Re: Nagas and other "lost" pretenders
 

Nerfix: 4 is the starting level for the lower effect. The power of the bless increases with levels. At ninth level you will get an additional power that does not change with level.

Re: Nagas and other "lost" pretenders
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Ah. I thougth that you get the lesser effect at level 4, at level 6 the lesser effect gets stronger and then at level 9 you get the major effect.

So the effect(s) scale(s)?

[ October 08, 2003, 14:19: Message edited by: Nerfix ]

Re: Nagas and other "lost" pretenders
 

So, are those bonuses to holy troops present in the DomI as well, or are you talking about DomII? If they are in DomI, where are they mentioned or listed?

Re: Nagas and other "lost" pretenders
 

Dom1 has a fixed "bless" bonus. +3 att, def, str, and mrl, if I recall correctly - no matter what magic the pretender has.

If someone could tell me... what is the bless bonus in Dominions II for a pretender with no magic?

-Cherry

P.S. I'd also really appreciate it if anyone knows the answer to this question:

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">

[ October 08, 2003, 17:15: Message edited by: Saber Cherry ]

Re: Nagas and other "lost" pretenders
 

I think bless with no magic is just morale +3.
Also I didn't think Dom1 bless gave +3 defense.

Re: Nagas and other "lost" pretenders
 

Pretender with no bonus gets +3 morale for his blessed troops.

For that other question I'm not 100% sure but as far as I could tell your pretender wont die if first hit exceeds hit points in his human state.

Re: Nagas and other "lost" pretenders
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It's ok. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

You just caught me by surprise with that post since blessings and bonuses were discussed in another post earlier, so I figured it was almost common knowledge.

I can see that people quicker then me already answer other questions. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Nagas and other "lost" pretenders
 

Here's a quick summary of the Blessings in Dom II:

The Blessings given to Sacred troops in Dominions II vary based purely on the magical power your Pretender starts with at the beginning of the game. The Blessing effects are locked-in when the game starts, and no matter how your Pretender changes, the Blessings will not be altered.

There are two tiers of Blessing effects. The first become available with a power level of 4 in a given path, and each path has its own individual effects for both tiers. The first tier powers grow in effect with additional power at a rate of either +1 per 2 levels or +5% per level, depending on the nature of the Blessing.

An example of a first-tier Blessing is the +1 to Magic Resistance you get from an Astral power of 4. The highest power you can take in a path at the beginning of the game is 10, so you can theoretically get a +4 MR from your Blessings with Astral 10. Another example is Death magic's Lesser Fear effect.

The second-tier Blessings are unlocked with a power of 9. Astral magic of 9+ grants all your Blessed troops with the Twist Fate spell, protecting them from the first blow that would otherwise have injured them. Fire magic of 9+ gives your Blessed troops exceptionally powerful flaming weaponry.

There's also a Morale bonus on top of any friendly Dominion bonus. I'm not sure at the moment how strong that bonus is, but I'll post the detail once I have the chance to check on it. Pretenders who don't qualify for any of the other Blessing effects will get an additional +3 Morale bonus.

I've been finding it a very flexible system. It adds a lot of variety without any micromanagement. The objective of Power 9 may seem rather high, but the benefits are also rather high. I usually design my Pretenders to have one path of 9 or 10, backed up with one or two other paths with powers of 4-6. The variety of Blessing effects I get from that really show on the battlefield. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Another variation is to take level 4 in as many paths as you can. The Blessing effects will all be of the lesser nature, but they stack up to a great potency.

There's a lot of room to experiment and design. I predict there will be many debates launched on the best Blessing schemes for various nations and Pretenders in the upcoming months. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

(Oh, and I'd like to know about the transformation effects too. There are many transforming Pretenders and units, and I'm curious how the math works. I think Illwinter will have to answer that one directly though.)

Re: Nagas and other "lost" pretenders
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That'd pretty wimpy... I would think +3 str and +3 mrl would be a good minimum. Blessed holy zealots should feel righteous strength surging through their veins regardless of their god's magic.

As for defense in Dom 1, you're probably right.

[ October 08, 2003, 17:41: Message edited by: Saber Cherry ]

Re: Nagas and other "lost" pretenders
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That'd pretty wimpy... I would think +3 str and +3 mrl would be a good minimum. Blessed holy zealots should feel righteous strength surging through their veins regardless of their god's magic.

As for defense in Dom 1, you're probably right.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Part of the intention of the new bless system is to encourage players to spend more points on magic, which is why: no magic=just morale boost.

Re: Nagas and other "lost" pretenders
 

Transformations?

I'm not sure I get the question, but dragons will transform if their human shape is killed. Damage carries over into dragon shape. If you are fighting in an enemy dominion this might be risky. When you transform your hitpoints will be perhaps at 20% of the basic HP of a dragon. If the mage shape got hit by a cyclops wielding a heavy weapon the dragon might get killed instantly as the damage is enough to take out the mage and the dragon HP.

I',m not sure, but transformations on other shapeshifters might work in the same way. There is also a possibility that a shapeshifter transforms when surviving a strike (this might hold true for skinshifters). Lamias work in the same way as dragons.

Mounts that loose their riders do not get damage when their rider is killed (I believe).

* edit: turns out that skinshifters and mounts work the same way as dragons.

[ October 08, 2003, 21:14: Message edited by: Kristoffer O ]

Re: Nagas and other "lost" pretenders
 

Now that I see the explanation and examples, it sounds like a very very cool feature. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif