Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

When one uses Acashic Record" to search a province, does is there any way to know (short of keeping a written list) if you have previously searched that province with AR? Any sort of indication on the main map (or anywhere else)?

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

there's always an indication. just right click on the province and you will see colored numbers in the middle up according on how you searched, each color represents a path of magic plus holy magic.
If you conquer an enemy province you don´t know how they searched.
you can search with others serch spells like gnome lore or dark knowledge or you can move a mage and use command "search for magic sites"

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

Which paths have been searched shows up on the overview (F1) screen as well.

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

When you cast the global enchantment Strands of Arcane Power is cast, this does a level 9 search in all paths in all friendly dominion provinces - however it does not update the nation overview info is this a bug? As if you lose the enchanment you won't know what has been seached and what hasn't.

GM12

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

I believe that it's a bug that it doesn't report the searching. However, it does not perform a level 9 search in every province. It performs a random search that's based in some way on the casting mages magic skills.

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

Graeme is correct - although he hinted at it, it is in some way NOT random. That is, a mage with the strands that is N7 always has the same max search using it, although it is a random amount up to that number every turn, in every province. IMHO it's a pretty crappy spell - by the time you get it, you should have site searched almost everywhere. Especially if the fix the site search algorithms.

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

The only time I've used it in multiplayer was in a game as R'lyeh where I had hoarded a little more than 100 clams, and needed as much defense against the four or five people that swarmed me as possible. I was using it more for defense against mages than as a site searcher, though it tended to find a few sites every turn.

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

I agree, it would be much more useful for site searching if it was a lower level. I'd like to see it seperated from the global mind duel and put into Thaum at 7 or something.

I guess though you really would be using it for global mind duel with a high astral mage instead of site searching anyway.

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

Strands does site searching according to the magics of the mage who cast it and won't find sites from paths the mage doesn't have. That's how it seemed to work in Dom2 when a friend of mine used a Pythian Arch Theurg to put it up. Thoroughly useless for site searching if you have set up dedicated radar teams or have the gems to blow on Acashic scanning.

Edi

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

There is a lot of suffering from Dom2 syndrome here - in Dom3 Strands of Arcane Power works as advertised, it does a level 9 search in all paths in all provinces with friendly dominion. I was playing on the 480 province map, with high dominion and after the massive first turn was getting 6 to 10 provinces per turn discovered to have magic sites.

GM12

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif!!! Ye Umors! I must cast that spell soon!

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

Why were you getting 6-10 new provinces with gem sites a turn?

That many (plus) switching to your dominion/conquered?

I assume it only works on provinces you own?

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

If it works at all like it did in the past, it would be because each province has its searched numbers go up randomly each turn. So one turn a province would be searched at Nature 1, the next turn it might be searched at Nature 2.

So with a big empire, the strands will continue to trickle in magic sites for a long time. In Dominions 2, this only wrked if you happened to be a Rainbow God (or someone who had wished for "Magic Power" but apparently in Dominions 3 it just works.

-Frank

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

Ummm... nowhere in the manual or in game does it say it does level 9 site searches. (Spell desription in maual is on page 217) so if it's doing level 9 searches, it is most definatly NOT doing what it should. That said, having it do level nine searches actually seems reasonable. Maybe have it do like d8+(domstrength/3) level nine searches in each province you control?

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

I'd prefer a d(dominon) searches in each province you control each turn.

Which may actually be what it's doing now.

-Frank

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

From the spell description in the game, it says that the search is based on the mages power - as you need S7 to cast it - I am guessing that it is based on the astral path. My pretender was S11 when the spell was in effect, and I am sure I was finding everything.

GM12

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

Unless it's changed, the search strength is approximatly magic in path X/4. It was (at least in dom 2) IMPOSSIBLE to get a mage that could find all sites with it (even not counting holy/unholy) you could powerwish to ten in all paths, wear a robe of the magi, cary an elemental staff, ring of wizardry, and ring of sorcery and you still would only do level 3 searches. Kinda stupid. I hope they've changed it, since it really should allow powerful mages to search better, as opposed to wasting a bunch of pearls.

Re: Using \"Acashic Record\" to Find Gem Sites?
 

Here's what it did for me, based on the spell being active for several years; this was under 3.0, upgraded to 3.01, with no difference apparent between versions.

It only searched provinces I owned, in which I had positive dominion. It only searched paths known by the caster. The maximum level of search reached was 3, anywhere, even with level 12 astral and level 9 air magic on the caster. Search level could get up to 3 even if the caster did not have level 3 in a path. Having a higher level in a path did make the search level more likely to go up. I don't know if higher dominion correlated with a higher chance of the search level going up.

This spell seems nastier as a way to kill enemy mages, actually. About the only way to make decent use of it for site-searching is with a high-astral pretender who casts it and then wishes for magic power. This is not something that will be practical in most games, probably. It's not a particularly efficient way to kill enemy mages, either, but it can at least be obnoxious.