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Sensori said:
Endoperez said:
I thought the rainbow mages were NEVER viable. I remember reading posts about their uselessness and fragility in either Dom:PPP or early DomII era, on the CSIPGS newsgroup or some IGN forum or something.
I think you're thinking about Dominions 2, because in 1 they were plenty viable and doubleplusgood based on my experiences with them in PBEMs... ...Now, thanks to the change in bless effects, a rainbow mage Pretender is far less usable, because, well, you usually want blesses to counter the other guy's blesses. Only situation I can think a rainbow mage is good now is when you play a nation that doesn't get anything out of a bless strategy. As for the fragility and "uselessness" of a rainbow mage... If you think it's supposed to be fighting on the front lines like a bigass Titan, you just made your first big mistake.
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I *like* rainbows. I've always used them, and for as long as I can remember, I've heard how that isn't an optimal choice. I know their strengths, but I've also killed enough of them to know that they ARE fragile. A rainbow mage can't be used for early expansion. In Dom:PPP and in DomII, pretenders were a great boon in early expansion. A rainbow slowed you down in both games, and a non-rainbow pretender coming your way physically or via his blessed hordes was just as deadly in both Dom:PPP and in DomII. I know rainbows aren't good for fighting, but I also think they are often NEEDED to participate in battles when an enemy comes your way. Of course, I've only played small blitz games and a couple of bigger games. I am aware that rainbows are better in the big games, but that's just as true in Dom3 as it was in the earlier games.
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If you didn't want a bless, why would you take magic over level 5 on your pretender?
It's not a choice between different pretty much as good choices anymore, but a choice between nerfing your capabilities wholesale and getting the best bang for your buck....
...still, the change in levels of magic required to make boosters wasn't the thing that made rainbow mages (and most other types of Pretenders) far less usable, it was the blessings (and very distinct types of blessings, no less) being so much more potent as a whole.
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I expressed myself poorly here. I meant "without blesses, taking magic ever level 5 would be useless on a pretender". That's how the situation was in Dom:PPP. Low-magic pretenders were the rule. There were no Fire 9 pretenders, no Fire 7 pretenders, and few Fire 5-6 pretenders. One of the reasons for implementing blesses was to encourage players to give the pretenders high levels of magic. And yes, the actual levels of the boosters varied a bit, but you never needed more than 3. I could've expressed that one better, too.
Any way, I understand that you might not like the bless mechanic. That's fine. I don't think it's going to vanish, but you've expressed your opinion and there's no need to fight over it, except perhaps to raise a virtual drink in the honor of the original Dominions, which had a really good-looking interface (even though it was horrible to use). The dominion candles in their small stone shelf, the big magic site symbols, the fine golden text that almost seemed to be carved to that beautiful dark grey stone... and, of course, The Cube. The Cube of Ages, the Talisman of Turn Generation.