Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

I've encountered rather interesting behaviour. My rainbow pretender was quietly doing his things (meaning searching for magic sites) when he was attacked by Hunter of Heroes. He didn't have any horror marks (or anything remarkable at all). After he has defeated the horror he got morphed into "Old Standard" (what is "Old Standard"?). He has retained all his magic levels, but not physical characteristics. As it happened on that turn he was moving to another province to search that was [as it came out unfortunately] populated by barbarians. Needless to say that in the new morphed form my rainbow pretender has promptly got slaughtered http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

I haven't seen (or read) anything indicating the possibility of morphing due to horror attack. I wonder if it's a bug.

Btw, why he has even got attacked by a horror?

I kept saved game in case it's a bug and IW would want to investigate.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Can't shed much light, except that within a fairly short time the Hunter of Heroes ate two of my EA Abysian HOFers, neither of whom was horror-marked, and away from ex. Vale of Infinite Horror.

I was wondering whether this was a weird property of Malphas the Corrupter (attracting horrors to attack his teammates), but perhaps this particular DH has become more active with 3.01.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Several of my HoF Starspawn mages have been eaten by Hunter of Heroes since patch 3.01. None of the poor fellows did have horror mark.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Now it ate my Frogzard-prophet ... .
He was 4th in the HoF, although he had the most kills (7).
He was cursed (witch event), but not horror-marked.

This sucks .. losing a 350gold mage on turn 8 !!

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

This was the funniest bug in a long time http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif And it is a bug, no horrors should appear unless you are horror marked or some mighty blood spell is in effect.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

I also got attacked by RAWRku, but since I was testing out one of Amos' mods I thought that the creature that was attacked was powerful enough to draw to horror's attention anyway.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Can it be avoided? I'm thinking of disabling Hall of Fame. Would that work?

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Lol funny http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Yeah, while this is indeed quite funny, it's also the kind of bug that can hose a MP game right quick, when is it going to be fixed?

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Yea most of the MP games have patched already, when the turns start coming in with dead heros...well the screams will be loud...

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Hunter of Heroes... The name sort of suggests he goes around murdering heroes. Seems like a special form of horror, that only needs a gold star as his beacon. If turning off the Hall of Fame stops heroic abilities, I'd say it would most likely work. I've never tried messing with the Hall of Fame, so I wouldn't know for sure.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

lol please hotfix ASAP!

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

This reminds me of a funny Dino Buzzati short story - the one where the rulers of the world start dying unexplainably, of apparently natural causes, one each week, until the whole world is at peace because nobody wants to have more power than the others.

Beware the Hall of Fame! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

(I've seen this as well - my pretender in a SP game met with the Hunter after a few turns)

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Isn't Old Standard the unit id 0 -or 1- ,that is, the first existing unit ?

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Johan, did it make sense to you what happened with my pretender (getting morphed) too? If you need a savegame I can send it.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

In the sample picture, your god does have a horror mark. Did he get that during the battle with Hunter of Heroes?

Or did he pick it up as an event during the battle?

-Frank

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Hmmm are you sure that it is a bug? I tried 2 games with sc´s... One with vanheim ea and one with abysia ma...

I played both in the 30th turn and never see such a horror. with abysia i had even 5 heroes in the hof.

Are you playing with luck-3 or something?

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Horror has attacks that give horror mark - that's how he got it (in the battle that resulted in morphing)

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

I wasn't sure. Morphing looked highly suspicious. But Johan (from Illwinter) said that horror attack is a bug.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Yeah. Not that "amusing" to see the developers describing it as simply one of the most amusing bugs they've seen, when it can totally [censored] up an MP game.

Then again, the army movement spells not working can [censored] up any game, and they didn't see fit to fix that in the patch. Nor the unbalanced pretenders.

If I were only a player, I'd be less disgruntled. As a programmer/developer, I'm starting to be unhappy for the horrible example it sets. (Especially for a game that set pre-order sales records.)

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Any ETA on hotfix yet from devs? (or at least confirmation that hotfix is coming)

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Wait. The travel spells are still bugged? >.<

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

I confirm that the eater of heroes attack units in the HoF without any horror mark.

Tried several games yesterday :

in the first game, 2 mages (both with heroic abilities) got eaten in the same game.

Second game : ermor with awake prince of death : my pretender was killed in a year of two (did'nt have any item yet, and raise dead in not enought versus an horror).

Third game : another mage eaten

I didn't have any game where I didn't lose at least one commander.

