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Suggestions for improvement


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Hey, i've just installed this mod and have worked my way to the cloakwood forest. I really like this mod, but there are a couple of things i personally would like to see changed.

Nashkel Mines:
I installed the option for making it harder, and i find that the added poison damage was really griefy. At levels 1-2 parties usually don't have potions of antidote and they cannot use the spell slow poison yet, meaning that poison was instant-death forcing me to reload. I think it would be better if the Guard Kobolds/Kobold chieftain instead had a chance of doing 1d2 or 1d3 acid damage. Aren't they using acid on the iron in the mine anyway? I also felt like the battle against the kobold shaman and chieftain was far more difficult than Mulahey himself. I would suggest removing or nerfing the Shaman.

Nimbul:
Nimbul seemed a bit over the top, i have fought him twice.
First time he casts multiple stoneskins, domination spells, magic missiles, chromatic orbs and melfs acid arrow. He also used minor sequencer.
Second time he didn't cast domination spells, but used other crowd control spells and a lot of damage spells. He also used minor sequencer.
I think that's a bit over-the-top to send at a level 1-3 party. My suggestion is to turn him into a level 8 Blade instead (avoiding 9th level because of magic missile). I believe he was a Bard in the unmodded game.

Bandit camp:
I thought it was a little weird that they didn't leave anyone to guard Ender Sai. Maybe just leave the Gnoll?

Centol the spider queen:
Why is her dialogue so weird? "Weather is nice...maybe". What. I Don't get it? Why was this even changed. The spiders also attacked me while i was in dialogue, which felt mildly unfair ;)

Kahrk:
This guy is nuts. He casts like a level 12 Mage. I know he is a level 12 Ogre magi, but that is not the same as a level 12 Mage. He felt like something out of the Tactics mod for BG2. I would suggest nerfing his spellcasting to that of a level 7 or 8 mage. His AC, saving throws, HP and attacks per turn still makes him a worthy foe. It took me about an HOUR to defeat him with my level 4-5 party.

Edit:
So i did all of the above with my new party, and Kahrk was no match for a level 6-7 party. I still think he should be toned down a bit, since he is in a low level area.
Daveorn's new AI was a bit weird, he casts two clouds then he did nothing until i initiated combat. Honestly didn't feel more difficult than usual? The mine levels above him where far more challenging, and the Drasus party outside was quite tough to beat.
Love the changes to Ulcaster.

More weird dialogue:
The Zhentarim mages in Sorcerous sundries.

Bug?
Sorcerous sundries does not have Melf's minute meteors, although the read me says that it does.

Would like to see:
Ankheg hive mother in the Ankheg nest.
Wyvern matriach in the Wyvern den.

Edited by BigBadEvilDM
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I just played through all of this as well withh an EET install. I disagree with all of the above except:

 

- Centeol she is modded by BG1NPC project with an extended dialogue and several options. That mod is almost a standard for most installs. The attacking spiders etc mess this up and they are even there if you get a non-violent outcome.

So either skip Centeol or look for the other mod and only install this component if not there.

 

- The other encounters are fine and really improve the game (for a veteran player)

 

- I also agree with the OP's other post sayinfg that Gnoll Stronghold should be beefed up. Even if available from the start of the game already, you need to travel a lot of areas with chance to get xp and level up before you get there.

 

- Bandit Camp never was a big challenge and it still is none even with SCS. For a game that has other mods installed by which you may get some extra xp prior Bandit Camp, the level is quite low despite the number of opponents.

 

On the other hand one needs to accept that you can play BG1 and its areas in so many different ways and visit many areas at any given time that it is nearly impossible for anything prior Cloakwood to foresee when the player reaches that area and what level they will have.

 

That again just leaves Centeol as candidate for change - currently it is really weird and no real fun this way.

Edited by Roxanne
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I just played through all of this as well withh an EET install. I disagree with all of the above except:

 

- Centeol she is modded by BG1NPC project with an extended dialogue and several options. That mod is almost a standard for most installs. The attacking spiders etc mess this up and they are even there if you get a non-violent outcome.

So either skip Centeol or look for the other mod and only install this component if not there.

