Chris, regarding the priest issue that you reported, it was covered earlier, but to recap and clarify:
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chrispedersen said:
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Edi said:
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chrispedersen said:
I submitted files about a priest attacking a province without PD and with X X Retreat orders.
When X where unactionable orders, the priest would retreat even from a province with routing undead, where the enemy routed first.
Has this made it to the bug list?
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Chris, that's not a bug, that's WAD. If units have unactionable orders, they do something else (e.g. a mage scripted to cast something that doesn't have enough range to reach enemy, he casts something else instead). If there is nothing else they can do (essentially can't shoot or can't cast a spell), they move on to the next order in the script, check if it's actionable etc. If the oreder is retreat, it's triggered. If retreat orders are not specified in the script, the default order is attack if nothing else can be done.
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Edi,
Then why have me send in turn files, if its WAD?
Also, its still peculiar.
Say for example the order was
Banish, Banish, Retreat.
But there are no units within Banish range.
If you have mages scripted for fireball, fireball, retreat they will cast SOME spell (usually like fireshield) twice -it won't just skip forward to the retreat.
But the priest immediately retreats first turn. I believe this is a defect of AI, and I reproduced it like
5 times.
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It is not a bug, as you suggest. The reason why priests rout much more easily from an unactionable script items is because they do not have alternatives they can use unlike most other mages. Take your example of a fire mage who's out of range of a fireball and thus can't cast it. Since the order is <cast fireball> and it can't be done, the AI reads it as <cast something else that is usable, if possible>. So the mage is likely to cast fire shield, or fire resistance, or fire fend or phoenix power or any number of other fire spells that could either buff the mage, buff troops or hurt the enemy.
A priest has very few options in this regard. Sermon of courage is one, holy avenger another, but a Lv 1 priest can't do that or anything else useful, so when out of range he skips cast orders until he hits retreat and then does that because it is actionable. If you want the priest to stay on the field for the full five turns regardless of actionable orders or not, the proper script would be <blessing><hold or cast><hold or cast><hold or cast><hold or cast><retreat>.
So everything is working exactly as it should. As long as a caster can cast something that actually does something useful, they will, and only then will skip to next order. If retreat orders are involved and absolutely must not be executed before specified, <hold or cast> is your only option.
The reason why turn files should be sent with unusual bugs is that they can be analyzed if necessary. Often things can be puzzled out without them, such as now, but I simply do not have the resources to immediately jump on everything. It is also important to take into account how things work in Dominions, because the mechanics can sometimes cause behavior that looks like a bug if you are not familiar with it. The manual does a good job of describing most mechanics and observation of the game in action should provide a lot of additional information if one pays attention. This was one such example.