"Fulcanelli" <fulcanelli DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1142782705.696498.77140@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...
[snips]
> This style of fighting is new to me, and I see how PAUSE plays a key
> role. However, I must be doing something wrong because I'm getting
> eaten alive (literally) in the initial stages of this game, so I'm not
> doing something right.
The monster AI in this game tends to be very simple. Almost always, a
monster will simply attack the nearest of its enemies.
Here's a typical tactic that works well in almost all situation. Pause the
game as soon as you see a hostile creature (or set the option to auto-pause
on enemy sighted, to have the game do it for you automatically). Send in
your melee fighter(s) -- usually your character(s) with the best armor class
and the most hit points -- and have them take the brunt of the enemy
attacks. The rest of your party hangs back and employs ranged attacks. You
should kill your opponents one at a time, and not spread out your attacks.
Usually you will want to take out the most dangerous opponents first. These
are often spell casters. If they are all more-or-less equally dangerous,
then take out the weakest foes first. That sort of a judgment call, and you
probably won't know what's weak and what's dangerous until you've played a
bit. You'll almost always want to kill spell-casters first, regardless;
they can do nasty things to your characters.
If you have more than one melee fighter, you want the guy with the very best
armor class and hit points to be as close as possible to the bad guys. The
other melee fighters can stand *just* behind him and attack with their
(two-handed) weapons.
Most of the time, you'll want your back-rank characters to use their missile
weapons (slings, bows, etc.), even if they are spell casters. Save your
spells for when you really need to lay on the damage in the more difficult
fights.
Healing during combat isn't usually practical. Use healing potions if you
have them and if you can't get by without using them.
Sometimes it helps to throw a fireball or other area of effect spell that
does damage before your melee fighters close in. Be careful not to have
your characters in the area of effect, because in this game those spells
usually don't discriminate between friend and foe. Some spells (like Sleep)
only work on enemies, so those are safe to use in just about any situation.
Don't use missile weapons at close range, because you'll suffer a large
penalty to your chances to hit as well as you armor class. (This seems like
the major problem you were having when your character and Imoen were
fighting the wolf.)
Monster summoning spells and effects are very powerful. Use summoned
monsters liberally, if you can, to draw fire. In BG1 there's no limit to
the number of monsters you can summon too (kind of cheesy when you get a
wand of summoning, but useful sometimes). Also, if IIRC, summoned monsters
can trigger traps in this version. (Careful though, because some traps
reset unless disarmed.)
As for buying and selling, I've always liked using a centrally located
merchant to sell all magic items, scrolls, wands, etc. I don't think I'll
need. The game "remembers" what the merchants buy from you. Sometimes you
change your mind and it's nice to know which merchant has that wand of frost
you thought you wouldn't want (but now do). I like the innkeeper at the
Friendly Arm Inn. Careful with this though, because merchants only pay a
fraction of the value of the items they will buy and sell them back at a
high markup.
Sometimes it's better to just store the items in a container, if you think
you might want them later, rather than sell them. You can find containers
all over. Most building interiors have one or more containers. Again I
like using containers found at the Friendly Arm Inn. (There's a few in a
small building, just inside the wall by the entrance of the compound.
There's also several inside the inn itself, one being near the door.)
In most cases you can't sell quest items, so you don't have to worry about
that. I usually store those some place, if I don't need them soon. I also
like to hold on to "named" magic items or anything particularly powerful,
even if I don't have a character that can use it right away. Items with
limited "charges" (meaning you can only use the item a limited number of
times before they disintegrate, like wands) I will usually only use two or
three times at most, and then sell them to a merchant. Selling those items
and buying them back "recharges" those items. That's very handy when you
find a really nice item like a wand of monster summoning.
>> Stay informed about: Need Spell Caster BG1 - Gems 
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