Dom3 Questions thread
 

Have a simple question, that doesn't need a thread of its own, but haven't been able to find an answer elsewhere in the forum? Ask here, please.

I'll start off by asking what are the mechanics of earthquake?
The manual lists 'def' as one of its characteristics, along with mundane. Does this spell do a roll against a unit's defense to determine if it hits? What kind of attack roll does it make? Does it get effectively more accurate as fatigue climbs?

If I have say, plenty of earth readers, some golem crafters, and a few Oracles of the Ancients (who cast 1, 2, 4, or 8 earthquakes), who'll survive? MA Agarthan LI has a good defense, though EA agarthans don't. And the mages don't have any armor at all...

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

Well I am not really certain of the exact mechanics of earthquake, I have had considerable success with 3 Troll kings casting 3 earthquakes leading armies of trolls or sea trolls. I have done this many times, resulting in no casualties for myself and destroying 1,000+ strong armies in 3 or less combat rounds. So protection, regeneration and high hps are good with earthquake. I have had similar success with MA Agartha/EA Atlantis using the massed earthquake tactic.

Earthquake is extremely effective at destroying massed mages as well, I have often taken out communions with earthquake.

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

Thanks for that answer, Meglobob. I may get the opportunity to see Earthquake in action soon, myself.

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

Yes. I guess it makes a standard roll like in MR checks against 10. So with a defense of 20 or above you should be relatively fine.

I guess the standard mechanics regarding fatigue and defense come into effect. High fatigued units catch criticals and therefore afflictions more easily, and unconscious units can't defend at all.

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

What's the deal with the Master Alchemist?

I can't seem to figure out what the flavor text actually does for me. I don't see any bonus alchemizing gems, though I only know how to do them one at a time. Is there a way to alchemize more than one at a time?

Also, how does the Alchemist's Stone work?

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

I think it might be for turning gems into gold, not gems into other gems.

Jazzepi

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

Yep, double gold for each gem.

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

So, on this line of thought, what was the thinking behind allowing alchemization of earth and fire gems, but not the others?

I'm assuming fire gems represent garnets, earth topaz, air diamond, water sapphire, nature emerald, death opal, and astral pearls.

If I had an opinion that anyone wanted, I'd make it so you could alchemize fire, earth, air, water, nature, death, and astral gems, with elemental gems given preference over nature and death, and nature and death preferred over astral (say 15 for elemental gems, 10 for nature/death, and 5 for astral) with a bonus of 1 gold for every level in that path your Pretender has.

That gives a little bonus for the elemental paths, which are weaker in the long term than death/nature, and a bonus for death/nature, because they'd be rarer than astral gems, since the astral gems (logically) would be more common than any other gem.

This would give *all* the other magic paths a little boost, compared to blood, which wouldn't hurt a thing.

I get that the explanation is apparently (al)chemistry functions in such a way, in the Dominions universe, that fire gems and earth gems are the only ones that can be extracted for gold, but that doesn't really answer the question in a thematically interesting or satisfying way.

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

Gold has the alchemichal prperties of the Sun, and the sun is made out of fire. Thus you can give any base metal the properties of the sun if enough fire magic are used in the process.

Earth magic can be used to transmute one form of metal into another, in other words lead into gold.

---

Also, as a side note, gems are just a conventional way of saying 'condensed magic' (vis, in ars magica terms). They are not supposed to be sold. If you don't want to loose the RPG feeling you can say that magical gems are small enough to not be worth anything to a non-mage.

Edit: Early on in Dom-ppp development, only fire gems were usable.

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

Thank you for clearing that up, that has been puzzling me for a while.

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

Oh, sorry. I though that was obvious http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/redface.gif

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

Oh, I see now that they're just clumpy accretions of random, rusty minerals that happen to store magic, kind of like discarded iron slag, or something I'd dig up in my garden, with nasty bugs and worms living under it, instead of rare and beautiful jewels the size of pigeon's eggs, lovingly cut by master craftersmen, glowing with an inner fire of their own, and filling the very air with a magical light that makes the world a better place to live in, and inviting even the dullest spartan to covet them.

