Combat in Baldur's Gate

                      By Julia Munday

@~Julia kindly supplied these hints as I'd mentioned to her that I
@~knew of several people (myself included!) who were finding combat
@~in BG to be heavy going ...

As regards problems some people have with combat, it is important
to:

1. Have each character's AI script set to something sensible, so
you can trust them to use their own initiative when fighting. This
is done by pushing the customise button on the character screen,
selecting script and picking the one you want from the range
available from each class. For example you can have a fighter act
like a complete mad berserk killing machine attacking anything in
sight through to a pacifist type who will only attack when
attacked.  When a NPC joins they don't have an AI script set, and
tend to stand round like lemons if not instructed to strike a blow
each turn.  It is important to set cleric's AI to include
automatic healing of the party.

2. Have the gameplay options set so the game automatically pauses
when you need it to. It is possible to set it up to pause after
every turn but this is a bit like pen & paper D&D and is slow.  We
have ours set to auto-pause when an enemy is spotted, which gives
you time to decide what to do, when one of the characters is
seriously wounded, and when a weapon is unusable (e.g. a sword
breaks or a quiver of arrows runs out). It is best to experiment
with this to see what is best, we find any more auto-pausing slows
the game down too much. You can change these settings at any time,
so you can auto-pause for everything possible to begin with, and
change when you get used to it if you feel you need to.

3. Try and get your party to attack one enemy at a time if
possible, rather than everyone attack their own individual target.
Try to take out any magic using enemies first, then take out the
ones left in order of nastiness. If a weapon doesn't seem to have

much of an effect (blunt weapons or missiles on jellies for
example), pause the screen and change it.

4. Be careful using magic, don't forget that a lot of spells can
do your party as much harm as the enemy if not used at long range.
Fireballs and stinking clouds spring to mind. Don't ever use a
lightning spell indoors, the lightning will bounce back from the
walls and fry half the party, I speak from experience.

5. SAVE OFTEN! Hitting the "Q" on the keyboard quicksaves into a
slot called Quicksave, without having to go through the options
screen.







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