NWN: Questions

[Heretic Apostate]

When an adventuring party attacks a "dungeon," if they don't manage it in complete silence, they should face alerted inhabitants in other portions of the dungeon.

Is it possible to do that in NWN? (My copy was only bought a day or two ago, and hasn't arrived yet, sorry....) Set one of the creatures to run, and if the party doesn't kill it, then the next area is more alert (i.e., more creatures, better armor and weapons--from having time to get ready)?

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Also, is it possible to up the number of NPCs in a downloaded module, so you don't get creamed if you only play single-player?

 

[LightPhoenix]

When an adventuring party attacks a "dungeon," if they don't manage it in complete silence, they should face alerted inhabitants in other portions of the dungeon.

Is it possible to do that in NWN? (My copy was only bought a day or two ago, and hasn't arrived yet, sorry....) Set one of the creatures to run, and if the party doesn't kill it, then the next area is more alert (i.e., more creatures, better armor and weapons--from having time to get ready)?

Yes, but I'm not sure exactly how. I believe it would require some scripting. I'm actually planning on starting something that would use this, but unfortunately I just started a new job and haven't had time to work on anything lately.

Also, is it possible to up the number of NPCs in a downloaded module, so you don't get creamed if you only play single-player?

What do you mean? As in, the number of henchmen you can control? If so, no, you are limited to one henchman (and one familiar/animal companion, and one summoned creature).

 

[Heretic Apostate]

quote:
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Also, is it possible to up the number of NPCs in a downloaded module, so you don't get creamed if you only play single-player?
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What do you mean? As in, the number of henchmen you can control? If so, no, you are limited to one henchman (and one familiar/animal companion, and one summoned creature).

Actually, yes, that's what I meant. Darn.

So, if you're not playing a sorceror, wizard, or druid, you're out of luck? (That is, no animal companion.)

 

[Fenlock]

Re: # of henchmen
If you use encounter triggers, instead of manually placed monsters, the engine will scale the ECL to the party.

Re: completion of modules
you could possible use module counters (think global variables) to store the degree of completness of the module.
And then when an encounter is triggered check the counter to see if the encounter should be aborted (or scalled down)

/F

 

[Asmor]

Nope, just the opposite. If you're playing any half-decent module, it won't matter whether you're a lone level 1 wizard or a full, balanced group of 20th level adventurers, the module should, theoretically, adapt. Creatures are not, generally, placed (there are exceptions, usually unique creatures who are part of the story). Other stuff is created from encounters. When you walk over the area that triggers the encounter, it asseses your party's makeup, and spawns appropriate creatures in appropriate numbers.

And yeah, quite literally, anything is possible. You could make a game of Pac-man in NWN if you wanted to.

 

[Heretic Apostate]

VERY BIG QUESTION

Okay, here's an even more serious question about NWN:

I bought a used copy on eBay. I'm in the process of installing it. I get to the point about CD Key. The setup says its on the inside of the cover of the manual. But I can't seem to find it.

Now, I'm NOT asking for someone else's CD Key. What I'm asking is, where was it located (as precise as you can be...) when you went to install the game?

I have the three CDs, the reference card, the manual, and the cloth map. Am I missing something?

Thanks!

 

[Thengil]

Regarding the "alerting" of others in a dungeon, it should be fairly straightforward to implement something akin to the Alert Factor system in "The Giant's Skull", the adventure where the PCs are ogres that attack a castle.

Basically, you have a global variable that could be called alertFactor that gets raised when various inhabitants perceive a player. Depending on the value of alertFactor you could then spawn in various amounts of guards, monsters et cetera. The monsters could even be assigned to different walking waypoints depending on the level of alertness of the dungeon.

Hmm I think I've just got myself a new project for the weekend...

 

[Heretic Apostate]

...it should be fairly straightforward to implement something akin to the Alert Factor system in "The Giant's Skull", the adventure where the PCs are ogres that attack a castle.

Yup, that's where I got the idea from.

There's also Thunderhead Games' system of scaling, which I also wonder if it's possible to bring into NWN.

Basically, certain (not all) encounters in THG's adventures are scaled based on the makeup of the party and the way the players play the game. Is the party heavy on divine magic ("Holier than Thou," as THG puts it)? Then do this. Is the party heavy on fighters? Then do that. Do the players do well in solving puzzles? Then the encounter goes this way. And so on.

I don't know how much of this is possible to do. And I can't find out on my own until I figure out what happened to the CD Key on the game that I bought. *grumble grumble* (I don't want to think I bought a very expensive set of drink coasters....)

 

[Lazybones]

There are scripting commands that can turn encounters on or off based upon the actions of players, but they are very complex (beyond my limited abilities thus far, that's for sure). I'd try creating mods using the default encounter editor, it's very powerful and does respond to the ability of the players.

You can even create a scalable "boss" encounter quite easy by creating an encounter with 4 unique versions of the same creature, each checked as "unique" and the encounter set to spawn just one of them. The game analyzes the party's make up and spawns the one closest to the party's abilities. It even can be scaled to make the choice very easy, easy, normal, hard, or impossible based on how much you want to challenge your party. Generally, I find that climax encounters should be "hard", although sometimes I tone the beastie down if I'm giving it helpers/minions.

The game is very flexible and infinitely customizable, even without lots of scripting knowledge. Hope you manage to get the CD thing worked out (sadly, I think it will end up being cheaper if you'd just gone and bought the game; I think I saw it on sale for $40 last weekend at Best Buy).

 

[Thanee]

Re: VERY BIG QUESTION

Okay, here's an even more serious question about NWN:

I bought a used copy on eBay. I'm in the process of installing it. I get to the point about CD Key. The setup says its on the inside of the cover of the manual. But I can't seem to find it.

Now, I'm NOT asking for someone else's CD Key. What I'm asking is, where was it located (as precise as you can be...) when you went to install the game?

I have the three CDs, the reference card, the manual, and the cloth map. Am I missing something?

In my copy the CD key was printed at the back of the manual (close it and turn it around, should be at the very bottom printed on some white area there).

But another question... Cloth Map!? I didn't have anything like that in my box?

What does it show?

Are there deluxe (or something) versions of NWN (since I bought my copy in a store, I'd think it's rather complete)?

Bye
Thanee