15226 réponses à ce sujet

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alesia's Game:

I'm sad to report that Alesia has fallen. No bugs, no anomalies: it's over this time. For certain.

Those who play Ascension will understand what happened- especially those who have played the original and recent SCS versions.

The first time Mel cast Time Stop, she did not say "Gracie Alia Beloe." That terrified me because without that cue, it is nearly impossible to know when to use Focus and if you miss a Focus solo, you can quickly find yourself in trouble.

Fortunately, Bodhi attracted Mels attention the first time. But later, I saw Mel waving her hand, and was too quick on the Focus trigger. It turned out to be Teleport Without Error. Of course later Mel cast Time Stop and Focus wasn't available to Alesia. She tried Dimmension Dooring to a far corner of the Throne- something that would have worked in the original- but Mel is far more aggressive with Teleport Without Error in SCS. She Teleported directly to Alesia and killed her during Time Stop.

ProMW would have been the right move. Alesia had the scrolls, but I was banking too heavily on prior experience that wasn't applicable. And now it's over.

So close...

Best,

A.


Final Note: Reflecting, this one was actually lost much, much earlier. Alesia came to the Throne with too few ProMw scrolls. Had she arrived with a sizeable stack, she wouldn't have been so reluctant to use them. Lesson learned.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 01 juillet 2011 - 04:19 .

[Saint of Sinners]

@Alesia_BH

Oh, man. That was so, so close. So sorry about that.

Teleport Without Error is such a **** to deal with, to be honest. Even Cornugons alone hunting me down is such a pain, especially when no PfMW or Stoneskin is up. By the way, what were Alesia's protections prior to the last Time Stop? Were they really not enough?

I say, post it in another thread. Repeat the Ascension when you have the time so we can still see the planning and methods used.

Still, all the luck in any future endeavors. Your bounty hunter, without a doubt, was awesome.

[Saint of Sinners]

Since this was a double post error anyway, I'd take this chance to say that Monty is done with the first part of the ritual in the first part of Watcher's Keep. Needless to say, it was quite a scare being ganged on by really high level clerics. Devas are quite unstoppable, but the blade pulled through. The key was using deafness and consistent removal of enemy protections.

Anyway, will post it soon. Cheers!

Modifié par Saint of Sinners, 01 juillet 2011 - 06:19 .

[Alesia_BH]

Saint of Sinners wrote...
By the way, what were Alesia's protections prior to the last Time Stop? Were they really not enough?

Clearly they weren't enough...

Mel (and Abazigal) are pretty aggressive with Breach. Without RoAC+CoND, it's hard for a single class Thief to avoid getting Breached. In Vanilla and my prior installs there was a limitless supply of RoACs at Ribald's. That made life a lot easier for Thieves. In my current install, there is only one. 

So yeah: Alesia had been Breached. Her Potion buffs were up- Breach doesn't effect those. And Sendai is the only Remove Magic threat (which is why she was taken out first, that and her full Heal Potions- as well as her Greater Restoration). Unfortunately, Potion buffs don't help much if you are getting meleed in Time Stop...

Basically, she needed to hit every Focus. And if she did miss, she needed ProMW. Again, lesson learned.


The concern I raised about movement rates after Pocket Plane Challenge 2 ended up being valid. It's like the Throne of Bhaal Raceway out there now. I think Alesia is going to be a goody-goody next time she makes a run. Life would be a lot easier without Balthazar in the picture.

I say, post it in another thread. Repeat the Ascension when you have the time so we can still see the planning and methods used.

I may. I find it hard to continue with a character after something like that happens. It feels over. Done.

I may do it just as a recon mission. If I do, I'll post- assuming there is interest.

Still, all the luck in any future endeavors. Your bounty hunter, without a doubt, was awesome.

That's kind of you to say. And she'll be back. She's still my favorite character.

Good luck to you as well SoS!


Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 01 juillet 2011 - 06:52 .

[Shadow_Leech07]

Sorry for your loss Alesia. I don't like how our characters are not immune to time stop and she is. BTW I could never use Focus properly but then again I am always listening to music while playing the game, I never bothered to listen to the characters casting spells...so I've learned something from your report thank you!

Modifié par Shadow_Leech07, 01 juillet 2011 - 06:39 .

