Multiplayer?

[blakething]

(EDIT)

HI
I just bought the "IWD Ultimate Collection"the other day and have never played any of these games before and i was just wondering if anyone here ever hosts games and could help me out a little. i tried the SP for a few hours last night with a single characterand i think that the game is REALLY intersting but i am COMPLETELY lost to be perfectly honest and would like to play with some people that knows something about this.

thanks in advance.

ADD: i just thought it would be cool to play the game online with other fans instead of just playing SP; i've looked through these forums a little, but i havent really seen anything mentioned re:multiplayer so i was just wondering how multiplayer worked .i used to play D&D back in the 80s when i was a kid and had a LOT of fun doing it.forgot most of the rules though.

[ 11-06-2003, 02:38 AM: Message edited by: blakething ]

[kartetse]

Hi BlakeThing!

Welcome to the forum!

Dunno about the hosting/multiplayer bit, but I've had questions recently about the make-up of my party and include a great answer from NobelNick - a venerable member of this forum. Also check out my new party based on advise gleaned in the past few weeks - I'm watching out to see what the rest think about it [img]smile.gif[/img] :

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"There are many different viable party combinations; and MANY different opinions on which characters and combos are best. But I think most would agree that your pick of party can affect how easy/hard it is to get through the game. And... since the game is already plenty hard enough (IMHO) I like to go for the combos that make it easier. To that end, here are some general principles I have observed:

1.) The ability to hide in shadows (a'la Thief or Ranger) is a very important skill for scouting.
2.) A Thief's Find/Disarm Traps skill is very nice to have.
3.) Healing spells reduce the time a party needs to spend sleeping.
4.) Cure poison/disease spells or potions become almost mandatory from the early mid-game and on.
5.) Magic is fun, and the more you get the easier the game is; but physical parties fare best: Bring at least 3 "fighters" ("Fighter" = the class FIGHTER. "fighter" = Fighter, Paladin, Druid, Ranger, etc.) in a 6-person party. More is better.
6.) If you have HoW AND a "fighter-heavy" party (i.e., you have followed the advice in #5) then a Bard is an excellent addition, since every melee or ranged attacker in the party enjoys a net 4-point tilt in the THAC0/AC equation against enemies when she sings (2-point bonus to party's attacks AND 2-point penalty for enemies' attacks).
7.) If you have HoW installed, a Druid is a powerful character. A Fighter/Druid DC is even more powerful.
8.) At least one character in the party should be a race with infravision.
9.) More skills can be packed into a party by Dual Classing (DC) or Multi Classing (MC). To get 4 solid fighters, 2 magic users (including the Bard), a Thief, and at least one Cleric into a 6 person party, you will need to DC (which I prefer) and/or MC. There are some trade-offs, but generally it is worth it to DC as many characters as your party can afford. (The amount of expo expended to get Fighter 6 is miniscule compared to the total expo available in IWD. Ditto for Fighter 9 in IWD/HoW.)
10.) It is almost impossible to not benefit by starting any class (that can be DCed) as a Fighter, stacking weapons skills in a weapon that will be usable by the later class. (It is typically unwise to DC any class to Fighter, for several reasons, including loss of the HP bonus for high CON. But you might need to if you have a party full of Fighters DCing to other classes and your party needs a Fighter until they regain their skills.)
11.) I have heard lots of people rave about the Mage/Cleric MC: collapses Mage and Cleric into one slot, opening up another slot for a Fighter.
12.) You get more bang for your buck with a Specialist Mage, especially if she will be MC and also especially if you have multiple magic users. But you should carefully examine the specialist's opposing schools, to ensure that your pick of school does not lock you out of really useful schools like Evocation (Invocation) and Conjuring. A standard choice for many going specialist is to choose Illusionist."

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kartetse

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do da do, kick da goo and stay outta da zoo...

[blakething]

i tried to create a necromancer, but it only gave me a choice of 3 spells to start out with, and when i imported one of the games "example" characters (mage i think) , the guy had like 30 spells or so. (same with other characters,re:stronger)...lol......this is what is confusing me.

yes, i have HoW ...(and a lot of other BONUS cd's as well;there's like 8 cd's in ultimate collection i bought)...i installed IWD2 to check things out, but didnt play that long as i figured i should start from the FIRST game.

