Posted December 15, 2015
I'm a completionist and I couldn't find much information about the special encounters in NWN2 SoZ so I thought I would write this. The full list for random encounters in ACT 1 can be found by googling guides but the ones in ACT 2 are lacking. I'm using the game files (om_enc_f_special.2da and om_enc_g_special.2da) for this information so I know it's 100% complete.
Encounters only show up on some types of terrain and when trying to get a specific encounter, it makes sense to go to an area where is a lot of the terrain where it's supposed to spawn. For example, the crossroad between Crossroad Keep and Highcliff overlooks many roads (however waiting there will also spawn enemies which will probably attack your caravans). The locations are:
On roads: Kana, A group of chickens (may need fix to work), Sobbing Child, Old Man (doesn't seem to be anything you can do with this guy, maybe this was a quest that was cut from the game).
In forests: Drow Kinslayer, Strange Gnomes, Wood Elf (acts as store), Dryad, Blue Dragon.
Grassy areas: Human Mob, Ograth`s Marauders (may need fix to work), Creature Handler.
In swamp: Liam Harvestead.
Near Coastline: Christov`s Crew (not 100% sure but that's where I met him and it makes sense because he's a pirate).
Near mountains: Dwarven Defenders (I believe these guys spawn near mountains, possibly the north mountain range you only get access to in Act 3 via a side a quest. I'm not sure because at that point I was sick of waiting for encounters so I edited this one to appear on a road by changing nTerrain from 7 to 4 in the file om_enc_f_special.2da).
The best spot I found for getting encounters is the area far to the south at the end of the map, where you first arrived to the Sword Coast. Enemies there are too far to bother your caravans, they are too weak to detect you with good Hide skill and the area overlooks the road, grassy area and coastline. It might be possible to leave the computer on for a while and return to a few spawned encounters, I never tried it. Also, I have no idea if this helped but after every encounter I teleported to Samarach, went out to the overland map, fought one creature and returned to the Sword Coast. My thinking was that it resets some counters and makes special encounters easier to find.
ABOUT THE FIX: It seems there is a problem with encounters that move around - they would disappear after a short while without ever coming back. I was able to fix that by following the instructions here to reset the encounter and it might not be necessary but I also changed the encounter life span by editing the file om_enc_f_special.2da, the nLifespan column from -1 to 60 for that encounter.
console command to reset group of chickens: rs ga_global_int("f00_ac_fowl_play_FIRED", "0")
console command to reset Ograth`s Marauders: rs ga_global_int("f00_ac_eye_for_eye_FIRED", "0")
console command to reset Human Mob: rs ga_global_int("f00_ac_slave_revolt_FIRED", "0")
console command to reset : Demons Of Samarlogh rs ga_global_int("g00_ac_fiendish_spider_FIRED", "0")
Encounters only show up on some types of terrain and when trying to get a specific encounter, it makes sense to go to an area where is a lot of the terrain where it's supposed to spawn. For example, the crossroad between Crossroad Keep and Highcliff overlooks many roads (however waiting there will also spawn enemies which will probably attack your caravans). The locations are:
On roads: Kana, A group of chickens (may need fix to work), Sobbing Child, Old Man (doesn't seem to be anything you can do with this guy, maybe this was a quest that was cut from the game).
In forests: Drow Kinslayer, Strange Gnomes, Wood Elf (acts as store), Dryad, Blue Dragon.
Grassy areas: Human Mob, Ograth`s Marauders (may need fix to work), Creature Handler.
In swamp: Liam Harvestead.
Near Coastline: Christov`s Crew (not 100% sure but that's where I met him and it makes sense because he's a pirate).
Near mountains: Dwarven Defenders (I believe these guys spawn near mountains, possibly the north mountain range you only get access to in Act 3 via a side a quest. I'm not sure because at that point I was sick of waiting for encounters so I edited this one to appear on a road by changing nTerrain from 7 to 4 in the file om_enc_f_special.2da).
The best spot I found for getting encounters is the area far to the south at the end of the map, where you first arrived to the Sword Coast. Enemies there are too far to bother your caravans, they are too weak to detect you with good Hide skill and the area overlooks the road, grassy area and coastline. It might be possible to leave the computer on for a while and return to a few spawned encounters, I never tried it. Also, I have no idea if this helped but after every encounter I teleported to Samarach, went out to the overland map, fought one creature and returned to the Sword Coast. My thinking was that it resets some counters and makes special encounters easier to find.
ABOUT THE FIX: It seems there is a problem with encounters that move around - they would disappear after a short while without ever coming back. I was able to fix that by following the instructions here to reset the encounter and it might not be necessary but I also changed the encounter life span by editing the file om_enc_f_special.2da, the nLifespan column from -1 to 60 for that encounter.
console command to reset group of chickens: rs ga_global_int("f00_ac_fowl_play_FIRED", "0")
console command to reset Ograth`s Marauders: rs ga_global_int("f00_ac_eye_for_eye_FIRED", "0")
console command to reset Human Mob: rs ga_global_int("f00_ac_slave_revolt_FIRED", "0")
console command to reset : Demons Of Samarlogh rs ga_global_int("g00_ac_fiendish_spider_FIRED", "0")
Post edited December 15, 2015 by grumblycakes