39 réponses à ce sujet

[saros_shadow_follower]

Thanx to a sympathetic friend, I now have the Improved anvil 6.0 mod, and am ready to give it to any who sends me a PM with his e-mail address. The mod tweaks the game essentially, compared to even IA 5.0. I will test it, at first with my winner F/M/T from IA 5.0 (which will make maybe the entire mod too easy to win, because the new xp cap is set at 12.2 million, a F/M/T should not have access to Improved Alacrity anymore, and so on, and so on). If I manage to devise successful no-reload tactics for each encounter, then I will try the IA 6.0 in a no-reload game. Over and out, will share my insights on the mod here.

Edit: Some spells have been omitted, other nerfed, and now mages can cast up to Monster Summoning VII (which is a ninth lvl spell). But here is an excellent new 8-th level spell:

Foreknowledge - replacement of the IA impotent Power Word Blind (lvl 8, casting time 8, duration 1 turn, cast on self) - basically, the wizard has insight on the near future, which has impact upon his physical and mental preparation: he receives +1 bonus to saves, -1 spell casting speed bonus and 4 AC bonus.

Another interesting spell is the replacement of Spell Deflection (which I find to be immensely useful in IA, but unfortunately, it's omitted): Giant Strength, spell lvl 6, Alteration, cast on target, sets strength to 20 on lvl 12, to 21 on lvl 14, to 22 on lvl 16, to 23 on lvl 18, and 20-th level mages can set the target's strength to 24. Duration: 2 turns.

Unfortunately, the other source of cheesy gaining infinite gold by killing Wyverns summoned with the 6-th level spell has also been stopped I had my hopes that this could be missed, making testing much easier.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 22 octobre 2010 - 09:19 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Edit on some recent encounters:



Suna Seni group is the same, save from the 'small tweak' that all party buffs are dispelled immediately after the start of the battlen (barring Improved Alacrity). The fight is now going to be extremely hard for a soloer, who naturally relies on the protective pre-buffing. Still, I have a tactic in mind, and will post the no-reload strategy soon enough.



Tried hitting enemies under Time Stop, and it worked. However, after a short time (3-4 hits), the enemy under attack becomes immune to all weapons (as if protected by Absolute Immunity), but still, this hasn't been implemented quite well. Also, if targets are switched under TS, the new target also usually takes a couple of hits before becoming 'immune' to melee attacks for the duration of the TS.



Armor and Shield are nicely tweaked (save from the short duration) and quickly become my new favourite lvl 1 spells.

[Flamedance]

Not that i'll ever play the cheesy Sikret Horror Show- sorry, Improved Anvil - again, but the responses from his fanclub to you laying your hands on IA 6 should make for a couple of good laughs. I'll keep an eye on the G3 forums.

Will follow your posts, though. Matter of fact, i'm srtill waiting for the day Sikret will make everyone immune to EVERYTHING and then present that as the ultimate tactical challenge.

Anyway, you seem to have fun with it. Good luck with a solo run and thumbs up for that one.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Just as a side note - I had a character for IA 6.0 prepared for a long time. It is a human berserker (passed BG1+TOTSC with SCS), which had to be dualled in the start of BG2 to a mage. Apparently, THIS character can receive Improved Alacrity HLA. Good enough for me!

[Flamedance]

Damn, now i'm almost tempted to try my hand at it too....though i'm not enough of a masochist to try a solo game. Kudos to you if you succeed in soloing IA 6. I'm pretty sure he had you in mind when designing some of the new encounters. Currently playing through the entire Gothic series, though, so it'll have to wait. Btw, did he change any of the kits or add new ones?

[saros_shadow_follower]

Yep, a few things on the kits are changed. Vanilla kits - negatively, like removing the permanent Resist Fear from the Cavalier Kit. There is a bonus to the Riskbreaker warrior kit, and also an entirely new Protector ranger kit, which has an absurdly powerful HLA.



