acatlady
Not A Stranger Anymore
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Post by acatlady on Mar 24, 2022 20:29:35 GMT
I just learned that Julan and other companions will use homemade potions during combat - same as any other NPCs, they just choose the most expensive one with at least one beneficial effect. This changes everything.
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acatlady
Not A Stranger Anymore
Posts: 28
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Post by acatlady on Mar 24, 2022 23:14:04 GMT
Bad: if you give Julan a stack of potions, he'll automatically chug them all at once when their turn comes up.
Good: if you're like me and are always fighting potion-induced inventory bloat, this encourages giving him the stragglers and odd/heavy potions instead of the neat stacks.
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Post by jgf on Mar 26, 2022 14:34:16 GMT
That is an issue with all Morrowind companions, so only give them one or two potions at a time. Plus, if I remember correctly, they will only use restore potions, not fortify or anything else, except for booze, which they will happily guzzle down all you give them (they don't need levitate or invisibility since they do that automatically when the player does).
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acatlady
Not A Stranger Anymore
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Post by acatlady on Mar 26, 2022 22:31:58 GMT
They don't seem to use fortify potions but they will definitely use shield potions. I'll have to test whether they'll use multi-effect potions, e.g. fire shield + fortify agility. Also not sure what potions get used when. If the tendency is to use shield potions towards the beginning of a fight and restore health/magicka as needed, then it makes sense to double up long-lasting good effects on shield potions.
Further things to test: - Are reflect and spell absorption potions treated the same as elemental shield? - Does fortify fatigue work on NPCs? - Does fortify health on NPCs have the same bug as on the player character?
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Post by jgf on Mar 27, 2022 15:53:44 GMT
My comments based solely on years of giving Constance potions, 8-10 assorted at a time and monitoring to replace whatever was used. Other than a predilection for liquor she seemed to only use restore health and, rarely, restore magic. And with health potions, when she needs one - just one! - she will consume all in inventory. It is the same with enchanted items, companions will use restore health enchantments but ignore most others; shield enchantments are perplexing, Constance never used one but I've seen NPCs use them.
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acatlady
Not A Stranger Anymore
Posts: 28
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Post by acatlady on Mar 28, 2022 0:07:20 GMT
Mm, might be that Julan's scripting is better with certain items. He definitely uses the store-bought healing and magicka potions one at a time. (And IIRC that's listed as a one of his features.)
My SOP so far has been to give him every activatable offensive and defensive charm that I don't have immediate use for, and at higher levels start enchanting some stuff for him as well (usually healing items but sometimes other things). The game AI is tactically much less intelligent than a human, but it's also faster and less clumsy; so IME a companion with a bunch of offensive magical items can be very effective. You do want to be careful with area effect items though, lest you wind up in the blast radius. But yeah, if I look at his inventory then I can usually see that he's using most of his items, since their magicka will be drained.
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Post by Sniffles on Apr 13, 2022 5:45:01 GMT
Companions don't recognize home made potions. Only certain generic ones in the DB.
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acatlady
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Post by acatlady on Apr 17, 2022 14:10:20 GMT
SnifflesThat isn't true though. Some of them will definitely use homemade shield potions, and benefit from anything else stacked on top of the shield effect. e.g. Try making a potion of Frost Shield + Fortify Strength, and handing it to Julan before a fight. You should see him surrounded by the shield as soon as combat starts, and if you look at his inventory afterwards, you'll see his capacity has increased from the Fortify Strength effect. OTOH he won't drink a potion that's just Fortify Strength, no elemental shield. And if you give him a stack of shield potions, he will drink all of them at once. It might work differently for Constance though. Not sure.
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Post by jgf on Apr 18, 2022 19:24:03 GMT
I suspect Julan, being a later addition, has more advanced programming than Constance; though still bound by some basic NPC limitations. And never ever give area effect spells/weapons to a companion; not only are you likely to take damage, or worse, but if any friendly/neutral NPCs are harmed they will attack you.
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acatlady
Not A Stranger Anymore
Posts: 28
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Post by acatlady on Apr 19, 2022 18:52:30 GMT
LOL yeah, I figured that last one out the hard way.
Likewise using AoE spells myself. That has a high risk of offending companions -> swift death. Especially because they often disobey commands to stick to ranged attacks, and rush right into my fireball or whatnot.
(Which might be an OpenMW thing, now I think of it. But I don't really care enough to use the original game and MCP; I like my quicksave function to actually be safe, thanks.)
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Post by jgf on Apr 19, 2022 19:35:59 GMT
Playing as a pure mage I accidentally killed Constance several times due to her propensity for rushing into a battle. When I mentioned what an irritant this was, Emma created a small patch that makes Constance teleport back to Gnisis when she takes a certain amount of damage.
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