After having a Splunge moment and considering playing through SOA again, but realizing I don't have that much free time to spare, I began to wonder: how fast can one go through SOA? And what rules would make a "Speed SOA" run thru most interesting?

By "fast," I could mean as measured by 1) calendar time, 2) real time, or (ideally) 3) both of these. Each would seem to favor similar strategies, such as doing the minimum number of quests, reducing reliance on spell casting (which requires both frequent resting and a greater degree of micromanagment), and increasing reliance on stealth and encounter avoidance.

For NPCs one would probably avoid those that require unnecessary side quests. Also, as a minimum of exp will be available, how many NPCs should one take? Would it make sense to do this as a solo thief or thief MC (tho this personally bothers me for RP/game enjoyment reasons)?

I would imagine this would be done unmodded at core level difficulty. I suppose one would want to minimize reloads, not only to avoid the real time it adds to the run thru, but also to avoid relying on strategies with a low probability of success that assume power word:reload. But I'm not sure what rules to use here; no reloads to bump up HP rolls seems like a good start. (And perhaps even a limit to time spend on character generation/stat rerolls would be called for...)

"Speed SOA" could either be powergamed or roleplayed depending on what rules were set for the run thru. The RPing aspect can easily be justified by considering that <CHARNAME> urgently wants to save Imoen and confront Irenicus ASAP, and so would avoid side quests. Powergaming rules would have to be set including whether exploitations of the game engine are allowed, such as force talk, or perhaps in particular, stealing items from stores and selling them back again repeatedly to build up cash and equip the party. Sure, thieves steal, but as going through BG2 with a low level and underequipt party would be much of the challenge, reliance on shoplifting might take out much of the challenge.

So, my questions for this thread would include: does this seem like an interesting challenge; what rules would you use; what <CHARNAME> would you choose; which NPCs would you take; how would you earn your 15.000; who would you give it to; what equipment would you hope to have; how would you simplify and speed up the quests in chapter 3 and beyond; can you think of any difficult encounters and how would you deal with them?

Finally, how long do you think it would take (calendar and/or real time), and around what level would <CHARNAME> and NPCs be at the end of SOA? (Finishing SOA with a <CHARNAME> with the least possible amount of Exp could be another challenge...)

A few quick ideas:

Personally I think it would be pretty easy to do this very, very quickly with a solo character. Skip NPCs, they just slow you down. Keep Imoen for plot and a little extra juice for the second half of the trip.

Taking care of the Mae'Var situation is worth 10000+ gold to a thief, so the CHARNAME should probably incorporate this class in some way. With a quick trip through the circus and the first part of the tanner murders, I think that gets you to 15000. Another fast quest would be the slavers, if you came up short on cash.

I think that killing off the shadow thieves is a little harder and more time consuming than clearing the vamps, so I'd side with the thieves. Then I'd eliminate the Underdark (almost) entirely--follow through Jon's portal to skip the Sahaguin city, then kill Adalon and walk out of the Underdark, bypassing the Drow City.

From there the game almost plays itself. I don't think you absolutely need any gear that isn't included in the required quests. Suldanesselar could be a little tricky with the golems and rakshasa, and the hell trials could be beastly--here we might have a decent challenge. You'd basically need a distraction for the demons and a way to strip Irenicus of his protections so that you can chunk him.

Anyway, just some first thoughts.

I think you're right that soloing a thief MC would be the fastest way to go. You'd be less inconvenienced by the lack of experience, you'd only have to do inventory management for one character, and you could more easily run concealed through areas where fighting would be problematic and unnecessary.

I still kinda like the idea of going through with a party tho, if only to seeing the lowest level a <CHARNAME> can be at the end.

If you are keen on a party, you'll want one that is fast to assemble and requires no side quests. That eliminates Nalia, Cernd, Haer Dalis, and maybe Jan--I'm not sure if the timer on his side quest is running while you are in Underdark. The fastest party to assemble would be Yosh/Imoen, Minsc, Jaheira, Edwin, and then either Anomen/Korgan/Viconia. I'm not sure if you want a healer or a second fighter--I'm thinking fighter, since you won't be resting much to regain spells. All three can be made to do double duty in a normal game, but you won't have time to trick them out with good gear in this speed game. So maybe Korgan.

Of course now I'm talking myself into trying this with Tactics installed. It could be my finest artistic achievement. :)

Try playing a solo halfling Bounty Hunter.

Get as much points in Pick Pockets as you can, then just steal all the items you want, and sell the ones you dont for a LOT of money! :D

Also, as you level, gradually, you can just put everything into traps, so you can kill most of the bosses by trapping them. Cheesy, but effective.

Also, you can pretty much sneak past all the enemies in the game, thanks to Sandman rings...which you SHOULD take the time to procure.

From there on, its smooth sailing! You should be able to finish it in about...2 days realtime! :D

We had a discussion on Speed solo back in 2001, maybe it will help? Here is the link:
http://www.sorcerers.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/2/3811.html

i dont like to speed SoA because you lose all the good items.but you can CLUA them

That's blatant cheating...the whole point of speeding is to finish the game with really little xp points, and doing it legally...quite a challenge, especially spell casters.

I still say trap the game to death! :D

Thanks for that link Earl Grey. Knowing that you have those "dead" hours to fill in Athkatla before you leave is interesting. I would have just rushed through and left as long before midnight as possible, but you've clearly found the better way.

Thanks for showing that you can't do it any faster than 9 days x hours. Now I don't feel compelled to try it out myself. :)

I'll second that; great thread Earl Grey. I should have looked for it more carefully. Was anyone able to shave it down lower than 9 days 18 hours?

Perhaps it would still be interesting to try Full Party Speed SoA, or The <CHARNAME> of Least Experience SoA...

Truth be told, I bet if you sped through it you'd be done in under a day Real Time. My first time playing the game and not trying took me about 36-40 hours, over 3 days. And I was taking my time, believe me!

This is interesting but really hard to do haha, don't think I'm into it... not to mention trying this with tactics mod... my goodness :(

In the thread linked by Earl Grey, he said his first completed attempt with a solo F/M/T at normal difficulty took about 12 hours real time.

well why not???if he skipped almost every side quest and didnt pass from the underwater city then its ok

My suggestion in speed-playing SoA is that counting the game reloads should form a part of the process. (I don't mean starting up the game where you left off, just reloading the last save-game when something bad happens to your party).

The lower your level, the easier it is to get killed, so how long you take to finish is a balance between outright speed, and doing enough so you can at least handle the encounters.

You could even set a 'standard' for speed playing, like 'core rules' difficulty, no mods, no Clua-console or Shadowkeeper use, and something like a one hour penalty for each 'bad-happening' reload.

Your final speed rating is purely game-time time (not real-time), which might at least allow you to pause enough to stop you from frothing all over the keyboard.