IWD Demographics

[TL]

I just started playing IWD 3wks ago. My brother has played & brought it to me when visiting for 2 wks. I'm hooked ! I'm not a gamer, & not a computer person so I'm having newbie troubles. I'm in Dragons Eye and heading for the trolls. All hints are appreciated.
I'm female, 52yrs old , and can't believe that I run to the computer every night to play IWD! I'm always reading your posts, so keep the info coming...

[Xen]

Originally posted by TL: I just started playing IWD 3wks ago. My brother has played & brought it to me when visiting for 2 wks. I'm hooked ! I'm not a gamer, & not a computer person so I'm having newbie troubles. I'm in Dragons Eye and heading for the trolls. All hints are appreciated. I'm female, 52yrs old , and can't believe that I run to the computer every night to play IWD! I'm always reading your posts, so keep the info coming...

Info is one thing...spoilers are another thing.

What is your party and what is it`s level?

Anyway attack them with Tanks use spells like Web,Entangle and fry them with Fire/Acid spells.

[kroma]

Welcome to the forums TL!

As Xen just said, we will need a little more information on your current party, so we can give you advice that relates directly to your game. For example, its no good us telling you to use loads of magic on them if you dont have a mage in your party!

Also, what specifically are you having a problem with - just combat in general? or is there a certain part of the game that you need help with...

I await your reply!

[TL]

I'm sure that some of my problems are that I'm just new to gaming, I find most battles to be tough! I have 2 dwarf fighters, 1human fighter, 1 elf thief,a human mage & human cleric. we're at level 6 and my mage gets jittery and fires the burning hands at will, used to get us crispy, but now we can handle it.he can't control himslf. Not looking for cheat codes or anything special, I know you've all gone through here a few times and it helps to here different senerios.Will be fighting trolls & beetles today, expecting to get my ass kicked a few times, thats okay, it's only a game...

[motub]

Sounds like the first thing you should do is turn the A.I (artificial intelligence) off, or set it to something that works better for your party. A "jittery" mage is no benefit to the party.

I'd give you more precise instructions, but I don't have access to my IWD install atm (it's under Win98 and I'm booted into W2K, where it errors out if I try to start it). I'm sure that if you go to the Character Information screen, you should be able to find it (under "Customize", if it's the same as IWD2, which is what I'm actually playing currently).

In any case, welcome [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img] ! Nice to have another "adult" female around (I'm 40) amongst all these men and young'uns !

[kroma]

TL,

If you are simply after general help with combat, there are several things that will improve your game. Including:

1) As motub just mentioned, turn off your party AI (Artificial Intelligence). This is what is causing your party members to do things that you have not instructed them to do. The computer takes on the roll of the party members in combat, until you individually instruct them differently. This feature is mainly for people who do not want to...

2) ...use the space bar!!! This is *SUCH* a vital part of IWD combat. The space bar will pause the game, leaving you able to issue all your commands. Once you are done, simply hit space again to resume game play.
The beauty of it is that it adds a sense of real time to the game; rather than individually assigning tasks - you can instruct all of your party members at once! I probably pause the game to reissue commands once every 5 seconds in almost all fights. The game was DESIGNED to be played using the space bar in combat.

Apologies if these are already known to you, but many people are unaware of these and to be honest, trying to complete the game without knowing them would be practically impossible!!

[kartetse]

Sorry, little time, shor tsuggestion: Wack the troll until he's on the ground and then zap him with Anazzher's Scrorcher (spelling questionable) or Melf's Acid arrow

BTW. WELCOME! [img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]

---

kartetse

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

[NobleNick]

Welcome, TL!

Well, there goes my grip on (cough, cough) "most mature" player. You'll find plenty of folks in the "near or past 40" set; and virtually everyone here, regardless of age is pleasant to be around.

Do you have Heart of Winter (HoW) expansion installed? If you don't, then don't ask your brother about it: he might want the game back!

I'm guessing that you wanted your post to be part of the original thread on demographics. If so (for future reference) use the "Reply to" message button. The "Post" message button, as you can see, starts a whole new thread.

Your party, though quite basic, is also quite viable; with no essential skills lacking, and lots of physical firepower. I presume (since you did not say differently) that your mage is a general Mage (not a specialist). If you did specialize, I hope it was in a school that allows the use of the powerful Evocation (Invocation) spells.

