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[Squidmaster]

My girlfriend and I just installed SCS in our ongoing BGT installation. We did not install most of the monster upgrades, nor did we elect to go with any of the enhanced encounters or areas. Even so, I am nervous about this, because I forgot until after we had finished the installation that most spell casters are much higher in level than our party will be at any given time. I also have some strategy and installation questions that relate to this mod.

To get things started, what spells should we make sure to always have memorized in order to be more prepared for what this mod will throw at us at the beginning, middle, and end of this game? Right now we are only level 9 or so.

With the general AI improvements, supposedly standard opponents will switch off of characters that are immune to their attacks. Does this mean that I should only loosely buff my fighter/mage since stoneskin will deter them in the first place? What does this AI change due for other party members, such as our fighter/thief, Minsc, or Anomen, if every other party member has stoneskin or better? Presumably they would get attacked for more often even though they are not necessarily the tanks in our party. How do we handle this?

If we wind up having too much trouble with the AI enhancements, what to we do to uninstall the mod? Is it safe to uninstall and reinstall selected components if we have also installed BG Tweaks and Spell Revisions? I know that these mods suggest that SCS should be installed before them, which has me a little bit concerned.

Other tips are welcome. It might also be handy to have a general idea of where to go in the early parts of the game, or more importantly, which parts to avoid until later, especially when SCS is installed.

Thanks for your time!

[polytope]

Squidmaster wrote...

With the general AI improvements, supposedly standard opponents will switch off of characters that are immune to their attacks. Does this mean that I should only loosely buff my fighter/mage since stoneskin will deter them in the first place?

You will mainly notice the improved targetting of physical attacks with enemy archers or invisible backstabbing thieves, regular melee grunts go for the nearst enemy usually unless they are totally invulnerable (i.e. character under ProMW or a physical-damage-immune mordy sword). Speaking of which, take Keldorn or a priest of Helm or put a lot of points in your thief's Detect Illusion if you don't want to be driven insane fighting enemy thieves.

The main change for melee attackers is they often have potions (with all those enemy fighters using potion of speed/freedom the Flail of Ages is almost balanced!) and sometimes are berserkers i.e. immune to most crowd control spells during rage.

Squidmaster wrote...
If we wind up having too much trouble with the AI enhancements, what to we do to uninstall the mod? Is it safe to uninstall and reinstall selected components if we have also installed BG Tweaks and Spell Revisions? I know that these mods suggest that SCS should be installed before them, which has me a little bit concerned.

SCS should be installed after Spell Revisions so enemy mage and priests spellbooks are adjusted according to the changed spell behaviour. As for BG Tweaks - if you use the "rebalanced weapon proficiencies" component this needs to be installed before the SCS fighter component, otherwise enemies may lose proficiency in the weapons they wield.

Squidmaster wrote...
Other tips are welcome. It might also be handy to have a general idea of where to go in the early parts of the game, or more importantly, which parts to avoid until later, especially when SCS is installed.

Thanks for your time!

My "usual" order (not really, since I have a different mod setup): Circus (one of a few areas unchanged by SCS) -> Free slaves in Coronet -> Lilarcor -> Slaver Ship (the mages may be a challenge) -> Solve bridge district murders -> Fallen Paladins -> Xzar and harpers -> Go to Umar hills and recruit Valygar if you want him (I don't play thieves, so usually have Valy in my party for stealth and backstabbing), if not, get the mimic blood for the mage (and Ilbratha, if it's not randomized!).

Then it's your choice of De'Arnise keep (not hard if you don't have the improved keep installed) or Trademeet/Druid Grove first maybe if you want the Shield of Harmony ASAP (in Trademeet just kill the Dao genies, they deserve it and the Rakshasas are much harder at least in v21 and older and should be left until you're about level 12-13 at least) or the temple ruins (also very easy without the improved shade lord fight). Then it's time for the beholder cult and Windspear.

The only really difficult chapter 2 quests (with just the "AI improvements" and not the "Tactical challenges" parts of SCS) are Planar Prison and Planar Sphere, not least because you can't just retreat if things go bad. Tolgerias may be headache if you aren't ~lvl 14 with Ruby Ray and Holy Word.

[Squidmaster]

That's a major bummer about the install order. One of those other mods specifically mentioned installing SCS first, so that's what we did. What you say makes complete sense, of course.

What is the process for modifying a mod installation? Do you have to go through the entire process again, selecting all of the same things that you want to keep, and changing the ones that you don't, or can you specifically target components for a much quicker turnaround time? It took us about an hour to install SCS, and I'd love to avoid that in the future.

Thanks for your tips about everything else as well.