Visual range?

[Bruce Lee]

IUnfortunately I dont have the game yet but I have been reading on this board about it and I am going to get it as soon as I have upgraded my computer. Now I have a few questions.
I am a big fan of ranged weapons but in bg2 these were hampered by the limited visual range. I was wondering how it is in NWN. Anyone?

[Mathurin]

Pretty much the same in NWN. They can't make a game where you can see hundreds of feet away, and since a lot of the game takes place inside or below ground it wouldn't matter much if they could. Ranged weapons work well in the game but only if you expect to stand behind a follower or simply don't mind shooting at targets you are in melee with, which is possible given that the first feat most ranged weapon users choose, namely Point Blank Shot, allows you to do just that.

[Bruce Lee]

Okay, I guess you are right about the comp game visual range thing. A shame really. With the no full attack if you take a five foot step rule in 3ed ranged weapons has great potential.

[Mathurin]

Ranged weapons are the only way to get more than 4 attacks per round, from Rapid Shot, other than being a monk or weilding 2 weapon. I had my Elven Sorceress/Druid wielding a long bow and she was a pretty cool all around character.

[DrSlikk]

Its better visually in that u c the path of the arrow/bolt and they actually stick in the target. Also u can use them for sneak attacks.

[Magus]

I find ranged weapons quite useful. In NWN you can see a bit farther than in BG2, so that helps. Plus you can switch freely between a bow and a two-handed weapon (or two dual-wielded weapons) instantly, also unlike BG2. So in most places you can get off 2 or 3 shots with a bow before the enemy even closes to melee range, and that's *without* rapid shot. And frequently there's places in the outdoor areas, and even dungeons, where the enemy can't close with you. In these places you can just pick them off with ranged weapons, without even taking a scratch.

Another cool feature in NWN is that projectiles can be stacked in bundles of up to 99, instead of 40 like in BG2. This means that you pretty much never run out.

[Xyx]

Point Blank Shot doesn't negate the Attack of Opportunity you suffer when you fire in melee. It just gives you a net +5 Attack Bonus. Get Dodge -> Mobility to avoid the attacks better.

[Bruce Lee]

Point blansk shot isn't supposed to negate the -4 penalty...that is precise shot isn't it?

[Wraithus Dire]

Speaking of Visual Ranges...

Have you ever noticed that sometimes a certain unnamed henchman will look off into the distance, yell something absurd like "Hold up there!" and then bolt out of the room into a fogged room (i.e. a room you haven't yet explored) to disarm a trap you didn't even know was there.

And after this unnamed henchman does this, you need to spend time portalling back to pick him up from the temple.

What I would like to see: (patch, update, MOD, whatever)

Something that gives your henchman/henchwoman/henchthiefytype the same Fog of War distance that affects you

Scratch that, here's something better -> Limit detection of traps to only a limited # of tiles which MAY NOT extend beyond a wall.

After all, how the heck does this unnamed henchman spot a trap through the wall into an area we've never been?

He does have a nice shot with a bow, though. Really racking up those frequent-dier miles.

"All Done"

[Skilless]

Three things here;

1. 45 degree limit on the Z-axis reduces your "forward" line of sight. This is an engine limitation apparently, as the developers didn't/couldn't want to show sky/horizon.

2. Screen resolution extends your line of sight. If you are zoomed out all the way @ 1600x1200, you can "see" a lot farther than at 800x600.

3. A neat little trick I use is this; you might notice that the distance between opposite corners of your monitor are further apart than your horizontal or vertical distances. If you use the TAB key, you will "light up" anything you can react with on the screen. Enemies glow red. So, simply use your mouse to angle your viewpoint so that a hallway or open area lays at an diagonal on your monitor (instead of just looking straight ahead), while pressing the TAB key and you'll really extend your line-of-sight in that direction.

For example; on a 19" monitor, you can see 5.7" on the vertical plane (5.7" in both front and back of you), 7.6" on the horizontal plane, and 9.5" diagonally. That makes a big difference.

[Magus]

@Skilless: Are you sure about resolution affecting the viewing area? I know it did in BG2, but in NWN I thought the viewing area was set, and different resolutions just changed the visual quality. I played with the resolutions a while ago and the results seemed to verify this.

[Skilless]

Resolution software independent, the monitor is making a larger footprint, showing more pixels.

Unless there is a "fog of war", your line of sight will increase. It is no different than if you went higher on the Z-axis. You can verify this by walking up to a corner, in an open area, & saving the game. Note where the opposite corner extends to; reload at a higher res and see where corner extends then.

[Mathurin]

For some reason in NWN they combined the effects of precise shot and point blank shot into one feat, and then for obvious reasons reduced the range of point blank shot to 15 feet.

[Xyx]

Originally posted by Skilless
Unless there is a "fog of war", your line of sight will increase. It is no different than if you went higher on the Z-axis. You can verify this by walking up to a corner, in an open area, & saving the game. Note where the opposite corner extends to; reload at a higher res and see where corner extends then.

I can swap res without restarting, and I get to see no further at higher resolutions. Sharper/more detailed, yes. Actually more, no.

[Bruce Lee]

I dont have NWN but it seems to me that either you get a bigger view or a more detailed view when increasing the resolution. The more logical would be the bigger view... I just don't see how the programming was done if this isn't the case.