11 réponses à ce sujet

[BelgarathMTH]

Hello, everyone. Although I'm in the middle of a mostly vanilla run that I plan to finish, I'm starting to think I would like to try to get through an SCS run eventually.

I tried it once before and got hung up in the Nashkel mines from kobold Sleep spells wiping my party, so I was thinking I would maybe not turn on the "darkside kobolds". (How do you defend yourself? Do you just wait until everybody's level 5 before doing Nashkel?

I was also having a lot of trouble with spiders casting Web spells on the High Hedge map. So maybe no enhanced spiders.

I got wiped several times by thieves who would go in and out of stealth so much, backstabbing over and over, that they looked like they were in a Teleport Field. (I guess you have to cast lots of divination spells to defend against that?)

And then there was the "quaffing potions". It seemed like everybody and their Aunt Petunia, or at least Greywolf and Mulahey for sure, had Oils of Speed in their pocket.

Merely turning on increased mob numbers was a major increase in difficulty.

I was wondering if any of you experts out there could recommend some SCS settings for an SCS beginner. Do you think it's better to just pull out all the stops and struggle with it until you learn all the new encounters? Or should a beginner get used to it gradually with just a few things at a time?

Also, if you install SCS and change your mind, I think you have to do a total reinstall of the game to get rid of it, right? I remember that on one of my setups, I had installed and then uninstalled it through Weidu, and a lot of the stuff wouldn't change back, like increased mob numbers.

Opinions, thoughts, and advice, please.

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 25 mars 2012 - 02:32 .

[Gate70]

I'll leave it to others about which parts of SCS to use, I have dabbled a few times and never been able to commit to it.

In terms of total re-install, if you have enough disk space take a copy of your game folder (e.g. I create games\\bg with the install and copy to games\\bgorig). I can then wipe the game folder and copy back the original. I have 3 BGT installs at present; a no reload install, a SCS install which hasn't been used for a while and a multiplayer install. In Windows I believe you can run from any of the folders but under Linux I rename the appropriate one to games\\bg when I want to switch.

[BelgarathMTH]

@Gate, thanks. I have a clean install folder, but I run a heavily modded setup, so if I mess up my current game setup and need to start over, it still takes a long time and a lot of trouble to get BGT up and running again, and Fixpack, and then Tweaks, and then convenience from SCS, and the NPC Project, and my mod npc's that I won't play without, and then Widescreen, etc., etc.

Maybe I could think of a system of multiple installs like yours. I'll ruminate on that.

[Grond0]

The components that I think introduce the most difficulty are smarter mages and smarter priests. The spiders can be a major pain solo, but are not so much of a problem with a party. The SCS readme is good, so should give you a reasonable idea of which challenges you want.

The other things you mention are really just a question of adapting tactics a bit when you know the challenge is there. For instance the kobold spell-caster could be tackled by:
- using summons or charmed creatures
- making sure your party is not all close together
- area effect magic like web or fireball
- using invisibility / stealth / sanctuary to get into melee range of him before he casts anything

[BelgarathMTH]

Thanks, Grond0, that's good advice. Do you like to play with maxed-out SCS?

[Grond0]

Depends what you mean. I've got all the tactical challenges installed with the exception of the final battle (which tends to be bugged in my installation). However, I haven't installed some of the other components that increase difficulty, e.g. nerfing insect plague and inquisitor dispel.

The only tactical challenges that I'm really aware of during play now are the kobolds (both spell-using shaman and vicious poison arrows from chieftain), spiders and dopplegangers.

[Grimwald the Wise]

As has already been said, web is great against magic users, after that necklace of missiles potions of explosion, wand of fire are great.

If you haven't got a mage, clerics can cast silence which can be equally effective.

If no magic users, then a barrage of oil of fiery burning, necklace of missiles and potion of explosions will probably be enough.

In my last game I played with a solo fighter and though I had to return to the surface twice due to traps, it wasn;t a major problem.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Gaining some levels before entering Nashkel mines is surely useful. There are a lot more easier opponents than those improved kobolds. In addition, since there are tough surprise encounters in chapters 2 and 3, I'd say gain as many levels as possible before attempting Nashkel Mines. I usually start the adventure by killing Drizzt and Elminster before doing anything important.