BTW, the starting dungeon couldn't be done solo no-reload. Since I had to dual inside, and badly needed all of the xp. Used Imoen to help with two Lesser Spirit Spiders, set conveniently on the 2nd level of the dungeon. Emotion spell is great vs them. Well, now I'm solo, lvls 9 (mage)/ 17 (berserker), and ready to develop solo tactics. As a side note, maybe will have to use some party members on future no-reload tactic vs Suna Seni, but only as cannon fodder (because of the stupid buff dispellation at start of combat - not very fair, since enemies are fully pre-buffed, but who cares!)..

[saros_shadow_follower]

Suna Seni noreload tactic ready. Have to polish it a little, but here is the basics (n this case, PC is a 10th level mage, with a little extra HP (160) and DUHM adds +4 to stats due to inactive berserker lvl 17:

Suna's party appears (buffed). PC's buffs are dispelled. PC immediately consumes an Oil of Speed and sets to the upper right corner of the battlefield. If this isn't done quickly enough, enemy cleric shoots a Greater Command, and if PC's put to sleep, game over. So now PC's hasted and here the Contingency triggers. What Contingency? Well, one of the first night-time vampire-thief encounters has a thief with a Contingency scroll. PC had cast this before resting, and it is set with Improved Invisibility on 'Enemy seen'. So PC is now invisible and hasted. Running around is essential, because enemies are hasted and see PC. Enemy cleric is not hasted (has Free Action as pre-buff). So now he uses his one and only True Sight spell. PC disrupts with Larloch's minor drain from special abilities. Next rounds, while running, PC casts Stoneskin (from a scroll, a total of 3 available from vampire encounter, Kalah and Five Flaggons inn basement, one scribed of course). Even if PC is hit, the Stoneskin kicks in, because scroll casting is uninterruptable. Next move is Ghost Armor, followed by Mirror Image. Next is Spell Thrust on the mage, which has indeed been fixed and removes MGoI and SI:Enchantment. Next move: Greater Malison. Next cast: Minor Sequencer with 2 Webs. Here is the weak side of the plan - basically, PC lacks Breach, and should've bought it from Ribald. Next time will know. Because now the mage can be held by Web or Emotion, or Hold Person, but the Cleric is immune to Web and Hold person. Also, the mage has ProNormalMissiles active, and PC relies on normal darts as main weapon. Well, in first run killed cleric in melee and with magic missiles while all the rest of the enemies were webbed, then recast Improved Invis from a scroll, cast Emotion, then Hold Person, and killed the mage and 2 other fighters, and had to use 2 Web scrolls to finish Suna and the remaining fighter. The second try Emotion worked on the cleric, making things much easier.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 23 octobre 2010 - 05:05 .

[Flamedance]

Congratulations and well done.When i played IA, this encounter was a royal pain in the butt because it came so early in the game and i was totally unprepared for it. Needed half a dozen reloads before i got lucky with Emotion. Even so i still lost Yoshimo and Minsc. Keep us posted. Never thought i'd say this, but i might actually send you a PM one of these days.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Just did a makeover. Indeed, Breaching the cleric and the mage after the starting spells described above makes this battle so much easier. However, had immense troubles developing no-reload tactics for a second similar group (but with jonly 1 fighter and 1 thief, although the cleric and the mage were the same as in previous encounter). This is insanely hard without the Contingency (which was already wasted in the previous fight). Had to consume Oil of Speed, ran to NE corner of the battlefield (again), here cast II, but the enemy Cleric was in sight the next second (enemies pursued PC), enemy buffs activated, PC ran TO the enemy cleric and managed to disrupt his TS casting in the last second with LMD, and then the battle was much like the previous one, save that PC lacked some scrolls to make it easier (namely, Improved Invisl, maybe a Greater malison too and/or Emotion). Had to rely on 4 Webs to kill the enemies with darts under DUHM. Worked, but for a no-reload, have to keep in mind to purchase and save scrolls for this encounter too.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 23 octobre 2010 - 07:49 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Apparently, more of the important resources for a soloer have been removed to faraway locations or gained after tough battles. Like scrolls of Spell Immunity and Improved Haste, which had been removed from Athkatlan shops & fences, and in Trademeet too. Ugh. Will have to manage without them somehow. Not even Pai-Na's spider lair has a SI scroll anymore.

