Spolier Questions: Livonya's Mod

kalshane -

I built this encounter so that the Brigand Leader will ALWAYS try to talk to your lead character first (the PC in the far left spot).

- Livonya

 

Okay, thanks. I wish the game did that normally. I used to always put my party "face man" as leader, but between the monsters always ganging up on the leader (which you've fixed) and the game picking random party members to talk to most of the time anyway, I've gotten in the habit of leaving my tank there. I guess I need to change that.

 

As much as I can I am changing it so that dialog will start with the leader.

This isn't always possible, as you can approach the NPCs with any character that you want, but in situations where your whole party is always in one area I am making sure that the dialog will start with the party leader...

Actually, sometimes I also do this... I tell the scripts to start the dialog with the PC that has the highest skill level... for instance I have a dialog that uses Intimidate so I have the script look for the PC with highest intimidate skill that is in range and start dialog with that PC.

I agree that it is annoying how it often seems to pick random PCs to start dialog with...

- Livonya

 

brigand tower

Just a little bit of feedback from what was probably one of my most exiting fights ever last night in ToEE.

For the first time in the 6 odd times I've played this game, I decided to let Lareth live and let him take me to the place he offered to take me (I'm purposely being vague).

The fight that ensued was HAAAAARD! But very enjoyable (I went with a party of 6 level 4 PCs... I know that I could have done better with at least one more level).

At any rate, the foes were just nasty... fighting very effectively and choosing intelligent targets, tactics and spells. The enemy wizard only seemed to cast fireball when his allies were out of range of the damage, as an example. When my wizard cast Ray of Enfeeblement in the brigand leader at one point, the brigand leader stopped what he was doing, charged toward my wizard and promptly put the hurt on him (and man does he hit hard and accurately). It was as if the Brigand Leader got hit by a spell and thought, “oh crap, I better take out that spell caster before he really screws me over†(just like I, as a player, might think). Very cool.

The bad guys really work great as a team to take out their opponents. It was so frustrating (and cool) when the witches started healing their unconscious comrades, allowing foes I had written off to charge back into the fray! It took me six run-throughs just to get through the fight with only 1 PC death (most runs resulted TPK). Really great changes here Liv!

On the critique side, and this isn’t really a problem, I noticed that occasionally NPCs would risk multiple AoO to get to targets. The brigand leader screwed himself over during one run through by taking 3 attacks of opportunity to get to my rogue. That said, I occasionally do this as a player as well. Sometimes I’m willing to take a few hits in order to take out a threat. I’ve risked much in that particular battle to get to the wizard… and he’s quite well protected back there. From a role playing perspective, it doesn’t seem too much of a stretch that some of these NPCs are cocky enough to put themselves at risk. So again, this isn’t necessarily a problem or bad AI. I just mention this because I think this is the kind of thing you’re looking for.

The only thing I noticed that was outright strange was that occasionally the witches would cast spells on fallen targets (I think they were casting on their fallen allies) and would get a message to the effect of “this target cannot be animatedâ€. Occasionally they would repeat this useless spell two or three times in a combat.

Otherwise, this was really an unbelievable fight. Almost at the level of a PVP type combat. I can’t tell you how many times I thought… screw it… I’m just gonna do Imeryd’s Run first and try to get level 5.

Thanks again for the fun!

 

Yeah, the AI has limits. Sometimes the Brigand Leader (along with other NPCs) will take too many AOO hits and die. Sometimes they will go for a great target. I have them set to pick priority threats, but the draw back is AOO. I wish I could make them smarter, but I think I have them about as smart as I can get them within the AI limitiations. So sometimes they will get it right and sometimes they will die to multiple AOO.

The alternative is to just have them always attack the closest target, which doesn't really make for a very fun game. Troika had the AI set so that pretty much every creature would simply attack the closest target. You could basically count on this and just put your fighter up front and the NPCs would ignore the mages/clerics in the back rows.

That is a problem. They should be casting on dead NPCs, but perhaps it needs a tweak. I will try to tweak it so that it runs a bit better. I think I know what the problem is... I will look into it.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. I spent a lot of time working on that battle. Trying to make it seem like a real battle. Before I started changing the AI I would always get really fristrated with TOEE when I would do this battle. It was just too easy and the enemy NPCs acted like retards. I tried to make this a hard fight without making it impossible.

Glad you enjoyed it.

- Livonya

 

well Kalshane put your spokesperson in the 1st slot and then go over and change the formation so your tanks are in front. its what i usally do except i forgot the first time to the tower. my party leader, 1st slot, is actually in the back of my party but he is the one they almost always goto. and sometimes it helps if they are the first person through the door.


oh and Liv i am tearing these places apart looking for that pain lareth but he is well hidden. ill have to wait untill i get the last couple of spots on my map to check them. i think i might wring his neck lol.

 

He "might" of wandered off... you might want to ask around about him.

- Livonya

 

Well, the point I was making was that the AI seemed to go after whoever was first in your party order on the bottom of the screen, not whoever was first in formation. This was especially true of random encounters. After awhile you get tired of trolls munching on your Rogue. *g* As I said, Liv has pretty much fixed that quirk, so I can start using my face man as party leader again.

 

Hey Liv, I had this happen with Lareth... after he was wounded he started talking to my bard (who was 50 ft away in anotehr room)... not that it worries me except for the fact that my bard seemed to lack the skills to negotiate with lareth the only dialouge option being (something like) "no more talk, DIE!!!" I've had other characters successfully negotiate...

 

That isn't something I did. That one is all on Troika. The script they wrote to trigger the talk once Lareth is wounded ignores range. I am not sure why they did it that way, though I guess if you only had NPCs near him then the dialog would never trigger at all.

- Livonya

 

The ogre talked to me!!!! This is the first time it has ever happened for me in the game and I wanted to share it with you all. I replayed it five times... I want Lubash as an NPC...

Ok, I'm embarassed now and will return to playing the game...

 

well ill track him down thats what my ranger/thief is for. when i find him depending on how long it takes i might just drag him back by his ankles

 

Ok,

I ran into two problems at Emridy Meadows with the Skeleton Priest and his henchmen that are released after acquiring Terjon's pendant. I had 8 2nd Lvl PCs.

The first was that I had 3 characters attacking the Skel Priest. Of the four spells he cast, not one provoked an Attack of Opportunity, allowing him to frag my party's Cleric with Sound Burst. Anyone know if this is a scripting problem? Have ya'll run into this as well?

Second, I moved my Magic-User behind the Skeletons to cast Burning Hands on the following round. Not having cast at all, she drew one of the Skeletons (who was in the middle of a fight elsewhere) to attack her on its initiative pass.

I'm sorry, but Skeletons are STUPID. They have a 0 Intelligence. They are not self-willed undead and the use of tactics to attack a Mage who has not cast yet strikes me as something a petty DM does to be a prick.

 

I would imagine the priest was casting defensively, which doesn't provoke an AOO. (It forces the caster to make a Concentration check to cast the spell successfully.)

 

Livonya, you are a frigging genius.

I finally found your swamp lotus. What a surprise. I could care less of the critics of yours, you are doing a tremendious, wonderfull job. This is not even the same game as before, it is ten times better. :sphappy: Luv you Livonya.