Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

Here's another idea on my part, mages shouldn't by default cast spells that can kill them, like shockwawe if you don't have 100 SR. It's very sad when your rainbow pretender kills himself like that.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

Well, the slaves get the same +1 to paths bonus that the masters get, so this effectively reduces their fatigue (at least potentially) if the communion is large enough.

It just doesn't share out the fatigue for the slaves.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

On research being the default action:

I think the answer is to make "defend" take a default action based on what the unit can do and what's there.

Mages would research.
Priests would preach if it would do any good.
Reanimators would reanimate.

These would be evaluated in order until a task was found.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

No, slaves only get the communion bonus to paths for calculating the fatigue they absorb from the master's spells.

For anything they cast on their own, they only have their own paths, plus the effect of any booster spells a master has cast.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

When I first suggested that Yomi get a gate-site, like R'lyeh, 2 years ago or thereabouts, I was thinking that it would actually lead to the Japanese spirit-world, and contain primarily different types of Japanese ghosts and spirits. Japanese have a *lot* of ghosts and spirits. Some demons would be fine too, ofcourse, but I'd rather have demons for Yomi be National summons.

Now that we're getting site summons, I'm thinking that it would be pretty awesome if someone created a map (and once one was made, they could be added to other maps) with Yomi surrounded by a bunch of provinces-say six-each one containing a site that allowed a death mage to enter and summon a different type of Japanese undead. This would not only give Yomi a boost-a balanced boost, because those provinces would still have to be captured, and defended, because others could use them too-but it would also make Yomi distinct from all other Nations.

As far as summons go, I totally agree that Yomi should get some blood summons, and maybe some undead summons too. I think it would be great if they got some unique "demon lord" types-like one for every cardinal direction.

A couple of demonic Pretenders would be nice too.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

Another thing I'd like to see would be some kind of "charisma" or PR/Diplomacy scale (whatever seems like a good term to call it), that would affect your Nation's ability to attract heroes, since I think heroes ought to be separated out from other good events.

Bad charisma might affect the Morale of your non-Sacred units negatively-or perhaps just Independents under your command, while reducing your chances to attract Heroes, but it would also give you some kind of boost to your PD-based on your bad reputation, other Nations don't want to risk your displeasure, and because you're not worried about keeping up appearances, there's no reason not to decorate in the styles of "early crow's cage" and "Spanish Inquisition", complete with pit traps and caltrops.

A good charisma would help you get more heroes, and maybe lowers the price of Mercenaries, and possibly even Summoned creatures, but it would also give you a negative Patrol factor, since your open tourist trade allows spies and assassins easy access.

I'd also like to see some generic, non-National heroes available. Examples might include a hoburg knight, a bog beast, a wandering Titan, a knight of the Chalice, a hero from one of the wolf/bear/lion/deer tribes, or one of the Amazon independents, etc. Units specific to Dominions, in other words, but not specific to any one Nation. I think a chance of getting one of those would add more of a specific "Dominions flavor". You can already get Necromancers, etc., ofcourse, I'd just like this expanded, and the units themselves labled as actual Heroes.

This would also be a fun as a moddable feature on certain "theme" maps, where each Nation would have a chance to end up with the same map-based Heroes, while still getting their own National Heroes.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

Yes, I could see some kind of spreading influence thing added to the game. A kind of "scale of influence", perhaps. Hey I know, it could be called "dominion", like the name of the game! :p

I always thought dominion should have a stronger effect on the game. I hope you don't mind if I rewrite your suggestions to fit the existing model.



What difference would it make if a unit was a hero? Currently, heroes aren't even unique the way unique summons are. A good event description would be enough IMO.

Knight of the Chalice:
"Group of peasants in a backwater province decided to join the army to get free food and upkeep. Fortunately, a wandering knight happened to hear about the nefarious plot and killed all of them. Dominion was increased."
Rare good event, requires dominion 4, gives Knight of the Chalice commander

Cyclops:
"Your miners dug too deep following a promising vein of rare metal ores and unleashed a nameless terror imprisoned under a mountain ages ago. The creature wreaked dreadful destruction and killed 1 percent of the population until a lone priest stood against him and threatened him with divine punishment. Now afraid of your power, the creature has accepted to serve you in return for his continued freedom."
Rare good event, requires dominion 8, requires Production 2, mountain or cave only, gives Cyclops with E3, creates a Mine of Superior Iron site.


