Starting out...too hard?

Hey all, I've had this game forever but never got around to playing it. Recently dusted it off and did some online research to find the Co8 mod, so I've installed the most recent version of that before playing. Anyway, my question is purely gameplay related...and I'm starting to think I'm just dumb, because I'm getting massacred by the first enemies I encounter!

I have some experience with PC D&D interpretations, I mostly understand the rules even if this is a much more strict version than, say, neverwinter nights. But my well balanced (IMO) party of a wiz, druid, barbarian and rogue cannot kill 2 giant spiders at the BEGINNING OF THE GAME? This just seems ridiculous to me, but I don't want to give up just because it's hard...I'd rather figure out what I'm doing wrong.

As soon as I 'warp' to the map with the spiders, they attack me with the 'web' spell. Once I figured out that this forces my spellcasters to do concentration checks, I had to modify my strategy a bit. But even without wasting time trying to cast anything, these two guys NEVER hit with their weapons despite decent DEX. And of course they'll never get out of the web, due to low strength. My half orc barbarian is usually OK, but still misses a lot even with 18 Strength, and would take 2-3 hits with his greataxe to kill a spider on his own, while getting hit and poisoned far more often. My rogue is not much better, has slightly higher AC but low HP so gets one hit killed. Same for the Wolf animal companion I have.

I KNOW this should not be so hard, am I really that bad at character creation??

 

Even at 1st level this CAN be done

Another tip or two-

Get improved initiative, that should help you have a few characters be able to move before the webs go off.

MOVE them all out in random directions especially putting the spellcaster nowhere near anyone else (if he's not in a Web no Concentration ck) and the Spiders like to Web the bigger groups. Move your fighter-types Half-way to one of the spiders and then set them on the Tactical part of the Radial dial to "Ready for Approach" That will let the rest of the party be able to attack the Spiders without the "Firing into melee" penalty." Then use spells and missile weapon as much as possible.

Good luck, and yes, maybe get level 2 first!

 

I would suggest getting to 2nd level before leaving town, then try to get to the meadows 1st. Even then, save a lot the walk back and forth between town and your destination, hoping for some random encounters you can handle. Have your spellcasters get some summoning spells, even against the spiders. Have the summons appear between you and the enemies, then have everyone use missile weapons to soften them up before closing with the Barbarian and rogue to finish them off.

Use the Fedex quests for XP and money, also strip every enemy of everything they carry, then sell everything you can, every CP will help, then slowly outfit your group with better stuff. Concentrate on armor and weapons for the frontline guys, then missile weapons for the reserves, using what you can from random encounters. If you get jumped by something you can't handle, reload and try again. Hope for some soft competition of pirates, kobolds, and goblins, as they're easy to kill and have decent stuff a low level party can use. Avoid zombies, lizardmen, even orcs early, or if you get hit big with trolls or shadows, reload immediately, as a 4th level party will have trouble.

Also a 4 man party is a little weak for this game, add another frontliner or pick up an NPC you might like, Elmo can help early, but maybe Ronald would fit your party better. I say add a fighter, ranger, or even better, a cleric, as there are lots of undead to deal with.

 

I reciently started another game from scratch with evil guys. Aside from the fact I hate running around Hommlet to get to 2nd level before I go to Decko Spiders. Therefore I simple chissled away a portion of the moathouse first.

Elmo would help you greatly, as you can sacrfice his blood while you sit back and shoot.

With my evil party I used Furnock (whatever his name is). I was 2nd level by killing the stuff outside the moathouse, 2 random encounters, and a few of the Hommlet evil quests. I even went to kill a few undead at the meadows. Then I went and killed the pesky spiders.

 

Thanks for the replies y'all. I love a difficult game, just wanted to make sure my party wasn't too retarded to make it, it's rare to run up against that kind of challenge so early in my experience. Time to HULK SMASH with my surprisingly intelligent barbarian half orc.

 

Good Luck! Just remember- 5 is better than 4- and picking up Elmo - even if just for that fight is a great help.

And... SPREAD OUT!

 

Yes, use the party formation setting and spread everyone out before going to that map.

 

I just restarted (again!) with a "everyman" party. (Mostly avg stats- my party leader's highest is a 13 or 14 I think on ONE stat But the Monk is pretty tough with a 15 or two and a 14 or three- eveyone else is in between)

We won the Spider encounter at level 1- but it was a bit close.

3 went down. My Monk, Cleric (the tank and party leader in chain and shield) and Rogue (backup melee), but they lived.

The Ranger (archer with Point Blank and Precise shot) and the Mage and Sorcerer were left up- and we used 4 healing Pots and the Clerics 2 Cure Lights.

Just when I got froggy thinking I was all that, after resting, I got hit with a random encounter with not one but TWO giant serpents, and yes we're still level one, but, IF we survive it, we will definitely level! I already had to reload once, didn't go too well the first time.

 

Snakes Killed, level attained. Yeah Everyman Party on Ironman mode. No one died, thank goodness, but three did go down again and I used up the last of my healing potions. Has anyone else noticed that Calmert isn't restocking so fast these days??

 

I am not shure where to put this question, so i will use this topic

I am abaut to start ToEE again after 4-5 years

What is diference betwen starting with 2 chars or with 5?
Is it just in difficulty? or somthing........
I have vanila version of game and installed patch nuber 3
So the question is...........is it so much better to use Co8 modpack instead of vanila+patch3?

Sry for my bad english.

 

Use the Co8 mods instead of patch #3. (You will need #1 and #2, see our installation instructions). The Co8 mods fix a lot more errors than the patches, and we add content as well.

If you haven't played in a while, I would suggest using 5 characters. Our mods allow you to have use to 8 PC's, but then you cannot have NPC's join. You can also raise the level cap to 20 with our mods. I suggest 5 characters over 2 because it takes a while to get used to the game after not playing for a while. The more characters you have, the more actions you can do each round.

 

Tnx for fast reply.

When i raise lvl cap to lvl20,will that infect game mechanics?
Can i be to strong in some part of game as lvl20, or when i and lvl cap mobs will get stronger?

 

No it does not change the game in any way. You need to raise the level cap manually on the Front End options. Only games started after you chance the level cap to 20 will let your characters go beyond level 10 (Your current saved games will not go beyond level 10).

Changing the level cap to 20 does nothing to the games monsters, content, or anything. It simply allows you to level higher, become stronger, and access new spells. Some of the content that was in 5.5.0 was designed for slightly higher level parties.

I recommend you download 5.5.0 instead of 5.6.0 if you want to play alot of new content, such as the city of Verbonoc and other zones to explore. 5.6.0 removed this content to help balance the game temporarily.

 

Bummer. I thought the levels beyond 10 were opened automatically.