellaviir appeared, after "a bunch" of drow died, i could feel like a hero for once in this game, and the fact that even then it wasnt over! Another wave.. And then Archmage of the city spawned! (a small bugg. When Tabbed the Archmage - and his simulacrum and mislead image - appears as Matron Mother Fi..(nadryl) which appears as last ) When the second Matron Mother spawned, along with powerful demons and.. an army.. I salute you for bringing a tear of joy into my eyes when they all were slaughtered. But now to some other matters.. First of all mentioned above bugg with Archmage. Next - incorrect XP for some priestesses. Next - Some priestessess are named just "Drow" which can be misleading (i assume that its the Priest / Fighter ones.) Now.. a small suggestion. Drow aint known for suicidal fights (well.. unless Matron Mother commands them to) and should use huge waves of slaves prior to drow attack. Lightly (crappy) armored duerger, kuo toa etc. with very few hit dices. Just to wear enemies down (force them to use spells) before dark elves attack. With simpliest script possible -ones from vanila game- to not slow the game too much. Archmage wave should have at least one golem better then stone (Archmage's). Iron for example. Both matron mothers give the same XP.. even tho Finadryl is somewhat higher lvl. It would be sweet if matron mothers would play fully defensive, and spawn additional drows (or slaves) untill they die. It would be even sweeter if they had any shouts above their heads (in drow, which party would not understand.. but it would add even more joy to the player) (I can write a few tips on how to win this encounter if any of ya - readers - want, but im sure im not the first person who won there.) Last, but surely not least! Some credits for you, kind sir. Rakshasa scripting is marvelous! Rakshasa, sewer ecounter, kobold spawning is a very nice idea. Mind Flayers dimension door escape is very nice idea! (but it bothers me WHERE do they flee? Do they come back?) Stinking cloud + web minor sequencer is pure awesomeness! (so are most other triggers and confs) Beholder eye-stalk destroying is absolutely fantastic! Awesome job! Twisted Rune fight is simply perfect now! Mislead + Simulacrum on both Layene and Shangalar + Dragon Breath HLA's and greatly improved AI make this fight worthwhile again. Potion usage scripts are awesome! Somewhat improved trolls (especially spirit ones) are doing a great job. Dragon hp increasing tweak was well needed. Thieves starting invisible are awesome! (well, overall thief AI improvements are great job, they are nearly a threat atlast!) Improved fiends are a great addition, well balanced Links between mobs are awesome! (Shades (and undead as whole) aggro scripting is even more awesome!) Yuan-ti scripting (i dont know if its differend then any other warrior / mage) is absolutely fantastic! Spellcasting Liches always give up great fight. Enemies using Wish spell... I love it! Again, i salute you. (Today.. or rather tonight, during work hours, i'll go through TOB, and , if needed, will share the rest of my experience with this marvelous mod) I apologise for any typ0s (or rather for ALL the typ0s) in my post, not only is it late, but also the.. grade of my english is not as high as i would like it to be. Regards Stworca P.S. Something i've came into just now.. Shouldnt spell using beholders not be able to use anti-magic ray? (Note that I base this question on somewhat later edition of D&D then BGII is..) Edited : Many, many times.. In order to fix as many errors as possible. Link to comment
Shaitan Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Seems that you have had some real fun After exiting underdark, if you manage to kill Bodhi and Irenicus (The living one) without resting, dream with Ellessime still occurs when you first rest in hell. This is probably Fixpack materiel? As a comment I'd say that DavidW is often seen writing something like SCS does little other than improving AI ie. SCS is trying to stay true to the game. As an example: I'd guess that DavidW wouldn't touch the talk-attack feature. Concerning the Drow city: I install that component to avoid attacking all drows there. Attacking them seems like suicide (to me ). Cheers Link to comment
DavidW Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 First of all i would like to salute you, for making a very solid tactical mod, with the best scripting i've seen so far in Baldurs Gate II. Thanks! - that's very kind. I've been playing version 9 of SCSII, with g3 tweaks, ascension, g3 fixes, valen, solaufein (just so i can see how SCSII works with eclipse party, if at all) It doesn't, as far as I know. I don't intentionally touch Eclipse. -Beholder "knockback ray" is pure awesomeness! But it sometimes ignores collision (sends you flying through holes and pits, places you 'within' walls. I think its when more then one uses the telekinesis ray on the same person at the same time.) This is basically unavoidable, unfortunately. (The same thing happens with the Smite HLA). I hope it's the case that Beholders rarely turn up in places where it's a real problem. -Alhoon stands idle while you lure the other mind flayers out of his chamber. I don't know why this is happening (I can't reproduce it.) -Beholders are shooting rays out of visual range (rarely, yet still) I don't know why this is happening, but I don't really mind: maybe they have slightly better vision? [*]Undead CAN be blinded! (or at least a message 'blinded' is showing up)[*]It is still possible to exploit the "Talk to" bugg against enemies that dont start hostile. Vanilla-game issues. (And SCSII deliberately doesn't block exploits. "I'm not the police", as Wes Weimer put it.) Firkraag either does not use his "Dragon claws" item, or it is a silly +2 (or less) enchancement item. (intentional?) (He had "Weapon Ineffective" message when attacking Valen. Shadow dragon in Temple Ruins did not have this problem) but his remove magic sequencer sure is very clever. (damn those 160 damage, aoe breath attacks ) Good catch (though it's a vanilla-game issue). Fixed for v10. -Liches dont use potions that they for some reason have (mainly 2 greater healing potions per lich. Maybe i - they - was just unlucky, for Lavok used his potion after he turned invisible, but it was the only lich who did. and since i installed 'spawn liches as random mobs' i had quite a few fights with those.)