Solar Brilliance
 

I am playing a game as Hinnom, and currently at war with Lanka.

My Astral Ba'aal's have twice been set up:

Power of the Spheres --- +1 path, 1 gem.
Solar Brilliance --- S5, requires 5 gems.

With 6-8 gems.

With Power of the Spheres, they go to 4. That means they should be able to cast solar brilliance with an extra gem. They don't. The enemy casts darkness, and is full of demons and undead. I have no demons and no undead, and fight better in light. Solar Brilliance doesn't get cast. Why not?

Re: Solar Brilliance
 

A lv4 mage can only spend 4 gems max in a spell, thus a spell needing 5 gems will not be cast.

Besides, a mage will never cast a spell in which he takes more than 200 fatigue, so you have to plan for that also.

You really need a communion, or extremely high astral for Solar Brillance.

Re: Solar Brilliance
 

Can you please run simple tests before posting anything on the game mechanics. Because while you are right on the gem use part, what I've quoted you on above is seriously wrong, and incredibly easy to test.

- Start new game with a nation that has E3 mages.
- Research Curse of Stones (Alt 3/4 depending on CBM or Vanilla)
- Send an E3 mage into battle with 3 Earth gems scripted to cast Curse of Stones
- Watch in amazement as the mage casts Curse of Stones and doesn't die, as fatigue is capped at 200 for any spell (outside of communions)

The above takes 5 minutes max to do. 2 minutes if you take an awake Great Sage and easy research setting.


A good rule of thumb (for everyone!) is if someone asks a question about the game mechanics, and you are in any doubt about the answer, then either test to confirm your answer is right, or controversially...

DON'T ANSWER AT ALL!!

As guessing at an answer, without clearly stating that it is just a guess, only leads to the spread of misinformation about the game mechanics, which makes everything worse.

Everyone needs to remember that there is no exam taking place on the forums, as when someone asks a mechanics question then choosing to give "No answer" is always better than a wrong or guessed one. And forumites should never adopt the standard exam practice of "Any (guessed/random) answer is better than leaving the answer blank.", since that is certainly not the case.

Re: Solar Brilliance
 

After the harsh words from Calahan I have to mention something, for a little while now I have been working on and off on a small guide on how to figure stuff out. It will mostly contain links to various mods (debug mod), and some howto's how to find certain data.

Feel free to bug me about this, if it doesn't surface in the next few weeks.

Re: Solar Brilliance
 

I might, indeed, be misremembering. There was a time in this game series when the most dominating battlefield spells were the lesser elemental summons, and when 10 Pazuzu could take the field at the same time. The game has evolved a lot, and this mechanic might be one of the things that have changed, or maybe my memory just fails me.

That said, I did not take a guess. You presume too much, and your condescending tone is out of place.
What makes you think you are entitled to tell other posters when they can post or not? You are no moderator.

Besides, your argument is BS. If everybody had to run a test before posting an answer to an information request, the forums would just DIE, because nobody with a life can afford to waste so much time.

A throws a question. If B thinks he can answer, he does so. If C thinks B is wrong, he corrects B, and we all benefit from the debate. Following your line of reasoning, there would just be no debate, & no answers: A would get no answer, and B would still be in the wrong. Do you really want to be alone in the newsgroup, patting your own back?

Like it or not, we all speak from memory here, and there's nothing wrong in that.

Re: Solar Brilliance
 

I myslef like replying to people , and there was a recent thread where somebody asked something about Pythium vs Ermor fight. I thought of an answer(from my logic and understanding) and I wanted to reply, but I didn't because I was not sure if that is the actual answer and didnt want to confuse the guy that was asking. And while its true that sometimes people correct you, sometimes people don't know what they are talking about and still post, which leads to misleading information and doen't help the game.

Imagine you used some misleading advice in one of your games leading to you loosing a battle badly(which you should have won) and eventually to a slow and painful death in that game.It will leave you with a very sour feeling, as these forums are supposed to support the game and not ruin it. Any misleading posts should be avoided since they can ruin the fun for many players(remember that one mistake(by being misled on the forums) you made ruins a whole game which you have been playing for a long time thus depriving you from your fun you would have had if someone didn't post the misleading info).

Testing one of the things you are talking about it not as life consuming as you say. It takes 2-3 minutes at most(especially if you have already set up a game saves for tasting with the debug mod). And its quite educational game-wise since the guy that tested it can afterwards use it in a game.