Of course, similar bad events should also be made. A Cyclops freed from his imprisonment could kill 10% of the population and take control of the province if you had Misfortune.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

If we're talking about patching Jomon, one thing I'd really like to see is the Ninjas made a little better. They should at least be able to take out a generic indy commander without the use of magic items... given that the more common 'Assassin' can do this without difficulty.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

They can. I played using large amounts of ninja in one game and had a fairly high rate of success taking out non-mounted indy commanders. Mounted ones were rather a lot harder though. I may or may not have been using only ninja with one experience star plus though.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

Also, Endoperez: Using Dominion would be a nice idea, and I agree that I'd like to see Dominions have more of an effect too, but I was thinking more of a determiner of how the Nation is viewed by other Nations, in terms of morality, aggression, social freedoms, etc. This would help balance out the really powerful Nations-Mictlan, Hinnom, R'lyeh, Lanka, Niefelheim, etc-who also always seem to be really evil, too.

They might start with a malus to their "Charisma", while weaker Nations might have a plus, due to their more open and friendly characters.

I'd rather see Dominion possibly affect things like morale, population types of indies under it's control, PD, and maybe some Pretender and Nation-specific effects.

There was one post that suggested Tien Chi might grant longevity to it's mages at Dominion 10. It ultimately seems that it doesn't, but what a great idea if the Celestial Emperor granted that power at high Dom.

Titans might perhaps grant all human units an extra hp or two at very high Dom.

Freaklord might add some freaks to your Nation's PD, or allow you to recruit them directly. Vampire Queen, the same, only with vampires and thralls.Dakaina-being a sea monster-might allow you to build PD in an underwater province with 10 Dominion, etc.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

This got me thinking.
What would be cool as well would be if some pretenders would get special spell effect.
For example if you take an Ancient Kraken all Krakens you summon would be sacred.
Or if you take a Medusa the Petrify spell would be easier to use for you national mages.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

Krakens are pretty powerful as it is, I think too powerful just to make them sacred because your Pretender's a kraken. I could see maybe giving 2 krakens for the price of 1, or something, if you've got Dom10, since they're not that easy to get...and using your Pretender to summon them is costly enough as it is. Or at Dom10 allow the Ancient Kraken to attract 1 regular kraken a year. Something like that-but a Fire/Water blessed kraken would be very hard to deal with.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

The increase was definitely appreciated. Ideally this setting would be adjustable by the gamer allowing the game to utilize computers of today and tomorrow. This would keep the game alive longer.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

Anything less than 25,000 troops on a battlefield and a million troops on the map is just flimsy.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

The Ermore javelins should be changed to Pilum. The Roman army used these weapons instead of simple javelins. The intent of a pilum is to negate the oppositions shields. The tip of a pilum was made out of a soft metal so it would deform while striking a shield. This would change the point into a hook that kept it in the victims shield. Also it was heavy so it would encumber the victim. One last atvantage of this weapon was after hitting something it was no longer effective till it was repaired. With a regular javilin you could pick it up and throw it back. Here's a link: http://www.soldiers-russia.com/kolob...an_weapons.htm :D

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

nah don't think so, ermors militia would be unbeatable.

also i don't think you're source is right, it couldn't be heavy because if the head is soft (less dense and so much lighter than conventional heads) the shaft needs to be lighter than conventional shafts because if it is heavier than the head, the head would never hit the target unless it's standing 2ft away.

i have heard in a history lesson some many years ago that the top was soft and i'm not disputing that but the shaft would have to be light - possibly hollow, for the javelin(or pilum) to ever fly straight or far through the air in accordance to the laws of physics.

in short you can't have a soft head and a heavy shaft so little to no encumberance and second it would be overpowered if it caused encumberance.

PS. you can't throw javelins back at the enemy anyway in dominions.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

In RTW the pilum are AP :)

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

Hi, I'm a student of military history. I know I'm correct on this subject. Since you didn't like that link try this: http://numbera.com/rome/tools/pilum.aspx . I wouldn't give it to militia, I would only give it to Principe. The old guys wouldn't have the strength to use them effectively If you don't like this link, just google Pilum. And you will see I'm correct. Thanks.:D

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

I took an interest in this and looked up the pilum on britannica online. The pilum was apparently 7 feet long, with a bullet-shaped or pyramidal head to let it penetrate armour and shields better. It was sometimes thrown.

Wikipedia, while less reliable, has more to say. It says the head of a pilum was almost a foot long, and capable of lodging in shields and armour it penetrated. The pilum could be rigged to bend at the joint between head and shaft - one of the two pins joining the parts could be replaced with a wooden dowel, which would snap under the shock of impact. Mechanical strain would then bend or twist the pilum, making it useless and encumbering shields it lodged in.

A suggestion to work this in Dominions would be (this would require dev coding, so we're in the realms of fantasy here):

Missile weapon with 1 shot.
Stats like javelin - perhaps a point or 2 more damage, perhaps less range and/or accuracy.
Special effect: If the missile is blocked by a shield, apply a new 'shield destroyed' effect (like armour destroyed but only affecting shields - armour destroyed would overwrite this effect).