Scales that could have an influence :

magic was neutral or drain in all games (so I don't think that high magic can increase the chance)

luck was +2 or +3 in all 3 games (I'm tryibng differents nations and want to see their heroes ^_^)
I would think that if anything luck should decrease such random attack, but from a previous poster in the thread, it look like it could increase ?!

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Yes. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

I dunno, it is kind of funny.

Actually, I'd like to see the hunter of hero's left in, if tuned down a tad. It's a nice restriction on SC's.

Alternatively, it might be fun to have it randomly attack arena champions...

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Do SCs need still more restrictions? I don't have any MP experience with Dom3 yet, but I've gotten the impression that they are much weaker than in Dom2, and that there are more counters to them.

Originally, from the horror's description, I thought the Hunter of Heroes was supposed to attack entities in the HoF at random whether they were horror marked or not, just not quite as often as it now does with the bug.

IMO, misfortune 3 (or maybe just 2) should cause random horror attacks even against non-marked targets.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

It's not much of a restriction on SCs. They aren't really bothered much by those attacks (unless they get morphed into something else, of course). Scripting is pretty much the same (whether for horror or for planned batle) anyway. Supporting battlemages are in worse position, because their scripts designed to support an army with powerful spells don't work so well vs horrors.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Wait, what? I just used gateway like 5 times in an SP game to move troops rapidly around the map.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

The patch didn't mention of the spells being fixed. Did it work? O_o

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Yeah it worked. I was playing Suaromatia and I'd run across a site that let me recruit S3 mages. So I'd recruited a bunch of them, equipped them with whips of command and the astral boosting hats, and was using them to zip groups of 35 troops from my capital directly to the front lines of my expansion. 35 troops doesn't sound like much, but it can be a big impact when it's 35 hydras suddenly showing up http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

The bugged hunter of heroes attacks isn't much of a restriction on SCs? It's an assassination. Your unit goes first, then usually dies.

Or are you talking about normal horror marks?

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

2nd year, my pretender blue dragon got attacked by the hunter of heros, slain in 1 hit.

Hall of heros, contains 10/15 dead heros/pretenders by the 2nd game yr...the hunter of heros as been busy...erm...not what I would call in any way balanced.

Game destroyer/wrecker would be my words...

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

I didn't notice SC having much difficulty in slaying Hunter of Heroes - it has rather mediocre stats by SC standards. I imagine you face the risk of failing MR roll if you're attacked before you can put MR items or spells on your SC. But considering that the time frame between getting into HoF and getting MR items is small and that early your SC is probably your pretender (with MR 18) overall chances of your SC getting killed are pretty low. I'm not considering a risk of getting morphed here (nobody else has seen it, so I suppose it's pretty rare occurence).

HoF full of slained heroes is usually a result of battlemages or early thugs quickly getting into HoF and they stand little chance vs HoH.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Man, the Hunter of Heroes is a bloodthirsty chap in 3.01... he attacks a hero every 3-4 turns!

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Year 8, early winter. I'm playing LA ermor vs AIs. My duskelder SC got attacked by a hunter of heroes (because of the bug in dominions 3.01).

Wormfeast the dusk elder
current hp 35 from previous life draining, max hp 30, prot 18 morale 20 MR 21 enc 0 fat 0 str 20 att 13 def 28 prec 16

These stats include the underwater penalty.
5 of the def is parry. then +3 att/def after round 1 quickness.
Magic W2 D3.

weapon is built-in life drain. items: Charcoal shield, helm of horrors, chainmail of displacement, boots of giant strength, pendant of luck, amulet of antimagic.

Rarku the hunter of heroes
hp 92 prot 25 morale 30 mr 20 enc 0 fat 0
str 17 att 20 def 20 prec 15
Fear +15.

Attacks: (attack/defence/length)
1x Consume soul. Damage: Death (0/0/0). MR negates.
1x Astral fetters, Damage: Special (0/0/0).
2x Astral Hooks, Damage -5, nbr of attacks 3, (0/0/0). Horror mark.
2x Life drain, Damage 0 (AP, life drain). (0,0,0).
1x Curse luck. Damage: special. AoE 1. (0,0,4). MR negates.
All these are magic weapons.

Round 1: My SC cast quickness. enemy attacks, gains +4 hp somehow, but my SC hasn't lost any hp or fatigue.
Round 2: My SC cast soul vortex (61 fatigue now). Enemy attacks, gains +9 hp, my SC loses 11 hp and gets a horror mark.
Round 3: My SC rounts in fear, with 24 hp remaining. And auto-dies.

