15228 replies to this topic

[Golden28]

@ Alesia. Nice. I wanna do Ascension too when I ever get there

 

 

Cheers!

[Alesia_BH]

Nice work on Draconis and Abazigal, Grond0!

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

@ Alesia. Nice. I wanna do Ascension too when I ever get there

 

Yeah. ToB doesn't feel like ToB without Ascension. To me it is the ending.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Grond0]

Nice work on Draconis and Abazigal, Grond0!

Thanks.  Not up to Captain Swarmi's standard of course, but we can't all be cats ...

[Alesia_BH]

Not up to Captain Swarmi's standard of course, but we can't all be cats ...

 

I wouldn't say that. The first encounter with Draconis was rough, but the revised battle plan was straightforward and efficient. The Abazigal battle plan was also sound, and well executed.

 

Best,

 

A.

[corey_russell]

Grond0 said...

This time though, three of them had chain contingencies set for activation on hit and MMM attacks on those 3 set off a total of 9 wiltings next to Firkraag - he didn't survive.  

 

Presumably you meant Draconis. If in fact Firkraag comes back from the dead in SoA to help Draconis, that would be a very interesting mod! I might install it if that's what you got.

[Alesia_BH]

Presumably you meant Draconis. If in fact Firkraag comes back from the dead in SoA to help Draconis, that would be a very interesting mod! I might install it if that's what you got.

 

I'm not aware of any mods that add Firkraag back in, or any that add a dragon to the Draconis fight, but there are definitely ways to get extra dragons, if you'd like. Ascension adds a second dragon to the Abazigal encounter, as you've probably noticed. SCS's Improved Fire Giant Lair adds a dragon virtually identical to Firkraag into the Berenn fight. SCS's Improved Abazigal lair -which I don't have installed- adds a total of five additional dragons to Abazgial's Lair, including a quadruple dragon battle that occurs after Draconis, but before Abazigal. Tactics also offers additional dragon battles, though I'm not inclined to recommend tactics these days.

 

I've also noticed some additional dragon battles in Wise's mod set. He may want to comment on those.

 

Best,

 

A.

 

Btw. Arcadia has reached Sendai's inner sanctum, but has yet to enter. She'll probably fight Sendai after I watch tonight's basketball games.

[Aasim]

Great stuff Alesia...keep it up. Fwiw, I also skip on "Improved Abazigal lair" SCS component - 4 dragons I have (Tamah, Abaz, Draconis + that one who gives you the key to Abazigal's lair) is more than enough imo....

[Alesia_BH]

Great stuff Alesia...keep it up.

 

Thanks.

 

Fwiw, I also skip on "Improved Abazigal lair" SCS component - 4 dragons I have (Tamah, Abaz, Draconis + that one who gives you the key to Abazigal's lair) is more than enough imo....

 

I have all the tactical components installed except for 3: the Improved Shade Lord, the Improved Abazigal Enclave, and the Improved Sendai Enclave. The next time I set up an install, I intend to include the Improved Shade Lord.

 

I tried the Improved Sendai Lair, and I really liked it. I especially appreciated what it did for Ogremoch and Odamaron. The final battle is tricky for soloists, however, since Sendai's statues activate every round or two irrespective of whether the prior statue has been killed. With a party, I think that would be great, but a solo character could end up overwhelmed.

 

I'd like to try the Improved Abazigal Lair sometime. I'm just too chicken to add it to my No Reload Challenge install and I basically never play non No Reload games.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

Arcadia v. Abazgial (or The Best Laid Plans of Cats and Half-Elves)

 

Arcadia has defeated Abazigal and Tamah despite the fact that nothing went according to plan. Fortunately, Arcadia was resourceful enough to improvise her way to victory.

 

 

Arcadia didn't even get a scratch!

[Alesia_BH]

Arcadia didn't even get a scratch!