 

- The other encounters are fine and really improve the game (for a veteran player)

 

- I also agree with the OP's other post sayinfg that Gnoll Stronghold should be beefed up. Even if available from the start of the game already, you need to travel a lot of areas with chance to get xp and level up before you get there.

 

- Bandit Camp never was a big challenge and it still is none even with SCS. For a game that has other mods installed by which you may get some extra xp prior Bandit Camp, the level is quite low despite the number of opponents.

 

On the other hand one needs to accept that you can play BG1 and its areas in so many different ways and visit many areas at any given time that it is nearly impossible for anything prior Cloakwood to foresee when the player reaches that area and what level they will have.

 

That again just leaves Centeol as candidate for change - currently it is really weird and no real fun this way.

I would consider myself a veteran player, i have completed the vanilla game more times than i can count. Hence why i was looking to spice the game up a bit.

 

Did you go straight to Nashkel in your game? I did, hence why the poisonous kobold guards and Nimbul felt a bit over the top. The game does try to guide you towards Nashkel early on, so i feel like a low level party should be able to clear it without too much frustration.

 

Kahrk is placed in an otherwise low-level area, so i didn't exactly expect a fight that could Flatten Drizzt.

 

Wasn't complaining about the difficulty of the bandit camp either, just felt it was odd that they didn't leave anyone to guard Ender Sai. Why didn't he just run away? Suggested the Gnoll because it is by far the weakest of the usual tent crew.

 

Don't think centeol was optional in this mod? The dialogue really broke immersion for me.

Edited by BigBadEvilDM
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Nashkel Mines:

I installed the option for making it harder, and i find that the added poison damage was really griefy. At levels 1-2 parties usually don't have potions of antidote and they cannot use the spell slow poison yet, meaning that poison was instant-death forcing me to reload. I think it would be better if the Guard Kobolds/Kobold chieftain instead had a chance of doing 1d2 or 1d3 acid damage. Aren't they using acid on the iron in the mine anyway? I also felt like the battle against the kobold shaman and chieftain was far more difficult than Mulahey himself. I would suggest removing or nerfing the Shaman.

 

 

Personally I just skip the Darkside Kobolds component.

DavidW assumes you do the Gnoll Fortress before Nashkal Mines.

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The challenges part of SCS is really modest if you compare it to challenge mods "veterans" used to play before, e.g. fighting Devas in Irenicus' dungeon with full Tactics. Or IA before it went completely locked & insane.

Well, you can tecnically install the Tactics and then SCS... but you got to be insane to do that... or just import a 20th+ level chars.

Edited by Jarno Mikkola
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Jesus, the "maybe you're just not leet enough" response is so pathetic. Especially when the apparent definition of "veteran" is something like "xp farm cheese until I'm over-leved and the game is a cake-walk."

 

The idea that the kobolds in the Nashkel mines would use acidic substances on their weapons makes total sense, since they have a supply of chemicals designed to weaken iron. Maybe bring over some bombardier beetles from IWD... rationalize it that that's the source of the acidic chemicals they're using to treat the iron.

 

By my reckoning the gnoll fortress is meant to be played at level 2-4 (lately I've been doing it after the mines, only for story/NPC management reasons. I have a mod (ACQuest?) that adds a second civilian prisoner and a gnoll chief and some elite gnoll warriors who use potions. That rounds out the difficulty nicely - at least if you're a role-player and do the whole map without resting. All I could really ask from SCS might be to mix up the squads (add some veterans/slashers) based on party strength, and maybe add some kind of shaman (probably just one... gnolls ain't spellcasters) who was going to use Dynaheir in some kind of ceremony. Maybe provide the option, based on dialogue or something, for the ceremony to (partially?) succeed, conjuring a Kozah-type creature.

 

Bandit camp is meant to be done around level 5, and is an excellent and fun encounter at that level. Especially if you have Kivan in your party and BG1NPC installed.

 

The problem with Kahrk is not one of his power level, but the encounter design. It's a low-level area, and once that woman enters your field of vision you only have 3 options:

- Do a fight you may not be ready for, and will have to cheese, which robs the encounter of tactical depth and fun

- Miss the encounter forever

- Reload

 

That is shitty design. Better if the woman was walking aroundime a gibbering idiot, but it is left to the player to initiate dialogue.

