[GavinWheeler]

Originally posted by PvK:
Battle afflictions in this game are a very well done feature, I think.

Hear hear!

I think a lot of these suggestions go against the grain of some of the more fun parts of Dominions - that is to say being forced to deal with setbacks, learning how to use the various options available to do so or simply learning that some strategies are risky and learning how to minimise those risks, such as getting a God with a gammy leg, one arm and no eyes.

There are no unbeatable strategies, no Supercombatant without an effective counter. And this adds to the fun, even if you are the Pretender god whose supercombatant just got wasted/cursed/afflicted. One of my favourite parts of General Tacticus' AAR ?A Tale of Fire and Blood? is where his Pretender does get a nasty affliction and seeing how this dominated his game play for the next several turns - this was a lot more interesting to read, and hopefully to play, than just saying ?mute Pretender, bummer. Oh well, reload/restart/use instant-heal-for-Gods? as would happen in so many other games.

There are a plethora of options now for dealing with an affliction, from the Faerie Queen to the Gift of Health to the Chalice to kidnapping an Arcosephale Priestess with Enslave mind/Charm/whatever and Gift-of-reason-ing her back to full commander status. Or even retiring that God to researcher/Dominion space heater duties until he can be healed, or he is really needed despite his handicaps. I wouldn't want to see more.

PS: you'll never get rid of threads like this. People always want to strengthen X or nerf Y or add an option to Z, until they find the existing ways of dealing with the problem.

PPS: think how irritated you would be if they did weld on an early-access ritual only castable by the Pretender on the Pretender... and then your Pretender got feebleminded on Turn 4.