Maybe i'd had a chance... but I lose 16 def from his attacks before the two life drain attacks, so need like 36 def to dodge those half the time.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

In another thread i lsited what happened to my SC, it was a titan chassis (200ish health) with enough reinvig to keep him goings for good, a mirror image (air lvl 11) that took up 9 squares, mistform, around 6 high strength attacks, great def, good prot, 18 mr.
Went down after a few rounds of combat with this guy (getting severely horror marked in the process)

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

I believe that the hunter of heroes has an area of effect attack or two, and those cannot be dodged. Mistform wouldn't have helped, as most of the horrors attacks are magical, and a MR of only 18 means that 5% of the instant death attacks are going to succeed.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Gee, wonder why people are coming up with HoH nerf patches. If age patches were easier, I expect those would be there too.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

This bug at least showed how the doom horrors are overpowered (able to kill not only an unlucky, or weak SC but any pretender even well geared, in a high dominion province and with bodyguards and a duel script). I probably continue to use a nerf horrors mod (with a smaller but general nerf like all doom/unique horrors = normal horrors with a little more hp) after the bug is fixed, and will prefer to play mp games using this kind of mod. I can't see the interest of these "bad luck you are dead" creatures in what is supposed to be a strategy game (and especially when horror mark is not an high level spell), even if they have 0,0001% chance of attacking someone (what is worse strategy wise than several %, who wants extremely random game-breaking events ?).

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Can you use Wish to get a Hunter of Heroes for yourself ?

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Yes, you can. He might attack the caster instead, and will leave after a battle or two or couple, or gets bored. And I think you might get some other Doom Horror even when you Wish for a spesific one. Slave to Unreason doesn't follow your orders... and makes random units, possibly commanders feeble-minded in the province he's in. Pretty nasty, as he will stay parked in that one province.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

I agree with Meglobob. I've been playing a random map single player game this morning and have lost my pretender and four heroes within about the first 25-30 turns. I don't know what the deal is, but I don't recall this happening previously. And if I'm horror marked, why isn't it showing up in the Hero/Pretender info screen during the assassination battle playback and paused? *confused*

Bleh. A game breaker for me. At least today. Off to EVE. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Oh yeah, and off topic, but the random map generator routinely screws up province border placement as well as province name placement. But no big deal, comparatively. *wave*

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Well this depends on the turn of the game... SCs attacked on turn_10 usually don't do so well against this horror. And this horror carries a nasty attack which can give its victim a horror mark. So even if your SC does survive there's a chance the SC or Pretender has been horror marked.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

With a standard research it's hard to make SC much before turn 10. I suppose you need at least Alt-2 or Con-2 to make a "sort of" SC. And then he'll need couple of turns to get into HoF, so the "dangerous zone" is really narrow.

Mivayan has posted his SC stats (SC with Att 13?) and I'm not exactly sure why it did so badly. MR 21 is kind of low, but I'm not sure if 24 vs 21 makes such a big difference. (My SC had everything slightly better, except attack that was somewhere in 20s). With attack-13 he wouldn't probably stand a chance anyway, but it didn't seem to affect the particular scenario. Perhaps it was combination of all factors with a bad luck.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Many pretenders are SCs ready to go solo on turn 2 into many types of provinces.
It's easy to enter the hall of fame early in the game... first turn select one of your starting commanders as your prophet and second turn have him bless, smite, smite, smite. Unfortunately the HoF is cursed with that horror.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Those are hardly SCs - they're more like thugs capable of dealing with indies. My point was only that this horror things doesn't make big difference for SCs. For someone like smiting prophet or battlemage it's a big issue. Looking at it from another point of view, in Dom2 it wasn't uncommon to get your dragon killed by some outrageuosly lucky militiaman in the early game. Different scenarios, but the same result as with HoH.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Vampire Queen, Prince of Darkness and a few others can deal with more than indies especially with an awe bonus. Every level of research buffs their powers even greater. As the game progresses and opponents acquire tough summons and battlemages have learned battle spells these pretenders have to wear equipment to maintain SC status.

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

Howdy,

We had the HOH show up in our MP game. This is an old thread that I found by searching. Did the HOH get altered/nerfed in any way since late 06?

Thanks!

Re: Strange horror behaviour (likely bug)
 

The hunter of heroes is a horror which was originally bugged attacking anyone in the Hall of Fame. This has been fixed and to my knowledge the horror was not nerfed.