Improved Anvil Adventure *spoilers*

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Finished de'arnise keep, and here are my impressions. For those of you used to improved torgal(tactics) this is slighty more difficult, though still not as difficult as I had thought. While this torgal is smarter (switches targets, so you cant use the bait while rest of party hammers on him method), it is still, like improved torgal, easy to lure out using a invisible character, while his minions stay behind. So, for formality's sake, I defeated him twice^^.

Before the fight, take the time to buff accordingly. DUHM, haste, impr haste etc etc

First time - PC sneaks in. Has talk with torgal, torgal casts storm of vengeance, buffs then attacks. Run out of range of SOV. Torgal follows into room. Breach Torgal. Impr hasted Viccy, Minsc and PC hammer on him. Take potions as needed. I used Minsc, with an ac of -13, to tank him. Mop up rest of minions. (CF is important!)

Second time - Same preliminary steps. I definately didnt want to fight under a Storm of vengeance. Impro haste was cast on PC, Minsc and Viccy. Haste on rest of party and 5 gnolls. Fight goes somewhat like this

1. 2 gnolls for each giant troll.
2. Last gnoll to distract new monster (wont spoil it here).
3. Breach on Torgal
4. As before, Minsc tanks Torgal with Viccy and PC doing the dmg.
5. This step was important to me. The new monster seemed to have low savings throws against CF. What i did was alternate my PC between torgal and the monster. Stun monster, go back to hitting torgal. Wait awhile, go back and hit monster till stun animation occurs, repeat.
6. Meanwhile, Edwin and Aerie are dmging trolls with melf, acid arrows, flame arrow etc, with Cernd casting chain lightning and energy surge to help out.
7. Torgal goes down. PC goes after new monster. Minsc and Viccy help finish off trolls.
8. Gang up on new monster. Get your shiny new toys.

Thats about it. More advice would be.
1. Prepare some cure disease!
2. CF is important
3. I found torgal weak in comparison to one other creature. I even had to forgo killing it as I was unprepared. So be warned!

[ October 02, 2006, 18:15: Message edited by: teh ]

 

Nice job!

So, now we have two different reports of this battle in the mod's forthcoming walkthrough: One without CF (ours in the multi-player game) and one with CF (yours). Thanks!

PS: Whenever you manage to forge any of the mod's new items, just tell me that you forged it, but don't spoil where you found the required ingredients.

EDIT: Two points.

1- I Just forgot to ask you about the levels of your party members while fighting with TorGal.

2- TorGal also casts several spells during the battle. Didn't those disabling and summoning spells made the battle a bit harder than you described? He also has a good THACO and a nasty claw. A -13 AC is not good enough to prevent all of his attacks (he could hit your Berserker's -13 AC with a 14 roll on d20, and since he switches targets he could hit your main PC or Viconia even more easily). Moreover, he also casts "Critical Strike" which makes every 'to hit' roll a natural 20 and consequently ignoring any good AC. You didn't say anything about TorGal's tanking power and how you managed to survive his physical attacks as well as his disabling abilities and spells (even his claw had a chance to hold your main PC and Viconia on a successful hit. Minsk was presumably immune to holding effects for the enrage ability, of course).

It was good that you didn't spoil much about the new monster, but a more detailed report about TorGal (himself) would have been nice.

[ October 02, 2006, 22:15: Message edited by: Sikret ]

 

As far as I see, Torgal does not switch targets as long as his current target is attacking him. And I did mention to take potions as needed (which it is. Minsc went through about 10 potions of extra healing). Did he summon any more monsters? Not in my fight. And while he did survive for a long time, 3 impr hasted warriors eventually wore him down. The difficult thing about this fight, imho, was the micro management needed. Alone, Torgal is very manageable with a tank and lots of potions. My single class characters were level 12 at this point.

Completed planar prison quest. By now you should know the drill. Have a few castings of Death spell (aerie took this for her 6th level spell). A way to remove magical protection (secret word, pierce magic from scroll etc) is essential.

First time you enter, you'll notice a new enemy to your left, an elite bounty hunter. The enemies on the right are the usual pansies. My PC snuck up between the elite bounty hunter, while Viccy and Minsc took care of the fodder. Cernd cast an insect swarm to liven things up. PC hits EBH, who promptly goes invisible and fires a contingency (as well as summoning some help). Now would be a good time to cast death, while the PC dispels the illusion. In this fight, your mages have to tank awhile. Mirror image + stoneskin work well enough.

Once EBH is visible, cast secret word + breach. Viccy and Minsc had killed all the fodder except the yuan ti mage, who was panicking from the insects stinging his scaly behind. From there, its just a matter of ganging up on the EBH while assigning one fighter (minsc in my case) to tank his new summon (a new creature).

The second significant change is the warden, who has been considerably buffed up. All I can say here is - have patience, and use summons to absorb his spells. The gaping holes are a disadvantage as they prevent you from attacking effectively, but they can be used as hiding places as well (enemy doesn't follow). For this fight, my hasted pc lured warden on a chase while rest of party hid in the holes. Once he was out of range, they emerged and took care of his lackeys (be sure to check behind for some mages).

