[Scott Hebert]

Originally posted by Zen:
Scott, not to change your direction or anything regarding your intention. But, don't you only play SP?

I knew this would come up. *sigh* Yes, I only play SP. That is because the computer that DomII is installed on cannot go onto the internet, and the computer (that I'm currently on) that can go onto the internet cannot run Dominions II. It is not because I don't want to play MP.

The benefits of a Rainbow vs a Combat Pretender are easily seen but hard to gauge and do depend somewhat on game settings.

Well, to be honest, I play most often on the settings that are most conducive to Rainbow Mages (Rich, 75% Magic Sites), and I still don't use them.

They are not on a level playing field, but they do allow you to play differently.

Can you give a reason as to why they should not be on more of a level playing field?

A better comparison or 'balance' would be adjusting Pretenders based on the one 'good' pretender that is rainbowish (I.E. The Ghost King) and not trying to match them up against some things that may not fit thematically, or strategically.

As my Virtue/Arch Seraph example points out, I believe that specialization vs. variety should be equally viable. They are not, however. I think I chose the worst possible non-Rainbow Pretender to try to make Rainbow (the Virtue), and it was still better than the Rainbow in 3 or less paths. Under my mod, each _should_ work equally well in a game.

I personally would be much more likely to think of a giant 2 headed snake that could talk and do magic as a God than some creepy old guy who can do magic who lived in some big old castle for years. Simply because I have more in common with the creepy old guy than with the 2 headed snake. And mortality is sort of a key component to being "Godlike" in my book.

Two small quibbles. One, the Wyrm starts with no magic. (The land ArchMage doesn't either, but most Rainbows do.) Two, if mortality is a key component to being "Godlike" (from this I take it you mean that the more immortal you are, the more godlike?), why do the Immortal Pretenders all have low Dominions, and particularly why did the VQ's Dominion _decrease_ in 2.12?

The other option I have is to take the opposite approach, and switch the magic paths of human vs. giant Pretenders. Make the humans the specialists (and let's face it, do they have the time to master 8 different paths of magic?), and make the giants the generalists. Would that be better?