Re: Yet More Addendi and Elaborations
 

I always assumed that those 8-9 path spells were supposed to be pretender-only spells, arent they?

So I simply suppose the introduction of a new random event, which causes a powerful mage having a weak morale to split up with his former master to become a pretender himself/herself with his/her own followers (i.e. becoming independant and attacking like Bogus and his neat friends)... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image.../firedevil.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/stupid.gif ...always remember to eliminate your minions if they become too powerful! (Modders: Beware of Illwinter! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif )
This would thus turn 9th level spells to almost-pretender-only! (Calculating: 3 native, +1 from gems, +3 from items = 7, so I guess those 9th level spells would be at least Pretender OR communion exclusive...)


It would also make having luck bit more worthwhile, so adding that kind of event would be a true two-for-one bargain!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: Yet More Addendi and Elaborations
 

It's quite possible to get base levels of 4 or 5 on a non-pretender for most magic paths : Elemental Kings / Queens have up to 4 or 5, Lich has 4 in death, Treelords have 4 or 5 nature, Archdemons have 4 or 5 in blood and other paths. You can easily get +4 or +5 from non-unique items for most paths once you get S4 for a ring of sorcery and then wizardry.

And I'm not sure that I agree that the 9th level spells are supposed to be pretender only - just that they're supposed to be rare and hard to get to cast, and I'm not sure that I see the ultra high level spells get cast often enough....

I _like_ the fact that it's sometimes possible to get an 8th or 9th level spell or enchantment off from a surprising source. Example: I managed to have a High Seraph cast Arcane Nexus (S8). Sadly it died a mere two turns later, but still....

Re: Yet More Addendi and Elaborations
 

Well I dont know about you but I sort of meant that "Divine Intervention" could be a new form of spell type, one that didnt require a high path level, and not necessarily a global enchantment -- simply a decent (not über) spell which only a Pretender may cast. An example of this type of spell could be....

- Battle Magic: "Resurrection" (req. some Astral, and/or some Death?), can bring fallen (holy?) comrades back to life which fell in that battle

- Ritual: "Deus Ex Machina" (req. some Earth, maybe some air?) will transport the pretender in a holy wooden construct to the province of his/her/its choice, landing with a loud crash (combat: large AoE panic), and returns the pretender along with 10+ choice troops back to the capital (automatic ritual of returning) after 10 combat rounds;
"Merkhabah" (req. fire, astral?), sends the pretender in a visionary flaming chariot across the skies, causing fear and unrest in an enemy province or boon and morale boost in a friendly province; the pretender lands in that province and, should a battle ensue, will automatically start that battle with awe+4, an astral shield and a fire shield on.

Well I dont think this is terribly important, would just be some flavor, maybe others think this is stupid, I dont know. Much prefer the Ally option if there had to be a choice!

Re: Yet More Addendi and Elaborations
 

More micromanagement saving ideas.

I played my first Ermor game recently. And I was depressed at all the micromanagement of putting undead under the command of commanders and setting each commander's orders. Ermor just gets way more troops in raw numbers than just about any other nation especially ashen empire.

It would be great if troops would automatically go into command until the command is full, in a default formation set by the player, with the commander having default orders set by the player. That would save soooo much time.

Re: Yet More Addendi and Elaborations
 

Only if you could disable that option!
It could possibly lead to commanders which didn't reach their command maximum to pick up stray soldiers being recruited in provinces they go to, if unspotted this could lead to disaster (whoops! my tactical move is reduced to 1 because of damn miltiamen, and my morale just took a nose dive!) or just to some more MM...

More ideas
 

Some more suggestions (apologies if they've already been done):

Nation-specific random events. In particular, no more 'militia' events for Ermor. Give them something like "an ancient burial vault has been unearthed" or something.

The ability to permanently hire mercenaries, after you've employed them three times, for example.

I also think that mercenary Groups should survive routs, especially if the leader survives. And it would be nice if mercenaries could replenish themselves, rather than becoming weaker and weaker.

And how about mercenaries which will only go for nations with specific dominion settings (i.e. the Flamemaster and his lava golems will only go for a nation with heat-1 or more)?

Re: More ideas
 

Sandman,

I like your mercenary idea. And your nation-specific events idea. Militia for Ermor or carrion woods Pangea doesn't make a lot of sense. But I'm not sure you would want to give Ulm a bunch of infantry of ulms as they are much better than militia.

Mercenaries I think do need to be more customizable. And able to be turned off. And I thought it was hillarious when I hired the eternal knights as Ermor and sent them to their certain death. But that shouldn't have been allowed to happen. They should not have willingly hired themselves out to an all-undead nation because it goes against their nature. Maybe things Groups like Orion's should look at your overall scales and decide if you even qualify to bid on them. I could even see the mages prefering magic scales, the druids prefering growth, and so on.

Re: More ideas
 

Minor note:

'National' blood slaves might be thematic, and in certain situations would help -- e.g. Abysia recruiting fire-resistant blood slaves which don't combust in combat. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: More ideas
 

Actually, I wouldn't mind if Ulm got Ulmish infantry from a free troops event. Ulm has few advantages as it is, and they could do with being able to extract some usefulness from the luck scale. I'd much rather have twelve decent infantrymen than forty militia.

Yes, that's the idea. Those are really good examples which hadn't even crossed my mind.

Re: More ideas
 

Which? Are you so used to hunting slaves you think of them as objects? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif (A revealing lapsus as they would say)

I would like to make a suggestion, which may or may not have any interest for the other players. It would be a way to counter or negate battlefield enchantments, pretty much like it is possible to dispel global enchantments. A few ways I can think of would be:

- The enchantment could be dispelled if the caster/item is removed from the battlefield (either by dead or retreat). If it is already the same, and I am overlooking the obvious, feel free to slap me. This would be a fairly simple suggestion, but it would allow to actually get rid of the enchantment in the battle.

- In addition to this, a spell may be introduced to allow to kill the caster of the item, and/or a battle order to specifically target such commanders. The latter part seems rather odd however, especially as Illwinter removed the "Target enemy spellcasters" option, but might make sense if it is linked to another spell (a magic beacon say, which would make such casters much easier to locate and elimitate).

- A generic, battle-wide Dispel spell may be used instead to remove such enchantments.

- Specific counter-spells may appear to negate a particular enchantment. For example, a Earth Channel spell would counter Wrathful Skies.

I think such a change would make it harder to make sure a specific enchantment is active during a battle, perhaps making it worthwhile to send more than one mage to cast the same enchantment (instead of being confident your Staff of Storms bearer will call a storm for you). It could also increase the effectiveness of certain strategies; for example, the Mass Flight spell would perhaps be a very potent enchantment for hordes, but its use seems limited by the availability of Storms/Staffs of Storms earlier in the game.