When all his lackeys are dead, lure the warden back. He will summon sone deadly help, so use death spell as needed. Again, use summons to soak up his spells. Once his repertoire of spells is exhausted (takes a loooong time. I gave up waiting), pierce magic + breach. Somehow in my game his mirror image cannot be dispelled, but he goes down quickly enough once your 3 fighters are on him. He should have used up most of his GWW on your summons or chasing you, so dont worry about his melee dmg. Its quite pitiful really.

[edit] Just realised I didnt destroy the orb! Which means he might be easier in a game where he has less help...
[edit] what would be a good level to start spellhold? I'm leaving dragons and whatnot till after underdark for now.

[ October 03, 2006, 08:19: Message edited by: teh ]

 

Yes, TorGal casts several summoning spells during the battle and because of the short casting times, it's not easy to hit him on time to cause a 'Spell failure', but you seem to have been lucky to hit him on time on every occasion.

A normal party, not using cheesy methods, would not have Celestial Fury at this stage of the game and they would need to apply some clever tactics against the new monster. The report of our battle with TorGal and his new minion (in our multi-player game) contains some such tactics. It will be available in the mod's forthcoming walkthrough.

PS: You can go to spellhold any time you wish.

 

My my my...Torgal casting Storm of Vengance and other spells? (which is cool but I always pictured Torgal as the dump brute without spells, anyway he looks smart in your version which is, ofcourse, a massive improvement!) And he actually uses Critical Hit HLA? And there is a new monster nastier than Torgal? And the Warden uses (gasp!) GWW (ohh!) (err...) (ouch!) (yowza!) ...

You tempt me to uninstall and then re-install my BG2 to be able to play your mod! It is obvious that you have done a first class job, Sikret!

 

Cleaned up most loose ends, and on my way to spellhold now. Only the planar sphere, Umar hills and Windspear hills remain undone for now. Could have forged some great items (namely boots of improved haste) but decided to wait. There are several other improved fights I wont go into detail (unless someone asks), but imo if you can beat the warden fight most of the other battles (that I've done) are managable.

@Silverstar - That new/modified monster in de'arnise keep is a beast...be thankful you'll face only one in the whole of Amn. Or at least so far...
@Sikret - Forgot to mention this, but warden spams his GWW even when he is not in a fight (ie chasing my pc around). You might want to take note of that in future versions

 

Thanks for the compliments, Silverstar!

Yes, TorGal is changed to a high level F/C and Warden is changed to a high level F/M (he was a mage in the original game and his sword was just uselessly there in his inventory; now he actually uses the sword).

As for new monsters, you will find many new species of monsters in the game after installing the mod. And inside D'Arnise keep (in particular) you will actually encounter four new kinds of monsters. More new types of monsters will be found in other various places during the game, of course.

 

Sikret, I've completed spellhold, but there is no sign of the new encounter (mentioned in the documents). If you dont want to spoil anything, could you pm me to reveal how to trigger it? All the other new monsters were active though. I esp like the cat^^

 

Sent you a PM.

 

Thanks Sikret.

Seeing as how I have finished more then half of SOA, I think its time for a review (preview). I'll say that IA is a very healthy compromise between the increased difficulty of tactics while still not cheating. An excellent job has been done to the ai, which uses spells very intelligently (check out the new monster in de'arnise. Brrrr.......). For casual gamers, the amount of prep needed might not be their cup of tea, but for experienced players looking for a greater challenge w/o cheating, definately get this mod.

Anyway, now that I am more familiar with the tactics and improvements made by Sikret, I'll be running a new game concurrent to the one I already have. This game will be non-cheese as far as possible to maximise tactical solutions. I'll continue updating this thread with my progress and impressions. For those of you who are starting a new game, here are some tips

1. Have a thief with 100 in detect illusion.
2. Have at least 2-3 castings of death spell for
improved encounters
3. The ole breach and whack routine does not work
anymore. You have to spell thrust/pierce
magic/secret word as well.
4. Definately have Wand of monster summoning.
Saved my skin many times

My new party
PC f/m/t - There is a new item that makes f/m/t a powerhouse...
Aerie - Sorc
Minsc - Archer
Viccy - main tank (berserker/cleric)
Cernd - auramaster
Imoen

For an easier time, have two tanks in the party.

[ October 05, 2006, 10:39: Message edited by: teh ]

 

Thank you very much, teh! (for giving those very good tips to players, and also for deciding to play without cheese.)

In addition to those good tips you gave, I'd like to add the following hints:

1- Install Auramaster druid kit and have Cernd in your party. I can't exaggerate about how much an Auramaster (specially at higher levels of experience) can be helpful while playing the enhanced battles of this mod. Cernd's personal items have also good upgrades (he stands second to Valygar in respect to having good upgrades for personal items.)

2- Do not under-estimate the impact of the new items of the mod. Think well on what items you make, because most of them are very expensive and you need to 'choose'. You can't have all of them. Choosing the right item upgrades (depending on your party members and their abilities) is a part of your overall strategy and can have crucial influence on your success in some of the enhanced battles.