I suspect this would increase the power of legionaries noticeably.

Btw, Nikelaos: Soft =/= light. See lead for details.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

I don't quite understand that logic. What laws of physics forbid this? I'd expect that the less weight the head has, the less impact it has on the trajectory when you throw the shaft. If you'd have a heavy head and a light shaft, or hollow one like you suggested, then that would really **** up things. Unless you'd use it like in hammer throwing. BTW, from what I know, the soldiers had leather straps or something like that to propel their pila. They didn't throw them like a spear.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

Athletic javelin shafts weigh more than the heads.

So,... yeah.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

Athletic javelins (the modern ones at least) are apparently designed not to fly too far. I believe there was a problem with the older designs in that Olympic athletes were very nearly lobbing them into the stands.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

And... a nose weight does help with aerodynamics to an extent (for instance, paper planes fly far better with a nose weight). It would certainly help a javelin land point first (which is fundamental to the purpose of a javelin).

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

Afaik it's about air friction and force/acceleration.

When you throw something air friction exerts a force on it that's proportional to the speed and size it has.
But the acceleration (in that case the break action) is force through mass as F=m*a.
So a smaller mass is slowed down more quickly by air friction.
Now imagine throwing two objects of the same size but with different mass tied together.
The light object will be soon slower than the heavy one, which means that the heavy one will move to the front pulling the light one with it.

It's a bit similar with the javelin, if the front end is lighter than the back end the javelin will start to turn in flight messing up tracetory.

That doesn't mean that the tip has to be more heavy than the shaft but heavy enough that the centre of mass is closer to the front than to the back end.
I'm quite sure that applies to athletic javelins as well, at least all arrows I've seen are constructed that way.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

I'm sure the Roman army used practicable and efficient weapons, my last post showed pictures of these. My suggestion would be to change the weapon effect to the shield breaking flail. Maybe increase the encumbrance for both the carrier and the victim. Just a thought. Balista's and other artillery could be modded by using any immoble troop type. At least thats what I get from my small grasp of the mod stuff.:D

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

still think the javelins would b overpowered in any case, however i shall concede that i actually no nothing on the realism side and any sciency stuff i say is probably bumwad.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

The only real effect would be against SCs, everyone puts scum or krill up front to absorb the arrows, slings, ect... This would give certain units the capability to fight single combatants. Such as Joten and other SCs. I would give it a lower probability than a enchanted weapon to destroy a shield. :D

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

-dont-scale graphics options for use with any custom resultion/windows size, pretty please.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

Hi, new rant on a option I think would be useful. Being able to either change the name of a province, and or adding a comment to the province name. :D

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

still SCs cost tons, they aren't supposed to be taken out so easily by any means and are supposed to take alot of resources and planning to kill.

i suppose an elite, expensive sacred or something could pass with something like that but other than that it makes no sense to make the troops have such an uber effect.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

I don't think thats absolutely true, Tartarians only cost ten death gems. I agree that it may be too powerful to issue them to everyone. I just played Ermor in a mp game and found them to be a weak power. Maybe it was poor play on my part, but I don't think so. After that I started musing on ways to give them a little help. :D

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

Tarts cost 10 gems, plus 20 nature for GoR, plus maybe 20 for equipment. Plus whatever you determine the cost of healing their afflictions to be. And of course the actions of several mages who could be doing something else. They aren't so much cheap, as cheaper than the alternatives.
Oh, and hits that give them extra encumbrance wouldn't have much effect anyway because they're enc 0.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

unfortunately any SC chassis can usually be killed quite easily before it's geared up, by the time people are calling forth SCs others are sending in communions and a good communion with a meat sheild is more than enough to take out an SC with no gear.

yes the initial cost for tartarians is cheap but then you have to think about the gear and ontop of that most tartarians need gift of Reasoning which costs a fair amount of gems, and before that there is empowering mages and giving them boosters to be able to cast tartarian gate (costs gems) and if not you'll have to spend design points (costly in their own right except if you're LA ermor) to give you're god enough death to cast tartarians.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

And don't forget possibly gift of health or the chalice to get rid of all the afflictions they naturally come with.

Re: Suggestions for new patch
 

exactly, though you probably want and should probably contend over GoH anyway seeing as nature gems and indie nature mages aren't exactly a rare resource ,and it's quite a boon to all you're troops in you're dominion.

but then most people in the game will want and be able to contend for GoH leaving the chalice which there can only be one of.

Which brings us back to GoH but you may potentially need to pay quite a bit more than the minimum gem cost if someone else has it (which they may well do),and if you don't give enough gems to take it from someone it's just gems wasted.