AI fixes / bug reports

I've always thought it would be nice to come across random travelers or merchants, or villagers under attack of some sort. It seems to me the countryside would include more than just hostile animals and random monsters.

 

I eagerly await this. I don't know what this applies to, but when I fought Hedrack, he would cast Righteous Might and then just walk around instead of doing something useful. In the building with the big fight against the bandit leader, wizard, witches and a ton of bandits, I have noticed the witches do the same thing.
The thing that most needs tweaking is caster AI, it is dismal. Mirror Image and Enlarge Person are not good ways to win a fight...
I'd like to see arcane casters walking around with Mage Armor on most of the time, or even Stoneskin for higher-level mages (Senshock, notably). These characters also never use damaging spells. I think a good general rule would be 1 defensive spell, then start pounding on the party. Currently these guys do nothing whatsoever.

 

Kespoosh -

The Wizards and Witchs no longer stand around doing nothing.

The Witch now casts a lot of spells, and will actually heal her allies. I think I have the Witch using 7 or 8 different spells now.

The Wizard also uses great spells, and not crap spells. And in many instances the Wizards will have up to 4 defensive spells in effect before combat starts now. When they are just standing around waiting they will take a moment to buff up (as will most clerics and mages in the game).

I am fixing Hedrack tonight. When I am done he will be a headache to fight. He will be using the best of the best cleric spells and he will NOT just stand around picking his nose.

My one fear is that I may have made the game too hard. It was balanced in an environment where spell casters pretty much did nothing. But now that they are part of the battle it may make it too hard. Once I am done I will release a beta version and folks can let me know if it needs to be easier or harder.

Either way I can honestly say it will be more fun. And yes, counter spell will actually be a useful choice now.

- Livonya

 

Excellent! The game needed a difficulty boost anyway.

 

I always throw everything I have at Hedrack to make sure he doesn't summon Iuz, so he rarely has time to even pick his nose. Still, sounds like this is going to be amazing when it's done. Though I wonder if the Temple gate house fight is even going to be possible for most parties if the wizard and witches actually do something useful. I have a feeling my normal tactic of just waiting until 6th level so my sorcerer has fireball isn't going to cut it anymore.

 

Uhhh....You did that fight at level 6?

 

I've done it at 5th level the one time I had a Wizard instead of a sorcerer. Actually, I even managed it once at 4th by using the scroll of Stinking Cloud, now that I think about it. Though I buff my party up before going through the door. Haven't tried Allyx's web trick. I normally don't take the spell (or silence) because of the permanent spell bug and the fact that I've had PCs that look like they should be just out of range get hit with Web, Entangle and Stinking Cloud before.

 

Hedrak now uses the cleric spell Spell Resistance so I doubt you will have much luck killing him off before he has a chance to call Iuz. Spell Resistance makes him a lot harder to deal with as most spells you throw at him aren't going to be effective.

I finished him last night, and I think people will enjoy this fight. Hedrak will be a force to be dealt with.

Also, I am going to try to put in a fail safe so that if he hasn't called Iuz by the time he is dead then he will do it with his last breath of life. It won't be so easy to avoid Iuz anymore (I hope).

As for the Temple Gate House fight. This fight can be done. I do it all the time with my test party which is all level 4/5. It just takes a lot more thought, and you will need potions. I am sure it can be done with a lower level party as well. I really tried hard not to make this fight too hard, as it can come early and there are a lot of enemy NPCs in this room... but don't expect to waltz through this room. I am trying to make the game harder and more challenging but not impossible.

I just thought of one thing... will Dispel Magic remove Web? I can't remember how it works in the game. If it does then I will try to add a fail safe so the Witch will try to Dispel the web... I'll have to test that.

- Livonya

PS: Last night I finished the AI for about 10 NPCs. If you choose to fight with Calmert or Terjon then you will be in for a fierce battle!! I am doing spell casting AI scripts for all major NPCs so now if you want to just kill them all off they will fight back with everything they have.

I think I have completed about 20+ new AI scripts. I have given every single spell caster in the game a spell casting AI script, and I have fixed most of the monsters with special abilites.

I only have about 10 more AI scripts to go, though some are the harder ones. I intend to make the Balor a pain in the ass, and I want Iuz and St. Cuthbert to be as effective and deadly as they ought to be.

I have also fixed about 10 or 15 bugs along the way... and added quite a lot of new content (2 new quests, the kids are back in the game with dialogs, there are some new encounters, new monsters, and I am over-hauling the traps in the game so there are more traps and even some area effect traps).

I will be done soon.

 

Allyx -

In my current version I removed that trap. When I release the new version that trap is gone. I replaced it with an encounter that is pretty much standard fare for the area.

I assume when you say the trap is too tough you are saying that because it is teleporting you to the giant? Or that it is too tough to disarm the trap? Can you clarify?

No, I didn't find a way to get rid of the assist on active search. What I did is just pump up the search number. So you will need to do several active searchs. If you fail to find a trap and set it off then the traps are all designed to NOT be fatal. So it shouldn't matter too much if you simply can'y find them... though I may decide to just leave search the way it is... maybe it isn't that big of a deal that traps are so easy to find... I will take a final pass over this feature before I release the new version.

That trap was something I started a long time ago, and since then my skills with the game scripts has increased... which means I have changed a lot of the stuff from that early beta version I released.

- Livonya

 

I'm not sure I agree with this, as normally priests can't summon the avatar of their god ever. I try to kill Hedrack right away because I don't want to fight Iuz and I think it's a cheesy ability. YMMV. My one concern about this is I remember there was a bug where if Iuz and St. Cuthbert decide to reset the battle, the ressurected baddies have no loot when they're killed again. I have no idea if this has been fixed yet.

Did you get rid of Terjon's nonsenseical 5 attacks a round and god-like stats while you were at it? I'm all for him being a tough fight, but I'd rather it be by the rules.

 

I hate to sound stupid, but where does one download your improvements as they stand. I do not have the trap at Emeridy Meadows, and I graciously ask that when you are finished with your work the patch is easily available to access.

I am very much looking forward to your work and I welcome real enhancements that make the game the challenge it should be. To all newbies to this game and D+D in general, you had better do your homework beforehand. You will need all the help you can get.