A couple things I've noticed

that really frustrate me in this game!!

The pathfinding in this game is so bad it's funny. I've had times in Hommlet where I've set a path in a line but one or two of my toons will peel off to the side like football players running plays. :evil_laug
Or they just go off on a wierd tangent before rejoining the party. It's laughable

and the other thing that really gets me is the weapon change tabs not keeping the items that were set in them. It's especially frustrating during combat when I quick change a weapon slot and the the weapon doesn't switch correctly.

This was a vent post, we now return you to your regularly scheduled forum already in progress.

 

I was just lamenting that while playing KotB yesterday. Had my rogue set up to use his longbow on tab 1, and his longspear on tab 2. Worked fine for a while, but for some reason it quit working while he was in the sewers chasing dire rats. Hasn't worked since, no matter what I do...

 

Yeah, they're buggy.
I use them a lot, specially with throwing potions (like the fire ones in KotB, or poison or Jaer's Spheres) cos i find annoying change the weapon in combat.
Also, if you have a charcter with a shield equippped you wouldn't be able to change to a ranged weapon (or viceversa)
It would be difficult to explain, but i'll explain how i use them with a 90% of efficiency (there's always a failure using them).

Warning, this it's going to be really longwinded and confusing.

Example:

-The inventory has 6 slots wide. Let's say you have your character without anything equiped.
You have in the Inventory Slots (IS) a sword (1 handed), shield (not buckler), bow, arrows, hammer (1 handed), potion (alchemist's fire) in that order. They appear in the inventory in that order as you give them to the character, in the first available free slot that the AI find.

-You have 5 weapon combo tags, Blue, Green, Purple, Red, Yellow. I personally give to each color, a type of damage or type of attack (slashing for B, piercing/ranged for G, bludgeoning for P, potions for R, empty for Y). Always try to have a empty one.


-Select first tag (B). Equip the sword in the main Weapon Box (WB1) and the shield in the secondary (WB2). They dissapear from the first and second IS.
-Select second tag (G). Equip bow in WB1-WB2 and arrows in ammo slot (WB3). Sword and shield appear in their previous IS and bow and arrow dissapear.
-Do the same with the other weapons, t'ill every tag has a combo, and leave the last one (Y) empty. (let's assume you equiped the hammer with the shield)
_So far, this is common and everyones know it. What's the problem?

Well, you must go FORWARD to change tags without problems.
If you are in the P (hammer) tag, and want the B (sword n shield) combo, you have to go first thru R and Y . Why?
Cos if you go back (say from P to B), weapons dissapear and appear in the first available free inventory slot ; the second IS (shield) it's empty as well as the fifth IS (hammer), but when the B tag it's selected, the unequipped hammer appear in the first free IS, not the one it was (5º) but the 1º which was where the sword was.
So now, if you go to G (bow), the sword would appear in the IS where the shield was (2º) and the shield where the bow was; instead of having
sword/shield/bow/arrows/hammer/potion, now you have hammer/sword/shield/empty/potion; if you click again B tag, you'll probably end two wielding the sword in WB1 and the hammer in WB2 and having the bow in the 1º IS and the arrows in the 2º IS. :sweatdrop
Messy? Confusing?? Apparently the engine think it too. :blegh:

But, if you go "forward", you wouldn't have problems, it seems that going that way, keep things in place (changing thru all the combo tags in combat doesn't makes you lose an action for each slot, just the first change, unless you have quick draw in which you wouldn't lose anything).

So far so good? NO!

Let's say you have the B tag selected. 1º and 2º IS are empty.
What would happen if you pick something?
Yes, it will go to the first available free IS...the one where the sword used to be. And now you'll have hemlock/hemlock/bow/arrow/hammer/potion.
And things get worse if you have equipable stuff in the second row of IS (under certain circumstances if you change tabs, it will equip that equipment).

Well, things get messy, and it will be too long to explain all the variables of problems.
With all this in mind, you should try and see all the variables to get a better idea, or simply not use the tags.
The main problems are with charcters that use a lot of combos (in my personal case, bards and rogues, cos they're better at ranged, but being the face they are easily involved in melee, so changing weapons come handy). I usually have the warrior type characters always equipped in melee, and use them to grab and loot, cos if the stuff go to their weapons IS, it won't matter since i hardly change tags. I also usually put the stuff in the bottom of the inventory, and equiped weapons in the top, so if things get mixed, i can easily fix the mess.
So, if you're going to use them:

-Equip as you see fit.
-Move thru tags forward
-Whenever you grab something, or give something to a character, and you're expecting tag changes, check the inventory (remove the new item from the wrong IS). Of course, you can loot, go to shop, sell all the stuff, and with a cleared inventory, check what's wrong.
-You can have ammo always equipped to save a slot (the same with a buckler)...if you don't want to change it (say you change from a bow to a sling).
-Try to always have a empty tag, cos if you have some problems, you can select him to see where all the equipment appear and fix. (and in KotB this come handy, or the guards will unequip whatever weapon you have and could create a mess -Thanks Ted! :raving: -)
-Have patience, and experiment a bit, you'll figure it quickly.
-When you get a better weapon, it's better to unequip everything and have the tags fixed.

Well, there's more, but with this you can figure it. This is long enough.

Yep, i swear and curse a lot with them :mrhappy:

 

Hoooooo boy. I thought my problems were the only-est ones. But, damnation, what alot of poop to do just to switch a weap or two, :dizzy: Ah, well, even wit all dees problems, ToEE still rocks! :doublethu

(Why is it, when I select thumbs up, it posts thumbs down?)

 

The double thumbs up icon is wrong. Use two individual :thumbsup: icons, instead.

 

Indeed.
But once you figure that, using the tags it's useful. :beer:

Let's say you don't, and your charcter it's equipped with a crossbow just to run freely in the Keep. You go out, and get ambushed, and combat starts...you wouldn't be able to change to your holy hammer and +3 shield, cos shield cannot be equiped in combat, but you can change the tag if you have prepared the combo ahead.

Or for example, use them for wizards in ToEE, to have the many staves equipped in different tags, and switch easily during combat which one would serve better.

 

Thanks for the tip!