Is Anomen a big chicken?

Shine · Post by **Shine** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:43 pm

Hi
I've gone through a few play-throughs now (well 2 and a half) and usually have Anomen in my group. I like his combination of spells and melee skills.

However, am I playing it wrong, or is he slow to jump into a brawl? It seems to me that when we get into a big huzzah, everyone else is clubbing away but he needs to be reminded to join the fray. By the time I click on him to point him in the right direction, he yells his heroic battle cry and gets there just in time to loot the bodies.

I have A.I. turned on and not changed any scripts. I've checked to make sure he's not been charmed or anything. Yet he tends to stand around even when someone's lobbed something at him. You'd think he'd respond to that.

Am I doing something wrong with him?

Shilpa · Post by **Shilpa** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 3:16 pm

Maybe he is just slow? I mena he needs a round or two to make up his mind in what heroic way will he anihilate the evil

(BTW I still hink he is indeed a jerk

)

Aqua-chan · Post by **Aqua-chan** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 4:50 pm

Shine wrote:I have A.I. turned on and not changed any scripts.

So do you have the Custom default script on him? I find party members act like blind men at an art show with that; I would suggest going to the Standard Attack script if you haven't yet done so.

Shine · Post by **Shine** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 8:17 pm

I'm afraid to mess around with the scripts.
Last time I did that something odd happened with my ranged attacks. Instead of firing weapons or spells from a distance, the NPCs waded into the melee and started lobbing their goodies at close range.
Resetting the scripts back didn't work and I had to reload. I posted about this earlier.
I did end up doing a complete reinstall (because of some other bugs, too) but now I'm a little leery about the script thing.

Just seems odd that Anomen (mace) wouldn't engage when Jahiera (staff) has no trouble doing so.

Klorox · Post by **Klorox** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 8:39 pm

Have you considered turning the AI off?

Shine · Post by **Shine** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 8:50 pm

Umm, no. I have it on because I WANT the NPC's to attack automatically. The types of fights I'm thinking of here are basic brawls when I want Anomen to bash a few gibberling skulls and save his spells for the trolls around the corner.

-----------
Funniest sound bit I came across today. In the ambient sound file in Trademeet, some vendor: "If your parents don't buy you a pointy stick that means they don't love you"
(unless I'm imagining things and, given this flu, that might be the case :laugh:

Jedi_Sauraus · Post by **Jedi_Sauraus** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:39 pm

The basic attack script means he will do just that wade into melee as soon as he sees an enemy. I'm no expert on scripts, (I play without because to my taste when my people have a script on their IQ ranges from 10 to maybe 50 at best) however I would reccommend trying each one to see which suits you. You can always change it back if you don't like it. Their is definitly one that forces your people to attack (melee) on sight, just be sure to set a diffrent one for the mages or you'll be banging your head against the wall.

Aqua-chan · Post by **Aqua-chan** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 9:07 am

The Standard Attack script will make the NPC attack with the weapon he or she is best with depending on the vicinity of the nearest enemy. If an enemy happens to wade near one of your back line teammates they will engage in melee combat. That may explain why your NPCs were switching to melee rather than sticking to their ranged weapons.

I would recommend looking at the theif/ranger (ranged) scripts for your archers. Standard Attack should really be reserves for your melee combatants.

Shine · Post by **Shine** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 11:24 am

You weren't perchance referring to my IQ, were you, Jedisaurus?

Aqua-chan, when I had trouble with the scripts, the mages would actually walk all the way up to their enemy and start casting or slinging while standing right in front of them - as if they considered their ranged weapons/spells to be melee items. I even took away any melee weapons, to no effect.

I was messing around with mods at the time and something probably went wrong. I'll try this again with this new install. After all, I can just reload. (Last time I didn't even realize this was happening until after a torturous pain-in-the-butt exercise in the Watcher's Keep that I didn't particularly care to repeat.)

Kipi · Post by **Kipi** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 11:40 am

Shine wrote:You weren't perchance referring to my IQ, were you, Jedisaurus?

