Six's Review of the Tactics MOD (Tactics Spoilers Galore)

[Dundee Slaytern]

That's really odd Rataxes. Hang on... lemme fire up NI and see what they have... ...

[Lord]

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: Assuming good saves, x3 ADHWs in a CC and 50% Magic Damage Resistance. The average damage is 67.5 dmg. Your Assassin can more than survive it. Assuming the worst, the maximum damage with good saves, x3 ADHWs and 50% MD Resistance is 120 dmg. A level 17 Assassin with at least 16 CON will have 88HP. So yeah, it then becomes a problem. However... since you are soloing, you can always come back later with more HP and UAI (which will enable you to drink Potions of Heroism and Potion of Magic Shielding, granting you more HP and immunity to Magic Damage).

I know that, Dundee . I'm talking about if you want to take on Kangaxx early on. Six even mentioned that he gave one of the mods a lower mark because it didn't allow something for a lower level party that rushes to spell hold to get through with out a lot of difficulty. Or else I could just come back later with 3 or 4 million xp and wipe the smile off of their faces [img]tongue.gif[/img] .

[Xen]

So what`s with the Shield Of Balduran effect? Six reported it that he thinked that it doesn`t work and I reported that I know it doesn`t work.

[Rataxes]

Originally posted by SixOfSpades: I CLUA'd Hemorrhoids a scroll of True Sight, stood out of sight of a nearby Shadow Thief, and read it. The Text Window went like this: Hemorrhoids- True Sight Shadow Thief- Invisibility Hemorrhoids- True Sight Shadow Thief- Invisibility Hemorrhoids- True Sight Shadow Thief- Invisibility.....etc.

Which is exactly what you can also do with regular Hide in Shadows. As long as you don't fail to go into stealth mode, you can activate and de-activate it how many times you want per round. I'll give you that it's wrong for this invisibility to be undispellable by Detect Illusions, and it would've been cool if there was actually a chance for them to fail to go into stealth mode, but those are minor issues. How likely is it that a thief at this point of the game, where thieving points are the most scarce, would invest a single point into DI, let alone enough to actually be able to detect anything?

Xen, Improved Beholders will always stop attacking with their rays if they notice that they're being reflected back to them, and instead engage in melee. I guess this, combined with their improved melee ability, is the anti-shield effect.

[ 02-19-2004, 03:35 AM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]

[Dundee Slaytern]

HOLY @#$%~!

HELL_FEAR?!?! What on earth was he thinking? Minsc must have been blocked by something, because Rataxes is right on the ball. It ignores Magic Resistance and Saving Throws. I had a look at the AI Script. II DOES NOT FOLLOW THE WANDS AT ALL!!!! The wands just determine what "pulled-out-from-their-a$$e$" spells they use.

Only the Wand of Polymorph and Wand of Cold are done correctly. The Wand of Paralyzation and the Wand of Fear are most definitely not.

The Wand of Fear is basically your Horror spell in a stick... not some unholy level 9 spell that you encounter in the 9Hells... ...

[Rataxes]

Well I'm glad our games match up on at least one oddity I think there's something strange about the Wand of Polymorph as well though, because I've never ever failed a save against it. Or maybe I have failed the save, but the wand just doesn't do anything?

[Lord]

Originally posted by Rataxes: Well I'm glad our games match up on at least one oddity I think there's something strange about the Wand of Polymorph as well though, because I've never ever failed a save against it. Or maybe I have failed the save, but the wand just doesn't do anything?

It works fine in BG1, so I don't see why there should have been a mistake with it in BG2. Test it on something like a rat.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Originally posted by Lord: Six even mentioned that he gave one of the mods a lower mark because it didn't allow something for a lower level party that rushes to spell hold to get through with out a lot of difficulty. Or else I could just come back later with 3 or 4 million xp and wipe the smile off of their faces [img]tongue.gif[/img] .

Let us set the record straight on something first.

Six rushed to Spellhold with a party. This is understandable.

You rushed a soloist. This is suicidal.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Originally posted by Rataxes: Well I'm glad our games match up on at least one oddity I think there's something strange about the Wand of Polymorph as well though, because I've never ever failed a save against it. Or maybe I have failed the save, but the wand just doesn't do anything?

The wand does work. Well... technically not the wand. Okay... this is how the AI Script works.

When the Shadow Thief spawns, he has a 25% chance to get one of the following wands,

Wand of Fear
Wand of Paralyzation
Wand of Cold
Wand of Polymorphing

The wands each have one charge. The script checks which wand the SThief has and magically casts a spell out of thin air through ReallyForceSpell()

HELL_FEAR
TANARI_PARALYZE
WIZARD_CONE_OF_COLD
WIZARD_POLYMORPH_OTHER

The SThieves do not actually Stealth by the way. They have infinite castings of the level 2 arcane spell Invisibility. Why Weimer chose not to use Hide(), I have no idea. It would have added more realism really... and he cannot say that it cannot be done. Rataxes is right on one point though, this code block only kicks in when the SThief sees no hostiles.

If anybody is interested... I can make a modified script. I will not change the behaviour, just how the wands are used and making the SThief actually try to Stealth. If the SThief fails to Stealth, well just too bad for him. Luck of the draw. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Assassin]

Originally posted by Lord: quote: Originally posted by Assassin: Cast PfMW. CAst PfNM. Run up. Cast Sunfire. Toast Sahaguin. Oh, and I completely agree with the Wraith of Wrath. Incidentally, you could cast Time Stop off a scroll, then butcher him during it, however...

You can't cast both PfNW and PfMW at the same time. [/QUOTE]PfNM = Protection from Normal Missiles. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

It's not that much slower than the Reflection method. Usually, you'll have a couple of spellcasters, right? Each, with... assuming 3 level 6 spell slots. That's 6 groups of Sahaguin per rest, which isn't that bad. Okay, while it's highly unlikely that you'll have a million level 5 spell slots for Sunfire, then use Fireball from the Wand or something. They're weak to fire, right?

Assassin: [Regarding my proposed Duergar Patrols in Jon's Dungeon] No, I actually meant 200,000 to 300,000 EXP each. True, that would make them difficult to beat, but having them be a tenth of that would make them little more than roadkill. Look at it this way: Each of your (4 or 5) party members has at least 89,000 EXP, and the PC can start with up to 161,000. So the difference in levels can equalize the player's tactics and ability to learn. All their equipment is droppable, so item disparity quickly becomes moot. And they don't respawn right in front of you (unless you Rest), in fact they don't respawn at all.

That would mean 800 000 to 1 200 000. Let's take the middle ground and choose 1 000 000 experience. Divide that up among 5 party members.... 200 000 experience each. That's quite a lot. Okay, maybe 100 000 experience for each, but 200 000 to 300 000 each...

This is true, especially since Lich in the Docks means there are up to six scrolls of Time Stop potentially available by that time. Still, even with Nalia or Imoen going the Belm+Kundane+Imp.Haste route, that's going to require more than 1 scroll, especially if I'm correctly recalling that the Wraith has some hefty Resistance to Physical damage as well.

There are three in an unmodded game: Vitaly (mage in the Underdark), Sulanessalar, and Ribald afterwards. If you do the Lich in the Docks, you'll probably net about 2 more. Imoen/Nalia going the route that you mentioned could probably do that in 5 Time Stops...

[ 02-19-2004, 08:27 AM: Message edited by: Assassin ]