Has anyone tried Improved Anvil v6?

[Montresor]

To answer the original question: If I were to pay for playing a mod, it would have to be a mod that I found enjoyable. If the price for the mod was close to the price for a new game, the mod had better be worth it.

I don't think I'd pay for playing Improved Anvil. But then, I don't think I'd play it at all. A mod that makes the game unreasonably hard and tries to force me to gather a very particular party is just not my idea of "fun".

@Baronius: This is not necessarily a criticism of Improved Anvil. As you say, you have created the mod the way YOU want for the players YOU choose to target. Fair enough; if I don't like it, I can try to find a mod more to my liking, or create one myself. You can't please everybody with the same product.

Originally Posted by Blades of Vanatar

Sorry Tal, you are correct of course, we are way off topic. Though I did try to answer the original poster's quesion honestly on page 1 and was bashed for it by you know who.

Lord Voldemort bashed you?

[Nominar]

Originally Posted by Montresor

Lord Voldemort bashed you?

Are you suggesting Baronius and Lord Voldemort have something in common? As we all know Voldemort is a lich (Horcruxes); could that be it? Yes most definitely; that explains why Baronius keeps popping up time and again even though we defeat him in every single battle of reasoning: We haven't destroyed his phylactery!!!!

On a more on-topic note: While diversity has kinda been tossed out of the window, IAv6 is good if you follow one of the 'chosen' paths. However I don't blame Sikret for making certain classes more appealing for a protagonist (except the redundancy of thieves and bards, I fully blame him there); he's just making content for classes he likes the most and after all, this is a hobby like Baronius said. Version 6 was supposed to be the Druid upgrade, except a map artist Sikret was working with didn't finish the new Druid specific quest map in time IIRC. Sikret just takes his time to develop content for other classes. There are a lot of small changes from v5, both good and bad I think. I really like how vampires are actually dangerous now f.i.

I don't know about paying 3 times the price of the game itself just for a mod however...

[Ruben]

Ok, I am actually the OP in this thread, and first of all let me say that I'm sorry for not replying in a thread that I created, but it took a rather unfortunate turn.

Thanks to everyone who tried to answer my question. I am playing the mod these days and would be interested in discussing its contents with others who are playing or have played it.

My current run is a very standard IA v6 necromancer protaganist with full party.

Necro PC
Custom sorceress
Riskbreaker (flails, short swords, bastard swords)
Custom kensai (2H swords, staff, halberds)
Valygar (Katana, Club, short sword)
Cernd

This group is without doubt a very standard IA setup with 3 single classed fighters (IA is not very fond on multiclasses) 2 arcane and 1 divine caster. The only hint of any originality is having Cernd the auramaster instead of a custom Ranger(7)/Cleric dualclass.

Haven't played much yet. Average exp is 750 000, levels 10-11. So far I did:
Cleared lvl 1+2 of d'arnise keep
Sided with thieves guild and finished the quests up until going for Bodhi.
Suna Seni
Killed the Shadow Jailor
Killed Mae'var (declined guild)
Druid Grove - became great druid and did the 1st quest. (also killed the genies and became hero of Trademeet)
Killed Mekrath and freed Haer'Dalis
Joined Jaheira and did all her quests (great to get a few +1 RoP and CoP)
Cernds missing child quest.
Got Lilarcor
Various quests in Amn: Fallen paladins, bridge murders, Sir Sarles, Harpers/Montaron etc, killed Beastmaster and freed Hendak in CC)

I think that's most of it. My first 'real' fight coming up soon will be the pirate hideout in the docks, but I'm desperately trying to find a scroll of Imp.haste before going there - I've searched everywhere but to no avail, perhaps someone could give me a hint as to where it could be obtained?

First thoughts: A lot of planning is needed, first and foremost weapons proficencies need to be well thought out, as do sorceress spell picks and equipment distrubution have to be. Your first xp/gold/item questing route also have to be pretty well planned. A party trying a challenge before they're 'supposed' to can be severely punished. It feels very linear.
I do however find it very enjoyable and tactically challenging, although sometimes I wish I could device more sound tactics as I do seem to rely on greater malison + emotion spam and hope the Imp.Inv SI:div mage doesn't make his save. (Their levels always seem to be significantly higher than mine as I've never seen a remove magic spell have any effect whatsoever).

