Quest Pack new random encounters plus SCSII's Smarter Mages and Clerics = some very difficult rakshasas

[Lemernis]

Wow, when you have both of the following installed

 

~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #0 // General AI Improvements

~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #1 // Creature & Area Improvements -> All Creature & Area Improvements

~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #2 // Creature & Area Improvements -> All Creature Improvements

~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #3 // Creature & Area Improvements -> Boss Improvements Only

 

(somewhere in the above is included the component: "New random encounters are introduced, both in the city and in the wilderness. (This will work alongside the similar component in the Tactics mod.)"

 

and

 

~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v8

~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v8

~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6020 // Potions for NPCs -> All unused potions on dead enemies are retrievable by the party: v8

~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6150 // Smarter Mages -> Mages cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v8

~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6160 // Smarter Priests -> Priests cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v8

 

The ambushes when traveling between city maps in Chapter 2 produces a very difficult encounter with some rakshasas. I'm having trouble defeating them because their spellcasting routine is so formidable. They have Improved Invisibility, so I can't target them with Breach. When I cast Dispel Magic two of them always seem to save against it. Glitterdust ought to make them visible, but it doesn't. I guess I need to cast Detect Invisibility myself...

 

The rakshasas cast Remove Magic to strip the party of any buffs. They then quickly follow Confusion. Confusion is difficult to counter here without metagaming, since the party would really not buff with Chaotic Commands just to travel about the city.

 

These rakshasas are pretty darn tough for relatively early in the game. I can always gulp down potions of invisibility and scoot out of their perception range before they cast True Seeing, and thereby avoid the fight. But I do want to defeat these birds.

 

Any tactical suggestions here?

[razlyubleno]

~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #1 // Creature & Area Improvements -> All Creature & Area Improvements

~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #2 // Creature & Area Improvements -> All Creature Improvements

~SETUP-D0QUESTPACK.TP2~ #0 #3 // Creature & Area Improvements -> Boss Improvements Only

These components overlap. I don't know how you installed them together. They are all SUBCOMPONENT @34.

 

razly

[Jarno Mikkola]

Those might not be your only problems...

The ambushes when traveling between city maps in Chapter 2 produces a very difficult encounter with some rakshasas. I'm having trouble defeating them because their spellcasting routine is so formidable. They have Improved Invisibility, so I can't target them with Breach. When I cast Dispel Magic two of them always seem to save against it. Glitterdust ought to make them visible, but it doesn't.

Are you sure they aren't immune to your magic, as I remember that the liches should be immune upto level 5(so the Breach shouldn't work on them, but it does), rakshasas upto level 7 and Demi-Lich upto level 9(so only the tenth/quest level magic works on them)...

 

I do realize that knowing this doesn't help you... so yes, the encounters should be moved to far later...

 

These components overlap. I don't know how you installed them together. They are all SUBCOMPONENT @34.

Probably, at the time and version, they were ment to be installed so they overlap each others, as I remember installing the 1 wasn't possibility without the 2 and 3. I didn't actually play that game though.

[Lemernis]

Those might not be your only problems...

 

Are you sure they aren't immune to your magic, as I remember that the liches should be immune up to level 5 (so the Breach shouldn't work on them, but it does), rakshasas up to level 7 and Demi-Lich up to level 9 (so only the tenth/quest level magic works on them)...

 

I do realize that knowing this doesn't help you... so yes, the encounters should be moved to far later...

 

Hmm, I didn't install any SCSII creature upgrades, btw... Questpack makes rakshasas immune to spells level 1-7? It seems that Dispel Magic does take down the Protection from Normal Missiles and Improved Invisibility for at least one of the three bushwhacking rakshahas in the alleyways of Athkatla.

[DavidW]

Those might not be your only problems...

 

Are you sure they aren't immune to your magic, as I remember that the liches should be immune up to level 5 (so the Breach shouldn't work on them, but it does), rakshasas up to level 7 and Demi-Lich up to level 9 (so only the tenth/quest level magic works on them)...

 

I do realize that knowing this doesn't help you... so yes, the encounters should be moved to far later...

 

Hmm, I didn't install any SCSII creature upgrades, btw... Questpack makes rakshasas immune to spells level 1-7? It seems that Dispel Magic does take down the Protection from Normal Missiles and Improved Invisibility for at least one of the three bushwhacking rakshahas in the alleyways of Athkatla.

 

Nothing to do with quest pack - that's true even in the vanilla game iirc.

