Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

The SC Arena combat will take place tonight at ~8:00 Pacific time, so please send in your combatants now if you'd like to compete!

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Upon finishing the birth of my SC build... I received a huge painful leg cramp. So I'm calling him 'PAIN':

*Script Update at bottom*
Name: PAIN
Chassis: Poison Golem (ID#1099)
Magic: 1W 2A
Gems: 10 air gems
Location: Center Front
Equipment:
1x Rod of the Phoenix
1x Lucky Coin
1x Spirit Helmet
1x Robe of Shadows
1x Boots of the Messenger
1x Lifelong Protection
1x Bag of Winds
Script:
Quickness; Incinerate; Mirror Image; Incinerate; Ghost Wolves (Cast Spells)

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Name: WHO'S YOUR DADDY!?!
Chasis: Top Secret
Equipment: Top Secret
Script: Top Secret

Mwahahahahahahaha! FEAR YOUR DADDY!

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Can we get a list of the contestants? I was tempted to submit Yvelina's build
from last tournament, but made my saving throw.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

I'll post the list of combatants once I finish transcribing everyone's builds into my notebook so that I have it handy when starting the game. Everything should be forged, summoned, and researched by turn 10 to prevent anyone from gaining any experience

I got started a little late, so there might be a 1-2 hour delay while I set all the combatants up. There were 20 entrants in all.

@Tuidjy - Wasn't the previous contest won by someone's Tartarian spamming enslave mind? I recall that that trick was only so effective because they fought it out in a province rather than a death match, allowing all the enslaved fighters to help with the successive combats. But

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

...but what? god i hope potatoman wasn't killed by ninjas as he was typing. We lose more posters that way...

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

The contest is now complete!

And the winner is... revealed in the attached turn file, which you can open to view all the gory details. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

The turnout was quite varied, with all sorts of nasty dominions monsters and powerhouses making their appearances. Most of the fights were quite close and could have gone either way!

Here's the full roster:

• Slab Plankchest the Scythe Wielder (Christmas edition), fighting for Potatoman
• Slayer of Aeons the Tartarian Cyclops, fighting for HadrianII
• Anthrax the King of Banefire, fighting for K
• Foolslayer the Destroyer of Worlds, fighting for Wick
• Unfettered the Eater of the Dead, fighting for Cor2
• Spamming Fetish the Colossal Fetish, fighting for Quantum Mechani
• Tisiphone the Erinya, fighting for Sum1Lost
• Father Dagon the Dagon, fighting for Twan
• Sucks To Be You the Poison Golem, fighting for Baalz
• Rawrku, Hunter of Hotdogs, the Angel of Fury, fighting for DigitalSin
• Nameless the Rudra, fighting for Micah
• Grazz the Cruel, the Tartarian Cyclops, fighting for BigandScary
• Bob Dylan the Tartarian Titan, fighting for Taqwus
• Night Elf Mohawk the Rudra, fighting for Shovah
• PAIN the Poison Golem, fighting for NTJedi
• Dead Old Man the Master Lich, fighting for Calmon
• She is Back, the Tartarian Titan, fighting for Nikolai
• Very Furious Bastard the Angel of Fury, fighting for vfb
• Wish Upon a Shooting Star, the Djinn, fighting for Pyrostock
• Ketlones Masp the Master Lich, fighting for Rytek
• WHO'S YOUR DADDY!?!, the Ettin Mandragora, fighting for Lolomo
  

edit- The results of the contest were bugged and have been taken down. There may be a second, final contest if interest persists. Chime in on page 7.

double edit- It wouldn't be fair to take the results down, since many people have already seen them. The turn file is now attached once more. Some fights are bugged. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

The SC Stadium mod that is required to view the turn is attached to this post.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

I sent you my SC, but I didn't see him in the list =\

Jazzepi

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Very cool! And amusing too! Thanks, Potatoman.

It was interesting to learn about double lantern shields/double lifelong protection, I had no idea that worked.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Well, I got killed on round 1. On the bright side, I got killed by the guy who made it to the last battle, so I don't feel too bad.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

I killed 2 but went down in the end. Maybe i should have swiched the gate cleaver for a firebrand & shadowbrand combination.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

I thought my ettin mandragora was the perfect build, but he ran away after a couple of rounds, the coward!

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

I'd like to recognise the fact that my fighter won every battle that lasted beyond the first turn. How did he have that much astral?

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Funs fights, thanks for organization.

The masterlich AI was terribly clever against me : chain casting ghost grip, so even with his reinvigoration set my Dagon was exhausted fast.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

That was great, but doesn't having all the nations each at different levels of research impact the battles for casters who last longer than round5? Like Calmon having disintegrate researched, but not raise skeletons & Rytek having raise skeletons & ghost grip, but not disintegrate? Both my battles were over before round 6 so it didn't impact me and most battles were decided before that time anyways so maybe it's not a big deal.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

*
In Arena battle 3 it shows me winning... yet my SC never fights again. Why ?

*
If we were allowed 3 magic levels then why does the SC named 'spamming fetish' start with an extra 6 air as the default unit only starts with 2 earth?

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

That's strange. If you choose NTJedi as your nation, then the battle results message reports that the both SCs died (but of course in the replay itself NTJedi's SC stays alive)
EDIT: guess: Maybe the game was hosted on a different Dom3 version than 3.10?

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Why did i not take a tartarian with air magic and cast lightning resistance at the beginning. But im learning for a next time

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Fetish is a machaka pretender, and pretenders got the normal 3 empowerements and in addition + 3 magic levels.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

I thought this was a bad rule. I don't see why pretenders should get extra magic paths.

Jazzepi

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

@Jazzepi : Because they usually have design points ?

(it's more normal than the famous tartarians with chosen randoms - = an hundred of gift of reasoned summons to get the exact monster)

edit : "logic" as nothing to do with it

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

I completely agree! Pretenders should not recieve +6 while other units only are allowed +3.
SC vs SC should be fighting with equal bonuses.

This arena match was bugged and invalid anyways since my SC battle result was different than the actual battle.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Well, with the right tartarian and 3 epowerments, you can get a path of 10 like the astral enslaver. For the next one maybe limit the paths to 5 total or something like this. If the units are not created with mod but are added to a map, it should be easier to do it anyway.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

I apologize if one of the arena results was bugged (I can't verify right now, but it sounds like that's the case.) I've got the latest patch installed just fine, but I didn't catch the invalid result last night. Phooey!

If there is general consensus and interest, I could re-run the simulation.

Pretenders were allowed extra magic levels to keep them competitive with Tartarians, which can reach 6-pick pretender magic levels quite easily. I think that, if I were running it again in the future, the 5-pick total rule would be a good one.

Jazzepi- When I was adding players to the mod I made an entry for you with Ettin Mandragora as the combatant but, unfortunately, when I looked for your build in the thread and in my pm box last night I wasn't able to find it. The only pm I received was the one asking if you could use the Ettin Mandragora chassis.

Edit- When viewing the results, make sure you have the SuperCombatant Arena mod downloaded and enabled. It's in the post 1 space down from the results post. I notice that it has about 10 fewer dls than the turn file, but both are required to view the results correctly!

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Bahh, I must have done something wrong. I tried to send it while I was doing a million other things and must not have hit send. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

I think a total magic paths would be a great idea.

One thing to note, sometimes the replays don't match what actually happened, which is highly frustrating.

Jazzepi

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

It'd probably be best to start a new arena match with the 5_pick total rule. All nations should have research completed for all levels.

I have a new and different SC design almost ready.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

The reason pretenders get extra paths is because their default paths suck.
For example compare the Master Lich pretender (3 death) to the summoned Demilich (4 death). The Demilich even has better stats.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Could you guys double check that you have the SC Stadium mod enabled when you're viewing the turn? Not having it on would screw the results up.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Yes it's on... mixed battle results rarely happen, yet even in MP games and SP games it still happens. During the MP games having mixed battle results usually isn't a big issue however for a special game which consists of only an arena match the mixed battle results is a big issue.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Yes, it is enabled. Furthermore, when you load a game that uses a mod, it automatically loads the correct mods for you, so there could be no doubt. (It also unloads none-relevant mods)

Potatoman, what OS are you using? Maybe the bug that causes differences in replays between OSs hasn't been completely squashed?

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

I'm running Dominions on Windows XP.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

I had buggy battles even in SP.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

I'm running Windows XP Professional... upon viewing the battle I win, yet results shows both of us were killed.

What happens when you watch my arena battle?

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

You were fighting my Unfettered with a fear of +10. Anybody with a mind would have run.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

a few more things:

Thanks bunches potatoman, this was awesome!

saw a bunch of the builds I was toying with, the erinya, the djinn and the ettin mandragora. Alas i was unique!

of course I had to fight a death 12 lich my first round, disentegrating for 180, ouch!

Why do morale 30 units run away so quickly? I could understand if it were the battle turn limit, but its not. This is how I lost as well as a few others. I would not have won, so I am not upset. Is there a special set of rules in teh arena?

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

What the heck was that thing? I thought there were no doom horrors allowed, I guess it's some weird national summon or something?

I wanted to say that at one point during the arena fight with that doom horror, I noticed that it had -329 or so hitpoints. Thought that was pretty funny.

Jazzepi

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

In any battle, if a non-mindless SC gets under 75% HP, they run.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

im at work and cant download,who won the tournament?

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

In my replay of this battle (#10), the Erinya dances around the Poison Golem, and they exchange blows for about 6-7 rounds. The Golem manages to get off a Quicken Self spell while the Erinya chases a distant Imp, but she quickly returns and manages to slay it. The Erinya finishes the match with no damage (although it was forced to regenerate some damage) and 48 fatigue.

So it appears that our replays are markedly different, which is bad news for any re-start that might have been in the works. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

It was the Eater of the Dead after it breaks away hence the name "unfettered". Its not a horror, just and undead. I think the negative hp came from Pheonix Pyre though I did not notice it going that low.

I am proud of it as a combatant. Everyone says eater of the dead is worthless, but with a GOR it becames a very good SC and by the time it goes unfettered its deep in enemy territory.

I didn't know that rule about running with 75% damage, anyway i wrongly assumed that the eater was mindless.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Sounds entertaining. Haven't had a chance to see yet, maybe tonight. Anybody use an Devourer of Souls? Thought about that one, but figured most SCs would have too high DEF to give the poor two-slot fellow that much of a chance, and the no-unique-stuff rule prevented a Kurgified Devourer.

(Eater of Souls with Gift of Kurgi and, say, either anti-magic, lifelong protection, or if we're feeling really wacky, the Horror Harmonica.)

Another 'joke build' I thought of was a Gifts-from-Heaven specialist... :p

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Well, my dude was killed by a high-aim GFH specialist (PyroStock's Precision-25 Djinn). Ha ha. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gifThat's brilliant... it worked once. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif Even with 25Precision (25-3GFH=22) the meteors didn't seem to immediately target the highest hit point unit as I expected.

I also read that even if petrify fails it does 7AN, which I interpretted as 7 turn stun and that clearly wasn't the case.

I was toying with QM's Fetish, but didn't see the thunderstrikes doing enough damage against the big guys & it seemed even more vulnerable to the monster spammers like Rytek.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Pyro: Read the section on paralyze damage regarding petrification. IIRC the target's size is subtracted from the damage, and then halved, so that's only about a turn on average...luck and random rolls mean that only about a third of failed petrifiction spells will paralyze at all (more if luck doesn't apply, but still, not 100%).

I was really sad to see my guy run away unscathed due to a minor fear effect though, especially since he (she?) was actually working like I had hoped before bailing out.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Actually it is worthless except maybe SP. For MP one of your opponents could remove the creature by casting the same spell. Thus you've lost the astral gems, nature gems, and forged items. Also with no real control over the creature in its last stage causes risk of it returning your direction or the direction of an ally.

Personally I wouldn't use 70 gems or more to babysit and feed a single commander who will eventually turn independent and could attack my kingdom and armies. The fact the game only allows one is a huge achilles heel.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

The battle was #3 for my system.

From my experience battle results and battle views are rarely different. I'm sure many of us would like to see another arena battle... I have a new and different SC if you decide to host another.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

In my version, the erinya never actually won a battle. Which was a shame, since it was my build...

I designed it against other fighter builds- darkness helps take out most non-undead and demons, and flambeau helps it against the demons and undead

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

My bad. I was not looking at the most current game (the first incarnation of the game was missing QM's entrant, so I had to re-run it.)

Yes, I'm seeing the bad results now as well, exactly as NTJedi described them! Round 3, Golem vs Rudra the Golem definately appears to win, but is erroneously counted as slain. That's good news, actually, because it means that if I re-run the contest it ought to work right rather than appearing right only on my machine.

Is anyone opposed to another, final arena tournament? Or has interest in this contest been exhausted?

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Not at all, I'd actually like to see another run of it. Not that my SC will do much better http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif. But I think it would be cool to see some other match-ups.