09-05-2004 15:30									#61
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quote: Originally posted by Jamski All WeiDU mods are compatable

That's actually not true, but they're certainly a lot more compatible than other mods. For example, Spell50 and Ascension will only work together if you install Ascension first, and I'm sure there are others which won't work together properly at all.

As I lay abed I considered the problem of Cloudkills, and there are a few points that I think are worth mentioning:

- Liches are really slow, which doesn't help with the whole escaping from Cloudkills thing. How about altering LICH.ITM to give them a speed boost and make them as fast as everything else.

- My mages script might not cause mages to go hostile if they are Cloudkilled by the player before their feet circle goes red. I can fix that, but only at the expense of them going hostile in the event of other damage being inflicted on them by non-party members. On reflection, that wouldn't really be a very high price to pay.

- Wands of Cloudkill desperately need to be nerfed. At least they should be made unsellable so you can't recharge them, and I think I'd prefer it if they were changed to an entirely different spell. I'd like Zone of Sweet Air (don't you think that fits the graphic better anyway?), which would then allow enemy mages to carry Wands of Zone of Sweet Air (the script could create them for all mages of sufficiently high level, with 2 or 3 charges) and at least have a chance to cancel Cloudkills, and other such spells, and kill two birds with one stone (or perhaps just one really big bird with one stone).

	09-05-2004 23:12									#62
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how do you recharge wands? I have never done it in Baldur's Gate.

	09-05-2004 23:18									#63
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Sell them and buy them back

-Jam

	10-05-2004 04:49									#64
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Is that the official way?

	10-05-2004 06:07									#65
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Umm... yes actually, there's no other way to do it.

I made the fatal mistake of starting a new game of Icewind Dale today... there goes some more time... I always liked the first chapter - its so straightforward undead bashing

-Jam

	10-05-2004 11:36									#66
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does anyone know if the ease of use pack can be installed at any time. Will it apply to saved games?

Before in Baldur's Gate I never had a character with so many profiency points in bows (I had paladins and rangers who could not get more than 2 points). I have a fighter with 4 points, and he goes through arrows like crazy. And I finally got missile weapons selected for my mages after turning level 6. That way they can do something when not casting spells, and they won't go up and start attacking monsters with daggers and quaterstaves. I hate that. Too bad mages can't use crossbows.

anyways the ease of use would help. My PC goes through arrows very fast. And I only have 4 points in bow. I'd imagine 5 points will add another 1/2 attack right? He'll go through even more arrows.

	10-05-2004 12:05									#67
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disregard the above post, it works.

whew, this is so much easier. why didn't I do that before.

I didn't realize you have the option of not installing some of the cheesier components like the XP cap remover and the all happy NPC. Those didn't seem like they weren't in the spirit of the game.

But stacking items doesn't really alter the difficulty of the game, just makes it less of a pain in the ass

	10-05-2004 13:13									#68
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Hence the name "Ease of Use"

There's one for every IE game except PS:T, but its not really needed for that one, and they're so handy to use.

You've found the true advantage of a pure fighter in BG1 - getting 5 * in bows is lethal

-Jam

	10-05-2004 13:54									#69
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Diss, all my mage characters use slings. Sure, they don't get a very good strength bonus, but at least they get to fire stuff at the enemies. Often enough to kill kobolds and other rubbish creatures.

Sparrowhawk, I bought the BG1 collection 3 CD pack from an associated retailer on Amazon.co.uk, and it comes with a CD that contains .pdf manuals for BGs 1 and 2, the add-ons, both Icewind Dale games and (I think), something else as well. So if you buy just the one BG game then you won't need to get your hands on the other manual too. Although you can't read it in bed, which is what first annoyed me.

I can't contribute to the scripts debate because I'm a coding n00b. However, I can update you with the story of my virgin trek through the lands slightly south of Baldur's Gate.
My party is now Mildred, Jaheira, Kivan (welcome back ), Coran, Branwen and Imoen. I am enjoying the flurry of arrows that spike the heck out of my enemies every time they so much as turn red, and have had some fun. I went back to the Gnoll stronghold where I swapped Kivan for Dynaheir and sent Minsc in on his own to try to get him killed. In the buff. Hmmmm..... Well, the eighth gnoll got him, but only after he had knocked out seven using his bare hands. It was a shame to see him go really, after that wonderful exposition of the noble art.
Because I had duelled Imoen, then I couldn't open all of the chests in the bandit camp, but I can go back with Coran and see what there is to be had. Fortunately I still had Minsc

spoiler(highlight to read): to open the chest with the lightning trap and go to chapter 4

.
I killed loads of dodgy druids by accidentally choosing the wrong option, but got lots of exp for it, and am now ready to go into the second area of Cloakwood forest. There are lots of spiders about, and I'm beginning to wish that I hadn't chosen skellingtons as my racial enemy. I got Kivan back at level 6, which was nice, but haven't remembered to look at what thief skills Coran has.

