Improved Anvil V2.0 released!

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Hi all,

The new version of Improved Anvil is released.

The content of the mod:

1- It adds 80 new item upgrades recipes to Cromwell's (and Cespenar's) repertoire.

2- It adds many tactical challenges to the game's combats and quests.

3- It also includes fixes for some of the flaws and/or errors of the game.

For details see the mod's Forum. Here is the link:

http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showforum=99

[ July 31, 2006, 02:13: Message edited by: Sikret ]

 

Is this considered easier or harder than tactics? What about the Improved item mod?

Is this used with these mentioned mods, or is it a stand-alone?

 

Improved Anvil is a stand-alone mod and doesn't require any other mod to work, though it is compatible with most other mods (except those which are mentioned in the mod's documentation)

It is different from tacitcs. This is the best way I can describe it. It may look easier in some respects and for some players, but harder in some other respects. However, some of the more difficult battles are designed in a way that if you decrease the difficulty level of the game, you will see significant difference.

If by "Improved Item mod" you are referring to "Item Upgrade" mod, then I should say that Improved Anvil is not only an independent mod, but also it is even incompatible with "Item Upgrade" mod. You can't have both of these item mods together.

I suggest that you read the mod's documents for detailed information on every aspect of the mod.

 

Sounds like a mod I may try out then! I was talking about Item Upgrade, and I flat-out refuse to use it!

 

@Klorox: The items added by IA are just as (over)powerful as the ones added by IU, so you may not be happier with IA. You may still enjoy the tactical challenges portion, though.

 

I'm happier, since IE the items Cromwell make for you are way more expensive AFAIK.

Personally I like Sikret's mod a lot more than the Tactics, but then again I'm not a powergamer.

 

Thank you, Shaitan! Very good point!

Yes, looking at the descriptions of the new items and ignoring other factors may lead to some misunderstandings about the items and people may think that Improved Anvil's items may unbalance the game.

There are several other factors which rebalance the game more than adequately. One of them, as Shaitan correctly mentioned, is that the new items (and specifically the more powerful ones) are very expensive to forge. You have limited money and you should think well how to use that money. It all depends on your playing strategy and the NPCs you have in the party to decide which items to make and which items not to make with that limited gold. Don't just look at the list of items and think that you can have all of them in the game. Perhaps in a diffeent game-through with a different strategy, and with different party members you will try the mod and will make other items of the list.

The second very important point while comparing Improved Anvil with "Item Upgrade" mod is that Improved Anvil also adds tactical challenges to the game. Hence, an item which may look overpowered at the first glance is not actually overpowered and you would not judge it as "overpowerful" if you just knew what is there waiting for you in the game. "Item upgrade" mod doesn't contain any such rebalancing element.

A third and yet very important point is that forging the new items require some new components and ingredients which are added to the game by the mod. In the list of the mod's items you see a good number items which require (for example) "Manual of Elaboration" to be made. But do you have any idea of the total number of this kind of item in the game? Do you really think that all of those items can be made in a single and given gamethrough? And more importantly, do you know how difficult it is to find one such Manual in the game?

In short, I strongly advise that you do not base your judgement about the mod's items merely on a quick look at the list of the mod's possible item upgrades without considering other factors and without playing the mod in practice. Thanks.

 

I have downloaded your mod and shall begin playing today! I will be sure to comment when I get into it more.

Part of me wants to play a riskbreaker PC, but after playing through my unmodded game for awhile as a riskbreaker, I can say he is super-overpowered!!! Dual-wielding FoA and belm, with grand-mastery in flails, and improved haste active, gives me 10 attacks/round, the equivalent of a constant GWW attack! All that + timestop = dead anything. I imagine that once I get critical strike that will mean I can make 10 attacks/round ALL critical hits. Too overpowered probably even for a modded game.

 

@Nataben

Uh, what is a riskbreaker PC? Sounds like a mage/fighter hybrid? I agree, with Imp. haste and true GM, GWW attack is obsolete. You can have critical hit HLA, and then backstab with Mislead. Imagine, 8 attacks per round, all critical hits and backstabs. Few can survive such damage. Pity that all bosses are immune to crit. hits AND backstabs.

EDIT:Ah, I know, it is Sikret's doing. I will check now. Interesting again...

 

Hi, nataben!

Glad to hear that you are going to play "Improved Anvil". I'm surely looking forward to receiving your feedback about it.

Yes, Riskbreakers are the most powerful warriors ever: specially for players who know how to benefit the kit's advantages.

Of course the kit also has disadvantages, but I admit that for an experienced player (such as yourself) who knows how to play well, the kit is overpowered for a non-modded game.

However, for a modded game (with tactical challenges added to the game), I hesitate to call it "overpowered", but it is still the most powerful warrior ever.

Once, a player (admittedly a novice one) reported to me that he has found Riskbreaker too weak for not being able to wear any armor and being immune to Barkskin and Spirit Armor spells. (see my point?)

The most important thing, in my opinion, is the player's own feeling about the kit. If you feel that it is too powerful for you and may spoil the fun of the game for you, I definitely advise that you do not play with it.

Auramaster, on the other hand, is a very well balanced kit if you want to give it a try.

@Silverstar
Do you need a link to Riskbreaker kit's description (if you want to check it) or do you know where to find it?

Riskbreakers do not backstab; you went too far giving them extra abilities <grin>

 

@Sikret

I was talking about a F/M/T with Mislead and Crit. Hit HLA about. But your riskbreaker sounds much more interesting.

I found my way around Black Wyrm's lair, and am really impressed about the Riskbreaker kit. He sure sounds...powerful. And interesting. He gains fighter HLAs as normal, right?

To this day I never thought about playing with a pure fighter kit, but your kit sounds so magical I may give it a try in the future! Oh, but when, I am already playing with my Wild Mage, am planning to try the new version of AM next, and now Riskbreaker. Sikret, you make a fine job indeed!

 

Thanks, Silverstar! You are too kind.

Yes, Riskbreakers do gain regular fighter HLAs.

The way to have both of my kits in the same game is to pick a Riskbreaker PC and to let Cernd join your party. Once you install AMDK, Cernd's kit will change to Auramaster.

However, since Riskbreaker is a really powerful kit, I recommend that you install my "Improved Anvil" for your next game-through as well. You can keep most of the "Tactics" mod's components too (only 7 components of 'Tactics' are incompatible with 'Improved Anvil')

With both "Tactics" and "Improved Anvil" installed, Riskbreaker will not look overpowered anymore.

And I agree with you that it is an interesting kit; otherwise, I would not create it.

 

Its not so much that the Riskbreaker kit is too powerful, its that the disadvantages come nowhere near to matching the advantages.

+3 crit chance, 3 good immunites (slow, hold, stun), 1 great immunity (timestop), 4 ok spells, 2 great spells (timestop & imp. haste) and one innate ability to fully heal.

all that for no armour/bracers, -2 constitution on character creation and losing intelligence as a dump stat!?!?

Whats makes it so unbalancing is that the innate spells cast almost instantly, faster even than Edwin with Robe of Vecna & Amulet of Power. In some battles i've managed to fire off a timestop even before many enemies (on seeing enemy) contingencies have kicked in.

EDIT: It's also worth remembering that Immunity to Timestop is hideously cheesy. The Enemy AI assumes that noone besides the caster is moving during a timestop and as such won't try to defend themselves. Actually alot of the time being attacked during a timestop breaks their scripting. Plus if a mage on your side casts Time Stop you'll end up with two mass damage characters, one spamming ADHW and Chain Lightning and an auto hitting warrior with a vastly increased chance to critical.

Goodbye every character thats isn't immune to timestop.