 

Arcadia has taken very little damage in ToB. She defeated Illasera, Gromnir, Yaga Shura, and Draconis without taking any damage at all. She may have taken a few hit points of damage in the Forest of Mir undead party fight, but aside from that the minor encounters were clean. The most damage she has taken so far was against the drakes in the Abazigal encounter, however, Foebane added hitpoints quicker than they were taken away. In one of the screenshots, I showed Arcadia's hitpoint total at the point when she had taken the most damage she has sustained in ToB. At that point, she had 175HP out of a Foebane enhanced total of 210. Her base hitpoint total is 106.

 

I'd say she has taken a total of at most 50HP worth of damage in ToB. She has never ended a battle with fewer hitpoints than she started with.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Aasim]

I have all the tactical components installed except for 3: the Improved Shade Lord, the Improved Abazigal Enclave, and the Improved Sendai Enclave. The next time I set up an install, I intend to include the Improved Shade Lord.

Shade is ok (I think solo it's easier than with a party), just be careful since it has absurd script. Basically, don't summon anything. If you're solo and he kills your summon, you die a chunking death.

 

I tried the Improved Sendai Lair, and I really liked it. I especially appreciated what it did for Ogremoch and Odamaron. The final battle is tricky for soloists, however, since Sendai's statues activate every round or two irrespective of whether the prior statue has been killed. With a party, I think that would be great, but a solo character could end up overwhelmed.

 

I'd like to try the Improved Abazigal Lair sometime. I'm just too chicken to add it to my No Reload Challenge install and I basically never play non No Reload games.

 

Imp. Sendai is (imo) the best battle in the game. It's  decently challenging for a ToB party, and great fun to fight. Last I fought her with a buggy script in SCSv28 about a year ago, and even then it was challenging enough.

Imp.Abaz dragons galore outside is probably easier than imp.Sendai, altough this depends on many factors.

It's quite doable (the dragons there aren't nearly as powerful as Abaz or Draco, they're kind of SoA difficulty) but to risk a chunking death at this stage of the game  - I think I'll pass, tyvm. 

I think if I installed it, I'd simply use Pocket Plane asap and never return.

[Alesia_BH]

Imp. Sendai is (imo) the best battle in the game. It's  decently challenging for a ToB party, and great fun to fight.

 

I can see that. My favorite battle is the final Ascension fight, but I can appreciate the appeal of Improved Sendai. Having the statues activate in sequence was an excellent idea. It's such a simple, yet effective way to rebalance a battle that was interesting to begin with, though not quite challenging enough.

 

With the SCS script, I find the non-tactical challenge Sendai battle to be reasonably difficult for most characters. With a party, I'd definitely use Improved Sendai.

 

 

It's quite doable (the dragons there aren't nearly as powerful as Abaz or Draco

 

Makes sense. From what I've seen, the quadruple dragon battle isn't terribly difficult. I'm just concerned that it would be a resource drain for some characters.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Grond0]

Presumably you meant Draconis. If in fact Firkraag comes back from the dead in SoA to help Draconis, that would be a very interesting mod! I might install it if that's what you got.

The trouble is when you've seen one dragon you've seen them all ...

 

 

The Arcane Army (update 15)

 

The Army moved on to Sendai's Enclave.  Rather than relying on contingencies, sequencers etc there they just produced some summons and force-attacked the woodcutter and his friends using MMMs.  

Spoiler

They quickly cleared the remainder of the area - which only had drow in.

 

Inside the Enclave proper they just used range weapons to follow behind summons to get to Thelynn'ss - he didn't last long.  

Spoiler

Although they could have milked XP from the slaves they just went invisibly to the slave master to sort him out - everyone levelled up to L21 there.

Spoiler

 

After going back to clear some spider infested tunnels they paid a call on Odamaron.  He was about to die of wiltings, but got a cleaner death from a planetar vorpal.

Spoiler

 

Ogremoch was pinned in place by a mordy sword, but proved just too difficult a target for MMMs - until everyone got a little Tense.  

