Re: global enchantments when there are 5 already?
 

Good point, my bad.

It makes no sense to me that magic spells would preferentially interfere with other spells by the same caster. Especially when competing with spells supported by an enemy.

OTOH, the limit of five global enchantments only makes sense from a metagame programming perspective anyway.

Re: global enchantments when there are 5 already?
 

yah, that's why the rule is irritating to the (usually dominating) player - but it probably works from a balance perspective, as it makes it more difficult for someone w/ an edge in gems to corner the globals, or to parlay gem producing globals into further ones...

Re: global enchantments when there are 5 already?
 

Erm... wouldn't it just make it easier for the quickest researcher to corner the globals? Once they're full, any one other player could only replace ONE global spell. Which makes absolutely no sense. You sure about this rule?

Re: global enchantments when there are 5 already?
 

It definately doesn't take down one of your own first, except as a side effect of choosing one of the five at random - I've blown my own globals down, but have also taken down those of other players while I had some up.

I suspect that Arch thinks it takes down one of his own because he so often has multiple globals up : if a player already has 2 globals up, it's 40% likely to try to override one of his spells, and with 3 up, it's 60% likely.

That's one reason I'll often try to dispel a global if there are five up and I have more than one of my own - means I've got a much better chance of not screwing my own enchantments up.

Re: global enchantments when there are 5 already?
 

I'd surmised the same, but not enough experience with replacing globals to be absolutely sure my memory isn't screwing with me.


Does that actually work in lategame multiplayer? Wouldn't everyone simultaneously jockey for the empty slot, making it empty in name alone?

Re: global enchantments when there are 5 already?
 

But that means your new global will attempt for the empty slot, not one YOU already have claimed, giving you a chance for another global.

Re: global enchantments when there are 5 already?
 

heheh

the caveat w/ globals is that they've always seemed buggy - no explanation has ever fully worked - which adds in a nice sense of terror whenever you cast one. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: global enchantments when there are 5 already?
 

So you're certain it doesn't mean the first nation in the resolution sequence gets the slot, and all the nations thereafter are treated exactly as though they'd cast a spell with 5 globals already up?

Hm. If multiple nations do compete for the same slot, what do you suppose happens if one nation casts both an overpowered (a good hundred gems above base cost) global and a weak one? Is there a chance of the weak one being used in the bid for the slot, failing, and the powerful one being cast normally (that is, competing with a random global) after some other nation gets the slot? This would all be pretty tiresome to test, I'm just wondering if anyone has some inkling of what the exact sequence is.

Re: global enchantments when there are 5 already?
 

Luck is allways a factor. I was not refering to any luck scales.

As soon as there is something random there is luck.

Re: global enchantments when there are 5 already?
 

The first global cast takes the empty slots. Any others are treated exactly as though there were five globals already up (since there are!)

I think the order in which ritual spells (including globals) happen is the order of unit ID (which might be the order in which units were created, and almost certainly is the order in which they show up in the commander list in a province) or else that order reversed, with a 50% chance for either.