[Saint of Sinners]

Alesia_BH wrote...

In Vanilla and my prior installs there was a limitless supply of RoACs at Ribald's. That made life a lot easier for Thieves. In my current install, there is only one.

Hey, mine too. What's up with that? I installed Higher Stacks of Items. That's kind of weird.

Alesia_BH wrote...

The concern I raised about movement rates after Pocket Plane Challenge 2 ended up being valid. It's like the Throne of Bhaal Raceway out there now.

What were your other movement rate enhancers? Any Gaxx, Cheetah Speed, Lightning Speed? Granted, the last one is insane but surely it's not for attacking anyway. Just to run fast enough to set traps, mayhaps?

Alesia_BH wrote...
I may. I find it hard to continue with a character after something like that happens. It feels over. Done.

I feel the same way too, especially when I invested so much time on it. What's really bum though is the idea that you were almost there. It could have been one of the best Ascension stories.

Alesia_BH wrote...
I may do it just as a recon mission. If I do, I'll post- assuming there is interest.

There will always be interest for that. Most of the people here would second it. I would also like to request something that I've been planning a while now. I suggest that, if you ever post it in a different thread, link to your posts here regarding some battles. That way, it can spark an interest among other players about bounty hunters and thieves in general. I plan to do the same with my run if it's successful, so that more and more players will be enjoined to try this out.

Partly why we're quite few is because most do not have a clear grasp of actually how most encounters and battles are broken down. You are quite good when it comes to that aspect, especially in really hectic fights. Heck, I myself go jelly-knees when I'm at the Siege Camp. Too many giants for my liking, heh.

This will also answer some of questions that are borne of hesitation, like, "Guarded Compound is too hectic to solo, what should I do?" or "ABAZIGAL IS A CHEAT! TOO MANY DRAGONS, HELP, PLEASE?!" It's not really an FAQ thread where you are the moderator. Rather, it's a step by step procedure for them to see how a bounty hunter can take on enemies at even the most smartly improved variations.

All the best to you, too, Alesia. :happy:

[Alesia_BH]

Shadow_Leech07 wrote...

Sorry for your loss Alesia.

Thanks.

BTW I could never use Focus properly but then again I am always listening to music while playing the game, I never bothered to listen to the characters casting spells...so I've learned something from your report thank you!

The importance of nailing Focus was one of the most glarring lessons I learned from the old Ascension Solo Challenge. That was one of the consistent differences between those who made it and those who didn't. 

When I did it with my weaker characters (Aliana and Transmuter Alastria), I basically had to catch every single one.

Alanis missed a bunch of times, but she always had tight protections up. Some can miss, others can't. It's best to hit though.


Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 01 juillet 2011 - 06:49 .

[Alesia_BH]

Saint of Sinners wrote...

What were your other movement rate enhancers? Any Gaxx, Cheetah Speed, Lightning Speed? Granted, the last one is insane but surely it's not for attacking anyway. Just to run fast enough to set traps, mayhaps?

Setting traps, backstabbing and -most importantly- not getting decked by Abazigal or Balthazar

And you're right: except in Time Stop, APR really isn't important for Alesia in that fight because it makes no sense to keep her in contact for an entire round. Even ranged, it's one hit and move.

As for movement rate enhancers, she was running Oils of Speed + Boots of Speed at all times.  She also had  Amulet of Cheetah Speed + her Personal Item whenever possible. It wasn't enough to grant a Margin of Safety.

In prior runs, Oil of Speed + Boots of Speed was sufficient. It's a subtle thing but for some classes that is a huge, huge, difference.

If I give it a second try, I may open differently now that I'm aware of the movement issue. I may open Time Trap->  Assasination on Balthazar with the aid of Simmy Alesia.


Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 01 juillet 2011 - 07:13 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

Feel sorry for Alesia's end.... It was great and enjoyable to follow her run...

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 01 juillet 2011 - 07:06 .

[Satyricon331]

Hey, this long-time lurker is really sorry your run didn't quite make it, Alesia_BH! You have my congrats nonetheless - you really know the game.

[Enuhal]

Sorry for your loss, Alesia. It really was a great run

I have to apologize for not providing any updates lately, but I am very busy right now. Maybe next week I'll be able to continue with Arinja.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Sorry for your loss, Alesia. It's much harder with SCS and Ascension obviously compared to a normal Ascension run.