That's it for now. I hope I haven't stirred the ashes of the earlier debate in this thread, and I also hope that there actually are people here that's interested in playing and talking about the mod. :-)

[Splunge]

I'm not trying to be difficult here, but my impression is that IA has a pretty limited fan base, and really isn't something people at SP play, so you're not likely to get much in the way of responses. Wouldn't you be better off discussing this on the IA official forum?

Of course, now that I've said this, watch a bunch of meaningful replies follow.

Edit: Out of curiosity, I just went to BWL's boards, and I see that the last post in the IA forum was over 5 weeks ago. It seems that IA isn't even all that popular on its own forum, so you might not have any luck there either.

[Ruben]

You're probably right, Splunge. I like the Sorcerers board though, so I had hoped that someone else here played it, and if not, maybe they would still be interested in reading about my experience.

[isleepwithgoats]

It's been over 2 years since I played it. Version 5 was very refreshing, coming from Tactics, Vanilla or the G3 difficulty improvements. V6 didn't add much to the table and crippled the game actually with it's many class/race/weapons/etc. limitations.

First and second time playing IA are very fun. There are some "walkthru's" posted at G3.

[Ruben]

I agree, V6 feels more limiting than V5 (although I never played v5 all the way through). I'm very often worried about triggering some hidden condition, like: less than 5 party members alive, starting fights with certain SI combinations (not sure about this, but thebigg said it could influence a fight), having too much exp and perhaps other things that I'm not aware of, which then causes some loot not to drop or shuts off quests.

Like now I just did the fight with Samia and her group and I noticed that the mage, Kaol, casted very fast, and he's one possible place for the Robe of Vecna to drop, but when he died he didn't drop it, so maybe I at some point triggered a hidden condition which caused it to vanish. Hard to say, I play with a full party and haven't exploited or used SK at all, I didn't cheese the fight either and re-did it without anyone in my party dying, but still didn't get it.

I do think it's an extrordinary cool mod though, just a shame that he had to implement so many anti-"cheese" measures that it could end up hurting the overall experience for everyone as well as forcing you into a very standarised party setup.

My run up to now has been very fun. Currently the average party level is 20, I'm almost fresh out of the underdark, just did the fight against the githyanki group, the Umar witch (ranger stronghold), Lord Roenall (fighter stronghold) and now Samia. Not sure what to do next, might go to WK or hunt some liches.

The game feels more open now that I'm in chapter 6. Chapter 2 & 3 had some fun fights, but the opening felt linear and "farmy" (farming items and exp)plus the pressure of going to Spellhold before reaching 2350000 exp and thus triggering the "Uber improved spellhold" was always there.
My favorite fights so far:
1. Dracolich
2. Prince Villynaty
3. Master Brain

[isleepwithgoats]

Originally Posted by Ruben

I agree, V6 feels more limiting than V5 (although I never played v5 all the way through). I'm very often worried about triggering some hidden condition, like: less than 5 party members alive, starting fights with certain SI combinations (not sure about this, but thebigg said it could influence a fight), having too much exp and perhaps other things that I'm not aware of, which then causes some loot not to drop or shuts off quests.

Like now I just did the fight with Samia and her group and I noticed that the mage, Kaol, casted very fast, and he's one possible place for the Robe of Vecna to drop, but when he died he didn't drop it, so maybe I at some point triggered a hidden condition which caused it to vanish. Hard to say, I play with a full party and haven't exploited or used SK at all, I didn't cheese the fight either and re-did it without anyone in my party dying, but still didn't get it.

I do think it's an extrordinary cool mod though, just a shame that he had to implement so many anti-"cheese" measures that it could end up hurting the overall experience for everyone as well as forcing you into a very standarised party setup.

