BGforge forums

Just wanted to give my initial impression of the "Stores > Limited Stock" component with BG1.

My party and their respective weapons:

• Kagain - Crossbow/bolts
  
• Imoen - Short Bow/arrows
  
• Finch - Sling / bullets
  
• Viconia - Sling / bullets
  
• Xzar - Darts
  
• Me (True-class Druid) - Sling /bullets
  

Since it's common knowledge that ranged weapons are overpowered, I thought initially that the component might serve to give a leg up early in the game - when players are overly dependent on ranged weapons - but level things out mid-game.

Unfortunately, it seems like there is a balance issue. Imoen never has to worry, since arrows are plentiful with kobolds. But I very quickly cleaned out all stores of their bullets with three characters using slings, and it's still early in the game. I cringe to think about three characters without ranged weapons as things get harder.

Yes, I could swap out the clerics with other NPC's, but I like playing the same party from beginning to end.

How to improve - Perhaps refill after certain amount of time? Every day merchants create x number of bullets, arrows, bolts, etc.? Or merchants jack up the prices after 2nd or 3rd refill? Or exclude ammunition? Or bump up 10 max to 50 for ammunition? Just thinking out loud.

 

Riiiight... I haven't given it much thought, as I hate inventory tetris, and plain ammo is used in my games only for a short period, until I get to the hassle-free versions.
Unfortunately, scripting doesn't allow refilling, at least in Classic Editions, so that's not an option.
Well, your current situation should be easily enough resolved with CLUA. And I'll probably make the limits much higher, or skip them entirely for non-magical ammo in the next version.

OK, I pushed a new version that skips non-magical ammo and throwing weapons.

Thank you Magus.