Discusion: Improved Anvil v6.2 Enhanced Edition released

[kreso]

Is it still incompatible with everything 98% of the mods or has something been done about compatibility?

 

P.S.

 

Are the "anti-cheat" baldur.bcs hacks still on-line or is there still some faith in humanity?

Will player be killed should his XP go above limit, or enters certain areas under Time Stop?

 

Congratulations anyhow.

[CamDawg]

Split from original topic--the IE modding news forum is strictly for mod announcements.

[critto]

I might as well post here what I've sent to Kreso via PM. We've conversed a bit on various subjects already. However, in case somebody else is interested in answers to the questions above.

 

Is it still incompatible with everything 98% of the mods or has something been done about compatibility?

 

It is still incompatible. There's lots of hardcoded stuff, it was too much work to deal with realistically before IAv6.2. A major overhaul is planned for v7. However, IA would remain conceptually incompatible with many large mods such as SR, IR, SCS, subtledoctor's numerous mods and so on. There's no sense in combining them with IA, the result would be ridiculous and broken game. The mod has its own approach to balance and it does not include mixing with the other "global" mods.

It could be attempted to taught to play well with smaller mods (NPCs, etc.) and I will cooperate in such efforts to a limited degree, but any results (bugs, broken balance, etc.) won't be addressed in the mod's distribution. The concept of all-or-nothing, relatively-bug-free experience remains core concept for IA.

But things may change, who knows. If a modder would be willing to work on adapting a mod to work together with IA in terms of in-game balance (maybe, tuning the mod character's stats and so on), I'd be all for it.

Are the "anti-cheat" baldur.bcs hacks still on-line or is there still some faith in humanity?

Baldur.bcs stuff still remains. In IAv7.0 there simply will be no UAI. Or time stop, for that matter. I find both things conceptually broken and intend to eradicate them from the game inside the scope of IA. There will be other things to employ for players instead of those. With those gone, all other crutches such as anti-TS scripting or anti-UAI code will be gone as well, to lighten the mod up.

I will probably also remove the "cheat in the item with CLUA console" stuff since it's pointless anyway. If the player knows how to clua in an item, he can go one step further and figure out how to clua in the appropriate variable that is checked inside the baldur.bcs, it's no rocket science.

Will player be killed should his XP go above limit, or enters certain areas under Time Stop?

No, he won't. I've removed all that stuff. I find it pointless, unnecessary and even demeaning at that point. People are way more knowledgeable at this point about internals of the game to be fooled by all this. If somebody wants to find a way to cheat or cheese the system, he'll do it.

Conceptually, IA will continue to prevent ways of winning that involve abusing the engine or limitations of AI (mostly, various guerilla tactics such as running around and shooting monsters, firing spells off-screen and so on). But there will be no insta-kills, etc.

I want to present interesting new concepts instead. I have a fun new idea about bringing back ranged weapons, with a completely new approach that would allow for return of ranged specialists while keeping their "overpoweredness" in check.

The game will remain balanced for all people who play inside the conceptual framework presented by the mod, i.e. with well-rounded, full parties. Those who want to play solo, or with three sorcerers or six bards or whatever can do so. But the readme states clearly that the game might turn out to be horribly unbalanced (too easy or too tough) and that's on them. I will not attempt to balance it out for such marginal cases. But it is no reason to deprive people from having fun.

[lynx]

Interesting, did the original authors back down or something?

[bob_veng]

There are many mechanical tweaks in this mod that don't have a realistic excuse in the setting: Why can't the monks use Boots of Speed? Why does the Ring of Human Influence require CHA=9? Why is the Cloak of Bravery not usable by paladins or rangers?

 

It all has appropriate mechanical excuses but it's completely arbitrary from a worldbuilding standpoint. I must say i seriously dislike any mod or any game that does this to such a great extent, it's not conducive to roleplaying. A balance must be struck somewhere when optimizing the rules - mechanics can't trump everything.

[critto]

2 lynx:

 

 

Interesting, did the original authors back down or something?