Astarta's recent adventures include (will post pictures after I get home):

Forged the Guildmaster's dream +4 dagger, using two +3 ones (wasted one Permanency scroll here), and some other ingredients. The dagger has 1 Assassination HLA use per day, which may prove useful for Captain Sparrow to backstab for 1 round with a +4 quarterstaff. Some improved enemies are still vulnerable to backstab, like spiders for example, or drow. Also, the dagger while equipped offers immunity to Poison, which may be useful as well in some situations.

The party next travelled to Watcher's keep level 1. Here they had an interesting encounter.

The spider queen fight triggers right after Pai-Na dies. Although at present levels the party has no trouble in winning that fight, they still need a good amount of +4 weaponry to take on the queen (she is immune to +3 or less weapons). But the queen fell very quickly to the Critical strikes of all warriors, and the rest of her spiders were no match as well.

Using the Spider Queen eggs obtained from this fight, the party assembled the Golden Spider Figurine.

End.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 01 juillet 2011 - 07:46 .

[Saint of Sinners]

Monty the Mad Blade Update: Watcher's Keep, Level 1

Monty takes on the Watcher's Keep Level 1 at lvl34. This is a very crazy level as there are a few clerics here, a few really tough fighters, a golem, and as many distractions you can think of as possible. Luckily, the bulk of our protections are already available, with only a few components missing. The biggest addition, however, to this whole bunch of thingamajig is the formation of the Shadow Dragon Scale. At -4AC, it boosts Monty's AC to -13 with his other equipment and with Defensive Spin, he becomes almost untouchable at -23AC. This is important because we have to have enough firepower to take on at least half of the ritual. Monty's spells will not be enough to get him through it all, and it's not my intent.

The part I consider as the first is when you take the Holy Book. This will wake up the nearest statues and cause them to attack you. This battle must go first because two of the statues here are really high-level clerics who summon Deva after freaking Deva at you, and one of them will summon nearly unlimited animals just for fodder.

Anyway, on to the fight.

Spellbook:
Lvl 1 - 2 Armor, 2 Shield, 2 Chromatic Orb
Lvl 2 - 2 Mirror Image, 2 Blur, 2 Resist Fear
Lvl 3 - 3 Remove Magic, 3 Spell Thrust
Lvl 4 - 2 Stoneskin, 2 Spirit Armor, 2 Fireshield: Red
Lvl 5 - 2 Breach, 2 Spell Shield, 2 Spell Immunity
Lvl 6 - 2 Improved Haste, 2 Prot. from Magic Energy, 2 Prot. from Magic Weapons
Lvl 7 - 2 Ruby Rays of Reversal, 2 Mordenkainen's Sword, 2 Khelben's Warding Whip
Innate - 2 DUHM, 8 Offensive Spins, 8 Defensive Spins, 4 Weapons Display, 1 Sound Burst, 1 Resonating Weapon, 1 Mass Charm, 1 Enthralling Melody, 1 Magic Flute, 1 Whirlwind Attack, and sequencers.

We keep the sequencers from the Shadow Dragon fight as they are loaded with the best spells we have for endgame purposes.

Sequencers:
Minor Sequencer: Mirror Image, Shield
Spell Sequencer: Stoneskin, Fireshield: Red, Spirit Armor
Spell Trigger: Improved Haste, PfMW, Spell Shield

Equipment:
Armor   - Shadow Dragon Armor
Helm    - Helm of Defense
Rings   - Ring of Prot. +2, Ring of Prot. +1
Amulet  - Amul. of Prot. +1
Cloak   - Cloak of Prot. +1
Gloves  - Gauntlets of Ogre Strength
Boots   - Boots of Avoidance
Girdle  - Belt of Inertial Barrier
Weapons - Scarlet Ninja-to, Belm

Strategy: We will never rely on spells for damage, save for the innate ones, but those are better suited for nullifying enemies rather than outright killing them. We will rely heavily on Imp. Haste, Offensive Spin, and our buffs. Scarlet Ninja-to will be swapped with FoA time and again for the fighters who use Hardiness or the like. Defensive Spin will ONLY be used when fighters are not under Critical Strike.

