Version 24(BETA) of Sword Coast Stratagems released

[DrAzTiK]

1 - It looks like Sarevok doesn't have and doesn't drink potions? His fighting script is very basic and I think he doesn't benefit from Smarter general AI script.

 

For some tests, I have added some potions in his inventory and also add the script DW2MC0BE (in default script)to him but he still cannot drink potions. Can you tell me what could be the problem ?

 

2 - Semaj doesn't have a prebuff routine! I use option 4 of smarter mage component.

 

3- Bears in wild area are neutral. Is it vanilla behavior? It doesn't look very realistic Imo. Bears are territorial animals and surely should be agressive if you walk around.

 

 

 

 

4 -Except some fights you have improved, Durlag tower remain a walk in the park with tons of ammunitions, potions and weapons. It looks like the Durlag Tower is not affected by the

Remove unrealistically convenient ammunition from the game (BG2/BGT)component.

 

5 - The limon you fight in ARD010 (cre: JEELSPA).. should be vulnerable only to fire , as in vanilla. He got the following script.

IF

HitBy([ANYONE],FIRE)

NumTimesTalkedTo(0)

THEN

RESPONSE #100

SetNumTimesTalkedTo(1)

SetGlobal("DMWWFissionBurn","GLOBAL",1)

END

 

The limon is not immune only to fire, and the fact that you don't hit or kill this creature with fire make impossible to be teleported to the chess game.

 

 

6- The death knight is quite pathetic. It looks like he's not improved by the Improved Fiends (BG2/BGT) component. Currently, there is no benefit from breaking the mirror considering clones are very difficult oponents with SCS scrips.

 

 

This fight should be redesign a little bit. Just some idea but first I would put the vanilla concept of the broken mirror to the bin. Second : the death knight should always use the mirror against us and/or dare to fight himself only if all clones are destroyed or if the party have charism/widom enough to convince him to fight by himself without using the mirror.

 

 

7- doppleganger are weak. There are hasted and use mirror image but they never hit considering low thac0. They remain a very poor challenge.

[DavidW]

Most of this I can't reply quickly to, but a couple of fast points:

 

(i) Neutral bears are vanilla behaviour, unchanged in SCS. Having been within 20 feet of a bear in the wild, I can testify that this is realistic!

(ii) I don't change plot features for AI reasons, so I don't want to change the broken mirror concept.

 

[Jarno Mikkola]

Currently, there is no benefit from breaking the mirror considering clones are very difficult oponents with SCS scrips.

 

This fight should be redesign a little bit. Just some idea but first I would put the vanilla concept of the broken mirror to the bin. Second : the death knight should always use the mirror against us and/or dare to fight himself only if all clones are destroyed or if the party have charism/widom enough to convince him to fight by himself without using the mirror.

Erhm, my opinion is that the mirror should actually make the fight easier for the player, not much, but some. And it should only be usable by the player, and the effect should have a range so the characters on the other side of the map are not duplicated.

The fact is, yes, the demon knight needs to be better... one way to do this is to force the player to use the mirror... as you could make the knight have automated clone or more which get dispelled when the player smashes the mirror which releases the real knight, it also summons the others clones of course, but as those should fight as a group against thing else, it should make the fight actually easier, especially if the demon knight doesn't get a new clone of itself every minute... but what ever.

[kreso]

1 - It looks like Sarevok doesn't have and doesn't drink potions? His fighting script is very basic and I think he doesn't benefit from Smarter general AI script.

I agree, it's weird that he never heals up. He does benefit from AI script, I think.

 

2 - Semaj doesn't have a prebuff routine! I use option 4 of smarter mage component.

I use 1 (full prebuff in BG1&2) and he starts invisible, and walks towards the party.

 

3- Bears are territorial animals and surely should be agressive if you walk around.

No, they wouldn't. From bear.org: " The 750,000 black bears of North America kill less than one person per year on the average".

If anything, they're much more aggressive than they (in reality) are - there's no chance a bear will aproach a group of 5-6 people, let alone attack them.

 

6- The death knight is quite pathetic. It looks like he's not improved by the Improved Fiends (BG2/BGT) component. Currently, there is no benefit from breaking the mirror considering clones are very difficult oponents with SCS scrips.

I agree. Breaking the mirror will, quite possibly, get you killed. Demon, otoh, is really weak.

 

 

7- doppleganger are weak. There are hasted and use mirror image but they never hit considering low thac0. They remain a very poor challenge.

Have you fought the Duchal Palace battle? With dopel assassin, shaman and mage? That's one of the hardest fights in the game imo.

[DavidW]

7- doppleganger are weak. There are hasted and use mirror image but they never hit considering low thac0. They remain a very poor challenge.

Have you fought the Duchal Palace battle? With dopel assassin, shaman and mage? That's one of the hardest fights in the game imo.

Cool, I think that's the first feedback I've had about that encounter.

[Jarno Mikkola]

2 - Semaj doesn't have a prebuff routine! I use option 4 of smarter mage component.

I use 1 (full prebuff in BG1&2) and he starts invisible, and walks towards the party.

