Looking for BattleSquares help/advice

Klorox · Post by **Klorox** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 6:29 pm

Any way to optimize this little part of the game? TIA

Claudius · Post by **Claudius** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 9:02 pm

battlesquares is a pain...

My advice is to download a mod that gives you treasure without a fight.

If you do the squares...

1) save before a battle. there are drowned dead which you cannot kill solo at that stage in the game. the club of disruption does not affect them either. they have boatload of hitpoints.

2) giant creatures run through north door and position yourself with a long weapon so you can hit them and they can't hit you (because they don't fit). Missile weapons too but less damage.

3) Did I mention to save before a battle.

4) get the club of disruption first so you can disrupt demons undead and elementals (look at gamebanshee to find what levers to pull)

5) go for 7 squares first. That way if you lose a battle you technically don't have to reload. Just go for less than 7 and get the 7 next. If you don't know what this means you will by the time you complete the squares.

6) teleporting guys. disrupt them before they teleport. reload a lot. Or wait for the stupid golem to trudge down the hall so he can see them then kick their butt with your whole party in the other room.

7) the throwing shock axe helps against werewolf guys. You can kill them without them touching you by doing chuck and run.

8) You might as well download the mod that gets rid of Bsquares (BS) they are painful!!!

claudius

Edit: Also important to buff up especially long duration buffs. Also 1) mentions a save both because you might die and also because you can reload and hope for easy oponents

Crucis · Post by **Crucis** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 11:15 pm

Claudius wrote:5) go for 7 squares first. That way if you lose a battle you technically don't have to reload. Just go for less than 7 and get the 7 next. If you don't know what this means you will by the time you complete the squares.

This is GREAT advice. This is what I did before using the EoU mod to skip BSQ entirely. If you're going to try to do it the hard way, i.e. fight the 250 solo battles, go for 7 squares first, then 6, then 5, then 4, and finally 3. This way, if you find yourself hurting mid way thru the "set of 7", you can just bail out by finishing your tic-tac-toe early without completing a set you've already done.

BSQ was such a mess, IMHO. I'd have rather had 10 big party battles against big, tough enemy forces, than 250 freaking solo battles. At least the monk challenges are limited to 8 chambers.

silverdragon72 · Post by **silverdragon72** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:08 am

.

I posted this trick some time ago, but it might get lost:

...use a melee heavy PC for the BSQ! (I did it with PC 1 at level 8 or 10 (not sure exactly) without to many problems! (buff him with all you have especially haste, damage increasing spells and stoneskin!)

...move all of your party completly out of the western door before you activate the BSQ - this way they won't get teleported away(!!!) and can assist with ranged weapons, spells, healing and the anti-fear song!!! (but always keep outside the door and don't get in sight of the golem!)

...always save before battles!!!!! (it's not the problem getting killed, but there are several enemies that are quite hard to kill in time!)

...if things run good go for the high numbers first!
...my impression was that no matter if you start with 3 or 7, later enemies getting harder, not only between each level, also in each level itself!

.

Crucis · Post by **Crucis** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:56 pm

silverdragon72 wrote:...use a melee heavy PC for the BSQ! (I did it with PC 1 at level 8 or 10 (not sure exactly) without to many problems! (buff him with all you have especially haste, damage increasing spells and stoneskin!)

I found that paladins are good here because you can Lay Hands on yourself.

...move all of your party completly out of the western door before you activate the BSQ - this way they won't get teleported away(!!!) and can assist with ranged weapons, spells, healing and the anti-fear song!!! (but always keep outside the door and don't get in sight of the golem!)

Just be careful not to run your BSQ PC around the room so much that you end up causing the golem to chase you and get within sight of the rest of your party.

...always save before battles!!!!! (it's not the problem getting killed, but there are several enemies that are quite hard to kill in time!)

BINGO!

...if things run good go for the high numbers first!
...my impression was that no matter if you start with 3 or 7, later enemies getting harder, not only between each level, also in each level itself!

I've examined the script that controls the BSQ room and don't recall seeing any evidence of this within a given rank, but I may have missed it.

Regardless, even if true, that's all the more reason to go for the "high numbers" ASAP. If you're going to have to face tougher foes later in each rank, it might as well be when you're trying to complete fewer squares.

silverdragon72 · Post by **silverdragon72** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:04 pm

Crucis wrote:I found that paladins are good here because you can Lay Hands on yourself.

...no need if you have your party next to the door - they can heal you if needed!

The biggest problem from my point of view is to kill the tougher enemies in time (drowning dead, and some of the higher demons) especially as some have high DR and cause fear (therefore 2 pal levels could be great!)

No chance to get them down in time if get feared for several rounds!

But with the bards anti-fear song and the aura of the Pal next by this isn't that problem!

If nothing helps some FOD's (from outside the door) and the Mace of Disruption (last one only on a crit. miss) should bring them down in time! Btw. you should give the mace to the PC with the most attacks per round and also cast haste!

Just be careful not to run your BSQ PC around the room so much that you end up causing the golem to chase you and get within sight of the rest of your party.

could get in trouble if you get feared!

I've examined the script that controls the BSQ room and don't recall seeing any evidence of this within a given rank, but I may have missed it.

Regardless, even if true, that's all the more reason to go for the "high numbers" ASAP. If you're going to have to face tougher foes later in each rank, it might as well be when you're trying to complete fewer squares.

Just an impression, that the first enemies in the first battles of a level are weaker then the last.

.

Aerich · Post by **Aerich** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:11 pm

I favour using a good or neutral battle cleric for Battle Squares. Nothing pisses me off more than losing my Stoneskin mid-level, and Iron Skins can get you through. Combined with spontaneous healing and Holy Power, the character does pretty well.

Stormlords are good because they have multiple ways to protect themselves from elemental damage (Storm Shell, etc) and Battleguards using two-handed axes work well too. If you head to the Wandering Village, you can buy Widow-Through, an enchanted, keen axe. With that axe, remorhaz and drowned dead go down quickly. Most other tough enemies are vulnerable to the Club of Disruption.