We buff pre-rest with Armor and Stoneskin, and buff after rest with everything. This gives us enough resistances to weather a few minutes of mayhem.

We start by taking the Holy Book. This wakes up the first pack. We position to the north of the topmost cleric and let loose a Remove Magic. It finishes just as their contingencies finish and they're hit hard. One of the clerics was able to let loose a Storm of Vengeance, but we were already out of its range.

The initially targeted cleric summons a Fallen Deva. We respond with Sound Barrier and concentrate on the Fallen Deva until she's gone.

During this time, however, another Fallen Deva was summoned. Already cornered and severely outnumbered, we unleash a Weapons Display. This affects an Aerial Servant and he runs around scared. We attack the cleric some more, and unleashed Sound Burst. We keep up with the Offensive Spin and keep at the Fallen Deva until she falls.

With Monty dealing only a couple of points of damage to the cleric who's still stubbornly casting spell after spell after spell, we use Resonating Weapon. At 10APR, the cleric fails his save and is deafened. He falls shortly after.

With one fighter/cleric and one druid left, we use Enthralling Melody. The druid fails his save and is fascinated. We concentrate on the fighter statue. Monty was still only dealing minute points of damage so he goes for broke with Mass Charm. This time, Tymora smiles and we gain control of the druid and all of his summons.

Unluckily, though, the druid was in the middle of a summoning spell so he summons a hostile animal. No bother, though, as we have everyone else. With everyone directed at the fighter statue, the statue falls quickly.

We then have the druid cast Flame Strike on himself, dealing 46 points of damage. He gets out of the trance and attacks us. However, all the other animals ganged up on him and he was never able to pull off a heal. He dies.

We go after the aerial servant still running around and killed it. We rested for 3 days and buffed as per our usual buffs but without short-term spells (like PfMW). We finish the ritual and levelled up. We took another Sound Burst as a failsafe HLA.

We go for the nearest target. Apparently, it was a fighter type so we were pretty much dealing miniscule damage. The two mages were able to throw Time Stop one after another, going RRR and Greater Malison on Monty. However, Spell Shield and SI:Abjuration stopped them cold.

We reply with a Sound Burst. One of the two statues was deafened, leaving only one as a valid threat. Alternating between Offensive and Defensive Spin, we were able to hold off using our sole PfMW in our spellbook.

However, two ADHW later, we are forced to give up our position. Still, their fighters are on the verge of going down thanks to Sound Barrier being erected while they were still around me. We run to the furnace room and confront them the way Monty confronted his first few enemies: at the entrance of the door.

Coming in at trickles and switching to FoA to maximize any damage we can squeeze out of them, we go Spinning alternately until we bring down the fighter statue. We were consistently hitting at 8APR here and the statues are getting beat.

The undefeaned mage, however, did not put up for any of it and let loose a Sphere of Chaos. We run deeper into the room as we cannot afford being teleported or disintegrated now. This forced the melee enemies to come and meet me inside. Without any formidable fighter types in the room, the others were easy pickings. They eventually fell.

We run out of the room and go to the southern portion of the level. Here, we erect SI:Abjuration and a Spell Shield. This is very imporant as we are already going into endgame. The mage appears and we throw a Khelben's Warding Whip on him. He runs away.

We activate Offensive Spin yet again, bringing our attacks to 8APR with FoA and Belm. We go for the golem and fell him. In our absence, the mage summons a Magical Sword out of our sight.

Monty responds with an Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, killing the sword and busting the mage's spellcasting. We go for the mage we earlier deafened (he's useless already so he just attacks us) and destroyed him.

We unleash our Spell Trigger, technically refreshing every single defense we originally had. The undeafened mage had already exhausted his spellbook, though, and resorts to attacking us. With Khelben's still whipping at him, he wasn't able to come up with a defensive retort and we destroy him too.

Lastly, the gnome mage running around was hunted. We find him behind a pillar, and we unleash our Spell Sequencer just to be sure. He answers with Incendiary Cloud. He falls before Spirit Armor even finished its animation.

We rest for 2 days and get some gold at our keep. Fun battle but too hectic.

