assassin hunting groups get lost

[phordicus]

love the idea but the implementation isn't working.

 

after arriving at the map just south of Candlekeep, i noticed this blue-circled fella named Drakar following me around. he had nothing to say and even watched me kill Droth. my curiosity piqued (and my memory cobwebbed) i bailed and went to NI to see who this guy was. of course, he's one of the groups of assassins set to spawn randomly in Chapter 3 instead of being fixed (i think this group was previously south in the Gullykin map).

 

anyway, long story short: there's many ways this setup can be irreparably broken -- mostly involving the one that initiates the dialog and sets them to hostile -- such as immediately leaving their just-spawned-into map or spawning onto impassable terrain which prevents them from moving to the PC.

 

i suggest going BG2-style and putting these spawns into the random encounter scripts instead of baldur.bcs. you also get the bonus of being able to place them exactly where you want them vis-a-vis the PCs.

[DavidW]

I haven't actually heard of it breaking before (I've always known it was possible, it's just a matter of how likely). On the other hand, that "random encounter" idea is pretty interesting, I might do it that way anyway.

[Dermit]

I would like that much better as well. I've had it happen before where the hunters don't show, or where they pop up in an unsuitable location (sometimes blocking some of them from appearing), or just a place where it terribly unbalances an encounter (try the bandit camp with the hunters thrown in!).

[Salk]

I second Dermit.

[10thLich]

With the current implementation of

~SETUP-SCS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Relocated bounty hunters

you'll have the problem that sometimes not all bounty hunters spawn, because their group leaders initiate dialogue too fast.

 

I solved it on my end by moving the creation of Molkar and Lamalha to the bottom of the corresponding spawn blocks.

 

10th

[novisionary]

I have always had to reload more than once to get them to spawn properly.

Change them to be random encounters please!

[DrAzTiK]

Now I also rembember having problem about bounty hunters spawn properly too.

[Shaitan]

Now I also rembember having problem about bounty hunters spawn properly too.

Once in a while I too got my troubles, but it was mendable with a reload.

[Guest!]

I second Dermit.

Thirded. More often than not there's some quirk with the bounty hounters, ie some of them not spawning.

[DavidW]

I'm fairly thoroughly persuaded that this isn't working well in practice. The "random encounter" suggestion from phordicus is probably the best solution.

[Guest!]

A nice side effect of the current implementation is that enemy placement is random and the battle can occur in any area. It adds a layer of variety and improvisation which I think is worth trying to keep, should you decide to rework the encounters.

[phordicus]

i had to add an extra variable to the random encounter ARs (5600-6000?) so that the normal spawns wouldn't occur when an ambush does, but being able to CreateCreature("ass",[343.776],12) and actually put them in ambush positions around the party is pretty damn sweet.

 

this also presents the opportunity to work in the other assassin encounters (what's-his-face at the FAI, the cleric in the Nashkel inn, and Nimbul outside the same #^^#%#% inn) if you wanted to. personally, i prefer randomness within a reasonable range rather than restrictive yet rational placements as long as the order and triggering events aren't ignored.