	10-05-2004 14:38									#70
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quote: [SIZE=1] I killed loads of dodgy druids by accidentally choosing the wrong option, but got lots of exp for it, and am now ready to go into the second area of Cloakwood forest. There are lots of spiders about, and I'm beginning to wish that I hadn't chosen skellingtons as my racial enemy. I got Kivan back at level 6, which was nice, but haven't remembered to look at what thief skills Coran has.

Don't worry about the Druids, later in the game, you'll discover you didn't really make a bad choice.

As to the favoured enemy, there's such a variety of enemies in BG1 that is doesn't really matter what you choose.

	10-05-2004 14:51									#71
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Yeah, but spiders poison you (well, earlier in the game they do), which is a pain at early levels.
Jaheira now has an AC of -5.
Full plate, helmet of defense, dexterity of 18 and other magic items for defense.

	10-05-2004 15:00									#72
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quote: Originally posted by duke o' york Diss, all my mage characters use slings. Sure, they don't get a very good strength bonus, but at least they get to fire stuff at the enemies. Often enough to kill kobolds and other rubbish creatures. Sparrowhawk, I bought the BG1 collection 3 CD pack from an associated retailer on Amazon.co.uk, and it comes with a CD that contains .pdf manuals for BGs 1 and 2, the add-ons, both Icewind Dale games and (I think), something else as well. So if you buy just the one BG game then you won't need to get your hands on the other manual too. Although you can't read it in bed, which is what first annoyed me. I can't contribute to the scripts debate because I'm a coding n00b. However, I can update you with the story of my virgin trek through the lands slightly south of Baldur's Gate. My party is now Mildred, Jaheira, Kivan (welcome back ), Coran, Branwen and Imoen. I am enjoying the flurry of arrows that spike the heck out of my enemies every time they so much as turn red, and have had some fun. I went back to the Gnoll stronghold where I swapped Kivan for Dynaheir and sent Minsc in on his own to try to get him killed. In the buff. Hmmmm..... Well, the eighth gnoll got him, but only after he had knocked out seven using his bare hands. It was a shame to see him go really, after that wonderful exposition of the noble art. Because I had duelled Imoen, then I couldn't open all of the chests in the bandit camp, but I can go back with Coran and see what there is to be had. Fortunately I still had Minsc spoiler(highlight to read): to open the chest with the lightning trap and go to chapter 4 . I killed loads of dodgy druids by accidentally choosing the wrong option, but got lots of exp for it, and am now ready to go into the second area of Cloakwood forest. There are lots of spiders about, and I'm beginning to wish that I hadn't chosen skellingtons as my racial enemy. I got Kivan back at level 6, which was nice, but haven't remembered to look at what thief skills Coran has.

well I'm caught up with you. Actually I passed you. But I'm done for the night, I'll be on vacation too, so I won't be playing. I have cleared out the entire cloakwood area, and am about to enter the mines.

	10-05-2004 15:53									#73
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Yeah... if you'd asked before I would certainly have put spiders on the "favoured enemies" shortlist, up there with humans and [/spoiler]doppelgangers[/spoiler].

Nice party anyway - you should have no problems with chapters 4 --> the end, as long as you remember to use the magic arrows as you can't take them with you to BG2 Remember - "acid arrows" and "arrows of detonation" are the best friends a man/halfling/elf/etc can have

-Jam

	10-05-2004 16:03									#74
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What's the difference between arrows of poison and arrows of biting? The biting arrows say that they've got poison on them. Or is that a lie?

	10-05-2004 16:03									#75
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Nice work there with the spoiler tags.

	10-05-2004 16:09									#76
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I've spoiled everything else, but you have to keep some things close to your chest.

	10-05-2004 16:11									#77
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That was an x-post. I was referring to Jamski's almost use of the spoilers.

	10-05-2004 17:11									#78
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Ah well, its out now. There are doppelgangers in the IE games, and they're pretty tough. Humans is still a good bet for favored enemies though. You always have to kill a good bunch of them

The arrows of biting do an extra 6(?) points of poison damage if the target fails a save. The arrows of poison actually poison the target, so it takes a damage every second untill they cure it, or the poison expires. Great against mages, since its almost guarenteed to disrupt any casting attempt. Also good for hit and run attacks. Hit them once, leg it, and let the poison wear them down.

-Jam

	10-05-2004 17:40									#79
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That's not a technique I use very often to be honest.

Mind you, I will be relying very heavily on magic arrows in the near future, because having released Dynaheir from her contract and with Imoen only having 2 chromatic orbs to cast in between rests, then I won't be using too much magic. She's got a wand of magic missiles too, but they ain't that good when you're only level 2.
Still got the wand of fireballs, and some wand of petrification that I've used once and it didn't seem to work.

