The so called "Surprise Round" in ToEE (plus other questions)

1. Does this game employ the so-called "surprise round" against an enemy who's unaware of you? Because if it does, there might a bug with it.

My party (all stealthy people) sneaked up on that kobold leader in the Deklo grove and he was unable to take any action at all for the ENTIRE fight...not just one or two "surprise rounds"

2. when I rest in an unsafe are, sometimes enemies spawn that are friendly towards my party and just stand there twiddling their thumbs (or tentacles) at me.

3. If a quest is dependent on the time of day (like Black Jay's) , and I use the "Pass Time" function outside, the person doesn't appear until I first enter a building and exit. Is this a bug, or an annnoying feature of the engine ?

4. After replaying this game with newest mod, I can almost cry. This is exactly what I was looking for in a CRPG. See my very first thread on this website to see how much I can gush about this game :hug:

 

So was it just a bug then that caused him to become unable to do anything?

If there is no such thing as a "surprise round," does sneaking and then attacking from an unseen position at least affect the initiative roll ? My party has been sneaking around and we're always high up in the initiative list (or maybe that's because we all have high dexterity?)

When I rest in an unsafe area in the moathouse, sometimes enemies spawn which are neutral and don't attack. Sometimes some of them are enemies while one or two are still neutral and just stand there. This happens fairly often, though, and it's not really a big deal but I hope it's not a symptom of a more serious bug.

 

I've had this happen, too. I tried to rest in Lareth's room after the fight to get ready for the ambush and several gnolls spawned. They didn't attack. Just stood there. I finally attacked them, just to get things going.

Edit: I only had 1 Rogue and wasn't in sneak mode with anyone.

 

Hello,

Sadly, the game does not seem to use the surprise round, despite having stealth. Instead, you get the first attack, but everyone else also attacks that round.

High dex. does mean high in the initiative order - it is a d20 plus dex modifier (plus improved init. if you have that) for each combatant.

 

Not if you are wanting to rest prior to experiencing the ambush. You can't get to the spider room. I was ambushed in the courtyard when I tried. I think that was the older modpack, though. It doesn't matter...I don't try to rest before that fight anymore.

 

Usually, after the battle with Lareth's guards the party is pretty well beat up. To fight him and the spiders and get in the ambush is suicide. After the fight with the guards, returning to the tower to heal up and get spells, etc is a smart thing to do. The reason the tower is a safe place is for those incidents. Going into a major battle weakened is not good strategy. Usually, everyone dies if they go straight into the ambush in a weakened state. Not a good idea.

 

That is the idea of an ambush. The party might decide it needs to recover by resting in the spider tower but, oh crap, ambushed before they get there! Use your potions and scrolls. Ambushes punish you for previously using too much of your reserves.

Tapped out after Lareth & Co? Face the music and try to run away if you must. Ah, but can you flee from combat at these locations?

 

Hmmm...that's very interesting actually. I never knew that. One time when we slept in the moathouse, we were attacked by a giant lobster thing, and I thought that meant that there was a second one, but now I see that it had to be the same one from that pool by the gnolls.


Is it even possible to rest fully healed without encountering wandering monsters in an unsafe area? I can only rest for eight hours so far, after tons of reloads.

You guys seem to have managed so far without worrying about resting, so maybe my strategy is off or something.

 

Going back to Hommlet is better. After Lareth's guards, the chest is so full that it often starts dropping items. So you need to sell the loot, unless you want to put the loot in the chest in the spider tower...I haven't tried this because I am a little leery of what might occur if I enter the tower to retrieve items after the ambush fight...don't know how long it takes for the moathouse to respawn. I'd have to go to Hommlet to sell the ambush loot, then return to the tower for the loot I left there. Maybe it doesn't respawn until you've gone to Nulb?

I don't have too much trouble with Lareth and the spiders, actually, but I have to rest after the fight with the guards if I want to survive the ambush. I am still in the learn as you go stage re fighting/spell casting and don't have a lot of past experience to draw from, so resting is imperative. With my gaming experience, I don't consider it meta-gaming.

 

The moathouse tower remains a safe place all the time. Not so for the safehouse in Nulb if you get the target of revenge rep. The moathouse respawn is pretty tough. Better to wait until you've gained several levels before coming back. Same goes for the assassin encounter. He'll kill your wizard and maybe more low hp players. Tough encounter, but by the book.

 

When I rest in an unsafe area in the moathouse, sometimes enemies spawn which are neutral and don't attack. Sometimes some of them are enemies while one or two are still neutral and just stand there. This happens fairly often, though, and it's not really a big deal but I hope it's not a symptom of a more serious bug.[/QUOTE]

Yup,the same thing to me. Windows Xp, 5.5.0, FE-X. Not only gnolls, crayfish and ticks too.

 

I've had things spawn around me, without combat, but combat initiates when I move.