v35 comments / questions (report a bug in a new topic, not here)

[polytope]

20 hours ago, boof said:

It's not even the lack of apr, it's just seeing that he cast harm means taking a brief time out until it expires.

Some players consider running away from an NPC who's just used a dangerous spell or ability (Harm, Assassination, Greater Whirlwind) to waste it a bit exploitative.

I'm not going to say I never do it myself.

39 minutes ago, DavidW said:

I'm not sure what I think about the thematic issue, but XP is just general SCS policy of not increasing XP for harder creatures. (If I do then you gain XP faster, which sets up an arms race.)

I understand and it's too late for this release, but tough monsters worth zero or minimal XP are frustrating and people tend to find ways to avoid or escape encounters where such are added rather than waste time on them, alternatively the XP breakpoints for levels could be increased in the xplevel 2DA or (more complicated and less useful fix, considering how much xp is gained through this method) some of the extremely high quest xp rewards in BG2 particularly could be dialed down (although there are other mods that do this), 36,000 quest xp awarded to each of a party of 6 is the same as the defeat of 24 mind flayers would be worth.

[DavidW]

2 minutes ago, polytope said:

I understand and it's too late for this release, but tough monsters worth zero or minimal XP are frustrating and people tend to find ways to avoid or escape encounters where such are added rather than waste time on them, alternatively the XP breakpoints for levels could be increased in the xplevel 2DA or (more complicated and less useful fix, considering how much xp is gained through this method) some of the extremely high quest xp rewards in BG2 particularly could be dialed down (although there are other mods that do this), 36,000 quest xp awarded to each of a party of 6 is the same as the defeat of 24 mind flayers would be worth.

I'm afraid this is way out of scope for SCS.

[InKal]

On 11/28/2023 at 4:45 PM, Guest Hazzy said:

So, I wanted to comment on something I encountered while playing the previous verion (34.3), but I see there's a new version out and the old thread is closed. My comment might still be on point, though.

I've started a BG1:EE game, for the first time with SCS on hardcore and almost everything installed. I've only played about one third of a BG1:EE game with SCS on lower difficulty in the past. I wanted a tougher challenge though. But what the Helm is an Aerial Servant doing next to Bassilus?... That thing had a crit on Imoen for 60 hp damage, and ofc she can't be resurrected. How is that supposed to be there? Did Bassilus summon it? What level is he? "Improved Bassilus: This component slightly increases Bassilus's level; it also makes his undead flunkies die off a little less quickly even if you say the right thing to him."

I have a feeling this playthrough will be full of crazy difficulty spikes like that... I mean, that  creature made the encounter idk, 5 times more difficult, and it came out of the blue. It took me less time to kill all the others, and then was kiting the Aerial Servant around (after it had killed Imoen) until it was killed, too. And I got no xp for killing it, no loot, nothing, just a permanent death! You might say I should play at lower difficulty, but that difficulty had been fine so far, it just didn't need crazy stuff like that. And now that I know what's going on in this fight, next time I play it of course it's gonna be a lot easier.

But my point is: I don't think such a creature had any reason to be there. (Of course, feel free to convince me otherwise.)

And my questions: Do such things happen a lot with this mod? Have there been any changes in v35 on that aspect?

 

1) decided to play on hardcore

2) complains about difficulty

LULE

[Chitown Willie]

2 hours ago, DavidW said:

I'm not sure what I think about the thematic issue, but XP is just general SCS policy of not increasing XP for harder creatures. (If I do then you gain XP faster, which sets up an arms race.)

Understood, but I would think (could be wrong) that most players these days load up on quest mods and hence add some tweak to keep XP in check - like:

 ~EET_TWEAKS/EET_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2052 // XP for killing creatures -> Decrease to 50%: 1.12

So it all comes out in the wash.

[Chitown Willie]

1 hour ago, polytope said:

Some players consider running away from an NPC who's just used a dangerous spell or ability (Harm, Assassination, Greater Whirlwind) to waste it a bit exploitative.

I'm not going to say I never do it myself.

I understand and it's too late for this release, but tough monsters worth zero or minimal XP are frustrating and people tend to find ways to avoid or escape encounters where such are added rather than waste time on them, alternatively the XP breakpoints for levels could be increased in the xplevel 2DA or (more complicated and less useful fix, considering how much xp is gained through this method) some of the extremely high quest xp rewards in BG2 particularly could be dialed down (although there are other mods that do this), 36,000 quest xp awarded to each of a party of 6 is the same as the defeat of 24 mind flayers would be worth.

Have to agree - A bad-ass kobold with Level 4 Fighter skills (with 2* in Short Sword + 2* in Single Weapon) worth 3XP? It's just out-of-whack.