A long time ago, due to RL issues. The last original release (6.0) is still available at BWL, however, for those who prefer it. A new major version was in the works a couple of years ago, but the progress halted.

IA:EE is more of an expansion on the ideas of the original mod and eventually it will be transformed into something new, if time and personal interest allow me to continue. I do not intend to ship it under the same "brand" forever, it would be disingenuous of me since my vision of what the mod should be is quite different from that of the original author.

 

2 bob_veng:

I am not aware of many reasons why these or any other changes were applied to the mod. It's been around for a long time and I took part only in a small part of the actual development process back when it was in active development. Tweaks to Boots of Speed are probably mechanical. I might as well remove it in the next version since it will have no effect on the class whatsoever. Cloak of Bravery has evil nature, judging by its description. Thus, the rationalisation would probably be that a character with strong moral standards would not find it acceptable to wear this item. It might as well be restricted to evil characters. And I honestly have no idea about Ring of Human Influence.

 

I understand why you dislike it, but IA is generally not a good way to spend time for those people who prefer role-playing aspects of the game. The only players who play IA usually do it for the challenge it provides. Everyone decides for him- or herself if this is something he or she likes.

[kreso]

Why can't the monks use Boots of Speed?

They haste the user, since Monks are haste-immune, it's irrelevant. Mind you, it's a far better solution then Fixpack or Baldurdash - it prevents warp speed movement. Unfortunately, even EEs didn't fix this uber-cheese boots. Anvil's solution is imo perfect with tools at disposal.

 

 

Why does the Ring of Human Influence require CHA=9? Why is the Cloak of Bravery not usable by paladins or rangers?

Ring probably requires min CHA since rolling a character with CHA=3 and giving him a ring that makes him as charismatic as Moses isn't really roleplaying. I prefer Item Revisions tweak to such items (they add, not set).

 

Cloak is "stiched from skin of nymphs". Frankly, I'd make it unusable by all good-aligned characters (as critto said above), similar to Human Skin armor.

[Fiann of the Silver Hand]

There are many mechanical tweaks in this mod that don't have a realistic excuse in the setting...

It all has appropriate mechanical excuses but it's completely arbitrary from a worldbuilding standpoint. I must say i seriously dislike any mod or any game that does this to such a great extent, it's not conducive to roleplaying. A balance must be struck somewhere when optimizing the rules - mechanics can't trump everything.

We are talking about the Forgotten Realms here, where the cosmology is a slap-dash of "it's magic" or "it was in a book". There's hardly anything in the setting that isn't arbitrary. Armies with +3 weapons, gods routinely killed and replaced, making up new mechanics and stories to cover up why the current mechanics and stories can't make sense.

[critto]

2 Arthas:

 

can I say that the mod seems to be tailored too much to certain classes? I saw some items specifically designed for necromancers and I don't know how to feel, given that I wasn't able to find any items for other classes..

 

Some classes were specifically designed to have new content (quests, challenges) and rewards. The long-term plan was to expand the mod to add novelties for each or, at least, many playable classes. The expansion of the druid stronghold is in the works right now (and has been for a long time). The work was never completed. I still have sketches of ideas for paladin and cleric protagonists. Everything may eventually find its way into the game, or it may not. We'll see.

 

 

I also saw some weapons designed for good aligned people,

but none for evil aligned people. Ehm... ?

 

See above. Adding lots of new stuff for everybody was not a priority when the mod was originally developed. Sikret, the original author, worked according to his preferences and vision. Evil-aligned parties weren't the first on the list of his priorities. There's also a practical reason. Stuff was never added just for the sake of it (even if it seems that way for some players), everything was tested scrupulously. It still is, even though the resources I have are incredibly small compared to what we've had in the past. Having lots of new content meant spreading out whatever limited time a few testers had. Once again, eventually this might be adjusted. Some steps were taken even in the recently released 6.2.

