[Kel]

Originally posted by Zen:
Where is the potential to be afflicted and die and lose magic in site searching?

With a humanoid RB ? I don't know, how often does a seeking arrow kill ?

Do you have to wait for items/magic levels to site search?

No, you have to wait for provinces which will come slower without an SC.

That is alot of points for a "SC". Take a VQ with alot of paths and play Ermor a gem only income and explain to me how much of a decision it is to search provinces or use your SC. And at what point in time do you make those decisions.

Having the option to either site search or do combat isn't a downside, it's an upside! With my Nat, who is cheaper than a full RB, I site search all the time. Oh, I don't send him out to site search specifically but while he isn't searching in all the paths, he makes up for it by already being in provinces, doing his SC duties.

With an RB, you have to move to a province abd site search. With an SC, you are already in a searchable province. On top of that, since you are talking about not waiting for items, your RB won't even be flying/survival'd so your movement is hampered.

2 turns with an SC = 1 province and 1 search.
2 turns with an RB = 1 friendly move and 1 search.

I don't think there is danger in it either. But it is because you want to make rainbows more attractive with the human pretenders that is the problem.

Actually, it wasn't really my crusade, I was just coming up with some ideas for what others saw as a problem. Then I saw something I felt needed some counter-points and should probably have just kept my mouth shut, eh ? Oh well, I am in it now.

Ask yourself this question. "If I chose a Human Pretender right now, what would I do with it?" Now apply the changes you mentioned. Does this change the answer to that question? I don't think so.

That's a fair way to approach it. If you applied both of the first two changes (I think they were auto search and search neighbors at half strength), I would use her for research at first and then definitely send her out to do site searches. I might wait until I forged some winged boots and some sort of protection from random remote attacks but then again, I might not, I might just send her out and send someone to catch up with her to deliver them.

I would rather see using each pretender for a different type of role rather than making a whole slew of pretenders good at just one thing and one thing only. Sure, make a few like that. Archmage, Sage. Those should be Rainbows, but Frost Father? Druid? Why should they be regulated to Rainbow status. I would rather have some of them be useful for other things as well.

Fair enough, I can agree with that!

I still don't really like discounted bonuses on magic paths because I think it will be hard to balance it so that 1 humanoid pretender isn't always best for certain nations. You might be able to use some of the paths (like construction which tends to be researched anyway). I would also be afraid of giving more power to rush strategies, based around a single spell.

Coming up with other ideas (or using some of the ones listed) would add variety, though, certainly.

- Kel

Note, another idea that occurs...could have some of them affect local scales . Druid, for example, causing growth-3 in his province, growth-1 in neighboring provinces ? Or better, maybe a 3 scale shift so you can't abuse it by taking death-3. Hey, Frost Father, go sit in that castle next to Abysia's front lines, please. Etc.

[ May 04, 2004, 01:23: Message edited by: Kel ]