That default invisibility spell is not a prebuff, as it's in the vanilla BG1 too, yes, the character is created invisible by default, there.

 

Duchal Palace battle?

I remember that fight from the vanilla BG1 and the only hard thing aboutit was the fact that you had to keep both of the dukes alive during the fight, and it took me more than 3 goes usually, so the SCS should try to avoid that, if anything.

[kreso]

Duchal Palace battle?

remember that fight from the vanilla BG1 and the only hard thing aboutit was the fact that;you had to keep both of the dukes alive during the fight, and it took me more than 3 goes usually, so the SCS should try to avoid that, if anything.

The problem here is keeping all your party non-confused, given the items/levels available at this point - an option is to use potions, but those are so rare... If any PC attacks a friendly target (and it will happen with a high probability if they're confused, given that there are 15+ friendly Flaming Fist and nobles) it's game-over screen, since dukes go hostile. Unholy Blights and 40 damage backstabs don't help as well considering that your primary goal is keeping dukes alive. The female one usually dies, male is a bit more resilient it seems.

 

Cool, I think that's the first feedback I've had about that encounter.

It's a rather challenging encounter for no-reload games, and, from my experience, definitely harder than Sarevok finale - here you can't exactly stay invisible to heal up - you're forced to fight.

[DrAzTiK]

The final battle is really nice but could be a little be more difficult. The fact that we save and use many potions/scolls/wands for this last battle make the fight too much easy In my opinion.

 

I thought about a component that could make the battle quite funny and more difficult. Considering it's the last battle in BG1, we could add some great equipement to the whole sarevok team without worry too much about the balance. ^^.

 

Let's give to Tazok a special +2 two handed sword, plate armor, ring,boots, bracer etc...Same for Semak, Angelo, Diarmid.

 

And yes, please allow Sarevok to drink potions.

 

 

7- doppleganger are weak. There are hasted and use mirror image but they never hit considering low thac0. They remain a very poor challenge.

Have you fought the Duchal Palace battle? With dopel assassin, shaman and mage? That's one of the hardest fights in the game imo.

Really nice fight yes. I suppose the main problem about others Doppelgangers si that they ofen fight alone against a party of 6 characters...

[kreso]

I'd say final battle difficulty is fine as it is. It's not Ascension by any means, but if you don't want to exploit

invisibility/boots of speed + haste/dispeling arrows and similar stuff you're in for a world of hurt, regardless of your potions. If Sarevok had "Invisibility detection via script" enabled and boots of speed were fixed (so they don't stack with haste) my bet is people would complain it's too hard.

 

I suppose the main problem about others Doppelgangers si that they ofen fight alone against a party of 6 characters...

That, and the fact you can obtain around -7, -8 AC by the end-game. That's out of reach for most of enemies you encounter.

[Jarno Mikkola]

That, and the fact you can obtain around -7, -8 AC by the end-game. That's out of reach for most of enemies you encounter.

Stop using the non-vanilla equipment and spells you get from the Revisions mods and you won't get a party of 6 with that high AC/invulnerability for each... just saying. And you know, you could try and actually do more than 1 encounter per rest.

[kreso]

That, and the fact you can obtain around -7, -8 AC by the end-game. That's out of reach for most of enemies you encounter.

Stop using the non-vanilla equipment and spells you get from the Revisions mods and you won't get a party of 6 with that high AC/invulnerability for each... just saying. And you know, you could try and actually do more than 1 encounter per rest.

That's without IR/SR or any buffs/+x ring stacking. Full Plate, +1 shield, +1 helmet, +2 ring, Claw of Kazargoth, -4 for 18 dex.

-7, or -8 with Invulnerabilty/Defense potion. And you don't need -7/-8 on everybody, I never said that.

IR/SR allows for lower, not like it's needed apart Sarevok.

[DavidW]

I am if anything inclined to think that the last battle is slightly too difficult - I certainly haven't found that that balance of feedback is that it should become harder. One of the things I'm very keen to avoid doing with SCS is getting into an arms race of making it more and more difficult as super-skilled players get the hang of its existing features. That just makes it inaccessible to casual players. (Also, making the last battle of a game in particular too difficult can be a mistake - at that point, you're keen to get to the dramatic finale, and slowing it down too much by repeated reloads can break the drama. Ascension has this to some extent.)

[Jarno Mikkola]

And you don't need -7/-8 on everybody, I never said that.

Erhm ha, the invulnerability comes far from the actual potion, as that's just not even a good option, depending on the enemy type... say you have normal wolves, orcs, ogres etc, just Protection from Normal Weapons takes care of all of them for a mage. Improved Invisibility does too most of the time. etc. Clerics+ sanctuary + undead...

 

But to the arms you said, you do understand that the Claw is expensive and not all of its effects are good, and the fact that Minsc only has Dex of 15... so you will be lacking the AC of 3-4 even still in most cases.

Yes, I used Minsc as the typical party member...

 

And I applause DavidW's approach to the Arms Race thing.