Spoiler

Diaytha and the demon knight got some left over MMMs from that before area magic injured the hive mother - a planetar finished her off.

 

Tensor's was used again by Sage to tackle Captain Egeissag - he just failed to get within melee distance of her before falling to improved hasted MMMs.

Spoiler

Mithykyl and his illithid provided no contest as the Army marched on to confront Sendai herself.

Spoiler

 

Against the statues Rosemary was buffed up to engage closely (including using SotM spell trap for the first time), while the others looked to engage from range and keep summons going.  That plan quickly failed though when insects bypassed spell trap and triggered Rosemary's contingency as the first statue fell.  

Spoiler

The second statue was blitzed by MMM, while the third was allowed to stick around until the planetar had finished off the previous drow.  Essentially the same was done with the fourth - a mordy sword occupying it until the previous drow were dead and a new planetar in position.

Spoiler

The fifth was tanked by the planetar while the Army refreshed their MMM.

Spoiler

Everyone then cast spell immunity (abjuration) and were in the process of casting improved haste when the sixth statue died.

Spoiler

 

The final statue soon went down with everyone prepared for the real Sendai.

Spoiler

Sage immediately hit her with a lower resistance trigger,

Spoiler

while Rosemary started casting a wilting chain contingency.  Sage was attacked with the aim of triggering her existing PW:blind contingency, while Parsley was also attacked to bring out her wilting contingency.  That initial assault took Sendai to badly wounded before her full buffs activated and a subsequent shadow door contingency foiled an intended spell strike.  Parsley's wilting contingency took effect at that point and must have taken her close to death, but she managed to take a potion and dimension door away.  However, her mirrors were stripped by true sight and the 2 lots of sequencer skull traps homing in on her proved too much for her to handle.

Spoiler

 

Stats (cont. from BG1):

Rosemary, mage 21, 59 HPs, 5 deaths, 817 kills

Parsley, mage 21, 63 HPs, 1 death, 588 kills

Thyme, mage 21, 60 HPs, 8 deaths, 569 kills

Sage (PC), mage 21, 69 HPs (incl. 12 from cat), 482 kills

Nutmeg, mage 21, 57 HPs, 4 deaths, 471 kills

Pepper, mage 21, 58 HPs (incl. 5 from ioun stone), 6 deaths, 539 kills

[Golden28]

BG2 Eren the 'Fair' Episode 1.

 

We start with nice crits. Eren hits like a truck. 

 

50!

 

Eren's a beast right now.

 

And here we have a bit of the old Eren.. When do you learn?..

 

Scr*w you, Haegan, I remember you..

 

Goodbye Yoshimo. Good thing we took a level 11 cleric with us . Anomen is a powerful npc. 

 

Ambushed. Goodbye Suna! Eren hits so hard..

 

Lol, my guys were slowed, so when Irenicus said 'stand' in my dream they stood up sloooowwwlllyyy..

 

Did some stealing, minor quest(part)s, got all containers, even hexxats sack. 

 

Were with four now. Eren feels fragile so I need to get the shield amulet, the ring+2, and the hpstone from the drow in the graveyard.

 

The last screen. Anomen got undressed to go to bed, Jan is telling a crazy story and Eren is trying to get into Jaheira's pants :S..

 

 

Cheers!

[Grond0]

The Arcane Army (update 16)

 

Back at the Pocket Plane the Army sorted out the Slayer in no time thanks to Tensored MMMs.

Spoiler

They then moved straight on to un-favourite Cyric's mob in the 4th challenge. 

Spoiler

 

With the next level close they took a trip to the Marching Mountains to find a few giants to tip them over and everyone levelled up to L22.

Spoiler

 

Returning to Amkethran they brushed aside a number of mercenaries and then the monks guarding the gate.  Inside the compound I was surprised to see that there was no opposition.  Leaving again the Army went to find the smugglers to see if they could provide someone to fight, but they'd all disappeared.  There were no chances taken with Balthazar - a trigger lower resistance was followed up by several skull trap sequencers while wilting contingencies were also in the air.  It was therefore no surprise when he died within moments of the battle starting - actually before the wiltings could take effect on him.