	11-05-2004 04:57									#80
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I'm so stingy with arrows.

I use normal arrows for almost everything. I have 3 stacks of 500 now for my character

	11-05-2004 13:29									#81
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I installed the Ease of use pack twice, but it doesn't seem to work. Maybe because I'd already visited Beregost and Nashkel by that time. Is there one for BGII as well?

I like ordinary arrows, but with the sweet stuff that my character has then she runs out damned quickly. I don't like the way that you can't change the arrows in your quiver mid-fight. If you finish one quiver's worth of arrows then you just use the next lot, but you don't seem to be able to put normal arrows in one, fire arrows in another, and poison in the third, and then gte the appropriate arrows out depending upon who you meet.

	11-05-2004 13:49									#82
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Can't you right-click on the bow on the bottom toolbar? Or is that only in later IE games?

Hmm...

Anyway, there are EoU packs for all BG and IWD games, of which the BG2 pack has the most options and the BG1 the least.

I can't imagine playing BG1 without 500 stacks of arrows *imagines the wrist pain*

-Jam

	11-05-2004 14:19									#83
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Could it be that the ease of use pack you're installing doesn't work because you're trrying to install one for the wrong IE game?

	11-05-2004 14:42									#84
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No, it's the right one, from the right place, but I was fiddling about with a resolution problem on my laptop after each time I installed them, so maybe I didn't keep it on.
I reckon that I won't need it any further until I get to BG as Jamski told me that you couldn't use it at shops you'd already visited before installing it. Idiot, doing it midway through the game.

	12-05-2004 16:46									#85
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So... I'm playing my latest party through ToB, and (after two reloads, and using more superior healing potions than I would prefer) I manage to get through the fight with Sendai, only to have Solaufein tell me he wants to go to a place outdoors and far from any cities...

The Eclipse party is coming, and I won't be able to make it out of Sendai's enclave without facing them!

This is my first time against the Eclipse party, and I'm expecting an exciting fight. Wish me luck .

[If you don't know what I'm talking about, then be glad ]

	12-05-2004 16:53									#86
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Good luck!

[No, I don't know what you're talking about]

	12-05-2004 17:58									#87
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Its an extra fight you have to do if you have Solufain in the party (added by a mod) Its... umm... tricky... but that's the price you pay for having the poetry spouting cheezemonger in your group, eh?

Its not quite as bad as Improved Draconis though (What!? He's got a brother!?!)

I'm really happy with my current IWD 1 party, I thought I'd mention. The joy of this game is that you can design all the characters yourself, so you don't have to accept any trade-offs or crap stats. Of course, you need a strong party, as the game's pretty wild as regards the numbers of tough monsters thrown at you... Level 3 of Dragon's Eye is pretty insane (especially on Heart of Fury mode)

Anyway... my party of "perfection"

Female Human Paladin (Greatswords/Xbows)
Female Human Ranger (Halberds/Axes/Bows)
Male Elf Fighter/Thief (Longswords/Bows)
Male Dwarf Fighter/Cleric (Maces/Flails/Slings)
Male Half-Elf Mage/Cleric (Maces/Slings/Spells)
Female Human Fighter(3)->Mage (Greatswords/Bows/Spells)

The party is up to the Severed Hand, and is kicking butt. The multiclassing of the casters and the choice of Ranger and Paladin for the "frontline" means that everyone in the party can fight ok in melee, can attack well from a range, and can do "something special" too. Since I re-rolled till everyone had perfect 18s in the needed stats (the Cleric/Mage has 18/18/16/18/18/3 ) I can't imagine a better 2nd edition party.

Only small problem is the slow levelling in clerical levels, since both clerics are multiclassed, but so far its not been a problem.

-Jam

	12-05-2004 18:03									#88
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Before I realised that IWD stood for Icewind Dale, I was tempted by the thought that it meant I will die, and was an even more difficult mod that you had installed.

	12-05-2004 18:08									#89
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quote: Originally posted by Jamski Its an extra fight you have to do if you have Solufain in the party (added by a mod) Its... umm... tricky... but that's the price you pay for having the poetry spouting cheezemonger in your group, eh?

Cheezemonger? I'll have you know I haven't used his Dimension Door ability once .

As it turns out, I was able to get out of Sendai's enclave and avoid them (I came out during the day), and then the game kept crashing, so I thought I'd leave it and give it a chance to calm down before I try the Eclipse party.

Just to make the BGI players jealous I'll note that in this last dungeon I picked up equipment worth 300,000 gold pieces, including about 50 Katanas +2 (I remeber when I was having trouble finding enough Katanas for my present party ).

	12-05-2004 18:18									#90
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Sorry, I'm a BGI player, and have no idea what a katana is.