Well, at least I read it so that Jedi Sauraus was referring to characters in the game...

I was messing around with mods at the time and something probably went wrong. I'll try this again with this new install. After all, I can just reload. (Last time I didn't even realize this was happening until after a torturous pain-in-the-butt exercise in the Watcher's Keep that I didn't particularly care to repeat.)

I think that would be the more probable reason of the problem rather than messing with scripts... As I have never had aby problems with scripts, and I use them regularely...

And for what script to use, I agree with Aqua-chan here...

Jedi_Sauraus · Post by **Jedi_Sauraus** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 1:00 pm

(I play without because to my taste when my people have a script on their IQ ranges from 10 to maybe 50 at best)

edit: lol I wrote "have a script on" Shine do you have a script on ??

the meaning should have been clear from just that.

Of Course not, I was referring to the IQ that your team mates have when you put a script on them. Hence I wrote my people by that I meant any one my current parties. The meaning should have been clear, but if not I'm stating it black on white so to speak.

Any human player will simply control his team in a more efficient manner then the scripted AI.

For example; try the mage script, I've had Edwin casting magic missles at an enemy mage when he had a spell that reflected those missles back at Edwin (forget the name) the proper course would have been to first cast "spell thrust" which he had in his spellbook. Another examlpe would be the fighter scripts, try them in a mind flayer stronghold and you'll see what I mean. They rush the nearest thing, often an umber hulk and often Ignoreing the deadly mind flayers which kill you in 2-3 hits by stat drain. A human player would focus on the mind flayers first, furthermore he would retreat after getting drained to 5 or less intelligence. The scripts never take into account the environment there are hundreds of situations like this.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 1:46 pm

It's much more micro-management, but I prefer not to use scripts and I just hit the pause before each battle.
Granted, it can interrupt the immersive/roleplaying experience, but the scripts in BG2 can go wonky far too often for my liking, so I'd rather just go for the manual, labour-intensive approach.

Shine · Post by **Shine** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 2:13 pm

Thanks, all

I'll give some of this a go. I do use pause before battles where necessary.
But, quite frankly, I'm a terrible spell caster (and so my IQ might be in question, indeed:laugh: ) and I just love a good brawl, which is why I play a fighter and usually have Anomen and Jahiera join in the fisticuffs as well. I spend a fortune on good weapons and armor. Cromwell loves us

I just don't get things like the above advice to use spell thrust in a certain situation. By the time I figure out that my missiles are coming back at my mage the battle is over and I'm not about to reload just to be sure to get the proper spells in place. This isn't true for the big battles, of course, where I make sure to prepare properly.
I'm probably expending far more energy (and healing potions) than necessary but, like Dragon Wench said, too much pausing or reloading kinda interrupts the story.

Pellinore · Post by **Pellinore** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 10:42 pm

Well, I tend to assign scripts and let my peeps do what they do best. I like this because on the low to mid difficulty fights I don't have to babysit them and they do alright without my paying attention. I take direct control on the mid to stupid difficulty fights...

Celacena · Post by **Celacena** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:17 am

I find that the AI target assessment system doesn't distinguish between those you really should target first and the first enemies seen. even if it distinguishes spellcasters, that doesn't mean the AI gets the immediate assault right. you might want to throw some lower resistances at an enemy before something more devastating like feeblemind - a script is better for the uncasting fighters - choosing between ranged/melee weapons and suchlike.
I once had a mage on a script fire off something like a 7th level spell at a goblin or an orc under the 'use most powerful attack spell' script - really irritating when a magic missile would have done the trick.
I posted about my battle with Irenicus in spellhold a few days back - using area affect disablers like entangle and web combined with more deadly fare once trapped (holy smite etc) - those kind of shock and awe tactics are not easily scripted and I like to have control because there are so many tactics that just don't work.

as for Anomen being a chicken - I did find that he panicked more often that other NPCs at first, but now he is level 22, nothing scares him any more. Crom Feyr in one hand, improved MoD in the other - bring it on!