[DavidW]

Those might not be your only problems...

The ambushes when traveling between city maps in Chapter 2 produces a very difficult encounter with some rakshasas. I'm having trouble defeating them because their spellcasting routine is so formidable. They have Improved Invisibility, so I can't target them with Breach. When I cast Dispel Magic two of them always seem to save against it. Glitterdust ought to make them visible, but it doesn't.

Are you sure they aren't immune to your magic, as I remember that the liches should be immune upto level 5(so the Breach shouldn't work on them, but it does), rakshasas upto level 7 and Demi-Lich upto level 9(so only the tenth/quest level magic works on them)...

 

I do realize that knowing this doesn't help you... so yes, the encounters should be moved to far later...

 

By whom? - ultimately installing two different tactical mods at the same time isn't for the faint-hearted!

[Lemernis]

I didn't realize rakshasas had magic immunity. The vanilla ones at the Druid Grove have never given me any problems--they've always been easy to take out.

[BigRob]

I think those ones are deliberately low-grade, since you'll be meeting them reasonably early in the game. I think the ones seen later on are souped up to the Rajah/Maharajah level.

[Guest D. U. Bertie]

Hold on, according to the PPG website, the "New random encounters are introduced, both in the city and in the wilderness. (This will work alongside the similar component in the Tactics mod.)" bit is from the "Miscellaneous Enhancements" component.

 

Does this mean that we can't use this component with SCS II because it makes things too difficult?

[the bigg]

These components overlap. I don't know how you installed them together. They are all SUBCOMPONENT @34.

Probably, at the time and version, they were ment to be installed so they overlap each others, as I remember installing the 1 wasn't possibility without the 2 and 3. I didn't actually play that game though.

Questpack contains overlapping component numbers because of wrong DESIGNATED flags.

[Lemernis]

I posted about this in the Quest Pack forum becauser it's not a SCSII issue. The issue is with Quest Pack. Quest Pack is unbalanced by generating virtually unbeatable rakshasas for many parties early in the game.

 

Given that we may not see any futher upgrades of Quest Pack, perhaps the answer is to for someone still active with PPG or G3 to advise players how to edit to .tp2 in order to remove the 'new random encounter' feature from Miscellaneous Enhancements.

 

Btw, does anyone know if Quest Pack's rakshasas are immune to level 1-5 spells or level 1-7 spells?

[Yangus1]

Btw, does anyone know if Quest Pack's rakshasas are immune to level 1-5 spells or level 1-7 spells?

 

As DavidW mentioned all rakshasas are immune to spell levels 1-7, even in the vanilla game. AKAIK Questpack makes absolutely no changes to this. If you have installed the SCSII 'more consisent breach' component, however, breach will effect them. It didn't in the vanilla game. I'm pretty sure dispel magic/remove magic will affect them as well (seems to have worked for me at least).

[Lemernis]

Reason I asked is what's stated in David's readme:

 

More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning

 

Although it isn't documented, the 5th level spell Breach will remove a creature's combat protections (such as Stoneskin) even if that creature is protected by Spell Deflection, Spell Turning or Spell Trap; it will not, however, affect creatures like liches or rakshasas, because they are immune to spells of level 5 or below. This component removes both features: Breach now bounces off Spell Turning (etc.), but it affects even those creatures immune to "normal" 5th level spells.

 

which made me woonder if it's levels 1-5 rather than 1-7.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Given that we may not see any further upgrades of Quest Pack, perhaps the answer is to for someone still active with PPG or G3 to advise players how to edit to .tp2 in order to remove the 'new random encounter' feature from Miscellaneous Enhancements.

I would much more prefer a SCSII component that would move the encounter to later chapter with a patching... :sneaky:

[DavidW]

Reason I asked is what's stated in David's readme:

 

More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning

 

Although it isn't documented, the 5th level spell Breach will remove a creature's combat protections (such as Stoneskin) even if that creature is protected by Spell Deflection, Spell Turning or Spell Trap; it will not, however, affect creatures like liches or rakshasas, because they are immune to spells of level 5 or below. This component removes both features: Breach now bounces off Spell Turning (etc.), but it affects even those creatures immune to "normal" 5th level spells.

 

which made me woonder if it's levels 1-5 rather than 1-7.

 

That comment in the readme is true but a bit misleading: Rakshasas, being immune to spells of level seven or below, are a fortiori immune to spells of level five or below.