[subtledoctor]

15 hours ago, Guest Hazzy said:

The initial attack made my party-member permanently dead, she got hit for 60 hp and she can't be resurrected, that's what I've been saying all along, what is it that people don't comprehend?

I comprehend that is pretty rare - a crit on the first attack? That could happen with any number of enemies - it’s BG1! You’re supposed to reload. 

Last I saw the aerial servant here, Minsc was in front and got Held by Bassilus.  And I had no cure for being Held. So the aerial servant was whaling on Minsc with automatic hits, I had two priests working together to heal Minsc every 3 seconds, and two members with bows whittling down the aerial servant. It was chaotic and not at all how I might have expected the encounter to go. Sure, that first attack had a 5% chance of killing Minsc outright… but I love it when the game is set up to provide the possibility of that kind if unexpected chaos. That stuff, to me, is what makes these games so endlessly playable. And I do think on the whole, SCS helps that. (But I don’t use all the tactical components, some do not move things in that direction.)

Edited December 1, 2023 by subtledoctor

[DavidW]

1 hour ago, Chitown Willie said:

Understood, but I would think (could be wrong) that most players these days load up on quest mods and hence add some tweak to keep XP in check - like:

 ~EET_TWEAKS/EET_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2052 // XP for killing creatures -> Decrease to 50%: 1.12

So it all comes out in the wash.

Sure, plenty of people do that - but plenty more people play just with SCS, or with SCS plus tweaks. Quest mods inevitably mess with XP progression, but I don't want to mess with XP progression myself.

(That said, precisely because I do have that policy, the occasional exception doesn't matter too much, and can be made if otherwise things seem silly. I can consider doing that here.

[boof]

3 hours ago, polytope said:

Some players consider running away from an NPC who's just used a dangerous spell or ability (Harm, Assassination, Greater Whirlwind) to waste it a bit exploitative.

I don't know what to say to that. Some people believe the earth is flat too.

[Morgoth]

I will share my idea concerning this component: 

I always installed Dark Side kobolds in my playthroughs only to regret it a bit later. I tried it around 10 times (Try as played 10 different playthroughs with 10 different charnames), and each time I played it with different parties and different level party just to realize if I was not enjoying it due to the way I played. Was I under-leveled? Did I have a bad party management? Did I have the wrong party composition?

Even when I was high level, I didn't experience fun; it was aggravating and it made me dread going into the mines if I had a low level. The component does not feel rewarding at all, and the kobolds provide more hassle than intended, without the xp that they should be at least giving.

I will go a little further too - even if it's clear that component was taken from Dark side, it made me re-evaluate all of SCS content and made me ask if it was worth it having most of the components installed only to turn out that I didn’t need them because I over-valued them and simply installed to the habit.

For BG1 nowadays I would always recommend a minimal scs list: 
 

 

 ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3580 // Restoration and Lesser Restoration spells heal ability-score damage: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5080 // Improved textscreens in Tales of the Sword Coast: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7020 // Improved deployment for parties of assassins: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7040 // Relocated bounty hunters: 34.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7060 // Improved Balduran's Isle: 34.3

And I'm actually undecided if the last 4 components are worth it, but I still have to finish the game to be sure

There is even another thought that went through my mind – most of the mods component are not catered for me. I’m not Morpheus562 or Davaeorn – I enjoy playing but there is a clear design with some of the choices that do not reasonate with me at all.

 

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by Morgoth

[Thacobell]

The tougher kobolds component is my favorite single component in the tactical challenges. Please don't nerf it. Naskel is just boring otherwise.

[Delior]

My favorite improved encounter component is the bandit camp as it feels a lot more like what would actually happen in that situation (as opposed to vanilla where the various groups just sit around waiting patiently for you to come and kill them), but I like the kobolds as well.  One of the things I love most about SCS is how modular and customizable it is such that we can all tweak it to fit our own unique playstyles.  

[Axatax]

Yes, please don't nerf any of the challenges. 

[DavidW]

All I can say is that this is why the mod is broken into 90 components.

[Thacobell]

2 hours ago, DavidW said:

All I can say is that this is why the mod is broken into 90 components.

Amen to that.



I'm not one of those players that likes to make alreaady strong enemies even stronger, but I love when I can make non-encounters into something.

[Anterwaare]

Has the topic of enemy caster HLAs in v35 been touched upon ITT? I'm playing on Insane fine tuned to LoB via in-game settings, with HLAs as innate abilities and did quite a few fights against liches and high level wizards in SoA today. None of them used HLAs. No planetars, no dragon breath etc. which were staple of mage fights in v34. I also tried a new LoB playthrough, and except Improved Alacrity enemy casters don't use their high level abilities. Is this intended? Because a lich without planetar summon is very underwhelming.

Edited December 2, 2023 by Anterwaare