Conclusion: It might not be evident but I really had a bad time with this battle. It was too messy and chaotic and I didn't know what will happen when. I was more of a reactive player here than a proactive one. I don't know which was the mage or which was the fighter until after they've started buffing the hell up. If this was any indication, I think I'd go crazy on SCSII-Ascension. Still, I'll try to keep up with this. I still haven't gotten around to using much potions as I try as much as possible to go Rambo on my enemies. Finesse is great, but a quick kill is better. Still, when the time comes, potions will be brewed and scrolls will be scribed for battles as big as this (think Oasis or even just Sendai).

[Alesia_BH]

Thanks everyone! I appreciate your comments.


Best,

A.


Btw. For the curious, I re-tried the fight a moment ago. It's not done yet, but it looks like a winner.

She should have been more aggressive in her opening- she can take out both Sendai and Balthazar before Mel appears. With Balthazar gone, the rest seems to fall into place.

What I'm tempted to do now is experiment with the fight, work out her strategy for it thoroughly, and then fire her up in Candlekeep. I'm pretty confident with everything up to the final Ascension fight. Once she has this one down, she should be fine.

The only thing holding me back is that I'd end up posting a  lot of the same stuff twice...

[Saint of Sinners]

@Alesia_BH

You've posted mostly about major or complicated battles. If there's a difference in tactic, I think it's best to just post the difference. Also, do tell if there's a massive change in equipment, scenario, etc. I for one can never get over the Guarded Compound battle. I don't believe it could have been done better by any bounty hunter save at that point with the same equipment and all.

Still, just post it. And also, it's time to test your character out in Insane, as you've said!

Cheers and all the luck!

[Hjolnai]

Alesia, bad luck on the death. Failing in the final battle is very harsh...

[Alesia_BH]

saros_shadow_follower wrote...

Sorry for your loss, Alesia. It's much harder with SCS and Ascension obviously compared to a normal Ascension run.

Yeah. I was banking too much on prior experience that wasn't entirely applicable.

Throughout the rest of ToB, I really didn't notice SCS much aside from the Tactical Challenge components. The scripting made Sendai a little tougher, and made Abazigal a little easier by moving Tamah. That was it- no meaningful difference really aside from that. 

I was expecting the Throne to be only modestly different like the rest and if that were the case, then she would have made it without trouble. SCS makes it noticeably harder to rely on movement though.

Rust was a big factor to- it's been 3 years I guess since I've done ToB. That's a while.

Anyhoo. Best of luck to everyone who is still active. And once again, thanks for your comments.


Best,

A.

[Saint of Sinners]

Monty the Blade Quick Update:

• Finished the City Gates and the Bridge liches.
• Forged the FoA +4 and looted WK.
• Defeated the Chromatic Demon (pain in the behind but hardly a challenge, really).
• Still going about stronghold quests.
• Monty is lvl39. Lvl40 at 6.7M xp. Eleven more levels until cap kicks in Lvl50 cap.
• Spent nearly 100,000 gold scribing at least 5 scrolls of each the following: Spell Immunity, Breach, Pierce Shield, Khelben's Warding Whip, Ruby Ray of Reversal, Prot. from Magic Energy, Prot. from Magic Weapons, Improved Haste, Spell Shield.
• Spent about 40,000 gold brewing at least 20 of each of the following: Mind Focusing, Freedom, Superior Healing, Frost Giant Strength.
• HLAs: 1 Scribe Scrolls, 1 Alchemy, 1 Magic Flute, 1 Avoid Death, 1 Whirlwind Attack, 1 Mass Charm, 1 Enthralling Melody, 2 Resonating Weapon, 2 Sound Barrier, 4 Sound Burst.
• Still haven't paid Gaelan (yeah, Monty's quite a prude, heh).

Cheers and good luck to all the others.

Modifié par Saint of Sinners, 01 juillet 2011 - 12:30 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

The promised pictures:

The dagger

The Spiderqueen fight
One
Two
Three
Four

The figurine

[Alesia_BH]

Epilogue for Alesia's Run:

File this in the too little too late category, but Alesia has the battle down now. I realize now that the approach I took in the original battle was unduly influenced by my more recent (still 3-4 years ago) Ascension runs with weaker characters: my Avenger Druid, Aliana, and my Transmuter, Alastria. I now recognize (one again) that Alesia can cut The Five to piece with Black Blade of Disaster Backstabs. On Core, she can drop them all before Mel really gets a chance to do anything.