[ August 02, 2006, 11:56: Message edited by: Pseudospawn ]

 

Here is the complete list of disadvantages:
- Cannot wear any armor.
- Cannot wear any helmet (other than Ioun stones).
- Cannot use gauntlets and shields.
- Cannot use ranged weapons.
- Receives a -2 Penalty to constitution.
- Is immune to "Spirit Armor" and "Barkskin" spells.
- Requires 13 Dexterity and 12 Intelligence.
- Cannot dual class.

Immunity to Spirit Armor and Barkskin are important disadvantages. These two spells work fine on Kensai nullifying the most important disadvantages of Kensai kit, but they won't equally work on Riskbreaker.

The two important innate abilities of the kit (i.e time stop and Risk decrement) are only available at high levels and can be used but once per day before reaching very high levels when you can have more than one use per day.

I have already agreed that it is a powerful kit, but I disagree with any attempt to mis-represent the kit's abilities and to show a caricature of it.

If you install "Improved Anvil", some of the more powerful enemy spell-casters will try to defend themselves against a PC who is immune to timestop and is attacking them. I have already recommended that if you want to play "Riskbreaker" it is better to have "Improved Anvil" too. Recommendation to have "Improved Anvil" is also mentioned in Riskbreaker's Readme file.

[ August 02, 2006, 13:36: Message edited by: Sikret ]

 

Circular logic, anyone? Seriously, though, you can easily tell which mods and games offer the same old stuff by looking the ads and features. E.g: it doesn't require a genius to know that UT2k8 will be pure frag'em'up.

Then why should the player choose him over one of the original kits, who are fun to play throughout the game instead of just ToB?

[ August 02, 2006, 20:40: Message edited by: Wordplay ]

 

Can you play this mod with a game already started?

 

Improved Anvil, you mean?

No, you need to start a new game.

EDIT:

I forgot to reply to this part of a previous post about Riskbreaker kit:

They have short spell-casting times, but they are not instant.

In the previous versions of the kit (version 3 and before that), the spell-casting times were longer, but then when we tested the kit in practice we observed that with long spell-casting times, enemies constantly hit and interrupt the casting process and the precious innate abilities almost never get to work (Rsikbreaker usually needs to fire his innate abilities while he is already engaged in hand-to-hand battle). That's why I shortened the casting times in version 4 and they didn't change in version 5.

[ August 02, 2006, 15:42: Message edited by: Sikret ]

 

I know. I had three characters active in a Time Stop, Immy casting it, my Chorister immune to it thanks to his blade from Imp. Asylum party, and my all too spiffy Arcane Fist immune to it by Lunar Stance. Nothing stood in our path, NOT even Imp. Bodhi on insane dificulty and I was not even using my cheesiest tactics, just Time Stop and pure hack-slash, no multiple PIs, or endless Times Stops via Wishes, etc. It was boring fast.

I think Immunity to TS from scratch is a little too much. Only god-like creatures are naturally immune to it. You can put another innate ability usable by 1 per 10 levels, which grants immunity to TS for a few rounds. This will balance it better, IMHO.

 

I had considered this possibility before, but such an innate ability would be next to useless, because you cannot predict when an enemy is about to cast time stop to prepare yourself for it, and once the enemy has cast the time stop, you cannot activate your innate ability.

 

You can easily know when a serious spell caster is casting a Time Stop. It is alteration: Blue casting globe in vanilla game, dark-green effect with IWD casting graphics, and alteration sound set is very obvious:'Reees'i Harrliya Vee'rol' or something like that, and it is generally the very first spell any serious spell caster tries (liches, other arch-mages, Jon Irenicus). Add the fact that it also has a horribly long casting time, an experienced player will know a Time Stop coming easily. (kinda developing a Spellcraft ability)

Or you can have your party mage cast the Time Stop, after activating your Riskbreaker's ability, so that two people can play in a TS. (which is scary!)

But I guess you have play-tested the kit throughly, if you say it will really weaken the kit, I respect that. Though I must admit I still dislike the innate immunity to TS idea.