My run up to now has been very fun. Currently the average party level is 20, I'm almost fresh out of the underdark, just did the fight against the githyanki group, the Umar witch (ranger stronghold), Lord Roenall (fighter stronghold) and now Samia. Not sure what to do next, might go to WK or hunt some liches.

The game feels more open now that I'm in chapter 6. Chapter 2 & 3 had some fun fights, but the opening felt linear and "farmy" (farming items and exp)plus the pressure of going to Spellhold before reaching 2350000 exp and thus triggering the "Uber improved spellhold" was always there.
My favorite fights so far:
1. Dracolich
2. Prince Villynaty
3. Master Brain

Always did Samia & Co before Spellhold, never dropped Vecna.

I'm pretty sure enemies cast spells as scripted, regardless what items they wear

[Marceror]

Kaol could have just had alacrity up, to explain the fast casting.

[betamin]

Hey I just started playing this today, it's been great fun so far. I have a question: In what order should you do chapter 2's quests? I'm doing the druid groove but I can't beat Faldorn here with my vagrant so I thought I'll just do Umar Hills, I did the copper coronet slaver quest (not the house-boat part) and not much else. Any other recommendations are welcome.

[Montresor]

The game is very non-linear in Chapter 2. You can do the quests in whatever order you choose before setting off after Imoen.

[Yoshimo's Heart]

Originally Posted by Montresor

The game is very non-linear in Chapter 2. You can do the quests in whatever order you choose before setting off after Imoen.

That is normally true though earlier in the thread it seemed to me that there was a suggestion that this mod made it so you had to do things in some order though I am unsure how or why (perhaps because doing it in any other order made it too difficult to proceed). It also seemed implied you had to have certain party members in order to succeed as well.

[Montresor]

Sorry, was thinking Vanilla!

[betamin]

I got stuck on Shadow Jailor so I went to DeArnise's keep and I was happily going through the castle until I got to the part where you can steal from that golem protected place... I killed the golems and when I looted the last statue a snake popped out and killed my party members. The snake had good regeneration, magical and plus 1 weapons immunity, a lot of physical resistance and a hard bite. It defeated my unprepared ass and then I thought "well, I'll just take the items and run", so I grabbed the items, summoned some stuff and run, I got out of danger and saved and suddenly I realized you can't use the stairs! LOL the guy really thought about options, I'm just pissed off that now since I overwrote my only save I gotta repeat that floor again. Pretty damn fun mod I gotta say.

[Yoshimo's Heart]

Really? That sounds like no fun to me. Artificially forcing you to fight seems very heavy handed but then again that seems to be the point of this mod.

[betamin]

Well it seems to be there to avoid you looting stuff and then running away which I think it's good, It's kinda lame that you don't get a warning but I respect the challenge. Myself, if I don't get some kind of limitation I mostly avoid thinking, so I like the fact that the mod makes me think.

[Splunge]

Originally Posted by betamin

Well it seems to be there to avoid you looting stuff and then running away which I think it's good

Well, it would be good if it wasn't unrealistic, but as YH says, the point of the mod is to make you fight whether it's unrealistic or not, so it's hard to criticize it for doing what it's designed to do.

[betamin]

Exactly, can't blame a difficulty mod for being difficult (and enforcing it in anyway possible, realism in my BG2? If I want to kill somebody I'll just fake starting a conversation :P)

[Marceror]

That actually isn't all that unrealistic, actually. "Hey Bob.. great to see you! Did you hear about the-" In a quick stroke, Billy pulls a dagger from behind his back and plunges it into Bob's gut. Bob falls to ground with a surprised groan, dying in seconds. Sorry Bob, I just find it's safer to kill someone when they think I'm planning to engage in conversation with them. I hope you won't hold it against me. And don't mind me if I just relieve you of that potion of Redbull, and those coins you have in your pocket.