Spoiler

 

The assault on the Ravager was far less clean-cut.  The main problems were:

(i) not realising that Tensor's disabled spells cast through special abilities.

(ii) underestimating the Ravager's magic resistance - even lowered by 90% he resisted every spell cast at him.

That meant that a single casting of Tensor's on 5 of the Army was not enough to kill the Ravager.  Some sling shots with +4 bullets kept a bit of pressure up, while Sage kept summons going to occupy most of the bone blades.  However, it wasn't until Tensor's ran out and could be refreshed with some new MMMs that the Ravager finally acknowledged that he was defeated.

Spoiler

 

I think I'll break the habit of a lifetime and try and think in advance how to manage the Army's spell resources to defeat Melissan ...

 

Stats (cont. from BG1):

Rosemary, mage 22, 60 HPs, 5 deaths, 818 kills

Parsley, mage 22, 64 HPs, 1 death, 588 kills

Thyme, mage 22, 61 HPs, 8 deaths, 570 kills

Sage (PC), mage 22, 70 HPs (incl. 12 from cat), 487 kills

Nutmeg, mage 22, 68 HPs (incl. 10 from Circlet), 4 deaths, 475 kills

Pepper, mage 22, 59 HPs (incl. 5 from ioun stone), 6 deaths, 545 kills

[Serg BlackStrider]

I'm holding my fingers crossed for Arcane Army's final assault!

[Aasim]

I think I'll break the habit of a lifetime and try and think in advance how to manage the Army's spell resources to defeat Melissan ...

Seems like the right time for that...GL.

[Alesia_BH]

Nice work Grond0!

 

Good luck with the endgame!

 

Best,

 

A.

 

 

 

(ii) underestimating the Ravager's magic resistance - even lowered by 90% he resisted every spell cast at him.

 

The Ravager is immune to the spell Lower Resistance. Pierce Magic and Pierce Shield will work. He's also immune to elemental attacks. Horrid Wiltings work.

[Grond0]

Thanks for all the good wishes.  The Throne wasn't a particularly clean series of battles so a bit of good luck certainly helped .

 

The Arcane Army (17th and final update)

 

The Army prepared the spells with a bit more care than usual then rested before doing some buffing and jumping into the Throne.  On entry Rosemary used PfMW and went into close contact with Mel, while the others (apart from Sage) waited for their Tensor contingencies to fire then started pelting Mel with MMMs.

Spoiler

 

Part of the reason for that strategy was to make it difficult for her to cast spells, but she somehow managed to produce a sunray despite the multiple impacts on her.  However, that seemed to be all she was waiting for as she made a run for the source immediately afterwards.

Spoiler

 

Sage used a project image to produce some summons to help kill Yan-C-Bin.  The others finished off their MMMs (as there wouldn't be enough left to take down Mel again).  Once the Tensor's ran out the others recast MMM and refreshed Tensor's before Sage cut off the flow from the pool.  

 

When Mel reappeared she started off viciously by rendering everyone except Sage unconscious, but they were soon on their feet again and attacking.  The Death Tyrant only removed buffs from one of them and the attacks from the others were sufficient to disrupt Mel's attempt to heal when badly injured.

Spoiler

However, she held on for a surprisingly long time after that - once more waiting until she had cast a sunray.  That was unfortunate as 2 of the 3 characters with chain contingency wiltings set to trigger on hit saw those fire just before she departed.

Spoiler

 

Cryonax should have been no trouble, but I had a few problems with characters moving in as their MMM finished and as a result Parsley got a bit too close to the action - and perished in a cone of cold directed by Cryonax at a mordy sword (only her second death of the run).  