A few words of advice for your Fighters: Stack your weapon Proficiency Points (PPs) in exactly one ranged weapon (e.g., bow, sling, darts) and exactly one close-in weapon until you have maxed out both. And specialize each Fighter in a different weapon, because there will typically be only one REALLY good weapon available of each class. Weapons are generally grouped by damage type: crushing, slashing and piercing. Bow and arrows, which most or all of your Fighters should use, cover piercing; so that leaves slashing and crushing. Your cleric will be constrained to using only crushing weapons (club, mace, flail, hammer, and sling). So maybe one of your Fighters should go crushing and the other two slashing for the close in weapons. At least one of your Fighters will be your "tank" (a front line member designed and equipped to take the brunt of the punishment the enemy dishes out). This guy should specialize in a one-handed weapon, so that he can use a shield, and should be given all your best protective equipment. (Two-handed weapons deal more damage, but don't allow use of shield.) A Fighter can use bow for ranged attack and then switch to shield and one-handed weapon for close in; but you need to remember to make the switch: it won't happen automatically. Here is ONE POSSIBLE way to do your front line:

---Fighter 1: Sling (or bow), long sword and shield. (This guy is your tank. Again, the bow typically deals out more ranged damage [and, for this reason, is what I prefer, even for the tank]; but it requires you to remember to trade the bow out to equip the shield for close up combat in order to get protection befitting a tank. If you are the forgetful type, then the sling might be a better choice: It allows the shield to be equipped at all times.)
---Fighter 2: Bow, mace and shield (your back-up tank)
---Fighter 3: Best bow and 2-handed axe (no shield): This will be your most viscious and hardest hitting, but also your most vulnerable Fighter. The idea is to get the troll to beat on your tank while Fighter 3 beats on the troll.
---Cleric 1: Sling, flail (my preference) OR hammer, and shield. Though not a Fighter, this guy can still hand out some hurt when not casting spells.

As several folks have said: the key to victory is to disable the A.I. and micromanage your battles using the space bar.

I have preferences set so that the battle automatically pauses at the end of round for every character, as well as auto pause for when the initial member of an enemy party is sighted. So I mostly use space bar to restart combat; and when it gets hot, I can be smacking that space bar about once a second. If using Aganazzar's Scorcher or the like, or in a tough fight, I use space bar even more often; because I am also stopping combat to nudge guys this way or that; so as they don't get fried. (Not many things are more satisfying than popping your mage out around the end of your front line, targeting the farthest enemy on THEIR front line, and successfully frying six lizards TWICE each, without flaming any of your own guys. Barbeque sauce, anyone?)

Some folks are a bit apologetic about deluging you with this basic stuff; but a guy came to the forum not too long ago needing some mid-late game help. Turns out his problem was not using space bar, because he didn't even know it existed, let alone that it was O.K. to use it. (He made it THAT far without pausing?? WOW!!!)

Pump up and use your thief's "hide in shadows" skill to scout out the territory ahead, so that you can formulate a plan and make preparations before the monsters are aware of your party's presence.

Trolls take damage until almost dead, then become immune to any further physical damage. That is why you were given the advice in previous posts. Once down they will stay down for a bit, rejuvenate and come back at you. So the typical tactic is to thack them soundly until they drop, then use your precious fire or acid spells/potions/weapons (e.g., fire or acid arrows, Burning Hands spell, burning oil potion, etc.) for that last shot to finish them off. If you think your tactics through at the start of a fight (Remember that "hide in shadows" skill? And the pause button?) then you can stack up the trolls in one spot and use ONE fire potion or spell to finish them off 2 or 3 at a time, or even all at once (fun to watch)!

What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK! . . . . (if you have HoW installed)
Party On!!

[TL]

Thanks for basic info, it's just fine for me! wow! I'm kickin' some seriuos as_ in the second level of Dragons Eye. I learned the hard way about the trolls playing dead. I wiped out everything around Mother Eugenia the first time in, and while I pranced around the area, gloating, one of the trolls got up and did some seriuos damage. lesson learned, not a battle i wanted to do over! my team is well equiped and prof. in bows and 1 fig.-lg sword & shield, 2nd fig.-hammer, 3rd fig.-great sword, cleric-club & missle weapons, thief has small bow+1, mage is missle weapons, specializing in hot Foot!LOL
Using auto pause for enemy sighting right now & I use the space bar so much, My wrist is starting to hurt. I haven't used hide in shadow for my thief and I think this will help when I creep forward to disarm the traps.
I do have HOW; I have a cd burner and I'm able to copy my brothers discs. can't wait to play tonight,I'm working my way through the cold wrights and blast skeletons. They've become a bit tricky. I also didn't pick up enough stuff to sell,so I'm a little low on cash.I need to find a good stash of weapons to get me through Presio's Domain. I'm half way through this 3rd level and I might run out of ammo.I need to lower my armor class, the fighters are at -2and I want it lower. We are now level 7 and should move up quikly after running into the next batch of cold wrights. Stay tuned...

[Timber Loftis]

So NobleNick loses his status, and I lose my nickname. Oh, well.

[img]graemlins/shine.gif[/img]
[img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] WELCOME TL! [img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]
[img]graemlins/shine.gif[/img]

You will need to give Baldur's Gate a try as well. Take the fighting bit of IWD and include party members who interact with you, have their own quests, and like/dislike each other and you've got another level thrown in. Just an FYI.

[ 11-17-2003, 05:23 PM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]