[betamin]

Well, yeah. And when my initial strike doesn't kill him I say "oh, by the way I forgot to mention...*slice*, and when he goes to get his gun "hey, I almost forgot!" and while he stands there with a polite look on his face *slam* )

[kerkes]

About Vecna and casting time: Sikret created mages so they have faster casting time then your mages. So, Kaol and some others do not need to have Vecna on to cast uber-fast. Kaol never has Vecna equipped, even if he drops it.
For paying money - it's not worth 30 USD. BG2 (original) costs that much...and it's not that much "better" (if at all) then IA5. Besides, 90% people who play (or have played IA6) got it for free, and u still can so why bother? Sure, you loose access to forums, but given that they have 5-6 members it doesn't matter that much. You'll find more help here and at G3.
As for "qoutes" about IA- those are for IA3, 4, and 5. Not IA6 which is quite a different story. I won't even get started about replay value (2 times - Vagrant run, Necro run) then feel free to delete it permanantly.
For "learning new tactics to become Tactician" - lol. Go play chess or read some books.
For "elitism" - well, if u guys from BWL think u r that elite among modders/players, fell free. My concept of "elite" does not include paying for "frendship", since u don't ask friends for money - you say: "We need help because..... Wolud u help us by donating XXX amount so we can do XXXXX?" Myself, I would be happy to help. Had great fun at ur forums, and like IA.
Of course, banning people from forum (without any warning) unless they pay is really a fruitful way of conversation. To each his own, I guess...
Funny how most IA6 dwnload sites vanished, yet some Chinese(!?) site still has it....
I am saddened to see Baronius and Sikret (especially Sikret) with this behavior - false identity JCMorgan79 - who r u fooling man? Whoever read anything written by Sikret knows its him, and in those posts at G3 u degenerated to a everyday troll status...Good job showing ur real face and embarresing to everyone. Having ur plans spoiled by mod leaking really hurts doesn't it? The truth, I only want u to know the truth......

[Marceror]

Originally Posted by betamin

Well, yeah. And when my initial strike doesn't kill him I say "oh, by the way I forgot to mention...*slice*, and when he goes to get his gun "hey, I almost forgot!" and while he stands there with a polite look on his face *slam* )

That's what people mean by fake talking? Oy vey. I have never dreamed of trying something so cheesey.

[Exor]

wow... I can't believe that I've just read half the Gibberlings 3 thread about improved anvil O.o

I don't understand but entertaining.


Since IA 6 seems to have followed the (odd?) design direction I will stay away.

Just wish I could enjoy something someone has spent so much time and effort on :/

[saros]

Originally Posted by Ruben

Ok, I am actually the OP in this thread, and first of all let me say that I'm sorry for not replying in a thread that I created, but it took a rather unfortunate turn.

Thanks to everyone who tried to answer my question. I am playing the mod these days and would be interested in discussing its contents with others who are playing or have played it.

Haven't played much yet. Average exp is 750 000, levels 10-11. So far I did:
Cleared lvl 1+2 of d'arnise keep
Sided with thieves guild and finished the quests up until going for Bodhi.
Suna Seni
Killed the Shadow Jailor
Killed Mae'var (declined guild)
Druid Grove - became great druid and did the 1st quest. (also killed the genies and became hero of Trademeet)
Killed Mekrath and freed Haer'Dalis
Joined Jaheira and did all her quests (great to get a few +1 RoP and CoP)
Cernds missing child quest.
Got Lilarcor
Various quests in Amn: Fallen paladins, bridge murders, Sir Sarles, Harpers/Montaron etc, killed Beastmaster and freed Hendak in CC)

I think that's most of it. My first 'real' fight coming up soon will be the pirate hideout in the docks, but I'm desperately trying to find a scroll of Imp.haste before going there - I've searched everywhere but to no avail, perhaps someone could give me a hint as to where it could be obtained?

First thoughts: A lot of planning is needed, first and foremost weapons proficencies need to be well thought out, as do sorceress spell picks and equipment distrubution have to be. Your first xp/gold/item questing route also have to be pretty well planned. A party trying a challenge before they're 'supposed' to can be severely punished. It feels very linear.
I do however find it very enjoyable and tactically challenging, although sometimes I wish I could device more sound tactics as I do seem to rely on greater malison + emotion spam and hope the Imp.Inv SI:div mage doesn't make his save. (Their levels always seem to be significantly higher than mine as I've never seen a remove magic spell have any effect whatsoever).

