Durlag's Chess Board (and some feedback)

[PetrusOctavianus]

ScS is almost perfect now. The only thing missing is a "light" version of Mages and Priests pre-buffing, so that they only use spells with long duration, like Armour, Stoneskin and Remove Fear. I feel that would be more "realistic" and prevent me from using rather cheesy tactics like running away till buffs expire. And I'm not too crazy about mages have what appears as an innate Melf's Minute Meteors spells...

 

Of the encounters in my current game I felt Silke was brutally hard. She's almost impossible to hit and she has enough Magic Missiles to kill half the party. Maybe have the three NPCs join in the fight to even it out a bit?

 

After Silke, the first really brutal, reload-untill-getting-lucky fight was the Chess Board [i don't consider the Iron Throne battle too hard since the party knows what they will be facing and will be able to buff]. Is this even doable without prebuffing? It takes the Knight, Rooks and Pawns about 2 seconds to kill me 100 HP, -8 AC protagonist. The only way I was able to survive was to do maximum buffing, including quaffing potions of Freedom and Insulation, cast Web ASAP to trap most of the enemy pieces. Then use Kagain to take care of the Rooks, while my protagonist was pounded upon. When she was almost dead Eldoth or Quayle cast Otiluke's Sphere on her. I used Summoned Monster on the King and only attacked him after his defences were down. A thouroghly *brutal* fight, since the pieces move so fast that they usually surround CHARNAME before the mages can cast their spells.

 

EDIT: Just completed Durlag's Tower and the final battle was a cakewalk compared to the Chess Board. Didn't even have to buff and most of the party started at half health, so the mirroring actually helped some since it got all characters back to full health.

 

But I have a feeling, The Cultists and Sarevok&cronies will be brutal...

[DavidW]

ScS is almost perfect now. The only thing missing is a "light" version of Mages and Priests pre-buffing, so that they only use spells with long duration, like Armour, Stoneskin and Remove Fear.

 

Remove Fear is a bit tricky, but the other long-duration spells you mention are precast even on the "no prebuff" option, precisely because they were cast hours ago.

 

And I'm not too crazy about mages have what appears as an innate Melf's Minute Meteors spells...

 

It's a "cast yesterday" Melf's Minute Meteors spell. (It's got a 24-hour duration.)

 

Of the encounters in my current game I felt Silke was brutally hard. She's almost impossible to hit and she has enough Magic Missiles to kill half the party. Maybe have the three NPCs join in the fight to even it out a bit?

 

I'm somewhat persuaded that she's too difficult. Ultimately, blame the game for chucking a 10th level character at you in chapter 1 - but I think she needs toning down. (I only do this if absolutely necessary; modifying core-game resources to make them weaker goes against SCS design principles.)

[PetrusOctavianus]

ScS is almost perfect now. The only thing missing is a "light" version of Mages and Priests pre-buffing, so that they only use spells with long duration, like Armour, Stoneskin and Remove Fear.

 

That's good news, but I think the ReadMe needs to specify it. Or else I need to RTFM better.

[DavidW]

ScS is almost perfect now. The only thing missing is a "light" version of Mages and Priests pre-buffing, so that they only use spells with long duration, like Armour, Stoneskin and Remove Fear.

 

That's good news, but I think the ReadMe needs to specify it. Or else I need to RTFM better.

 

The former (i.e. it's my bad, not yours). It's made clear in the SCS2 readme, but not the SCS readme.

[Wisp]

I'm somewhat persuaded that she's too difficult. Ultimately, blame the game for chucking a 10th level character at you in chapter 1 - but I think she needs toning down. (I only do this if absolutely necessary; modifying core-game resources to make them weaker goes against SCS design principles.)

FWIW, I don't think it's necessary to make her weaker. Okay she's difficult, but there's nothing that says you have to take her on as soon as you stumble into Beregost, or even that you have to take her on at all. You can even get Garrick without fighting her.

[Guest!]

I second the Silke bit. I too feel very strongly that the basic aspects of the game shouldn't be messed with, but giving Silke a good script makes her absolutely overwhelming at that early stage of the game. I was forced to come back a few levels later and she was still a challenge. Plus, as it is it makes Garrick unrecruitable until much later.

[Guest!]

After Silke, the first really brutal, reload-untill-getting-lucky fight was the Chess Board [i don't consider the Iron Throne battle too hard since the party knows what they will be facing and will be able to buff]. Is this even doable without prebuffing? It takes the Knight, Rooks and Pawns about 2 seconds to kill me 100 HP, -8 AC protagonist. The only way I was able to survive was to do maximum buffing, including quaffing potions of Freedom and Insulation, cast Web ASAP to trap most of the enemy pieces. Then use Kagain to take care of the Rooks, while my protagonist was pounded upon. When she was almost dead Eldoth or Quayle cast Otiluke's Sphere on her. I used Summoned Monster on the King and only attacked him after his defences were down. A thouroghly *brutal* fight, since the pieces move so fast that they usually surround CHARNAME before the mages can cast their spells.

I never tried it without prebuffing, but I think it's doable. My standard tactic, which should work regardless of buffs, was to nuke the center of the board with 5 between fireballs, oils of fiery burning, potions of explosions and wand of fire blasts, and summon a batch of skeletons or monsters soon after. After that, it's pretty much another run-of-the-mill fight against the almost dead Queen and the King.

[DavidW]

I second the Silke bit. I too feel very strongly that the basic aspects of the game shouldn't be messed with, but giving Silke a good script makes her absolutely overwhelming at that early stage of the game. I was forced to come back a few levels later and she was still a challenge. Plus, as it is it makes Garrick unrecruitable until much later.

 

Question: are people who are struggling with Silke playing with mage prebuffs activated? Silke has those turned off in v14 but I'm not sure if that's a sufficient nerf.

[Guest!]

I had full prebuffing on.

[StrixO]

I second the Silke bit. I too feel very strongly that the basic aspects of the game shouldn't be messed with, but giving Silke a good script makes her absolutely overwhelming at that early stage of the game. I was forced to come back a few levels later and she was still a challenge. Plus, as it is it makes Garrick unrecruitable until much later.

 

Question: are people who are struggling with Silke playing with mage prebuffs activated? Silke has those turned off in v14 but I'm not sure if that's a sufficient nerf.

 

I played her in v13, and while at first it was a shock (it was my first SCS playthrough and first mage in SCS), I beat her after a couple tries. Prebuffs on. I have no problem leaving her for later, though it means I can't get Garrick and therefore can't give him to Shoal. That's what he's good for, right? I don't think she needs to be nerfed anymore than she has in v14, though I wonder why she needs a band of adventurers to dispatch three guys when she is clearly more than capable?