[Demivrgvs]

That, and the fact you can obtain around -7, -8 AC by the end-game. That's out of reach for most of enemies you encounter.

Stop using the non-vanilla equipment and spells you get from the Revisions mods and you won't get a party of 6 with that high AC/invulnerability for each...

That's without IR/SR or any buffs/+x ring stacking. Full Plate, +1 shield, +1 helmet, +2 ring, Claw of Kazargoth, -4 for 18 dex.

-7, or -8 with Invulnerabilty/Defense potion. And you don't need -7/-8 on everybody, I never said that.

IR/SR allows for lower, not like it's needed apart Sarevok.

Short story: is there something I should do?

 

Long story:

* When it comes to IR, full plate actually loses 3 points of AC (because of DEX penalties), and I'm surely not raising items enchantment levels. I'm aware shields are much more effective within IR (e.g. using a large shield you can regain 2 points of AC), but I might not be aware of some potential uber combination with items like the Shield Amulet and such. If I'm missing something help me out rebalancing it.

* Regarding SR instead, my intentions were to give spellcasters a chance to temporarily raise their own AC as a possible alternative to the obvious defensive trio (MI, Stoneskin & PfMW), I did not wanted to provide ways to boost the AC of an entire party beyond absurd levels. Is there any spell (e.g. Barkskin progression might be lowered or slowed), or spell combination which could cause such an issue?

[kreso]

I am if anything inclined to think that the last battle is slightly too difficult

I'd say it's balanced, leaning a bit on "easy" side. I wouldn't chnage it much (apart Sarevok healing up and is invulnerable until you kill skeletons). Oh yeah, and adding a cleric in the mix. Just for Zone of Sweet Air if nothing else.

 

...slowing it down too much by repeated reloads can break the drama. Ascension has this to some extent.

True. Ascension is imo a slightly different thing - it's the "real epic end" (I play BGT), and your party members are pretty Godlike in terms of what they can do - for me, the breaking point of the game is when a mage gets HLA's - Alacrity, Planetar and Comet/DB.

 

Protection from Normal Weapons takes care of all of them for a mage. Improved Invisibility does too most of the time. etc. Clerics+ sanctuary + undead...

I tought we're discussing BG1....you ain't getting PfNM castings that easy there (and it won't help vs Sarevok anyway). A simple casting of Invisibility or a potion which does the same thing keep you safe for 99% of game, and it lasts for 8 hours. Is it OP? Yes, since it makes stealth completely redundant (why bother with skill checks if I can stay invisible even after I rest?) and enemies can't handle it.

 

Claw is expensive and not all of its effects are good

Money isn't the problem in BG1 (after all, you get a 9K (!!!!!) worth ring while at level 1, and another 9K in BG). Not all of Claw's effects are good, but the good ones > bad ones.

 

And I applause DavidW's approach to the Arms Race thing.

Agreed. If would be cool if each SCS player had a little DavidW (like a hamster or something similar ) to mod for his preferences however.

 

Long story:

* When it comes to IR, full plate actually loses 3 points of AC (because of DEX penalties), and I'm surely not raising items enchantment levels. I'm aware shields are much more effective within IR (e.g. using a large shield you can regain 2 points of AC), but I might not be aware of some potential uber combination with items like the Shield Amulet and such. If I'm missing something help me out rebalancing it.

The best armor in BG1 is aquired in the very end - Tamoko's Full Plate +1. It doesn't get any better than that within IR (I allow for 1 +x ring to be worn with enchanted armor). Large shields are indeed much better (and they should be) however THAC0 in BG1 is generally pathetic - you see fights going on and on where everybody keeps missing their target constantly (or until a mage blasts them), so the trade-off is imo fine. You essentialy get an uber-ac character which has trouble hitting anything unless heavily buffed.

Using Large Shield on levels 1-3 usually ends in disasters - you can't hit anything with decent armor and will still get hit for 5% of time.

Shield Amulet, Ankheg Plate, +1 Large shield, magical helemet, +2 ring or any similar combination (add girdle of slashing/blunt/piercing) do keep you quite safe from everything excluding Drizzt and Sarevok - and even they will miss very often. Barkskin/def.harmony on top allows for about -17 or so, with extra modifiers vs specific. Blades can hit the cap if they want (nothing to do with IR)

Arrows never hit such a character, apart criticals, but it has nothing to do with IR as well (tested).

 

* Regarding SR instead, my intentions were to give spellcasters a chance to temporarily raise their own AC as a possible alternative to the obvious defensive trio (MI, Stoneskin & PfMW), I did not wanted to provide ways to boost the AC of an entire party beyond absurd levels. Is there any spell (e.g. Barkskin progression might be lowered or slowed), or spell combination which could cause such an issue?

I warned you about Barkskin. What you might consider is reverting back to "old" barkskin - to set AC (starts at 6, ends at 1) instead of +x to AC. What I had in mind is "druid version of Spirit Armor". For higher levels, you might assign a small(5) elemental protection as well (as opossed to Spirit Armor's + vs spell). It would be of great use for buffing thieves/rangers/druids etc. and you can keep it's fast progression as well.