-Liches dont have any resistance to missle / piercing / electrical damage even tho they are skeletons (intentional?) Liches, being undead, shouldn't heal; thus they shouldn't get healing potions. Hopefully fixed already in v10. All liches are immune to electricity (via an undroppable ring); resistance to edge weapons is a good idea, I'll bear it in mind for the next release. -Thaxll'ssillyia (shadow dragon beneath temple ruins) level draining breath attack is single target / has minimal aoe (intentional?) Same goes for Black Dragon in Suld. Intentional: it's vanilla-game behaviour. -Improved Shade Lord fight is great, but it lacks "X levels drained" info on party members when it occurs. Added for v10. -The group of druids that fights trolls (outside druid grove) does not turn hostile if you kill one of them before trolls are wiped out.-If you kill the rakshasa in disguise (Adratha, in druid grove) fast enough, the adds that spawn are non-hostile noblemen. Too fiddly to fix for v10 given timing; I'll do it for a later version. -Shambling mounds in druid grove give no xp Fixed for v10 -Amnish guards attack cowled wizards when they gate in to kill you for illegal usage of magic. Vanilla bug, but fixed for v10 anyway. -In spellhold.. AR1513.. when you kill the kobold summoned by the ancient book, every single kobold and mephit in the crystal room is aggroed even if the doors are closed.-Lich had morale failure! (its the first time i ever saw undead running away cause of anything else then turn undead) Vanilla behaviour which I'm inclined to put up with, at least for now. -Spellhold AR1514. The 3 clay golems get aggroed when you fight werewolves (or the stone golem.. i aint sure. They ran out of their room before i got there) Already fixed in v10. -Either Simulacrum or Mislead image of Irenicus, when you fight him in asylum, leaves a dead body when destroyed (or maybe even the mage himself can be killed?) and for some reason the crazy mages remain living when he vanishes. I'll wait to see if this recurs in v10 before trying to fix it. -Drow wizards have normal healing potions only! (the ones that were useless even in BG1 after you reached lvl 5) I think that's just coincidence: they get the same healing-potion script as everyone else. -Mind Flayers have some strange skill called "balistic attack" (even tho they dont have any weapons..) which scores 80+ dmg.Intentional: it's a psionic attack (adapted, and toned down, from Tactics), they throw fast rocks at you. (It's intended to do 40+ damage; play on Insane at your own risk!) -After exiting underdark, if you manage to kill Bodhi and Irenicus (The living one) without resting, dream with Ellessime still occurs when you first rest in hell.-If your character has Globe of Invulnerability spell active when turning in tears of Bhaal, he gets "Spell ineffective" message for each one (buffs are still applied) -Irenicus in hell was unkillable in slayer form (the dialogue did not trigger) And after a while he started running around randomly.. I had to wait till he regenerated a bit and stared attacking again, before beign able to wipe him out. Vanilla-game bugs, I'll ignore them for now. -Many mages dont have any items at all (except for potions and items like ring of gaxx which are the whole reason to fight them. What i mean is - no robes and no staves), and while most of them are just cannon fodder which are not our concern, some powerfull ones (important ones) should have some items. Even a Knave Robe and Excelent Quaterstaff would make some difference reality-wise. The unequipped (some are partialy unequipped) mages are : Zallanora (and her party), Tolgerias, Irenicus!, Perth the Adept (but this one is crazy.. so lack of items can be explained), Lonk the Sane (not the crazed mages tho.), Tanova!, Suneer, Lavok and all liches.. except Kangaxx who's improsonment explains lack of items..-Mentioned above mages lack proficiencies (again, only the named, quest ones are important) Good ideas, which I'll think about for the next version. -Six glabrezu Encounter in WK maze (great idea to increase their number!) : Demons that are out of visual range stand idle while you wipe their friends-Pit fiend in WK maze (in the room where magic does not work) looks like slayer Fixed for v10. The djinn created by enemy wish spell, when struck with aoe spell (it occured only once, cause of Ruby ray of reversal) stays till he is unsummoned (few rounds) again, I'll postpone that till a later version. Now as for few 'thoughts' on the encounters (some minor buggs too) that will increase the difficulty slightly.. But are focused on fixing some holes in game reality. I'll basically postpone replying to these, as quite a lot are already dealt with in v10; others are suggestions I'll bear in mind. I've fixed the labelling bug for the drow archmage, though. P.S. Something i've came into just now..Shouldnt spell using beholders not be able to use anti-magic ray? (Note that I base this question on somewhat later edition of D&D then BGII is..) You're right in PnP 2nd edition AD&D. But in vanilla BG2, Elder Orbs get anti-magic rays, so I've left that alone. Link to comment
