Cool new event
 

Just got this in a game (too bad it's already lost http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif):

Rumors of you and your promises of an eternal afterlife has led an amazon priestess from a distant land to lead her tribe to you. In return for service they expect you to display your mastery over death itself.

One E1D1H2 Onyx Priestess, 2 Nightmares, and 32 Onyx Amazons.

Nice! Luck-3, Death-3 scales in the province may have had something to do with it.

Re: Cool new event
 

Wow.

On a related note, has anyone seen an Onyx Amazon Province in Dom3? I haven't seen one in a very long time, if ever.

Re: Cool new event
 

Several times. I've seen all types, but Garnet most rarely.

Re: Cool new event
 

Yes, I have seen the Onyx Amazons. Once, Early age, Alexander map. I see the
Garnet Amazons (blood hunters) much more often.

Re: Cool new event
 

Amazons are hard-coded into spesific terrains, and I think Garnet Amazons are only available in mountains and possibly border mountains. Garnets are waste, IIRC, and there aren't that many waste poptypes. Crystal are plains, so they are very rare because there are so many poptypes for plains; Jade are in swamps, and are quite common because there aren't that many swamp-spesific indeps.

Re: Cool new event
 

In a current LA game on Alexander map I found Garnet amazons in wasteland and Onyx in mountains. And about a year ago I found Onyx amazons as MA Ulm. It was pretty good to get the lvl 2 priests as Ulm didn't have normal priests then. Onyx priestesses are very good for races without death. If you are successful with random, you get a lvl 1 death mage who can cast Dark Knowledge. If not, you get a lvl 2 priest who normally has her niche.

Re: Cool new event
 

Crystal - Plains
Garnet - Waste
Onyx - Mountains
Jade - Swamp, Forest

Re: Cool new event
 

I always hire garnet sorcs as blood hunters if I don't have easier access some other way. It's just much faster than using scouts. And you don't have to fork out 50 slaves every time you want another hunter. The priestesses are actually 2/3 cheaper in upkeep than sorcs, but you're at the mercy of the RNG, and you'll be hiring hunters at half the speed.

The F1 is also a bonus for nations without fire, both for lanterns and for fire resist items.

Re: Cool new event
 

I got one in King of the Isle. Unfortunately, I was never able to make the most of them even though I stocked up on nightmares.

Re: Cool new event
 

I find it very interesting, then, that I generally play on very mountainous maps, and I've seen far more of _every_ Amazon type but Onyx.

Is Onyx keyed to Caves and not Mountains?

Re: Cool new event
 

Caves are new, Onyx Amazons are old. It could be that they aren't keyed to Border mountains; would that make a difference?

Re: Cool new event
 

Onyx are and always have been keyed to mountains, but they may not be keyed to border mountains. If you're using random maps with passable mountains (i.e. all mountains are border mountains), then you would not find any in that case.

Re: Cool new event
 

Ahhhh. That might be it. I'll have to change this, because I find Onyx Amazons awesome. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Cool new event
 

Might qualifiy as a bug then ?!

Re: Cool new event
 

Arralen, yes, it might. I have not done any special analysis of poptypes vs terrain except for noting the amazons, and knights & longbowmen only appear in farmland.

I suppose I could add a terrain mask section to the poptype page in the DB and put known info there, with terrain mask for a poptype being a sum of all the masks where it can appear. It's going to have to be modeled after the magic site locmasks but with border mountains added as 1024.

I guess I should ask Kristoffer if he can give me a peek at the poptype code, but it can be approximated regardless.

Re: Cool new event
 

I've never seen Onyx Amazons and I guess now I know why. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif