15202 réponses à ce sujet

[Alesia_BH]

Glad to see Vaquen toughing it out!

A word of warning though: if you still have the Tactics Remix De'Arnise Keep with Westley's Spirit Trolls installed, you may want to consider going somewhere else...

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 16 septembre 2012 - 06:34 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

@Alesia: Congratulations on the successful ending of Mel even with some inconveniences - they spices the things up, aren't they?

[Alesia_BH]

Serg BlackStrider wrote...

@Alesia: Congratulations on the successful ending of Mel even with some inconveniences - they spices the things up, aren't they?

Thanks Serg! Alyssa appreciates it. She wishes your crew the best.

And yes: the unexpected can make battles more enjoyable.


A.

[Gate70]

Grunn, LN human male monk
A few drow are left and once they are dead I step into daylight to meet Elhan and his elves, then head towards the Adventurers Mart. Drizzt and his gang intercept me and are keen to help until I mention vampires then they start to squirm. I can see their discomfort so suggest they help me another time. Kruin intercepts me outside the Mart and I realise I will have to fight a wild mage at some point.

I tidy up my bag of holding with the help of Ribald and set off to tie up some loose ends only for six of me to have other ideas. They last but moments and then I am off to deal with the biggest loose end (at this point I am drained to level 27 and he/she/it is badly injured from one GWW, a WW and a normal attack while I have saved my buffs for a grand finale. I'm easily able to keep my distance so glug 2 healing potions while doing 3 circuits of the chamber and just about to power-buff when the game crashes. Thaxxy has conceded this one and suggests a decider is in order.

I decide to buff more this time and remember to switch to the belt of inertial barrier too (+5 vs breath). My save vs breath is now -13 (the others vary from -9 to -14) so I add spell turning, wait for my aura to clear and step inside again. Four WW hits have Thaxxy badly wounded as I am buffeted away and I return at an angle with GWW to finish the job entire battle sequence here, left side is WW, right is GWW. (Monk: 32, GWW).

[Serg BlackStrider]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Quick Note Everyone:

I'm considering starting an SCS-Ascension Solo Challenge much like the Ascension Solo Challenge from the old forums. Like the prior thread, it would permit reloads; it's purpose would be to encourage experimentation and allow people to showcase novel tactics.  Fallen no reloaders would be welcome.

I'm curious: is there interest?.

If so, let me know.

Best,

A.

Of course, there is an interest! :happy: No one can possess too much knowledge and this Challenge definitely will be an invaluable source of them.

[Gate70]

Alesia, create a thread to see what interest there is and options around it (e.g. ToB only, new character or imports, starting level/equipment, suggested or mandatory SCS/Ascension elements or allowing different options or other mods, out after 3/5 deaths etc). There may be people who'd be interested that don't frequent this thread.

Grunn, LN human male monk
The book of infinite spells sees me get a warning from the Cowled Wizards, and I have to go from cloud to storm giant strength to force the door open so not a great start to the next challenge.

Shangalar survives a Daystar GWW so I switch to fists and drop Shyressa, who has drained me to level 28, and then Revanek. I have been de-buffed so summon Kitthix as I move to Vaxall the beholder and watch as Shangalar timestops to deal with the spider. I almost have Vaxall when Layenne adds a second timestop and once time resumes I hit normally untul Vaxall collapses so I can summon a berserk warrior. I grab Daystar and add a WW attack to destroy both the misled image and real Shangalar. I move away from Layenne, hide (good for cancelling enemy spells) and send a genie in as she kills her summoned pit fiend. A second spell turning is used (ring) but not required as Layenne has focused on the genie and a few hits have her dead.

[Alesia_BH]

Gate70 wrote...

Alesia, create a thread to see what interest there is and options around it

Makes sense. There's no urgency though: I don't intend to start the challenge untill I'm ready to enter it, and I'm too busy with Arlene and life now for that. If and when the time comes, we could start a feeler thread.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 16 septembre 2012 - 05:18 .

[Gate70]

Grunn, LN human male monk
I introduce myself to Sion and Ketta and agree to a lesson. The party downstairs goes well, with the glazebru killed before it can kill their genie (my amulet protects me against evil so it turned on the nearest ally), which I stun to kill. I buff properly and head upstairs. Koshi is GWW'd first so I can bag the Celestial Fury then Olaf takes a second GWW which continues into Ketta and then Maferan as she hides. A third GWW sees Maferan near-death but Ketta appears and misses; I fail to return the favour for her. Stalman is proving a pain, having flamed me heavily but Maferan doesn't take long so I can start another GWW on Stalman and end it on Sion. His stoneskins drop so a mirror image and mislead contingency are triggered. I remove the mislead and cheekily start clearing the bodies while waiting for Sion to show himself. I decide to add spell turning in case a maze is forthcoming but two Melf arrows fail to penetrate my magic resistance and I turn to hit him. My final GWW thins his mirrors then I bash at his renewed stoneskins while he finally lands a Melf but to no avail.

The Unseeing Eye, Planar Sphere and part of the de'Arnise Keep are left but I decide to deal with Bodhi enough xp, no items of interest that I can remember. Bodhi kindly greets me with four vampires that are allergic to Sunray. Valen and a fledgling vampire require 1 GWW between them (Monk: 33, GWW). Meradith and three more take two GWW's and I holy water a bloodbath. Tanova and another vampire get another GWW then I risk melee against Hareishan and a fourth before staking two coffins. A guard, six more vampires and a group of wandering horrors are cleared but I have been drained (level 26) so use a restoration scroll and rest. I'm well buffed for what comes next so although Bodhi drains me again (level 28) my GWW's are too much for her. I stake her, find one more vampire on my way out then use another restoration scroll. (Monk: 34, GWW).

I grab the items I need to keep (including collecting silver pantaloons as a ransom payment) and return to Elhan. I ask to head straight to Suldanessar rather than investigate three or four places he has added to my map. (Monk: 35, GWW). About half way around the Suldanessar walkways I've killed various rakshasa and golems. (Monk: 36, GWW). A black dragon (Niz) almost falls but then hits me hard with effects. I cure wounds at a distance but a second hit almost kills me anyway. That was squeaking close lay on hands cured 40hp so I'd have been -35 without it, and as I run I hear Niz cast heal. Two can play that game though as it gives me time to glug three potions.

I cast a second hardiness and hide as a berserk warrior and Kitthix move forward. Niz hastes and stoneskins for the berserk warrior so I cast WW and start again. Niz is badly wounded by the time my summons die, but so am I. I run and glug, and after a circuit another breath weapon is thrown at me but I am too far away. This gives me time to glug and wait for my aura to cleanse. This time I GWW before charging and for a moment I consider retreating but instead stay for the kill.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Quite a narrow escape with Niz, Gate. Well done!

[corey_russell]

 Vaquen the level 10 dwarven fighter - consumed by SCS fire

Gate70 survived his close call, but Vaquen did not.

Well Vaquen's party headed to D'Arnise Keep and got the Orog and mage ambush. The party's mages got killed quickly. Jaheira's morale kept breaking and she was slain. Yoshimo lasted a little while but he too was slain. By this point Minsc was berserk and Vaquen was under chaos. Vaquen finally shook the chaos, only to be charmed. Minsc attacked Vaquen (because Vaquen attacked Minsc). Vaquen proved the superior fighter. However, there were no characters under my control as Vaquen was charmed and the game ended.

Back to the drawing board...

[Xiz]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Thanks. It's a pretty reliable method for thieves. I'd like to work ones out for warriors and mages as well.

Aren't Alanis' tactics pretty reliable for mages? Hell, reading Alanis' story in the original Ascension challenge was pretty much what got me over the line in my own party play (I ended up with a sorcerer running the battle with telefields like you did with Alanis, except having some fighters meant way more margin for error). 

[Gate70]

Sorry to hear that corey_russell. Don't let it put you off SCS though.

Grunn, LN human male monk
By the time I reach the temple (Monk: 37, GWW) most of Suldanessar is safe. I set to work inside starting with Suneer and moving through the other creatures when he casts PfMW. He mazes a pit fiend so as I see it form I activate a second spell shield and turn on him. A single blow fells him and the temple is safe so I summon the avatar of Rillifane which has a power previously only thought to be held by Imoen - every sentence I start it finishes!

I have a final sale of equipment and fix a couple of statues before dealing with the Tree of Life. With two parasites down I carefully kill the third and tell Irenicus to buff like never before. I have the cloak of mirroring on and am uncertain what spells it protects against and which it does not. Imprisonment and maze are the two I fear. I survive two mazes with magic resistance (88%) so as I am uncertain about the cloak effectiveness I equip the sword of Balduran (98% magic resistance) and find myself wishing I had purchased an amulet (Kaligan or the other one) to get over 100% resistance.

I remove his mislead then consider his fireshields, testing them once or twice. He casts several cone of cold spells then switches to flame arrow as his fireshields evaporate. I hit him and more contingencies fire so I start on his mislead. Once that is down I hit him again (injured) and he contingencies a stoneskin. I only have 1 attack per round with my sword but tell him this is going to be a long drawn out process as I intend to save my abilities.

He fires a number of Melfs Acid Arrows then a larger number of magic missiles at incredible speed (1 cast per second), but after 24 sets I have him at near death. He manages 4 more - 28 sets of magic missile and I'm wondering if this is an infinite game-ender for anybody less well protected than myself.

Goodbye Jon & it looks like I have Photobucket problems again.

So this is Hell. My hell at least.

Edit: I had to re-do this just to see. Lots of immunities to start with then something like the below
Prismatic spray.
2 mazes.
1 wilt.
2 power word, kill
1 sunfire
3 power word stun
6 cones of cold
7 flame arrows
7 melf acid arrows
infinite magic missiles (5 missiles per second). Assume this is his "non magical" attack

Modifié par Gate70, 16 septembre 2012 - 09:33 .

[Grond0]

Well done Gate. Good luck with ToB.

[Gate70]

Thanks, but I still had a bit to do - as below.

Grunn, LN human male monk
Wrath Wraith Sarevok: I give in to my anger and turn into the slayer. After a while my control starts to slip so I turn back and finish him. Monk: 38, GWW. Tear: +2 strength, alignment changed to Lawful Evil.

Greed Demon: Enslaved genie: Good path. I hand the genie the Blackrazor sword. Tear: +2 to all saving throws.

Selfish Demon: Good path. -2hp, -1 dexterity, loss of some xp. Tear: +10% Magic Resistance.

Fear Demon: Evil path, obtaining a Cloak of Bravery and killing the elder orbs/gauth on the way out. Tear: +2 constitution.

Pride Demon: Good path. I don't kill things just because they are in my way. Tear: +20% Fire, Cold and Electricity resistance.

The huge door opens and Jon Irenicus re-forms, possibly for the last time. He summons four demons and turns into MY slayer form. I run to the far side of the area and hide. Irenicus waits but his four demons have followed me so I WW a Balor and start on a second. My first GWW hit finishes that too and three more hits deal with a Glabrezu, four more finishing the second Glabrezu - two must have missed as my GWW expires. I hide, uninjured and look for the slayer Irenicus. As I approach I hear no words but there is a casting noise so I retreat and realising there is a mislead active I head to the door and remove the distraction with seven normal punches.

I summon the genie and hide again, hitting a fire shield when the Jonslayer becomes visible. The genie is removed with a death spell but the fire shield has gone so I move in and check my fists. After a short while another contingency adds mislead, improved mantle, spell turning etc. I continue my standard attack to remove the mislead and start on the Jonslayer again. It isn't long before I'm making progress even without using any further special abilities. I make sure I taunt him, disrupting a few spells and when he is almost dead I remind him that I have multiple GWW's left, a hardiness, two critical strikes, a smite and a power attack. Then I tell him that none of these will be used and he will die from good old fashioned determination. Goodbye again Jon.

I wake up in a clearing with huge carved heads in all directions.

Modifié par Gate70, 16 septembre 2012 - 11:02 .

[Alesia_BH]

@Gate70- Congrats! Best of luck in ToB.

@Corey- Sorry for your loss.

In party play, Invisibility 10' Radius can be very helpful for dealing with SCS ambushes. It gives you the option of slipping past, of course, but it can also grant the tactical upper-hand if you choose to fight. In that fight, for example, you could position your characters, simultaneously breaking invisibility with a combined magic and weapon assault on them, and then deal with the Orogs however you choose.

Anyhoo. Best of luck in your next run! I do hope you'll stick with SCS: it just takes time to adjust.

@Xiz- I'll respond to question about Ascension mage tactics soon: I have to get going now. For the moment, I'll simple note that I question whether Alanis' approach would work for a soloist in the SCS-Ascension version.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 17 septembre 2012 - 03:40 .

[Alesia_BH]

Xiz wrote...
Aren't Alanis' tactics pretty reliable for mages? Hell, reading Alanis' story in the original Ascension challenge was pretty much what got me over the line in my own party play (I ended up with a sorcerer running the battle with telefields like you did with Alanis, except having some fighters meant way more margin for error). 

Found a little time.:happy:

Alanis' Ascension on Insane is still the battle I remember most fondly. Her tactics were sound for the Baldurdash/Ascension install she was using, but I have my doubts about whether it would work in my current SCS/Ascension install. 

My biggest concern is that I fear Melissan's more aggressive Time Stop->Meleeing would make PI stasis too dangerous. Perhaps you could have a ProMW: Hit Contingency in place before each Telefield->PI set but the devil is in the details with such things and I can't say for certain that things would play out favorably. 

Anyhoo. I definitely intend to try a single class caster at some point if and when we get and SCS-Ascension Solo Challenge going.

Best,

A.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Alesia_BH wrote...

In party play, Invisibility 10' Radius can be very helpful for dealing with SCS ambushes. It gives you the option of slipping past, of course, but it can also grant the tactical upper-hand if you choose to fight. In that fight, for example, you could position your characters, simultaneously breaking invisibility with a combined magic and weapon assault on them, and then deal with the Orogs however you choose.

Indeed! Personally I just run out that particular ambush. SCS ambushes are pain especialy with pre-buffed mages/priests (as I have in my install) and after one regular ambush (non Suna Seni one) with mage, cleric, thief and someone else nearly wiped me out I never travel without Invisibility 10' radius or Potions of Invisibility ready for everyone in my team.

@Gate: Congratulations and safe travels in ToB!

[Grimwald the Wise]

Have been unable to post about Angus for a while.

he is currently in Spellhold after completing most of the quests that he was comfortable with as a paladin.

Once he had beaten three dragons, he was pretty powerful!

He also took on a couple of liches and did the top two floors of watcher's keep.

Due to the Saerileth mod, he didn't have to choose between thieves and vampires. Much more satisfactory for a paladin. Looking at the paladin's bracers at watcher's keep, I was a bit disappointed as I certainly want to use bracers of weapon skill in preference to them.

I can't understand why so many people don't like the script for Saerileth. I think it's pretty good. Of course I don't know how it ends yet, so there may be some nasty surprises, but so far I like it. Unlike other romances, you're not pushed into sleeping together.

[ussnorway]

UD15;

Lucky for some:

   

I stopped by the Docks to deal with some thieves, actually the only reason I mention it at all is because of the reputation points I lost by accidently killing the old prisoner... stupid so and so walked out of his cell and into the firestorm. What with the murder and all, my rep is down to 13 so we went back to Trademeet and rescued a damsel in distress before popping over to North Forest just long enough to fetch ‘Spell Trigger’ for Nalia.

Eye for an eye:

   

I find that AOE is the best anti-eye strategy and as it turns out, the drastic drop in rep kept Viconia from leaving us after failing her petrifaction save... knowing where the head eye shows up allows us to set a surprise that means I don’t need to use the special rod against him which helps deal with a certain Lich.

p.s. Mazzy reached a level of 18... time to commit to a weapon... Longsword.



Tip: Need a summon that can tank the eyes for you without getting flayed alive by the rays? What if the rays actually healed your tank instead of hurting it? What is the level 7 spell ‘Summon Hakeashar’ good for?

[Xiz]

Alesia_BH wrote...

My biggest concern is that I fear Melissan's more aggressive Time Stop->Meleeing would make PI stasis too dangerous. Perhaps you could have a ProMW: Hit Contingency in place before each Telefield->PI set but the devil is in the details with such things and I can't say for certain that things would play out favorably. 

Would there be enough time to get rid of the PI and then Focus on your main character? I seem to recall PIs being able to dispel themselves, even under SI:Abjuration, but that may have been a buggy install.

[corey_russell]

Thanks everyone for their tips. As far as I know, I didn't have invisibility 10' though I'm not positive on that. I know that if it didn't come by default in Aerie's or Nalia's spell books then I didn't,

I'm sure I could just have the party run away, though the enemy did cast Chaos during the fight. But then, can someone please tell me what would be the point of adding content that doesn't get experienced?

It reminds me of what Grond0 said -- he says he always uses a dialog option to avoid the ogre mage when you first escape your cells after talking to the genie in the crystal room. Since you don't come back here, that means then that encounter for Grond0 never gets experienced. I ask again, what is the point of adding encounters that don't get experienced?

I didn't mention this, but that Orog in my screenshot was the last enemy survivor, so the party nearly came through...

Modifié par corey_russell, 17 septembre 2012 - 03:23 .

[Alesia_BH]

Invisibility 10' Radius isn't in Aerie's book or Nalia's book. It's in Jan's. He's available early of course and without incurring much additional routing risk. If you don't want to take Jan, you can allocate L2 slots. Traveling invisible is feasible anyways.

As mentioned traveling invisible, gives you the option of gliding past if you desire but it also gives you a big tactical edge if you choose to fight. Just forcing the divination cast and consequently stealing an in-combat spell equivalent action can be a substantial boon. More importantly, you can tactically position you characters and then simultaneously break invisibility- concentrating your firepower on high priority targets with low attack speed factor weapons and low casting time spell being preferable. With a party and good execution, you can eliminate the threatening targets with your opening and then dispose of the rest at leisure. This is among the ways to complete the ambushes without taking meaningful damage. This approach works in non-ambush SCS battles as well. You can think of it as a full party "backstab".

Anyhoo. No need to get defensive. Feel free to try it. Or not- it's completely up to you. I only offered advice because I've noted that you tend to do so after other people's runs have ended if you are aware of ways to complete the same encounter with ease: I assumed you'd appreciate similar feedback. I can forgo commentary if you prefer (generally, I only offer tips if people ask directly).

Regardless, best of luck with your next run!

A.


Btw. As you noted, just running without being invisible can be dicey due to AoE disabler use.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 17 septembre 2012 - 04:36 .

[Alesia_BH]

Xiz wrote...

Would there be enough time to get rid of the PI and then Focus on your main character?

With Mel's casting speed bonus it's a very narrow window ~3 round segements total.

I have not found full buffed PIs so easily dispellable. And even then there's the aura use problem anytime Improved Alacrity isn't active. I haven't studied the problem though.


The other thing is that with G3's restrictions on multiple PIs, the dynamics of wish resting changes significantly. And if you'd need to build a Spell Trap looper rather than Wish rester, then that changes things considerably. My suspicion is that the SCS strategy would look pretty different from Alanis' non SCS one.


In general, the impression I'm getting is that SCS has turned what was once a mages' world into a thieves' world. Even though I initially avoided running a blaster mage in SCS for fear it would be trivial, now that I understand the game world changes better, I suspect that an SCS-Ascension sorcerer solo no reload would be tricky. I can't say for certain though: I'd have to give it a try first.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 17 septembre 2012 - 04:33 .

[corey_russell]

Alesia_BH wrote...

IAnyhoo. No need to get defensive. Feel free to try it. Or not- it's completely up to you. I only offered advice because I've noted that you tend to do so after other people's runs have ended if you are aware of ways to complete the same encounter with ease: I assumed you'd appreciate similar feedback. I can forgo commentary if you prefer (generally, I only offer tips if people ask directly).

Regardless, best of luck with your next run!

@Alesia_BH: I do appreciate the feedback after my run has ended (just as I do for others), thank you. By all means, continue with your commentary on my runs. 

I didn't realize I was being defensive...but if given advice I can't implement that wouldn't encourage me (speaking in general). You're right about Jan, as an illusionist he should have invis 10'. It would seem sad though, if all my future SCS runs were forced to recruit Jan so I can survive the SCS ambushes. You are right too that level 2 invis could work in a pinch, though that does mean I must have 2 arcane to cover the whole party. That would put a bit of damper on my all melee parties I occassionally run.

My wife suggested I should attempt BG 2 no-reload only (e.g., not trilogy) until a successful no-reload of SCS BG 2. Only then try a trilogy. So will restart a BG 2 character soon...

Modifié par corey_russell, 17 septembre 2012 - 04:43 .

[Alesia_BH]

Make sense. Good luck!

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 17 septembre 2012 - 04:47 .