'Web' is a nasty thing indeed, but mostly - for the enemies. I'd suggest get the Ring of Free Action ASAP (it can be found on Dushay in the Ugloth's Beard). She also has a scroll of Web. The tactic is obvious - use a magic-user with the Web spell to capture enemies, while at the same time wiping them out with a powerful fighter equipped with the Ring of Free Action. I suggest using a Ranger equipped with Drizzt's weapons and a good armor (Ankheg plate or even better, a full plate mail). Be warned however that your Ranger will lose his status and become fallen if your rep drops to 6 or lower, so keep donating to temples.

The easiest xp farming place is in Durlag's labyrinth lvl 1, where you will find a group of Battle Horrors near the entrance. They can be webbed, and wiped out easily for 16k xp, and respawn in 24 hours. Just keep everyone Invisible, because there are nasty Phase spiders on the level ready to use their Dimension Door from the other side of the map. And prepare with Antidote potions as well.

Thieves should be outsmarted or disabled. You can deploy your own thief, who really doesn't need Lockpicking that much (not when you have a mage with Knock spell memorized), and buff his Detect Illusion skill so he can deal with annoying things like (improved) invisible or mirrored imaged mages and enemy thieves as well. Another option is swarming the enemy thief with summons via a wand.. Or using area-of-effect spells or things like Agannazer's scorcher wand charge from a Wand of Fire, hopefully intercepting the enemy invisible thief with the fire lance.

Yes, everyone has potions. On the other hand, this can prove useful to your party much more than the potions will be of any use to the enemies. Meaning - you may farm expensive/rare potions. In SCS, enemies often carry things like Extra healing potion, Potion of Magic protection, even of Magic Shielding, of Mind Focusing, of Invulnerability, etc etc. You can for example kill a powerful enemy group, then set traps at their spawning point. Regular thief traps or magical traps - Skull Trap comes to mind. Or simply prepare a surprise strategy to wipe out the whole enemy group when respawned so that they don't have the time to drink their potions. By doing so, you may provide an enormous amount of useful potions for every tough fight.

SCS is not that hard a mod. So if you want, you may de-install it, but it's surely doable, even for example with a solo fighter character. I have recently started it with a pre-generated party, and so far it's like a walk in the park, although babysitting 4 is sometimes harder than babysitting 1.

[ussnorway]

SCS is bias towards magic (group) play and that’s what I recommend you play until your tactics are sorted out.

If you choose to play SCS solo then you will need to avoid slow tactics because SCS will bug-out and reset the spells/ health of your enemies.

The magic bias (possibly unintentional) is because of extra spell selections/ improved tactics and more than anything else is what makes SCS magic casters decisively deadlier than their vanilla counterparts.

It’s worth noting that the Detect Illusion skill does not use dexterity and therefore suffers no penalty from wearing heavy armour... this is one of the reasons that human dual characters like Swashbuckler-Fighter (or Cleric) make excellent NR competitors.

[DMWW]

It's not exactly intentional. I basically just set out to write as-smart-as-I-could-manage AI for NPCs in general, but ultimately spellcasters suffer much more than warriors from the fairly simple AI in the vanilla game. So the effects of the mod are much more noticeable on spellcasters.

Not much to add to the tactical advice. I'd just emphasise one thing that's already been said - at low-to-mid levels, scattering is usually the best way to handle area effect. Don't let more than a couple of people get caught in a kobold sleep spell to start with.

[Satyricon331]

I haven't tried the SCS kobolds, but it might help to install BG1 Unfinished Business, which has a component that restores the elven 90% resistance to sleep and charm spells. Kivan's easy to pick up before Nashkel, so perhaps he could make a difference in the mines.

[BelgarathMTH]

Good advice, Satyr. You are obviously a very observant and insightful fellow, lurking as you so often do. I wish you would share your great insights more often.

As for SCS, I have changed my mind about any modding at all (other than bugfixes), but especially about SCS since I posted this topic. Increase the difficulty? No, thank you! Not unless you are a chessmaster who cannot pit him/herself against any worthy AI opponent without using a difficulty-increase mod. For the gamer motivated by relaxation and self-enjoyment, difficulty-increasing mods, and maybe mods in general, are a mistake. Unless that gamer has no other games but the one enhanceable game, and therefore no rotation.

(I have a LOT of games that I keep in rotation. By the time I get back to the game I started with, it is fresh again to me.) BG and BG2 have time-honored places in my rotation, but I have just learned that rather than trying mods, I should simply move on to other games in my rotation, and then come back to BG and BG2 when the whole vanilla enterprise is long-forgotten and once again fresh.