[Flamedance]

Well, Sikret always claimed IA couldn't be soloed. Till you proved him wrong, that is. Have to say that just removing items seems a bit cheap to achieve that goal.

I won't be able to play IA 6 for the next couple of months, but will probably go with a full party anyway. And yeah, decided to try my hand at it:P

[saros_shadow_follower]

On a closer look, many vanilla items and spells have been seriously tweaked. Examples so far:



Potion of Absorbtion: Removed the -10 AC crushing modifier bonus. The potion grants only 100% electricity resistance.

Potion of Invulnerability: Removed +5 saving throw bonus. However, AC is set to -1

Spirit Armor spell: Duration 15 rounds, doesn't allow save when spell expires.

Potion of Stone Form: Applies -9 penalty to dexterity.

Blackblood club: Still costs a ridiculous amount of money, but now is of +2 enchantment and has 5% chance per strike to inflict some acid damage.



Located an Improved Haste scroll however, I am yet to locate a Spell Immunity scroll, although I already checked many of the improved enemies.

[Flamedance]

Are you planning on going to the druid grove anytime soon? That area was left largely untouched in IA 5. IIRC, he promised to improve the Druid Grove in IA 6. If so, i't be interesting to see your battleplan.

[JMason79]

No way I'm gonna try this particular mod, nonetheless I've a question as I've doubts about a particular thing.



Are you distributing and uploading/sharing this mod package against the will of its author?

[saros_shadow_follower]

Flamedance wrote...

Are you planning on going to the druid grove anytime soon? That area was left largely untouched in IA 5. IIRC, he promised to improve the Druid Grove in IA 6. If so, i't be interesting to see your battleplan.

I did it already, with a solo 12 lvl mage (inactive class Berserker 17 lvl). Druid grove was further modified. Fisrt thing - don't go near the Troll Mound with a low-level party. There is a bunch of Sikret's new pets, Noble Trolls, about 6 of them, and the old Spirit trolls. Spirit ones are weak as always (and xp for killing one is only 3k), but Noble trolls have excellent combat abilities and are under permanent Mantle (you need weapons of +3 and higher to hit them), Of course, they also regenerate fast.
The only other improved group here (except for those modded already in IA 5.0) was a bunch of spiders. 2 Sword, 1 Lesser Spirit, 1 Spirit and 1 Killer spiders total. Hard for a 12th level mage. Still doable. Used Greater Malison, followed by 2-3 Emotions, and Sunfires + melee to kill the usually one-remaining non-asleep spider, the Spirit one. Faldorn herself seems to be identical to IA 5.0 one. First Spirit of the Grove quest is also as in previous version.
As to the other question - in this particular case, I don't have any qualms on further distributing the mod. My own reasons. Still, not much people actually want the mod, and I don't blame them In comparison to 5.0, this is far less fun. Much more restricted options and possibilities. Too linear game.

[JMason79]

saros_shadow_follower wrote...
As to the other question - in this particular case, I don't have any qualms on further distributing the mod.

I take that as no... The author of the Improving Anvil mod then did not give you any permission to distribute his mod that you basically took from his private forum.

Let me state that I don't know the author but also don't second this type of distribution against the author's will.

You've a leaked copy of his work from a member of his private forum, and started to distribute it publicly against the will of the author. Do you confirm this?

Modifié par JMason79, 25 octobre 2010 - 12:17 .

[Flamedance]

saros_shadow_follower wrote...

As to the other question - in this particular case, I don't have any qualms on further distributing the mod. My own reasons. Still, not much people actually want the mod, and I don't blame them In comparison to 5.0, this is far less fun. Much more restricted options and possibilities. Too linear game.

Arguments on IA and it's designer usually deteriorate pretty fast and i certainly don't want to start one here. Nonetheless, i'd like to come out in support of Saros in this case. He does have very valid reasons and i fully support him in this. I won't have any qualms about playing IA either. For saros' reasons check the G3 forums.