Spoiler

The others finished the job and then considered what to do.  I had originally considered whether to be cheesy and use wish to refresh spells and had decided that shouldn't be necessary.  However, after that significant loss of firepower I decided sod it and went for it.  Rosemary had 3 project images and 3 memorised wish spells, so had an excellent chance of a good result (without using further cheese by recharging spells via spell trap).  In fact she got resurrection on the first attempt

Spoiler

and spell restoration on her second - I didn't bother recharging any contingencies.

 

For the third Mel it was back to 5 characters throwing MMM while summons tried to distract the slayer shadows.  Once more Mel made an attempt to heal herself - this time when already at near death - and she was off shortly afterwards.

Spoiler

That was a good job as several of the Army were almost out of MMMs.

 

For the Fallen Solar I produced simulacra for each of the party with the aim that they would slow down the mariliths while lower resistances made them vulnerable.  However, the party's planetar turned hostile and other summons disappeared in a death spell, meaning that only 1 marilith was killed while being replaced by the traitorous planetar - at this point things looked a bit threatening.

Spoiler

 

A simmy then dodged round the back of the pool to try and break the opposition up and that worked well when the Fallen Solar came out first - providing a window of opportunity to hit him with a triple pierce magic trigger followed by 2 skull trap sequencers - he was already injured and didn't survive those.  

Spoiler

An instant later and there was a nice bonus when the marilith (whose resistance had been lowered earlier), succubus and alu-fiend all died in the blast front as well to finish the original opposition off neatly.  

Spoiler

The irritated planetar then reappeared, but on his own he was no threat and was rapidly shot down.

Spoiler

 

The 3 characters not using Tensor's recast MMM and then added Tensor's before summoning Mel's final incarnation.  Their job was to keep up a continuous assault, while the others lowered resistance,

Spoiler

allowing Sage to blind her.  

Spoiler

A couple of wiltings among other spell attacks put her well into near death territory and I thought she must be about ready to call it a day

Spoiler

- and the moment after I wrote that and went back to the game, she did .

 

Sage decided after all the sacrifices her party had made for her that she should remain mortal and enjoy a happy retirement with them.

Spoiler

 

Stats (cont. from BG1):

Rosemary, mage 22, 60 HPs, 5 deaths, 823 kills

Parsley, mage 22, 64 HPs, 2 deaths, 590 kills

Thyme, mage 22, 61 HPs, 8 deaths, 573 kills

Sage (PC), mage 22, 70 HPs (incl. 12 from cat), 492 kills

Nutmeg, mage 22, 58 HPs, 4 deaths, 478 kills

Pepper, mage 22, 59 HPs (incl. 5 from ioun stone), 6 deaths, 549 kills

 

Edit: incidentally, perhaps I should mention that I succeeded in my aim of never using any sort of potion during the trilogy, though for the Arcane Army that restriction made no real difference.  I'll still be aiming to do the same with a solo kensai at some point - where the restriction will be a bit more challenging ...

[Alesia_BH]

Congrats Grond0!

 

Best,

 

A.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Congratulations, Grond0!!!

[Aasim]

Congrats Grond0! Exellent fight. I'm amazed how you could keep your concentration up to have so many mages buffed up so they can survive....GJ, I'm very impressed.

Out of curiosity, how come your mage Rosemary has approx.250 kills more than anybody else? Intentional, some specific spell used?

[Grond0]

Out of curiosity, how come your mage Rosemary has approx.250 kills more than anybody else? Intentional, some specific spell used?

There's no particular reason - it just reflects that I maintained the same party order throughout the run.  She therefore tended to have the first opportunity to throw MMMs at opponents.  She also tended to be the first choice as scout and probably ended up using area damage spells a bit more than the others as a result.  As the top character there was also a slight tendency for her to get the first pick of spells, but there wasn't generally a lot of difference between all of the spell books.

[corey_russell]

Congrats Grond0! Nice work with your mages. I'll be entering them in the Hall of Heroes as soon as I get some time (about to take off for work at the moment).