That's it for now. I hope I haven't stirred the ashes of the earlier debate in this thread, and I also hope that there actually are people here that's interested in playing and talking about the mod. :-)

Haven't visited any BG2-oriented forums in several months, so sorry about the late answer Yeah, there are people who'd discuss or give tips now and then but my guess is that you've discovered much of what you needed to know already Will give some tips about a Necro protagonist here:

Don't do Marvella's fight (last Marvella quest, encounter with Pasha Mahmoud) in chapter 3. There is an implemented bug or 'precaution measure' and the next event in the Expanded Mage stronghold, the 'Story of the Old Ones', won't trigger.

For me, there was a big problem to find the third item, needed to upgrade the Carmine and Crimson Ioun Stones - namely the Ruby of the Gods. It can be found in Underdark, in the Quo-Toan area prior to the guarded gate. Click on one of the pools and a fight with a Guardian triggers. The gardian resembles the ones in WK lvl 1, but casts Chain Lightning as well.

The first in-game Improved Haste scroll can be found on the mage in the Slaver Ship in the Slums. If you cannot kill him fast enough, he reads the scroll. I think he's not immune to stun, so try those Darts of Stunning on him. The second scroll is in the Planar Prison - the Warden there has it, but overall the Prison itself may be harder than the pirates

The Remove Magic spell in IA doesn't respond to the vanilla description, and in IA 6.0 the description of the spell has been changed to match the effect, namely:

Lower-than-enemy-level Remove magic will have no effect on enemy buffs, except Mirror Image (which is always dispelled by Remove Magic), and except potion/scroll buffs (which are considered to be a lvl 10 buff and will most probably be dispelled).
Equal-of-enemy-level Remove Magic will have 50% to dispel enemy buffs.
10-lvl-higher than enemy Remove Magic will always dispel enemy buffs. No 1% chance of failure.

If you complete both of Jaheira's quests, you'll get much more than 1 RoP and CoP. Don't remember the exact amount, but I think at least 3 RoP and 4 CoP are there for the taking, plus many sellable items and various potions. And you'll get the Harper Pin, although it's only of some use to a Fighter/Thief. It disables the thieving button permanently though, and is nerfed. In addition - there is a much more useful amulet for a F/T - the monk's amulet granting +5% physical and magic resistance, Master of Disciplines.

BTW siding with Bodhi is much more profitable, and easier than siding with Aran. Although he no longer has the Ring of Djinni Summoning...

[Ruben]

Thanks for the replies. As of now I have finished SoA, (including all extended stronghold quests) and progressed to level 4 of Watcher's Keep.

I've however put my game on hold for a while due to studying for my finals.

My party: (from memory, no access to my game at the moment)
Average levels are around 25, iirc.

Valygar. ** in Katana, Club, Short Sword and Warhammers. * in Long Sword and Long Bow (thanks Sikret..) wields Cortala Family True Blade +5 and Crom Faeyr
Riskbreaker. ***** Flails **** Short Sword ** Bastard Sword (for Foebane) wields FoA +4 and Belm
Kensai ***** 2H swords **** Halberd ** Quarterstaff. Warblade +5 (upgraded with +10% physical resistance), Staff of Rynn +4, Wave halberd.
Cernd
Necro (PC) Lord of the Underworld, Memory of the Apparenti, Scholistic Cloak.
Sorceress

Noteworthy equipment: Ring of Greater Djinni summoning (a great item, forge this as fast as you can). Improved Cat Figurine.

HLAs: the fighters have 3-4 hardiness and 4-5 Critical strikes. Valygar also has 1x Contact with nature.
Cernd has: 4 Natural restorations (Instant cast, ranged, single target heal). Sadly seems to be capped at 4. 2 Fist of Nature (Short cast-time, ranged, single target damage (crushing) spell, does 3x damage versus Rakashas. Also has Animal Summoning VII, which gates (can't be death-spelled) a Smildion - a large cat and a potent fighter. He also has several quest-level spells; storm of vengeance, energy blades and greater elemental summoning.
Necro and Sorc has nearly all Quest-level spells HLAs and Alchemy.

