Any way to get interpretation as to what happened in a battle?
 

Okay, so I'm taking some advice (see the "Help, I suck at Ulm" thread) and playing single player, trying to figure out combinations and strategies for Ulm. It's not going so well, at least in part because the single player AI doesn't do anything like what humans do. It's hard to figure out what works when you are facing mostly independent heavy infantry, but that's for another time.

Anyway, I am giving the beatdown to Abysia, and I storm its fort. I've got a decently kitted out (well, I think so, but it doesn't actually make the stats that impressive) black knight leader. The battle goes about 5 turns in. Suddenly, some orange and yellow beam from the sky strikes, he is gone, and I have no idea what happened. There is no indication of what it was in the spell list in the upper left. The only thing that coincided was Abysia's pretender casting flare, but I think I know what flare looks like (based in part on the repeated castings in the rest of the combat), and that wasn't it.

I still see this as a big problem with bringing noobs into the game. Combat is a morass of sights and sounds, and it's hard to tell why[ things are happening.

Anyway, is there a way to post a turnfile or something to figure out what happened in this case?

Re: Any way to get interpretation as to what happened in a battle?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">He was hit with either smite from a holy-5 priest, or divine retribution from a holy-4 priest that was damaged that turn. He failed the MR check, which Ulmish units will do more than 60% of the time and took 20 armour negating damage.

Re: Any way to get interpretation as to what happened in a battle?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">He was hit with either smite from a holy-5 priest, or divine retribution from a holy-4 priest that was damaged that turn. He failed the MR check, which Ulmish units will do more than 60% of the time and took 20 armour negating damage. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Ah ha! He did have a holy-5 prophet in the battle. Okay, well, I guess that is a relatively rare event to watch out for, so at least I don't feel quite so ripped off.

Incidentally, as an interface improvement, it would be a decent thing to have the casting of smite show up as a cast spell.

Re: Any way to get interpretation as to what happened in a battle?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Smite does show up, or at least it should, but divine retribution doesn't when it takes effect.

Re: Any way to get interpretation as to what happened in a battle?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">He was hit with either smite from a holy-5 priest, or divine retribution from a holy-4 priest that was damaged that turn. He failed the MR check, which Ulmish units will do more than 60% of the time and took 20 armour negating damage. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Or translating what Graeme said from Dom2 jargon into plain english - Your dude was smacked by the divine for being REALLY BAD boy and messing with his beloved servant. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

P.S. Hey Sly Frog. Migrating from Q3 Boards, huh? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[ July 06, 2004, 02:14: Message edited by: Stormbinder ]

Re: Any way to get interpretation as to what happened in a battle?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Smite does show up, or at least it should, but divine retribution doesn't when it takes effect. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Hm, if the divine retribution kills the guy who killed the priest, then that wasn't the case, because the guy killed by divine retribution was a screen away (and was not a caster). Otherwise, if it just hits some random target, it really sucks that it randomly chose my most kitted out leader.

I know it is too late, but it would be really sweet if some of this stuff was given in better detail on the battle screen. Damage numbers, better hit or miss indicators than little splotches of blood, etc.

Re: Any way to get interpretation as to what happened in a battle?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">He was hit with either smite from a holy-5 priest, or divine retribution from a holy-4 priest that was damaged that turn. He failed the MR check, which Ulmish units will do more than 60% of the time and took 20 armour negating damage. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Or translating what Graeme said from Dom2 jargon into plain english - Your dude was smacked by the divine for being REALLY BAD boy and messing with his beloved servant. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

P.S. Hey Sly Frog. Migrating from Q3 Boards, huh? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Yeah, I'm branching out. Actually I've been here for awhile, I just keep a relatively low profile. The revolutionary swims in the sea with the people, that kind of thing. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

I appreciate the "Dominionese-English" translator. Perhaps someone should create a program that does it automatically.