3- Enjoy discovering the new monsters' weak and strong points in practice.

4- Have patience trying different tactics. All of the enhanced battles are doable if you go for them with an appropriate level of experience and with the right tactics. When you face an apparently impossible mission, be sure that it is not impossible. Think well to find different tactics. As teh mentioned, none of the enemies cheat. Everything is designed in a healthy manner.

5- Save the game more than you would do in a non-modded game. The game has changed and you can't predict what is waiting for you in the next chamber.

Other than these, just listen to teh's good tips.

I will say more in the future if I see that more hints are needed, but we (both teh and I) should also be careful not to spoil the fun and surprise of the game by publishing and revealing too much (and unnecessary) information. Try to dicover what you need to know in practice.

teh can send me the detailed reports of his battles via PMs, so that I add them to the mod's walkthrough (though it's a good idea that he continues sending his rough and non-detailed reports here as well). The walkthrough will not be published too soon, because I want to give time to players to try the mod at least once before reading a detailed walkthrough.

[ October 04, 2006, 16:15: Message edited by: Sikret ]

 

This thread has been interesting and I hope you don't mind if I ask one particular question. Is Torgal still extremely weak to cloud kill like he is in the un-modded game?

 

No, he isn't weak against cloudKill. Just try and see for yourself. As I said, the best way to discover such things is to try them in practice. A failed tactic may at most cost you a reload, but not even necessarily so. You may even win a fight which starts with the wrong tactic by correcting your tactic quickly without even reloading the game.

 

Sikret, you keep mentioning the usefullness of the Auramaster kit, but when I look at it, all I see is a druid (whose spells I rarely use) with some mage spells added. Yes, there's Unleash Energy, but it doesn't seem to be all that great relative to other spells available. And based on stats, melee seems to be out of the question. So why wouldn't I just add another mage, and skip the Auramaster?

 

Based on my playtime, Cernd is a powerful early game mage killer. And you'll be thankful for that considering how powerful mages are. And he gets improved alacrity very early. Basically, he is a druid/mage debuffer/killer with some extra perks thrown in. So he does have his uses...imagine insects, nature's beauty etc etc all in 2 rounds

[edit] Completed improved planer prison in my new game with a 4 person party. F/M/T, C/F, Archer and Sorcereress, all at around 650000xp. Having done it before, I was better prepared, and this attempt was comparitively much easier. I thus second Sikret's claim that all the encounters are beatable with some tactical planning.

[ October 05, 2006, 06:43: Message edited by: teh ]

 

@Splunge
1- Auramaster has a +2 bonus on casting speed.
2- Casts one additional spell per spell level.
3- Is immune to silence. (This is an advantage because druids don't have vocalize spell.)
4- Receives 50% resistance to magic damage at level 13.
5- You will have access to Death Spell (as a sixth level spell) before your mages have enough XP to cast 6th level spells.
6- Has very good 7th level spells (Perfect Camouflage + Aura cleansing + Ruby Ray of Reversal etc...)
7- Receives a very powerful defensive innate ability at level 17
8- Enemies are typically expecting mage spells being cast by mages and are scripted to do some reactions against mages. They won't expect say, Breach and Ruby Ray coming from a druid.

@teh
I just noticed that you have replaced your Berserker with an Archer. Of course, it depends on your playing style, but I suspect that this change will make things a bit more difficult for you. Let me know if the Archer is really doing well to compensate worse AC and no "Enrage" ability.

 

Sikret, Viccy is my main tank, so i made her a berserker/cleric. And the archer is working out great as a mage/cleric distracter. Previously I had to send my fighters chasing after the mage, wading through a sea of summons etc etc just to distract them from casting spells. I find it easier to use a archer imo.

 

Have you changed Viconia to human?

Non-human Berserker/Cleric is a cheat (and we had agreed not to cheat in the game, right?). Only a human can be Berserker and then dual to Cleric. But then you will lose Viccy's Magic Resistance because she won't be a Drow anymore.

 

Hmmm in my opinion, non-human berserker is not a cheat, but a senseless restriction of the 2e rules. (waits for felinoid to come butting in). Anyway, she is a multi-class berserker cleric.

I wont take advantage of the ai (web+entangle+cloudkill etc), but a slight bending of 2e rules to suit my purpose is fine is my book. Regardless, I still recommand Viccy even as a pure cleric. She has the highest natural AC and is suitable at the frontlines, even if she has lesser killing pwer as a pure cleric. And immunity to imprisonment is useful for only ONE battle in SOA, and can easily be overcome with spell immunity.

Anyways, I rarely use berserk since she whines at me after it ends (and i hate that. How long do I intend to crack my whip on your back? As long as i need to god dammit!)

 

Had you changed her to a multi-class Fighter/Cleric, I wouldn't have called it a cheat; but a multi-class non-human Berserker/Cleric is surely a cheat in my eyes.

Enrage gives great immunties. It's not just immunity to imprisonment.

Anyway, If you don't intend to use the enrage ability (because you said that you don't like it), just change her to a Fighter/Cleric and everything will be fine in my opinion.

[ October 05, 2006, 16:51: Message edited by: Sikret ]