Re: Gems after the Battles
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Ahhh rats. Thats a change from Dom1 isnt it?

Is there any way to change that? My +3 luck doesnt help? Having flankers who take out commanders on the field rather than have them rout doesnt help?

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I've picked up normal items from AI units or acquired an item after the death of a mercenary on my team.
If what you say is true... then shouldn't the game have more spoils of war?? I mean if you conquer a castle of a strong kingdom... why wouldn't the player get some gold from its treasury?? (even a percentage would be expected)

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

I've gotten plenty of minor items from battles, things like swords of sharpness, burning pearls (if that's what they're called), bracers of D...

I also had a strange encounter with a totem shield... I was attacking some independants, and kept on getting the message that 'totem shield casts curse' in the 10 turns that the battle took (there were *alot* of indies...) I had 10 units cursed. What I found strange, though maybe it's supposed to work this way, is that I didn't actually physically engage the mage with the TS until at least half way through the battle... Now for some reason I was under the impression that the TS would only activate when the wielder was physically threatened, and it would only curse those near him. I had all my black templars and templer knights cursed and my prophit. And until turn 7 or 8 of the battle no one was even close to the enemy mages.

I dunno, I see TS as being pretty abusable in this way. Just stick a handful on some weenies waaaay in the back with holdx5 then retreat and watch them curse every enemy in the battle with zero risk to themselves... has it always been this way?

-edit--- I also got the TS at the end of the battle http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ November 13, 2003, 15:06: Message edited by: licker ]

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

licker --
About the Totem Shields, yes, you can go curse-happy. Always hits, unresistable, very long range, gets cast every turn...

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Damn.. that sucks http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Oh well, time to look into abusing them to the fullest until they can get fixed (I hope...)

Though if you don't think they need to be fixed in some way, please tell me why http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ November 13, 2003, 16:14: Message edited by: licker ]

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well, as long as you don't abuse your poor competitors with your cursing shamens in our MP game, everything's fine... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well, as long as you don't abuse your poor competitors with your cursing shamens in our MP game, everything's fine... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Heh, cursing shamen with totem shields... That's the new plan http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif You shouldn't worry though, I mean you're not Jotun right? So a few dozen curses won't phase you http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

licker --
Heh. Have you checked out the Doom spell? You can't cast in it in the demo, but you can read the description. *Ouch*.

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Hmm, nope havn't really looked too much at the lvl 5+ spells yet. I'm sure I'll find something useful for those piles of shamen to do though... besides researching and forging totem shields that is http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

We're only on turn 3 though... so plenty of time to shift gears if I need too, though I think I'm already bumping up against Abysia oh well, at least our scales should be somewhat similar http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

licker --
Ahhh. "Doom" takes astral gems, but it curses EVERY enemy on the battlefield.
Hmmm. If I were truly evil, I'd consider equipping an astral mage with some gems, boots of speed, probably a cloak of missile protection or something like that, and give it orders to cast Doom followed by Vortex of Returning (not needed if the mage is an immortal type in own dominion, but that normally takes empowerment as demiliches / wraith lords don't start with astral). Then teleport it onto enemy stacks. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif But I'd only try that if I were truly, truly evil.

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">What magic levels do you need for doom? Can't see my shamen doing it easilly http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Still its easy enough to get a pile of shamen and a few TSs and do it the inelegant way http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

licker --
Hmmm. I don't have the demo with me at the moment, but if it hasn't changed from Dom I, Doom requires Astral 4 on the mage and Alteration 8 must have been researched. Oh, and it consumes 1 astral gem.
It'd be rather annoying if shamans were capable of tossing it off in the early game...

Gems after the Battles
 

I'm not sure if this is a bug... was looking for opinions first. I've noticed that when killing commanders, priests or spellcasters you get any items they were using. {that's fine}
However I also noticed that for some reason you don't get their gems. I could understand 20% of the gems getting lost or destroyed after some fireball killed the enemy... unfortunately all the gems disappear.
It would be nice to get any unused gems after a victorious battle. Little amulets are found after battle... why not the gems ?

Pondering,

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

Usually magic items aren't found either, unless they are cursed or powerful ones that want to be found.

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

You've got it: Doom requires Astral 4, costs 1 gem and 100- fatigue, and affects all enemies on the battlefield (and is not listed as resistible in the information I have on it). It is an Alteration 7 spell, however, not 8.

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

Somehow the original topic has been lost.... so I'm kickin it back to the front. I've noticed after killing spellcasters with gems that the gems are lost when the battle ends. WHY ?


~On the same note:
Shouldn't the game have more spoils of war?? I mean if you conquer a castle of a strong kingdom... why wouldn't the player get some gold and gems from its treasury?? (even a percentage would be expected)

[ November 14, 2003, 01:26: Message edited by: NTJedi ]

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Without more Diplomacy the game would quickly turn into "he who attacks most wins".

Sammual

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">There may be others, but I'm not one of them... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

I have the feeling that this is one of those areas where either the effect is going to be so small to make it not worth the bother to add it in, or so large that it creates an even greater imbalance. I mean if you are tromping on an enemy do you really need the extra goodies? From a realism view you may say yes, but from a game balance view the answer is probably no. I mean the most important commodity in the game is provinces, as you beat an opponent you get more and he gets less, so to skew the numbers even more drasticly... I don't think its needed.

Re: Gems after the Battles
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Whether its single player or multi-player I would have to disagree. Because if a major attack fails it could easily cause one of your nearby neighbors to see you as freshly wounded meat. And especially in multiplayer where gamers usually join forces against the greatest danger. Plus in singleplayer games it would allow AI opponents to be rewarded and become stronger for being aggressive.

I strongly believe the game should have more spoils of war. Right now the treasury and gems of a dying race just vanishes. Certainly there are others that agree.