In the upcoming days, I'll post a version of the fight entitled: Alesia's Ascension- The Battle that Should Have Been. It will be quite clear that the post is an epilogue and not the conclusion of a successful run.


I'm still hesitant to say that she has a 100% No Reload strategy that she can bank on in a future run. The only problem is those darn silent casts and the associated Focus timing issues. Mel has a casting speed bonus of 6 so there is a very small window there. When she casts without the verbal cue it's very hard to get it right- especially across multiple castings (since you can trigger early like Alesia did in her original fight).

Someone with more knowledge of scripting and such may be able to comment on this, but I think the problem is that if she cries "Doom awaits thee!" or "You shall suffer" right before casting, it supressess the tactically relevant spell school information. If that is what's going on, then I'm sure that I'm not the only no-reloader who would greatly appreciate a tweak or SCS component that stifles her battle cries. It's also possible that some element of the SCS script is silencing her incantations on occasion- I don't recall having this problem in the past. Perhaps someone with a G3 account can run this by someone over there?

Anyhoo. I'll post a version of the battle for the curious fairly soon. Until then, best to all.


A.


@ Saros- Now that I understand the fight, the SCS version of The Five phase is actually easier for Alesia since Spell Protections foil Breach. Finishing Mel is definitely harder though.

@SoS- If and when Monty gets to the Throne, I'll have some tips for him that might be helpful. For now, I'll just note that you should collect Spell Deflection scrolls (even Minor will do) as a Breach foiler. Save all those ones from the random encounters. Also, don't leave SoA without the Necklace of Form Stability. That's always been an important item in Ascension, but it becomes relevant earlier in the fight in SCS. Do grab Mazzy's Sword too (for Symbol Slow).

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 01 juillet 2011 - 08:59 .

[Alesia_BH]

Opps!

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 01 juillet 2011 - 08:49 .

[Saint of Sinners]

@Alesia_BH

I'm currently in the process of scribing scrolls. It's actually Monty's favorite spell now. I think it's been cast nearly, what, 200 times now? I've been making scrolls for a lot of spells. I'll add Spell Deflection to the list. I think it's pretty cheap anyway.

What I'm really worried about is having a 9th-level scroll. Since the bard cannot memorize 9th-level spells, he can't scribe them (and at 5000gp each, it's next to freaking expensive). Right now, Monty's got about 10 of every imaginable magic attack, and will have some more eventually. I've basically memorized every useful spell until the 6th level. I just need some really rare ones, though, like Prot. from Energy, etc.

Also, as I've followed your run quite closely, I've seen that anything with the words "Immunity to" are worth keeping. I don't know if I was able to post it but there was a battle where I juggled all the items I have in my inventory to counter every single spell. I was just testing it to see if I can outdo the computer in terms of (real) speed with my pausing.

I would gladly love more strategies for the Ascension. I'm still looking for a complete list anywhere of the major differences between Core, Hard, and Insane as I know that they have completely different scripts. Since Ascension is pretty much the end, I might as well jack up the difficulty. When one misstep in Core can kill you anyway, it's kind of a waste to not put it on the highest level.

To return the favor, I'll check out the script. As for the sound, I suggest not moving the screen away from someone when they're starting with a casting animation. However, I don't know about enemies casting off-screen. Also, put music volume to a minimum. I don't play with it because it puts all the other sounds on top. Even environmental ones are pretty much halfway to half because I don't like hearing gears whirring or stuff. It might take precedence over necessary voices. If this fails, use BGConfig and adjust the ambient volume and such. It could also help.

[Saint of Sinners]

@Alesia_BH

I came up with the following stuff after delving into the game files. Sad to say but there's nothing with the script messing with her casting. However, I came up with a somewhat plausible idea.

When we click on an enemy, we are technically executing a "script" with the form:

IF
Click(NearestEnemyOf(Myself))
THEN
Attack(NearestEnemyOf(Myself))
END

Now, this is important. In the other topic I created, I said that Melissan's script is highly complicated. It is really specific and looks for multiple conditions. To accomodate this, the script uses the Continue action. What this means is that the IF blocks search for a certain condition (like, if player 1 has Spell Trap on) and will Continue to the next action in the list. She will do this as much as 9 times. However the following block will change. Instead of having NearestEnemyOf(Myself) to NinthNearestEnemyOf(Myself), it changes to LastSeenBy(Myself). Even if she has to cast Time Stop, she uses this condition. How does this equate to the attacking analogy?

