Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

I had several possibly newbie questions about the various nooks and crannies of the game, but I neglected to post them, because I didn't want to clutter up the board with too much trivia.

But I thought the better alternative would be to simply ask them in a single thread, as they emerge in my mind. I've forgotten most of the questions I wanted to ask, but here are two that came immediately to mind (and I am sure more will follow):

1. I recognize that most armor destruction type of spells do not affect "magical armor." Does this apply also to those magical armor that you put on regular units--say, if I were to give all Myrmidons Fire Plates? I only ask, because I noticed that a lot of the secondary effects of magical armor do not show up on the modded unit stats, and I was wondering perhaps that affected the "magical armor" status as well.

2. One of the lower-end weapons you can forge (I forgot which--I rarely force lower-end weapons) had an ability associated with it called something like "Crusherknack." What is this particular ability? I couldn't find it in the manual.

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

Destruction destroys any armor which does not come from a forged magic item. There is no "magic armor" tag that makes an armor immune to Destruction/Iron Bane/etc.

I have no real idea about Crusherknack. It's probably x3 damage to lifeless beings or something.

-Max

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

1. Probably no - there is no actual "magical" quality for armor, as it is for weapons. Magical items which are armor get most of their qualities from being magic items, not as armor stats. Modding manual lists what stats you can actually include for armor - they are also ones any unit with this armor gets. This also means that if you want a unit you mod to have, say, Fire Resistance from Fire Plate, you must both give it Fire Plate AND write Fire Resistance among its stats...
2. According to Database, it gives 20 armor-negating damage.

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

I see. So I suppose the only thing I will gain by modding in Fire Plate for Myrmidons is that their encumbrance will go down from a ridiculous 9 to 7. Not bad.

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

Ah, thanks! It's fairly powerful in that case...

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

In the game screen, the description says that Smasher is particularly effective against mechanical constructs and undead beings. Perhaps the "Crusherknack" only applies against the said units then?

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

As far as I see, description there states "extra damage to lifeless". Such quality is listed only for "Crusherknack", so I don't know for sure. Mod manual states:
#dt_constructonly -
The weapon only affects lifeless beings. All other
creatures are immune.
No other construct-specific qualities.
So you may be right. In which case database description probably needs slight clarification for this weapon type.

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

All the constructs are lifeless. In addition to them, it would afect things like the Sphinx, Oracle, Monolith and all lifeless undead like Lich, master lich and mummies. Crusherknack causes 20 AN damage in addition to the normal damage of the weapon it is attached to, but the secondary damage only affects things that are lifeless.

As far as magical weapons/armor, I would not be so quick to make blanket statements. Weapons and presumably also armor have various hidden fx flags, such as fx_iron and fx_wood. So for example Rust Mist would leave iron weapons and armor corroded and useless (hello, MA Ulm), but would not affect such things as quarterstaffs and leather hauberks.

Unfortunately those effects are hidden and short of access to the source code, it is unlikely that they would be found out. This also explains what the extra columns in the DB are that are not used.

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

Can lifeless units never be cured of their afflictions? I have put them in provinces with laboratories, as well as trying to "heal" them with Arco priests. But neither works. Any solutions? Or are they simply designed to not be able to overcome afflictions?

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

Labs won't cure afflictions on anyone.
Healers only work on living units.

I'd assume that both the Chalice and Gift of Health would work.

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

Theoretically, magical lifeless units heal in a province with a lab, yes?

So other than Goh, and chalice, I would suggest vampirism. It seems that immortal units remove afflictions.

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

The labs would only take care of HP damage, not afflictions. And immortals will indeed heal their afflictions, although I couldn't tell you how it stacks up against recuperation (#N).

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

That's what I thought but my Telestic Animates cannot get rid of afflictions, even though it's been 50-plus turns!

The Chalice does not seem to work either. I will try Gift of Health.

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

If I remember correctly, you indeed cannot remove afflictions from lifeless units. The Chalice is the best thing to heal afflictions, so if it doesn't work, I'm afraid Gift of Health isn't going to cut it either (they're both superior to using Arcoscephale Priestesses, though).

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

Telestic Animates have "Never Heals" tag. This means that they don't get their hps back unless they are in a province with a lab. Are you sure you aren't confusing that with the "Lifeless" tag in some way?

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

Why are you trying to rid ****ty telestic animates of afflictions anyway?

Do you have OCD or something?

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

Gift of Health dies indeed remove afflictions from Lifeless, as it's what I use to clean up my Marble Oracles when they get chipped.

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

What's OCD?

As for Telestic Animates, I tend to spam them, because they seem to be relatively inexpensive and yet durable priests for Dominion-increasing duties for newly conquered territories. Are there better alternatives?

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

Telestic Animates have both the "Never Heals" and "Lifeless" attributes.

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

? Isn't the Telestic Animation in the province you cast it? How can it help the spreading of dom in newly conquered provinces?

(I may be wrong, but I seem to remember this way :D )

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

I meant getting rid of enemy Dominions :)

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

As an aside, I had a start Dominion of 10, have temples in every province, at least 5 Telestic Animates (and often just as many supporting Arco priests) preaching in every border province, and I am only marginally behind in the number of province to the 2 AI nations left.

Yet, I am seeing 5-6 red candles on every border province. What in the world is going on? Can I do anything to address this?

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

In MP I would have said someone's massively blood-sacrificing to put his dom in your nation to reduce your income and then drown you in sacreds, but knowing the AI wouldn't manage this effectively can't say :D

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

I don't think they are inexpensive enough to spam.
For 10 of them you get a ring of wizardry. For 30 you get arcane nexus.
The dominion problem seems strange though.

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

Only on the border provinces? How quickly are you expanding? Is it possible that you're simply outracing your own dominion?

As an aside, *red* candles? I always see black candles. Is this a Linux/Windows thing, or am I colorblind? :)

-Max

Re: Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions
 

Yes, Gift of Health heals everything. Even Lifeless. It is, in my opinion, the best Global for it's cost, in late game.