IA v6 Final

[Saros]

Got it, that sounds about right. No clue if it's intentional that Cromwell should be sealed if you give the blade back... my hunch is that this isn't intentional (since giving the blade back is largely the "good" thing to do, despite Kruin's trash talk, and "good" paths are overwhelmingly rewarded in this mod). Of course, sealing Cromwell's shop before this encounter also has no logical connection either, so who knows.

 

My .02... should have Kruin mention something about threatening Cromwell and saying Kruin will kill him if he offers to build PC anything, as long as PC has the blade. Cromwell doesn't have much fighting prowess so he caves to the threat and skips town just to be safe. Fight Kruin, or give him the blade, and he rescinds his threat and Cromwell comes back and you can head into the shop.

 

Wouldn't have had this issue if I had my dual back by then (even a level 13 dual to mage would have been, with plenty of time to spare), as I wouldn't have had much issue with this fight. But good to know.

 

BTW, two things to note. One is you can buff in the temples in the Temple District (most likely in Lathander as due to Multiple Strongholds you're allowed to rest in there too). Kruin only shows up near the center of the map. The other is that if you run inside the temple mid-fight, Kruin won't follow you, but when you come back out, he'll gate in two more Elemental Golems. No idea if this happens when you go area-to-area like you mentioned as well.

 

My idea is that Cromwell's shop closure is an unintentional IA bug, since Sikret obviously never ever even considered the idea of someone just giving away the blade to Kruin and not fighting one of his hardest improved battles.

 

Yeah I know about buffing inside a temple, but didn't know that Kruin gates in additional elemental golems. Another IA bug obviously.

 

Further testing shows (just made a no-reload video) that in fact Kruin isn't the one responsible for the bug - his elemental golems are! I met Kruin in Tethyr forest, managed to separate him from his 2 golems and kill him and his minor gith. Looted everything and ran away. Tried to go to Cromwell but entrance was sealed. Returned 3 times to the Forest until all minor golems were slain, dealt with the 2 Elemental golems last, and then went back to Cromwell to see that his door has been unsealed.

[mikel123]

One of his hardest battles? Weren't you giving me shit for skipping this "not-so-very-hard" battle a few days ago?

[Saros]

One of his hardest battles? Weren't you giving me shit for skipping this "not-so-very-hard" battle a few days ago?

 

Well, if you intend to fight it with your party composition and at your levels of exiting Underdark, it's one of the hardest. If you prolong the fight up until you have enough HLAs and crucial spells, it's not.

[mikel123]

Demi-lich imprisoned one party member but was otherwise a speed bump. Saladrex fell easily to melee and insects.

 

Level 5 Grave Lich/Grandlord trap was a first-try. Killed the Grandlords and just beat on the liches until they ran out of protections and died.

 

Bone golem/Elemental golem trap was simple as well. Got, I dunno, 15 summons out of the elemental golems.

 

Next up is the globe machine thing, the orc horde and the ancient dragon (who has the items I need to forge upgraded Crom and Dragon halberd). I think I'll wait until ToB when I can buy some +3 flails to upgrade the Defender of Easthaven. I'm low on permanency scrolls and don't feel like wasting two on that.

[Saros]

Yes well, I prefer having FoDaW for the Orcus fight. Seeing you went past that, there's no need to rush it. Plus you're not only saving Permanency scrolls, but also gold (15 k per +3 flail).

 

15 is little. On this level I have 4 Elemental Golems, so it's 24 total. Each Elemental golem gates in 6 additional minor golems over time.

 

Probably Uzuno's blade is inside Globe's machine. Try the Red globes.

 

You don't really need Dragon Lord halberd until Draconis and Abazigal, and even there it's not a must. You really need it for the last fight, EDE, where it grants immunity to Dragon Breath spell used by the Prince and his noble Rakshasas (don't rely on ProFire, the Prince is scripted to Lower Fire Resistance).

 

BTW did you fight the Demon Lord? He's in the NE corner of the Watcher's keep outskirts. Careful! I prefer having 30-level arcane casters here to dispel his protections effectively, otherwise the fight can turn very nasty.

[mikel123]

Yeah, I didn't bother waiting for all minor golems to be gated in. That would have gotten nasty pretty quickly, and I didn't want to do the go-outside-and-rest thing.

 

I CTRL-Q'ed the Ancient Dragon to see his stats, and thought he had the blade. Will double check... the globes sound easier.than the ancient dragon, so maybe will try those first.

[isleepwithfucking goats]

This thread still going 3 years later. I lol

 

Now one must be distinuished player to leak the next version xD

[mikel123]

Orc Horde was very difficult (failed the first two tries) until I realized they gated in based on how many were currently there... not some independent timer. Slaughtering them like I was originally doing was against my best interests. At that point, it was just a matter of keeping them unconscious and running out the clock (60 rounds).

[mikel123]

Amusingly, if you didn't want to go the Emotion route, I wonder if you could just run the original 10 out of ammo. Kill the non-archers until ultimately you have 10 archers, and then just refresh stoneskins and AC-lowering spells and regeneration until they run out of their allotted (40 I think) arrows. Would be amusing...

[Saros]

Amusingly, if you didn't want to go the Emotion route, I wonder if you could just run the original 10 out of ammo. Kill the non-archers until ultimately you have 10 archers, and then just refresh stoneskins and AC-lowering spells and regeneration until they run out of their allotted (40 I think) arrows. Would be amusing...

 

However, since it's random, it's also possible that only mages will replace the dead ones...which is highly unpleasant. Stick to the Emotion plan, it's safer. There is an even safer variant, but it requires a mage protagonist.

 

This thread still going 3 years later. I lol

 

Now one must be distinuished player to leak the next version xD

 

Yeah and we keep discovering stuff. Even today I found something new and greatly xp-rewarding. BTW how is distinguished player recognized? From what I've seen posted on BWL forums as walkthrougs, most of them (except one, and i don't mean Sikret) can't play on a serious level...still, some good info can be obtained from each of them

[mikel123]

The Orc Mages always spawn with Fireshield Blue, so it's easy to Protection from Cold beforehand and ignore that. I didn't find them too bad at all, they never lasted more than two rounds (basically one stoneskin to deplete).

 

Having 10 orc archers at once could be trouble, but I think it would be doable with the right contingencies set. And/or try to have them trained on a potioned riskbreaker with -20 AC.

[mikel123]

Not sure how you escape the level during the globe machine fight(s). Just finished the red globes and it wouldn't let me exit while the fight was going on. Fight wasn't too bad... can someone remind me what the deal is with these globes? IIRC, you put one of each color into that color's pillar and then click on the floor to get a key. But the text when I clicked on the floor said something about some globes being useful, some being useless, etc.

 

Figure I'll drain the globe machine fights (good experience) before trying the Ancient Dragon. He looks tough!

[Distinguished Player]

Man these are some badass tips maybe now I'll be able to get past those goblins in Chateau Irenicus! Thanks guys!

[Saros]

Not sure how you escape the level during the globe machine fight(s). Just finished the red globes and it wouldn't let me exit while the fight was going on. Fight wasn't too bad... can someone remind me what the deal is with these globes? IIRC, you put one of each color into that color's pillar and then click on the floor to get a key. But the text when I clicked on the floor said something about some globes being useful, some being useless, etc.

 

Figure I'll drain the globe machine fights (good experience) before trying the Ancient Dragon. He looks tough!

 

Have yet to reach that location in my current run. Probably it's because that only my mages are occupied in a fight, and all other characters stay safely behind that the exit portal is opened to me. One character is enough to click on the exit portal and we're all out (no matter if someone's completely surrounded by golems at that point).

[mikel123]

Have you gotten here in v6 yet? Based on the coding of other areas that shut off exits, I can't imagine that is the proper explanation. Areas are treated as a whole (with the exception of spawning monsters within certain spots, Kruin, etc.) and the variables tend to kick in when the fight begins. I haven't looked precisely at this script (I'd guess it might actually be the longest script of any area in the game, given the amount of stuff on this level) to know for sure though.