Now, I'm no expert but I've written some scripts myself and I can pretty much say that LastSeenBy(Myself) means that a target has been assigned. Since the game's engine doesn't really allow for much difference between player characters and enemies (there are very few differences like perhaps the backstab issue, etc.), I would assume that any enemy who targets your players say their battlecries. In Melissan's case, her battlecries muffle the incantation of her spells.

This might explain why with SCSII installed, thieves keep on shouting, "You and me, let's go!" but mages didn't have their vocal components enhanced. Checking their files, they should have standard battlecries too, but their casting muddles it up.

Again, this is just a theory, and it might be that I am wrong. I have been a bit rusty with my script reading and writing. I sincerely hope someone would check it out for me too, but if that is indeed the problem, I think some tweak about lessening her battlecry should be in order. Let me check out if I can do that and for the meantime, check what I came up with. It might help somewhat.

Ascension Melissan
1018 HP
Cleric/Mage (30/30)
Stats: 19/20/22/18/19/21

Combat Stats:
Base THAC0: -7
THAC0: -15
APR: 5
Effective AC: -14

Saves:
Paralyze/Poison/Death: 0 (-2)
Rod/Staff/Wand: 3
Petrify/Polymorph: 4
Breath Weapon: 4
Spells: -4 (-4)

Proficencies:
Spear *
Dart *
Two Handed Weapon Style **

Ability Bonuses:
To Hit: +3
Damage: +7
Armor class: -4
Missile Adjustment: +3

Resistances:
Fire/Elec/Magic/Magic Fire/Magic Damage: 95
Cold/Acid/Magic Cold: 50
Slashing/Crushing/Piercing/Missile: 90
Poison: 100

Weapon Style Bonuses:
Damage +1
Crit Hit: +1
Weapon Speed: -4

She has the following innate protections which, even if The Five are defeated, will not be removed from her.

Protection from ff. spells:
Polymorph Other
Sphere of Chaos
Silence 15' Radius
Stinking Cloud
Web
Symbol Slow

Immune to ff. effects:
Time Stop
Charm
Panic
Slay
Feeblemindedness
Disease
Confusion
Petrification
Polymorph
Imprisonment
Maze
Level Drain
Teleport Field
Wing Buffet
Disintegrate
Berserk
Sleep
Silence
Entangle
Web
Grease
Fear
Morale Failure

Innate abilities:
Immune to spell levels 1-2
Immune to +3 weapons or lower

Melissan sports a spear-like weapon with a +5 enchantment. She has a grandmastery in this weapon, raising her innate 4APR to 5APR. It has the following stats:

Weapon Stats:
Damage: 1d8 +5, allows a strength bonus
To hit bonus: +5
Speed factor: 3
Range: 2
Damage type: slashing

Combat Abilities:
On hit: Slay undead, save vs. death to negate
On hit: -1 to all saves for 12 seconds, no save
On hit: Dispels illusions
On hit: 2d10 cold damage, save vs. spells at -4 penalty for half
On hit: 15% chance to stun for 15 seconds, save vs. petrification at -2 penalty to negate
On hit: 12 points of pure magic damage to demonic creature types

The following are bonuses that Melissan gains from having any of the following alive. Should any of these five fall, subtract their respective stats from the in-game stats provided above and you will see Melissan's eventual stats. For example, if you defeat all five before Melissan appears, Melissan will start with 500 less HP. It goes to follow that if you convince Balthazar to join you, Melissan will automatically lose 100HP and will become prone to backstab.

Bonus from The Five:
Illasera: Magic Resistance +45, Max HP +100
Yaga-Shura: Max HP +100, Fire/Magic Fire Resistance +45, save vs. death +2 bonus
Abazigal: Max HP +100, Electricity Resistance +45, Immunity to +4 weapons
Sendai: Max HP +100, Magic Resistance +25, Immunity to 4th-level spells, save vs. spells +4 bonus
Balthazar: Max HP +100, S/C/P/M Resistance +15, Immunity to backstab

The following list, albeit lengthy and tedious to read, is actually pretty simple. Melissan's script is highly specific and very, very, very complicated. Still, the rule of probability and controlled chaos applies to her script. Note that the following might not be accurate. As I can't check every single variable without going insane, I made some inferences for some of the following.