 

Nimbul is okay. You can actually avoid/delay the encoubter pretty easily. At level ~5, with Rasaad and a bunch of soldiers helping out, if you spread your party out, it's not bad. Only thing that makes me pause is Domination. It hasn't happened to me, so I don't know what the AI does with a dominated character. If you end up slaughtering civilians that would just be annoying.

Edited by subtledoctor
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The idea that the kobolds in the Nashkel mines would use acidic substances on their weapons makes total sense, since they have a supply of chemicals designed to weaken iron. Maybe bring over some bombardier beetles from IWD... rationalize it that that's the source of the acidic chemicals they're using to treat the iron.

That's a good idea... maybe add a few dead corpses where the goblins are and a multiple beetles to a sidepath or lower level. But then again they could have just dipped their swords in the jellies in the next level and got their acid weapons that way. As, if memory serves, there are a few of those in the level where the half-orc priest is.

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SCS is meant to beef up the AI a bit, make them more resilient to dumb cheese strategies.

 

Not give you the challenge of your life every single encounter

 

And I think it accomplishes that quite well. I mean, my brother doesn't want to play with SCS anymore, he thinks it's too challenging, so it's not THAT easy :p

Edited by Daxtreme
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The challenges part of SCS is really modest if you compare it to challenge mods "veterans" used to play before, e.g. fighting Devas in Irenicus' dungeon with full Tactics. Or IA before it went completely locked & insane.

 

Improved Anvil is actually totally open and completely sane (as sane as you or me) for quite a long time already.

 

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

Khark. Fukcing Khark, with combat prebuffing installed he is serious business. Should be nerfed a little, has too many apr or is improved hasted, should not be. He is like 50/100% stronger than a lot of BG2, modded included, monsters.

 

Nimbul is a pushover (he can surprise you, but it's your fault, you should be ready for another assassin!). Bandit camp is ok. If you installed harder Nashkel mines and then you go there with lvl 1-2 party, well, you know what you are doing, eh?

 

 

The problem with Kahrk is not one of his power level, but the encounter design. It's a low-level area, and once that woman enters your field of vision you only have 3 options:

- Do a fight you may not be ready for, and will have to cheese, which robs the encounter of tactical depth and fun

- Miss the encounter forever

- Reload

 

That is shitty design. Better if the woman was walking aroundime a gibbering idiot, but it is left to the player to initiate dialogue.

 

No. The problem with Khark is that he can two/three shot your lvl 7 tank in two seconds. His power is exactly the problem. Encounter was not designed with his new, improved, mod power in mind and is not a shitty game design, total opposite actually.

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Well, as of recent I tried to get back to BG1EE for "last" playtrough.

Didn't wanted too much of challenge so I installed AI improvements while ignoring components that make encounters more difficult.

Had level 2 party with Fighter, Imoen, Khalid and Jaheira. Tried to do Garrick-Silke questline and got utterly stomped.

I know she's alone there but following chain:

  • Stoneskin (from start)
  • Mirror Image
  • Haste
  • Minor Sequencer with Invisibility & something else
  • Confusion
  • Magic Missles + Melf's Acid Arrow

Kinda took me by surprise since I was not installing components related to encounters, just general script improvements (I remembered SCS as a mod that increases variety of spells that mages use by A LOT).

 

It's not my point to complain "MAKE SCS EASIER" because it was not designed to be. I finished a playthrough of SoA with Tactics. Did the same for SCS. But having an option to have smarter scripts for creatures without bumping their experience would be really nice.

Still, I expected that AI-related components do not mess with spellcaster's levels. Not sure about that but I doubt that Silke was Level 7 Wizard outside of SCS.

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It's not my point to complain "MAKE SCS EASIER" because it was not designed to be. I finished a playthrough of SoA with Tactics. Did the same for SCS. But having an option to have smarter scripts for creatures without bumping their experience would be really nice.

Still, I expected that AI-related components do not mess with spellcaster's levels. Not sure about that but I doubt that Silke was Level 7 Wizard outside of SCS.

 

I don't think SCS changes levels or experience. In unmodded BGEE Silke is a 10th level bard. SCS just makes her act like what she is: a name-level (remember "name-level"?) spellcaster.

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