...and only BG game i have played was DA on PS2 (back about jan 2002)

[ 11-06-2003, 03:06 AM: Message edited by: blakething ]

[kartetse]

When you start with IWD the characters are all starters and inexperienced. The characters you import are actually meant for HoW since HoW follows on IWD and you can keep your characters from IWD for HoW. If your characters from IWD is not tough enough, they allow you to choose pre-created characters with enough gumption to survive in HoW. To start IWD with the prefab characters meant for HoW would make it much too easy and probably uninteresting. BTW. I didn't know it could be done?

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kartetse

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do da do, kick da goo and stay outta da zoo...

[Sonic]

About finding multiplayer games trye : Gamespy its a great place for the peaples that wants to play Multiplayer Iwd 1+2 .... Bg 1+2

[NobleNick]

blakething,

Please let me add my

[img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img] . [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img] . WELCOME TO THE FORUM!! . [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img] . [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img]

IWD is not tailored to multi-player and does not have a strong MP following. (It seems as though MP was an afterthought by BIS, or maybe IWD does not lend itself to MP the way PnP Dungeons & Dragons does. In any case, I very rarely hear IWD MP talked about on this forum.)

Your Necro can only scribe 3 spells (at this time) because he is only a level 1 Mage. This is the way it should be: All IWD characters start as Level 1 (clvl 1), unless you are cheating; and all clvl 1 characters are wimpy. You are not doing anything wrong.

Specialist Mage is (in my book) a very good idea. I don't know, though, if my specialist would be a Necro. Look at all the schools. Figure out what school's spells are LEAST useful to you, and pick the specialty for your Mage that has this (least useful) school as its opposing school. Your Mage will be able to learn EVERY schools' spells, except those of the opposing school, and enjoys no other advantage or disadvantage over other schools in learning spells from his own school. The following schools are commonly held as very useful; so you should think twice before choosing a school that has them as an opposing school: Conjuring and Evocation/Invocation. In addition many (including myself) hold Illusionist spells as more important to have than Necromancer spells; therefore, having a Necro as the only mage in a party is out of the question for me.

The game designers intend for you to:

1.) Install IWD,

2.) Install HoW,

3.) Download and install either the (IIRC) 1.41 patch for HoW or (much better) download and install the 71MB expansion Trials of the LureMaster (TotLM). TotLM acts as a final and complete patch for IWD/HoW (at least if you live in North America it does).

4.) Start a party from scratch. That is: roll each one of your characters at the create character menu. (Remember to re-roll until you get good numbers: Shoot for high 80s, and absolutely accept nothing less than 80. Since, even with good rolls, these guys will be so wimpy that they'll fall over when looked at cross-eyed by a goblin; I suggest that you create a full party of six for your first try. (That is much of the fun of the game: Your party starts out REALLY wimpy and eventually becomes a power house.)

5.) Play single-player (that is, not on-line) through IWD till towards the end of LDD (not spelled out, so as to not be a spoiler) Then go to HoW till return from the place you would naturally go to after returning from GF. Then go to TotLM. Finish TotLM. Return to and finish HoW. Return to and finish IWD. (All this will make sense to you, eventually, as you play the game and visit the forum occasionally.)

OR

5.) Play IWD to end, then start independent HoW game (which includes TotLM if you wish).

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There are many viable party choices. None of the below parties are ones I would make; but they represent a cross section of viable party make ups, any one of which should allow your party to survive long enough for you to become dissatisfied in your own time and style, learn about the payoffs and pitfalls of Dual Classing (DC) and Multi-Classing (MC), and tailor a party more fitting to your tastes:

Party A: (The standard Single Class power party, good for IWD with or without HoW)
Fighter
Fighter
Fighter (or Ranger or Paladin)
Thief
Cleric
Mage

Party B: (Another single class party, for if HoW is installed. A little less physical than Party A, but more resistant to, and able to use, spells.)
Fighter
Paladin (or Ranger)
Druid
Thief
Cleric
Mage