Battle Abilities:

• gates in a demon during the beginning of battle (normal: 1, hard: 3, insane: 5)
• will cast Divine Mantle and Divine Shield at the beginning of battle
• on insane: will summon a Fallen Solar one round after Divine Mantle and Divine Shield
• has a 66% chance of using Circle Kick when not in Time Stop (damage + wing buffet)
• may use Time Stop if the nearest enemy she can see is 12 feet away
• will retreat to use Draw Power if less than 20% of HP
• may use Teleport Without Error to hunt down anyone 8 feet away
• she will attempt to destroy illusions or undead first by attacking them
• if anyone casts PfMW, she will wait two rounds before attacking that person
• will concentrate on the character with less than 100 slasing resistance, without PfMW or having a 2 round-old PfMW, and without Stoneskins (this will be her first victim)
• if any character has just erected PfMW (still younger than 2 rounds) but has has less than 100 slashing resistance, Melissan will hunt that character next
• if by any chance her armor class, THAC0, save vs. spells, resist magic are penalized, or if she is under Insect Plague, Greater Malison, silenced, slowed, or blinded in any way, there is a 66% chance that she will use Divine Cleansing
• under Time Stop, if she doesn't have Divine Mantle on, there is a 66% chance that she will cast it
• under Time Stop, if her magic resistance is less than 70 and the nearest enemy is not within 12 feet and is a spellcaster, she will cast Divine Shield
• if a character doesn't have Carsomyr +5/+6, and the nearest enemy is 8 feet away, she will cast Blade Barrier
• if anyone uses an illusion spells without using SI: Divination, she will reply with True Sight
• if there is anyone with less than 50 magic resist and 100 slashing resist without Spell Deflection, Turning, or Trap, or not under Shield of the Archons or Stoneskins, and is not wearing Cloak of Mirroring, there is a 40% chance she will use Bone Blades
• if the above condition was also met, and the character does not have Hindo's Doom equipped and has less than 50% HP, there is a 66% chance Melissan would use Power Word: Kill on that character
• if she sees anyone with less than 100 slashing resist and with PfMW 2 rounds old, there's a 66% chance of Melissan using Greater Whirlwind
• she will use Control Demon over Balors and Mariliths
• if any demon has less than 35% HP, there's a 66% chance that she will use Banish on it
• if any of The Five are still around and gets below lvl20 (via level drain, presumably), there is a 66% chance Melissan will respond with Divine Restoration
• if either the difficulty is Normal of there are more than 1 person alive in the party, there's a 33% chance she will gate in another demon if the nearest enemy is beyond 12 feet or if she is under PfMW; the probability increases to 50% when The Five are dead
• there's a 66% chance she will use Breach on anyone with PfMW or Stoneskins up
• there's an 80% chance she will use Spellstrike on a character that has Spell Trap up
• there's an ~85% chance she will use Symbol: Slow on anyone who isn't equipping the following: FoA +5, Firecam Plate, Sword of Arvoreen, Ring of Free Action, Ixil's Spike +6, Spider's Bane
• same conditions as Melissan casting Power Word: Kill, with an additional caveat of having anyone not protected with SI: Necromancy, there's a 75% chance Melissan will cast Finger of Death on that character

After reading her script, I figured that she must be "goaded" into launching her spells. Since most of her checks are for equips, it might be possible to manipulate the odds by forcing the conditions to be true and wasting away her precious moves by countering them just in time.

Modifié par Saint of Sinners, 02 juillet 2011 - 05:20 .

[Saint of Sinners]

Wow, I never thought that Alesia's previous problem with Magic Damage resistance is going to plague my game. I am also uploading two images wherein I damaged myself with Magic Missile. Good grief. What a bummer.

Modifié par Saint of Sinners, 02 juillet 2011 - 06:18 .

[Saint of Sinners]

This is a bit depressing. I've already done so much with Monty the Blade but I'm afraid I have to reinstall everything. I should be back up soon enough. Gah. All that hardwork, what the hell. Anyway, time to improve some mod installation order. And I have to put aTweaks here. I've wanted to put that for a while now.

Talk to you guys in a while.