Also If you were speaking from memory as you said its nothing wrong about it. But some poeple don't(quite a few newer players) they just presume that things must be so and so and state presumptions as if they were truth. And that as I mentioned earlier doesn't benefit anyone.

So that was why I think you got such a sharp answer from Calahan. But he is actually a really nice guy and he is just trying to benefit the whole community by answering you like that, so don't take it personally:).

P.s(just writing this post was way more life consuming than testing what the guy was initally asking about)

Re: Solar Brilliance
 

LOL...bbz. I the last line of your post just reminded me of something that goes through my mind a lot. I work in softward development. There is a bug. I suggest a test that may help. I then get an argument for 15 minutes on why my test won't help. During the last 10 minutes I think to myself "If we had started the test at the start of the call...it would be done by now. We are wasting more time with the discussion!!!" :doh:

Cheers All and Happy Holidays.

Re: Solar Brilliance
 

Got the answer I needed, thanks for the help.

Re: Solar Brilliance
 

Option 2: If you think you have the correct answer, say that you think you have the correct answer. If you know you have the correct answer, then make the declarative statement.

Of course, that's basically what Calahan already said

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calahan (Post 800887) As guessing at an answer, without clearly stating that it is just a guess, only leads to the spread of misinformation about the game mechanics

and you didn't bother to read, probably because you were too busy getting your self-righteous on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wendigo_reloaded (Post 800896) What makes you think you are entitled to tell other posters when they can post or not?

Now that I've consumed some of my life (which by your logic I don't even have, since I've wasted time thinking and posting about this) I'll go back to not posting and watch the forum DIE from such interactions.



tl;dr
Read before you respond

Re: Solar Brilliance
 

Sounds helpful, but personally I'd like to see an ongoing "Ask Cal" feature. Useful information mixed with humor as Calahan reacts to particularly egregious questions/statements.


The wiki causes this all the time! Sorry, couldn't resist because of seeing Soyweiser's sig a few posts up. :p

Re: Solar Brilliance
 

My own personal methodology is to answer the parts that I'm sure I know 100% correctly, and then either say nothing else or begin using qualifiers liberally. This works for me. I also have a tendency to do research while I'm posting just to make sure that I actually am right before I say something.

Re: Solar Brilliance
 

Yeah, I tend to do the same, which is good since I've never been overly concerned with learning all the fine points of game mechanics. ;)

Another thing regarding testing: if an important battle hinges on something you're not certain of you should test it yourself, even if Micah himself said it works a certain way (and if you don't test it then you can only blame yourself if things go wrong).

Re: Solar Brilliance
 

You are right about that, people should only blame themselves, but in reality we like to and tend to blame others for our mistakes.:)

Re: Solar Brilliance
 

After scanning through the thread I can only say that I stand by my words:

If I were fishing for answers in a forum, I would rather get 3 answers from random internet guys than a single one, because the other 2 have been scared from posting by the hive mind. Then, if I was so invested in the game, I would likely test all of the flashy options offered, and choose the one that gives me better results, and if I didn't, maybe the game is not so important. One way or the other, I would be the one responsible from my actions.

Also, no hard feelings here. I have no interest in scalating the issue, nor getting into any kind of flamewar. Although the hostility from some posters vs someone they do not even know is kind of puzzling. I guess this is the internet after all.

I will finally add that considering yourself a "veteran" of the game, does not give any holy right to pass judgement on when newer players should post or not, in my opinion. Not sure why so many of you seem to defend the undefendable, maybe it's just loyalty to a friend.

Being a veteran doesn't protect you from making mistakes. I might as well be the most ancient player posting nowdays on these forums (apart from Gandalf), and I just made a mistake myself. Should I go chastise myself for it?

Re: Solar Brilliance
 

No, not at all. You didn't do anything wrong since you weren't just guessing at an answer and throwing something out there. You thought you knew the answer and figured you'd be helpful and answer the question. Turns out part of your answer was wrong but these things happen. I've spent *way* too much time reading these forums and even very good players will sometimes make mistakes.

You know, one funny thing is Dominions players I think *do* tend to be testing fanatics. :p As mentioned above, I've never been overly concerned with learning every aspect of game mechanics but even I've spent huge amounts of time running through test scenarios (usually to see if a plan that I've come up with to counter an opponent will work).

Re: Solar Brilliance
 

man, why is everyone gettin' so hostile. you boys take this sh** serious. hey wait, maybe the fact that i don't is why i keep getting pasted...