Party C: (Only if HoW is installed! Relies a bit on DC and MC characters to pack more skills in the party. The most physical of parties A,B & C AND most spell resistant of all parties [both assuming the Bard is used correctly]. Most magic power of all parties except D. I would prefer the Druid over Ranger.)
Fighter
Paladin
Fighter-->[Druid or Ranger] (DC at Fighter 6, 7 or 9 [higher is better])
Fighter/Thief MC
Gnome Illusionist/Cleric MC
Bard

Party D: (Heavy on Fighter power and highest in magic and healing & protective skills. For those that want to do HoW but refuse to use a Bard.)
Paladin
Fighter-->Specialist Necro (DC at Fighter 9)
Fighter-->Druid (DC at Fighter 9, or at 10 to give other DCs time to gain in new class)
Fighter-->Cleric (DC at Fighter 9)
Cleric--->[Ranger or Fighter] (DC at Cleric 12)
Gnome Illusionist/Thief MC

Several notes on DC:

1.) You need to read the rules and know exactly what you are doing AT THE TIME YOU ROLL THE CHARACTER to avoid disappointment later. Your DC character must:
A.) Meet the requirements for their initial class;
B.) Meet the requirements for the class to which they will DC;
C.) Meet additional requirements for the DC;
D.) Meet any additional requirements you might levy to have a DC character that doesn't suck.

2.) Whether single class or DC, always stack your Fighter's weapon Proficiency Points (PPs) as high as they will go in exactly ONE ranged and ONE melee weapon. Do NOT spread them around; and make sure the weapon you stack for a DC Fighter is a weapon that will be usable by the class to which he will DC. Example: Stack Fighter/Cleric's PPs in sling and mace (or club or hammer or flail); NOT in bow and long sword, since both of these will be unusable when the character DCs to Cleric. After the DC, but before your character regains Fighter skills; remember what skills your Fighter specialised in, and do NOT place any more PPs in those skills, since those points will be essentially lost (will not stack on top of your Fighter PPs) when you regain Fighter skills. NOW is the time to spread PPs around to other weapons, since now you have forever lost the ability to stack like a Fighter.

Have fun!

What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK!
Party On!!


[ 11-06-2003, 06:32 PM: Message edited by: NobleNick ]

[Micah Foehammer]

While IWD was not tailored for multiplayer, it CAN be played in multiplayer mode with varying degrees of lag depending on your system specs and connection (dsl, cable or dial-up).

GameSpy is one way to go if you are looking for a multiplayer game. You can also try the official Interplay forums and advertise for a group there as well. There are enough folks playing IWD still that evening you might be able to get a group together here on IW. [img]smile.gif[/img]

BTW, NobleNick is right about the TolM download being the "final" patch for IWD/HOW. I would strongly urge you to install it as it corrects a lot of problems found in HoW and adds some great areas to explore as well.

Oh yes ---- Welcome to the Forums. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[blakething]

thanks for all of the tips,everyone...just created my first "serious" character,and was wondering if this looks ok?

fighter,human
str 18/04 (what does this 04 mean next to strength?)
dex 15
con 18
int 3
wis 3
cha 18

i put charisma to 18 since i was planning on him to be the leader and do most of the interacting with npcs,but having low int and wis shouldnt affect leadership,should it?wont be using spells for this character either so i didnt think int and wis would be important for fighter.

[ 11-07-2003, 01:14 AM: Message edited by: blakething ]

[Sonic]

Allways when I Roll i set atleast 9-10 on the skills i dount need.

[Micah Foehammer]

blakething,

There ARE some dialogues that are driven by the intelligence or wisdom of your character instead of the charisma, and some of the dialogue branches that you will miss can provide a LOT of xp - especially in the Heart of Winter expansion. So having a low intelligence / wisdom character as the party "speaker" is not necessarily a good idea.

You only listed one party member. Are you planning on soloing the game or is that just the first character you built? Unlike Baldur's Gate, be aware that there are NO npcs that will join your party. Whatever characters you build for your party is ALL the resources that you will be to count on.