[JMason79]

Regardless the moral qualities of a work's author, common courtesy and author rights dictate the same thing in every case.

This thread is discussing an intellectual property (even if it's based on another I.P. called Baldur's Gate Throne of the Bhaal), an intellectual property that is distributed against the will of the author.

The Original Poster of the thread uses this thread to offer (and advertise) a distribution of intellectual property despite the fact the intellectual property's owner denied permission for his distributing his work in this way.

Modifié par JMason79, 25 octobre 2010 - 12:24 .

[Kaelvar]

JMason79 wrote...

saros_shadow_follower wrote...
As to the other question - in this particular case, I don't have any qualms on further distributing the mod.

I take that as no... The author of the Improving Anvil mod then did not give you any permission to distribute his mod that you basically took from his private forum.

Let me state that I don't know the author but also don't second this type of distribution against the author's will.

You've a leaked copy of his work from a member of his private forum, and started to distribute it publicly against the will of the author. Do you confirm this?

Honestly, who are you? The people at BWL make their users PAY to play their mods (at least IA) when they have no rights whatsoever to charge real money for this. I don't care if the mod's author doesn't get anything, the users still have to pay, it's not freaking donating like they continually claim.

Modifié par Kaelvar, 25 octobre 2010 - 12:26 .

[JMason79]

The people at BWL make their users PAY to play their mods (at least IA) when they have no rights whatsoever to charge real money for this.

Noone 'makes users pay', they pay of their own accord, as a result of free decision.

I read IA is considered as closed beta available only to a limited group of people, and IA's author does not give permission to any public distribution of his work.

I don't and will never pay, but I use their Dragon's House download site very often (where they host mods for free, including a lot of mods that are not their own), it has really a great bandwidth for me.

Modifié par JMason79, 25 octobre 2010 - 12:35 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Kaelvar wrote...

Honestly, who are you?

Most probably, this is either Sikret or Baronius. Notice the forum-joining date (today). The activity only in this thread. Figures. As a side note, I don't see anywhere that the author of the mod forbids the distribution, since the BWL forums are locked, and Sikret is afraid to write anywhere else in person But even if he did, this wouldn't change things.

Edit: I'd like to keep this topic to IA related queistions, like tactics, items, or the mod itself. Not of its author or something else. I really don't wanna turn this topic into a flame war. Will not answer any more questions not linked to the things stated above.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 25 octobre 2010 - 12:40 .

[Flamedance]

JMason79 wrote...

Regardless the moral qualities of a work's author, common courtesy and author rights dictate the same thing in every case.

This thread is discussing an intellectual property (even if it's based on another I.P. called Baldur's Gate Throne of the Bhaal), an intellectual property that is distributed against the will of the author.

The Original Poster of the thread uses this thread to offer (and advertise) a distribution of intellectual property despite the fact the intellectual property's owner denied permission for his distributing his work in this way.

Emm...sorry,but your legal knowledge leaves something to be desired. If there's anyone who's actually breaching author's rights, it's Sikret, not Saros.
Oh, i highly suspect you're either Baronius or Sikret hoping to start a flame war here, so Kevin Lynch will lock this thread. Sorry, mate, i'm not going to fall for that. 
 

[Flamedance]

Saros beat me to it in regard to my suspicions:P

[Kaelvar]

Really? You know completely well what I meant by saying 'make'...



What are you doing when you go out and buy a video game? Are you donating to game developers? No. It's your decision to play a video game, but if you want to you have to pay. The fact remains that if you want to play IA they say you have to pay. I hope you realize they have no rights to do that, only BioWare/Atari have those rights.

[JMason79]

No, I don't need to pay for IA, I can just wait until they release it publicly. It's a closed beta, even probably slightly buggy.



I just checked and they offer several other advantages to those who pay to their site like 'donation'. It seems to include access to this closed beta as well, overkill to call it "PAYING for mods". Tell me one other mod (especially in beta) they charge for? Only IA? Generalizing eh?



I've to defend them in this case, and not just because their Dragon House is one of the fastest FREE download sites I know.