Re: Unseen Servant Runners
 

Actually any of us could do that and turn in the results. Maybe I will remember to sometime

Re: Gem usage
 

Everybody seems to want this http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif But keeping a scout stocked with slaves and gems (and maybe a winebag) works just as well, especially because he's hidden and cannot die in combat. Just transfer the number of gems you want to be usable from the scout to the mage. It seems like a clutzy solution, but actually I prefer it to additional interface complexity.

For me, there are a couple aspects of commander control that cannot be solved without interface changes, which take higher priority.

1) Forcing / disabling spells beyond the script, as there is no way to keep a commander from casting "Breath of Winter" and killing all of your other mages and commanders, or to force him to cast "Lightning / Thunder Strike" instead of useless phantasmal warriors.

A simple "Repeat last spell" option might solve this.

2) Ordering a commander to never retreat, unless he personally has a morale failure. This problem makes Molochs and some other pretenders that auto-summon allies very weak, and exacerbates the supercombattant problem, since SCs cannot be grouped with normal units - so they must be used solo, thus they can't be deployed unless they can take on an entire army alone, forcing people to use a few insane SCs rather than lots of medium SCs, narrowing choices and making the game less interesting. It also weakens thugs - very strong combat commanders that can take out an army, if you have maybe 5 of them. If one gets killed, the rest rout and you lose. So why bother? Just save your gems for a single powerful SC. Also, the slave collar is rendered useless. Has it ever had a function in any version of Dominions?

A "Never Retreat, Never Surrender (R)" toggle per commander, defaulting to "off", would solve this.

Re: Unseen Servant Runners
 

As much as possible was gone over before release, but unfortunately too much was embedded in the code. Hopefully, all the text in Dom3 will be in a form that can be handed to an editor.

Re: suggestion
 

Reminds me another game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif .

Anyway, provincial spell would be nice, but then should wehave a provincial dispell spell too (cheaper) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif .

Re: suggestion
 

Another suggestion: have all scouts default to "retreat" orders instead of "attack" orders.

NEW MAGIC SITES
 

RECOMMENDED NEW MAGIC SITES
Here are some ideas for new magic sites for Dominions3.


HotSprings = Any commander and units under him may enter and receive +1 STR this effect works only once for those units.

Active Volcano = +2 Fire Gems per turn... 20% chance each turn any units within the province take 1-25pts of fire damage.

Arena of Gods = Any commander in the province may enter to fight a random monster... if victorious the reward will be 3 random gems. Also all other pretenders are able to watch this battle.

Temple of Ancient Air Spirits = Any commander and units under him may enter and receive temporary flying only for the next turn. very very rare mostly useful for map editors.


Altar of Fire or Poison or Cold or Shock = A commander may enter and one unit under his control is randomly sacrified. All units under the commander matching the type sacrified will receive 25% resistance for the type of Altar. Example= Altar of Fire would be 25% resistance for Fire.

Hyperbolic Time Chamber = A commander may enter which causes him and the Chamber to vanish for 3 to 7 turns. The commander returns as ethereal yet the Chamber is destroyed. +1 Astral Gem and Pretenders cannot enter.


Dimensional Vortex = Province is cursed causing independent supernatural attacks such as Horrors, Phantasmal Warriors and other supernatural beings.

Brigands Kingdom = Unrest increase by 5, 5% chance of independent brigands/thieves/rogues attack, 5% chance one random commander has an assassination attempt by an independent assassin.

Great Fault = The province is seriously unstable with frequent earthquakes and 10% of the time causing a Major Earthquake each turn... any units here during a Major Earthquake will take 1-12 damage. No structures/buildings can be built here.

Oracle of Faith = Any commander may enter and units under his command temporarily gain +3 morale for the next two turns.

ArchDemons Blood Pit = A commander may enter causing the sacrifice of 12 blood slaves in exchange the commander will receive +2 permanent hit points.

Magic Sites
 

What I'd like is for each magic site to have a little bit of text description. Who made the White Man hill? What's the story behind the Shrouded Lands?

Re: Magic Sites
 

I have this idea for 'spell slots'. Basically every unit gets a number of spell slots, and various spells take up slots when they are cast. Mostly buff type spells but perhaps other battlefield wide spells (wrathful skies, darkness, etc.) could take up slots

There are lots of things you can do with this:

- limits the number of buffs a mage can cast so you could allow more than 5 orders per commander
- stronger (or lower reasearch level) spells could take up more slots
- more tough strategic choices if other battlefield wide spells take up spell slots - you can have wrathful skies but its harder to protect the casting unit
- different units (especially pretenders) could have different number of spell slots
- some items could give (or use) extraspell slots

A way to do the UI would be to have another line of icons with the slots and what is occupying them. It would look similar to the icons for the various buffs now, but with boxes for the slots.

Re: Magic Sites
 

It would be wish for some missle weapon buff spells that do not cost gems and are not battlefield wide. For example, an 1 aoe spell that makes missile weapons have some amount of extra cold damage. Right now aim is the only spell that I can think of in this category.

More ideas:
 

National unit upgrades

It would be nice if national units recieved certain improvements based on your current research. For example, Ulmish armour would get better stats if you researched construction. At con-0, full plate of Ulm would have the same stats it has now; 18 protection, -5 defence and 5 encumbrance. At con-5, the armour would have improved to (say) 20 protection, -3 defence and 4 encumbrance. At con-10, it would be very good indeed.

Another example would be Man's Avalon units. For each level of enchantment reached, they could gain +1 strength, hitpoints or morale. Their discription says they're enchanted by the witches - so shouldn't that enchantment get better with research?

I don't intend for these upgrades to become the norm; they're primarily a way to enhance (in a thematic way) some units, giving them more of a chance against powerful magic.

Similar possibilities:

Weapons upgrades for Ulm.
Spider Armor upgrades for Machaka.
Martial arts abilities (alteration?) for Tien Chi.
Coral upgrades for Atlantis (enchantment?)