I get it now, and having gotten it, I am somehow... diminished http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

Nah, not rusty minerals. More like a crying root in the shape of a small human, a silver acorn, a golden apple, a crystal flower, a rainbow liquid, a floating darkness, a pouch with a trapped sound.

But also gems with trapped midsummer sunlight, the size of an egg.

Obviously magical, but only rarely something a king can use to pay his soldiers with. Soldiers are down to earth and sensible and knows that gold is useful. Barking clams are not.

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

This post was in reference to the gold/alchemy, and not what gems were.

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

Thanks Kristoffer-that was a very nice answer http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I guess I'm the sort of person that likes things to be quantified-if a thing does a thing, then a similar thing should relate to it. It helps me understand the world, but I can't expect things to be that neat. As long as, in their "messiness" they are more extraordinary, which is what you've given me.

And I am satisfied.

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

Glad to help http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

I have some questions about Piercer and Long bow of Accuracy. I usually set my commanders to remain behind troops so as to protect them, which I sort of see as a waste since they won't be attacking. I'm wondering if crafting these specialized missle weapons are worthwhile, particularly if trying to target commanders. For that matter, does anyone know if the 30 Precision of LBoA is symbolic (meaning it always hits the target square), or actual, meaning so high it will usually hit the target square accept from very far distances?

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

Spells with symbolic precision have a value of 100.

I'm thinking the precision is actual.
If you cast darkness (75% hit to precision), a value of 40 (30 plus base 10) becomes 10.

On the other hand, if it was symbolic, with prec. 100,
the actual precision value becomes a bit more than 25. Considering that precision over ten counts double, thats darned accurate even under conditions of darkness.

Practically speaking, a commander with precision ten plus a precision 30 weapon will rarely deviate.
Lets see...
30+10=40. Since precision over 10 counts double:
10+30x2= 70 precision for calculations.

If the range from attacker to target is greater than precision/2-2, then the missile will deviate.

That means it will shoot 33 squares before deviating. I'll do the math for that in a bit.
Longbow of Accuracy - range 45
Maximum Deviation = distance x 1.25 / precision
45x1.25/70 = 0.8
Longbow of Accuracy will never miss its target square. The defender can still dodge, though- and the longbow is of little use against MA Agartha's very well shielded infantry.

I do wonder if it's considered a magical weapon for calculating hits?

Piercer has less range and accuracy, I'll leave you to calculate that on page 77 of the manual.

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

Believe me when I say I can and have done the math myself. Piercer has presicion 10 and Range 35. That means 1.46 deviation max. Of course, the commanders I consider giving it to have a bit more then your basic precision (Vans with opportunity to cast Aim). What makes the Piercer more appealing despite the higher cost and shorter range and accuracy is its AN properties. 12 HP damage gives it an even shot of killing or at least wounding normal human commanders.

What I'm really interested in is how well these things work in practice, and are they worth investing in to pick off enemy commanders. If so, how would one go about maximizing their chances of getting a commander kill?

Re: Dom3 Questions thread
 

I am curious if they count as a magic weapon, for purposes of bypassing shields.

I haven't been getting the right races and gems for testing out bows in MP, though I'm very curious myself. If I find the time, I'll investigate myself.

I had an assassin type character with that feebleminding bow and heroic precision. Prophet also, but died fast enough against skellyspamming, bodyguarded Ctis necromancer. I do wonder if there's any priority targeting or purely random. I don't think I was clever enough to fire rear, because I was expecting a finite number of bodyguards.

I'll get another chance eventually, and will continue experimenting. I'll let you know if I figure something.

What I'm probably going to try next is a few standard indie commanders set to the front with a few bodyguards and fire rear orders. None of the races I've been playing with have cavalry, but seeing how devastating (and hard to hit) Tien Chi's sacred mounted archers are...