Insane Chap 1 +Tactics Mod -- How?

[Thorfinn]

I thought I was doing pretty well -- fought the war dogs and shadow thieves, and was amazed to see items I had not seen before -- Wand of Polymorph. By being a little sneaky, I was able to take them on one at a time. Then after a bit of a nasty surprise upon the demise of the Greater Otyugh, I found myself in desperate need of rest.

It seems that no matter where I rest, as soon as I wake up, I am beset by two thieves. I don't have time to get an Invis Purge cast before one party member is dead or nearly so from a single backstab. Once they dropped Minsc in a single hit, so they can do at least 69 in one pop.

I have tried offering them a Stoneskinned Imoen, but they seem to know that does no good. I can sometimes get a critter summons off first, but they ignore the critters and stab a character anyway.

Most of the time, I can survive the encounter, despite the fact that many of the party members end up held or running around in fear for a substantial period of time. But I finish that encounter nearly out of spells, needing to rest again.

You get the point.

How do y'all manage to get through?

[Tancred]

If you want to feel REALLY inadequate, there are people on this forum who managed that encounter and far far more with just one character. Wait here and one of them will be along in a moment, watch. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I'm not one of them. *feelings of inadequacy*

[Gangrell]

Originally posted by Tancred: If you want to feel REALLY inadequate, there are people on this forum who managed that encounter and far far more with just one character. Wait here and one of them will be along in a moment, watch. [img]smile.gif[/img] I'm not one of them. *feelings of inadequacy*

Yea, some have done this with one character through the entire game, while the rest still do it with all six characters. *cough cough*

*Walks away with his head in shame*

[img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Thorfinn]

I'd love to hear how they do it. Without being turned into a squirrel, I mean. Seems to me if you fail just one save with a solo character, you are done. Heck, several times, the entire party failed the same save.

I just replayed it, and they offed both Jaheira in the middle of casting Invis Purge and Minsc while he was filling the whole doorway. (Somehow they snuck past him.) Minsc didn't get in a single swing -- he died early in the next round, and every remaining party member failed to save vs. wand of Fear. Game over. They all died before the fear wore off, the lead character, the monk, being the last standing.

[ 02-26-2003, 10:05 PM: Message edited by: Thorfinn ]

[Gangrell]

Nah, what kills me is the Duegars in Irenicus' Dungeon with the Tactics mod added to it. MAN, they cleaned the floors with me the first time around, especially with the spells and the chick with the cross-bow [img]graemlins/uhoh1.gif[/img]

[weimer]

The HINTS-Ilyich.txt file in the tactics (or tactics2) directory has quite a bit of helpful information about how to take down these guys. My favorite new hint is to have Minsc use his otherwise-useless innate charm animals ability on the war dogs.

The resting thing is tough, but it fits with the story. If you find that you really must rest, here's a possible once-only freebie. Take the portal key to the second teleport portal (the one just NE of the start of the game). Close the door, rest there. When you wake up and are ambushed, go through the portal. Go back through the portal ... but you'll come out on the other exit.

This is vaguely cheesy, but it requires a little bit of thought so you'll probably have fun with it.

[Thorfinn]

I had heard about the Improved Duergar, so I started a new game to see them. I had installed tactics a few days ago, and noticed the difference, (liches and greater mummies and the like in temple ruins and such) but it was not really that much different. I could almost always drop the critters before they were able to close. Even here I may be able to do it if I could just get some freakin equipment. Other than the dozen arrows you get, all I have is what my summoned creatures drop when they die. I'd love to have a longbow, and dream wistfully of getting a composite bow. I have long since gone through the, what, 8 sling bullets in the game prior to the duergar...

[Rataxes]

People don't actually fight those packs, they try to get as far away from them as possible [img]smile.gif[/img] It doesn't take long to realize that there is no bloody way you can fight those packs without ending up in a worse shape than before the rest. Wands of Paralyzation, Fear (did you know that it does not allow a save?) and Cone of Cold might be scary for soloists, but they mostly spell instant doom for a party when ambushed like that.

Anyway, it helps if you do everything in your power to minimize the number of rests you will need. I can usually keep it down to one sleep on the first level and another one just before leaving for the 2nd level (that one is a freebie!), though it's been done without resting at all.

The most popular way of doing this is to pick an isolated room (make sure it has a door) that you wont need to return to, the large glass chamber room is a popular choice. Sleep there, and when the thief pack spawns, immediately rush out of the room and hope that you can get your entire party out of there and close the door before any thief catches up with you. This is very tricky to do with a large party and requires very precise positioning of the party and careful micromanagement of your party when they retreat through the door, to minimize delays. There are (they depend on your PC and party though) other potential ways of avoiding a battle. You could for instance cast Invisibility 10'Radius if your PC is a Mage (but he was a monk wasn't he?), or try and Hide in Shadows with everyone but Jaheira and instead have Imoen cast Imp Invisibility on her (I believe she starts out with that spell). Imoen has useless stealth scores though, so the first method is probably the only viable one for you.

[ 02-26-2003, 10:44 PM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]

[Gangrell]

One veteran was bound to answer this thread

[IronDragon]

Yea, some have done this with one character through the entire game, while the rest still do it with all six characters. *cough cough* *Walks away with his head in shame*

No, this will not do.
Hold your head up high and proudly proclaim that you use a full party of six every time and love it.

There is no shame in admitting that you prefer to play a character who likes some friendly repartee while blotting goblin entrails off his armor.

Ignore those who would ridicule you for not being anti-social.

Solo players will boast about how they took down the improved TorGal playing a half blind, half crazed, half sized, halfling armed only with a waffle bat +1 and only had to reload 18 times to do it. But you can take pride in the fact you volunteered to take a 20 hour hike with Aerie AND Anomen and didn’t berserk once. Let’s see a wimpy soloist try that and not reload.

So get out there and play with your team because you’re good enough and smart enough and, gosh darn it, NPC’s really like you.

Remember no matter how godlike the powers of a solo sorcerer are, he still looks ridiculous in the Robe of Vecna.