[critto]

Thank you for the offer and words of encouragement. However, if you have never played IA before I would suggest that you try to complete a play-through first and see if that's your cup of tea. IA is not an "easy" mod. We try to test everything exhaustively to minimise bugs, that requires a lot of effort from people. For those who don't enjoy playing it and making it better, the whole thing would be a complete waste of time.

 

Regarding the new quests and such, there are two main issues:

1) come up with interesting content (plot, story, etc.) and fun, challenging fights that go along with it;

2) willingness to test it.

 

Implementation is mostly a technical task and could be handled without any problem or external assistance. Testing too, even though it's a lot of work But if you feel like sketching out a structure or a concept for a couple of quests or any other custom content, it would be welcome.

[critto]

Necromancer or ranger (preferably, Vagrant) if you want to see maximum content. Tips and general advice on party composition are listed in the readme as well. IA encourages a different approach compared to what you might be used to in SCS, especially if you've played solo a lot. I wouldn't recommend playing solo, better go with full party for optimum balance and difficulty.

 

 

 

What about the new content? You want a story, and then you are gonna execute it, or you want also the dialogues? I could come up with an idea or two for a story or whatever. You tell me what you want and I could try using my creativity.

I'd start with the concept and/or general idea. If it's interesting, has potential for good tactical content and fits into the mod's overall atmosphere only then I'd move onto something more concrete (writing, etc.).

[critto]

I'd recommend having a six-person party. Nalia is a good choice even if it's just for chapters 2-3. I'd say she's even better than Jan long-term, if your personal preference allows. Alternatively, grab another fighter (Valygar or Korgan), it'll make encounters easier during the early game.

[DrizztDoUriziel]

Vagrant can get his 19 constitution during character creation part, you simply can put 19 instead of 18 points to constitution.

 

Many major fights in IA won't allow you to run away, you simply have to stand your ground if you started a battle.

[critto]

Thjank you for the tip, but I can't get nalia for now because I doubt I can do her quest. I started doing the slave quest. When I reach the beastmaster I noticed that at the entrace of the entire area there is an invisible wall so I can't lure tabitha away from the beastmaster. What kind of treachery is this?

There's an extra time delay for Nalia's and Korgan's quests due to improved difficulty. Overall, you can always go to De'Arnise and clean out the first floor, at the very least. It's not seriously improved, but will stop her from bothering you.

 

As for the Beastmaster, do you mean the exit outside from CC or that specific cell area where Beastmaster hangs out? There's opportunity for tactical manoeuvring with Tabitha while you're still inside CC, but the exits are generally blocked off when in combat. That's one of those very controversial features of IA (prevention of guerilla tactics) that people either love or hate.

 

 

ah beside, I'm not getting the vagrant +1 to constitution. When are you supposed to get it?

 

What Drizzt has said. You set it at character creation. It's fairly simple to add it even after the game has started. In case you're interested, I'll advise you.

[DrizztDoUriziel]

1. It's better not to use shadow keeper. Less invasive way is to CLUAConsole manual that gives +1 constitution.

 

2. IA is really hard and custom characters have those 18 or 19 stats + max HP(most players turn level bar to easiest before leveling), which makes them really powerful compared to NPC you can join. However some NPC(like Valygar and Cernd, it seems that 6.2 also makes others more usable, like Jaheira or Mazzy) have powerful item upgrades for their personal items to balance the fact that they have worse stats/HP. All in all - using NPCs is a good idea at the moment, just look at readme(part "for new players" -> "BioWare NPCs")

 

3. Multiclass: true, you won't really get anywhere with multiclasses. They progress too slow, gain HLA slower(they must reach higher EXP to get them) and lack some HLAs too(multi F/M won't get improved alacrity, F/T won't get UAI probably and such). I've only seen multi R/C being fairly useful. BTW it seems that Jan has been turned to T/I dual class in 6.2.

 

4. Clerics: R/C or B/C are extremely overpowered compared to pure clerics, Viconia has poor stats, can't get more than 4APR with dual wield and does not have these powerful spells that R/C has or rage from B/C, which makes her pretty much useless sadly. Let's hope this will change in IAX.Y