Stworca Posted September 18, 2009 Author Share Posted September 18, 2009 Hello again. Just finished ToB with v9 (i am aware that there is v10 already released, but this post will be very short). There were only few minor problems. - Djinn conjured by wish is counted as hostile, and therefore affected by Dragon's Breath, it resulted in not beign able to get the wish (Djinn got knocked away out of sight, and did not start the dialogue). Maybe giving the djinn's same 'defenses' that Irenicus in Suld has (before you kill the parasites, He's basicly immune to everything.) or make him friendly / neutral so HLA's wont affect him (only hla's cause problems after all) - Flaming skulls (Azamantes minions in WK 5) hurt each other when their self-destruct occurs (no other fire damage works on them tho, tested). And their fire shields wear off after some time. - Demogorgon does not summon any adds (or at least did not summon any in first 5 rounds, after which he died.) - Two liches encounter (4th purple globe in NW part of WK 5) : one of the liches appears with a noticable delay. - 4th mage conjured by globe machine in WK 5 gives much less XP then any of the previous ones (even tho she seems highest lvl of them all) - Abazingal stands idle while you wipe his adds out.. If you just stay out of his visual range and did not trigger the dialogue yet. (its possible to : Hug the north wall, go west and make a full circle wiping all adds, and leaving Abazingal alone in phase 1) - Vongoethe has no staff nor robe, same goes for the lich in Sendai enclave (i cant remember his name). - Draconis heals himself while still in human form (i checked it 3 times just to be sure) and starts the second phase as "Badly wounded". As for credits.. Sendai fight and Abazingal fight are pure awesomeness! Both bosses pick the best targets possible and unleash hell. (both lairs / enclaves are lovely reworked too!) If you wish i'll write down everything i'll "spot" in v10, cause im going to play through with it while *cough* 'working ' *cough* in the next few days. Kind Regards Stworca Link to comment
Guest Icanus Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 you finished scs II-modded soa without any reloads? wow, respect! maybe you could give me a hint for the final battle in hell. Irenicus just seems to have unlimited time-stops in his spell-book, that combined with the close-combat abilities of his new found slayer-power = insane. just what can i do to counter that? Link to comment
DavidW Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 you finished scs II-modded soa without any reloads? wow, respect! maybe you could give me a hint for the final battle in hell. Irenicus just seems to have unlimited time-stops in his spell-book Should only be two, iirc. Link to comment
Stworca Posted September 18, 2009 Author Share Posted September 18, 2009 Just came up with an idea for upgrading / new encounter. But i dont think i should post it as another thread. Spamming forums is bad. It is possible to link two mobs, so one of them enrages when the other one dies. But is it possible to make a creature more and more powerfull (bonuses to thaco and dmg) over time? If yes, wouldnt it be awesome (translation : absolutely unfair) if -for example- Rock and Garock in watchers keep were coded this way? Added hp, resistances, immune to criticals, vorpal hits, imprisonment, desintegrate, finger of death.. so they wont die in few blows.. and scripted to gain additional dmg as time passes. Able to see invisible creatures. Enrage could either increase the dmg by a wild amount (forcing players to kill them nearly at the same time) Or making the living mob immune to all forms of damage (which would force players to kill one of them quickly, and tank the other one through enrage) They could also have Heal spell.. (with normal casting time, interruptable!) to add force party to stay on toes at all times. It could be an optional encounter somewhere in WK. What do you think about that kind mr. admin? Icanus : Remember that SCS makes shields piercing spells AoE -in case enemies turn invisible-. I dispelled his protection spells, had three "True seeing" running whole time, used breach so my (ranged!) wizard slayer could prevent him from casting any spell and left Sorc tanking him while party wiped adds (everyone protected from magical energy and fire. Remember that you cant use protection from magical weapons, cause at first weapon ineffective message mobs change targets. Mirror image and stoneskin must do the trick.). He didnt get the time stop running, cause of mentioned above wizard slayer. Sometimes speed is your best ally. (excuse me for the OT) Edit : But that was v9. I bet v10 will be hell off to test it. Link to comment
Guest Icanus Posted September 19, 2009 Share Posted September 19, 2009 you finished scs II-modded soa without any reloads? wow, respect! maybe you could give me a hint for the final battle in hell. Irenicus just seems to have unlimited time-stops in his spell-book Should only be two, iirc. well i might be wrong, it just felt like that, but in fact i never survived the second one :-) Link to comment
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