Sorc spell picks:
Lvl 1: LMD, MM, Chromatic Orb, Shield
Lvl 2: MI, Blur, M's Acid Arrow, Resist Fear
Lvl 3: Remove Magic, Haste, Vampiric Touch, Lightning Bolt
Lvl 4: Stoneskin, Emotion, Ice Storm, Ray of Fragmentation
Lvl 5: Sunfire, Spell Immunity, Lower Resistance, Breach
Lvl 6: Improved Haste, Giant Strength, GOI, PfMW
Lvl 7: Mass Invisibility, RRR, Spell Sequencer, Mordy Sword,
Lvl 8: Monster Summoning VI, ProEnergy, Spell Trigger, Foreknowledge
Lvl 9: Wish, Chain Contingency, Recast Vital Energy and nearly all mage HLA spells

Thoughts on my party:
Regrets: having Cernd, and to some extent Valygar. Reasons: in a party with 2 singleclass mages Cernds arcane spells (Mirror Image, Chain Lightning, Ruby Ray of Reversal) are really not needed. Immunity to silence is of course valuable, but its actual usefulness is limited since the Necro gets immunity as well, and he is without doubt the main actor in all fights involving silence (liches and dragons).Instead I would rather have a dualclass Ranger(7)->Cleric, whom could contribute somewhat to melee dps and has Greater Restoration.
Valygar is good enough, but suffers from not being able to get grandmastery in his weapons, in hindsight I would rather have had another Riskbreaker, since they are ridiculously powerful.

Riskbreaker and Kensai are absolute beasts in melee. I do however wonder if the Kensai -1 to speed factor every 4 levels is bugged.
The sorceress has been invaluable for a long while, but recently has been heavily outshined by the Necro, with his great gear and spells. Thought I've been entertaining: dropping the Sorceress for Sarevok when I get to playing ToB. The Necro should be powerful enough to handle the arcane requirements on his own, even more so with some help from Cernd, and having another strong melee would help immensely.

Top 3 Favorite SoA fights:
Lesser Force, Return to the Demon Plane. (Last quest of the extended mage stronghold).
Orcus (A new fight in the graveyard tombs if you have Daystar sword in your inventory)
Twisted Rune

Biggest disappointment: Irenicus, both at the Tree of Life and in hell. Did them both in the 1st try.

"The first in-game Improved Haste scroll can be found on the mage in the Slaver Ship"

Yeah, I did find it there, and it helped immensely in the improved pirate hideout fight. It should be noted that if you let the slaver mage stay alive too long he will use the scroll.

"For me, there was a big problem to find the third item, needed to upgrade the Carmine and Crimson Ioun Stones - namely the Ruby of the Gods."

Thanks for the tip. I haven't been planning to buy this upgrade anytime soon, or maybe not at all since I would rather have +2 AC on my Kensai.

"Don't do Marvella's fight (last Marvella quest, encounter with Pasha Mahmoud) in chapter 3." Again, thanks. I never attempted it in chapter 3.

"About Vecna and casting time: Sikret created mages so they have faster casting time then your mages. So, Kaol and some others do not need to have Vecna on to cast uber-fast. Kaol never has Vecna equipped, even if he drops it. " Thanks, Kerkes. I figured that out by checking his .CRE file in Near Infinity. In my game I found Vecna on the mage in the Illithid compound in the sewers.

"BTW siding with Bodhi is much more profitable, and easier than siding with Aran." Interesting, thanks for the info. I sided with Aran in my game.

A question about the "Squirreled away" quest: after cleaning out their base in the bridge district the nobleman (can't remember his name) says that they will likely attack you sometime in the future. When does this happen? Will I still see this fight even though I've finished the SoA portion of the game?