Need Mod Suggestion

Linkamus · Post by **Linkamus** » Tue May 04, 2010 1:18 pm

So I usually play through Baldur's Gate 2 on Core rules. I thought it would be fun this time to create my own party, and to challenge the party, put it on the hardest skill (where mobs do double damage). Well, although I'm not that far into the game, thus far I'm disappointed with the difficulty.

What I would really like, is a mod that challenges my custom made party.

I've heard of the ascension mod. Is that the best mod for ToB? Is there one for Shadows of Amn as well? What's the HARDEST (also well made) mod for ToB and SoA? What would you guys suggest?

I don't want to mod anything except the difficulty. I don't want any added items, changed items, changed stats, class modifications, or anything like that. Other than the fixpacks, I've never used any mods before, so I need some suggestion! Thanks guys!

Stworca · Post by **Stworca** » Tue May 04, 2010 1:27 pm

Sword Coast Stratagems 2 adds difficulty by increasing enemy AI. You should try that for now. Google it, download, instal and you're good to go.

There is also Ascension, Tactics, Improved Asylum and Solaufein (npc mod that adds a nice fight to the game) that work with SCS2, and that you should instal. Do read the instruction files first tho. From Tactics you should only instal optional fights that are unaffected by SCS2, because having two mods modify the same thing leads to crashes.

Content that you can safely instal from tactics : Red Badge, Kuroisan, Lich in the docks, Gnome in the docks, The ritual

Linkamus · Post by **Linkamus** » Tue May 04, 2010 1:42 pm

EDIT: Okay after doing a little research, I think I will install all 3 of these mods as you suggest. Is it safe to install all of Ascension over top of SCS2? Will the Ai from SCS2 'stack' with the mods from Ascension?

Stworca · Post by **Stworca** » Tue May 04, 2010 1:55 pm

SCSII affects every moment of the game and every single fight. Tactics adds some big fights, and in theory it can affect all the fights too, but it does it poorly. Ascension is ToB only. Solaufein adds a big fight to ToB. Improved Asylum.. well.. improves asylum.

You should instal all of the above, chose the big fights from tactics that i mentioned earlier and you'll risk nothing by mixing mods.

As for hardest.. Just give the above combo a go. I would be surprised if you return here and tell us that you did not die even once on insane with all ze mods

Linkamus · Post by **Linkamus** » Tue May 04, 2010 1:58 pm

sweet sweet.. I'm excited.

Also - in case you are curious, the party I am going to attempt this with is -

Swashbuckler
Inquisitor
Archer
Berserker / Cleric proficient with hammers
Kensai / Mage - Bastard Swords dual Wielding
Kensai / Mage - Staves

I know the "perfect party" is something of debate, but this party best matches my play style. I would have stuck a blade in there somewhere, but there is just too much micro management with them imo.

Stworca · Post by **Stworca** » Tue May 04, 2010 2:02 pm

You might want to instal Illyich from tactics instead of SCSII version of it ("slightly tougher starting dungeon" or something like that)

Remember to instal SCSII after all the other mods
Remember to only pick : Kuroisan, Red Badge, Ritual, Lich in the docks, Gnome in the docks from Tactics (and maybe Illyich, if you will NOT install SCSII version of it)
Play on insane, when faced on insane difficulty these mods have additional fun content

When in doubt ("when all hope fails"), click my signature for some help.

P.S. The fight added by solaufein requires you to have him in your party. It is however possible to get the fight without the guy, read the readme.txt that is added to the mod files. You want to face this fight in ToB.

Edit : Sorcerers own ze Kensai/mages imo

Regards

Linkamus · Post by **Linkamus** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 10:35 pm

So I'm finally getting around to trying this. I started today. I installed the improved Ilyich mod from tactics, and then did NOT install the slightly harder beginning dungeon in SCSII. Was that correct?

Ilyich was exremely easy. He didn't seem different at all than he usually is. So I'm assuming something installed wrong? When I run the setup-tactics.exe it says the improved Ilyich is installed.

The only differences I've seen so far while going through the dungeon (and I've only gone a little past Ilyich) is:

1. Every time I rest, it says I rested successfully without being disturbed, however 2 dwarves always seem to spawn near by.. A fighter and a mage. They're not that hard, but it's very annoying. I hope the rest of the game doesn't spawn stuff EVERY time I rest in a dangerous area. If so, is there a way to turn this off?

2. The ogre mage that the dijiin summoned instantly casted protection buffs when he spawned, and when I dispelled his mirror image, he quickly cast it again. I like this!

But these are the only 2 differences I've seen thus far.. Is anything else supposed to have changed? Why was the Ilyich fight so easy?

Thanks!

Daynov · Post by **Daynov** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 6:23 am

Probably it didn't install correctly. Lets just say that the fight is "just" a bit different to what usually happens. You should have seen the changes pretty quickly.

Linkamus · Post by **Linkamus** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 10:15 am

Crap - what did I do wrong then? I installed SCS2 after the tactics stuff.. Should I try reinstalling the tactics stuff again? Or would that screw up the SCSII stuff now? I'm worried that if that one is broken, than all the tactics fights will be broken

.

Linkamus · Post by **Linkamus** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 12:00 pm

So I tried to just reinstall Ilyich from the tactics mod, but that didn't change anything. So I think I'm just going to install the "slighty harder starting dungeon" from SCSII.. I've read that improved Ilyich is just stupidly hard anyways, and that you basically have to cheese it to win.. Which is not what I'm after anyways. So HOPEFULLY everything else will work correctly. I started a ToB game, to see if the first fight was modified by ascension, and it definately appeared so! So that's good.

Linkamus · Post by **Linkamus** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 12:16 pm

So I uninstalled improved Ilyich, and installed the SCSII version of improved starting dungeon, and now the mage that is there doesn't even cast a single spell.. Him and Ilyich actually just run away and don't do anything. Eventually they might throw a bullet at me or take a swing... In the readme it also says that all the goblins were supposed to be replaced with dwarves, but there are still goblins. Anyone have any ideas as to what is going on??