Yet More Newbie Questions

[magnate]

Well, I've been playing for a week or so now, and I've read everything I can find, but there are still so many things to ask! Sorry if you've heard all these before .... the first two are repeated from csipgs:

1. My prophet is dying from a battle affliction (-1hp per turn). I've got a level 5 nature mage and researched Gift of Healing, but don't have enough nature gems to cast it yet. He was at 1hp so I hit Host and waited for him to die, but next turn he was at 19hp (though he still has all the battle afflictions, including -1hp per turn). What happened? If he was healed in battle, then I can keep him alive indefinitely by ordering someone to cast Healing on him every battle, yes?

(1b. Are there any ways to acquire gems other than random events and magic sites?)

2. I conquered an enemy fortress, and the province contains a magic site which says "can recruit Lord Guardian here". I control the fortress and province, and unrest is less than 100, yet the Lord Guardian does not show up on the recruitment screen. Why not?

3a. Are there holy magic sites? I guess so, from the fact that priests can search, but I've never seen any mentioned, nor found one. Do searching priests have some other effect?

3b. I understand that magic level of 4 is sufficient to find all sites of the relevant magic path. Is this correct? Is search 100% efficient? ie. once I've searched with a L4 mage I don't need to search again? Or is it a % chance to find?

4. Suddenly a new hero with 1000xp showed up in the Hall of Fame (all the others have 40-90xp). What's this?

5. I can't increase provincial defence in sea provinces. Is this permanent or is there some condition I can meet in order to do it?

6. Is there any way to issue standing orders, such as "recruit the maximum number of heavy cavalry in this province every turn"?

7. I've never set any battle orders except to tell cavalry to "attack rearmost enemies". Is there a handy introductory guide to using the rest of the settings? Especially for mages ....

8. Often I get Messages telling me that patrolling forces have killed XX brigands and the province is now safe, yet unrest still shows up as >0. Apart from the possibilities that tax is too high or I have an undiscovered unrest-generator in the province, what else could be going on?

9. One of my inner provinces still has Death 2, even though dominion in it and all round it is maxed, and all its neighbours have adjusted to my scales (growth 1). Is this another undiscovered site? Could it be something else?

Thanks in advance - I'll be looking for a once-a-day game to join soon (I have read the server threads and will check out the site ....)

CC

[fahdiz]

Originally posted by magnate:
1. My prophet is dying from a battle affliction (-1hp per turn). I've got a level 5 nature mage and researched Gift of Healing, but don't have enough nature gems to cast it yet. He was at 1hp so I hit Host and waited for him to die, but next turn he was at 19hp (though he still has all the battle afflictions, including -1hp per turn). What happened? If he was healed in battle, then I can keep him alive indefinitely by ordering someone to cast Healing on him every battle, yes?

Actually, his HP probably went up because your dominion in that province went up. That will buy you some extra time.

(1b. Are there any ways to acquire gems other than random events and magic sites?)

Some summons and a couple of pretenders generate gems each turn as a special ability. Also, certain forged items (Clam of Pearls, etc.) will generate gems.

2. I conquered an enemy fortress, and the province contains a magic site which says "can recruit Lord Guardian here". I control the fortress and province, and unrest is less than 100, yet the Lord Guardian does not show up on the recruitment screen. Why not?

You cannot recruit the national units of another nation, despite what the magic site there says. The only one I'm aware of which you can recruit is the Hydra Hatchling from Pythium's starting site.

3a. Are there holy magic sites? I guess so, from the fact that priests can search, but I've never seen any mentioned, nor found one. Do searching priests have some other effect?

There are holy (and unholy) sites, but they're pretty rare.

4. Suddenly a new hero with 1000xp showed up in the Hall of Fame (all the others have 40-90xp). What's this?

Whose hero is it? Is it perhaps the pretender of another nation?

5. I can't increase provincial defence in sea provinces. Is this permanent or is there some condition I can meet in order to do it?

If you're a land nation, this is permanent (AFAIK). Why? Because your national PD is land-based, and thus would drown underwater.

6. Is there any way to issue standing orders, such as "recruit the maximum number of heavy cavalry in this province every turn"?

Nope.

8. Often I get Messages telling me that patrolling forces have killed XX brigands and the province is now safe, yet unrest still shows up as >0. Apart from the possibilities that tax is too high or I have an undiscovered unrest-generator in the province, what else could be going on?

"Safe" is a relative term. I think anything under 5 unrest counts as "safe" as far as that text message is concerned.

[ March 18, 2004, 15:53: Message edited by: fahdiz ]

[Kristoffer O]

The hero is Orion, the leader of the Eternal Knights mercenary band.

[Sindai]

And he's one bad mutha. Especially if you're playing Ermor. I once had the Eternal Knights stop my offensive on Arcosephale dead in its tracks for several turns single-handedly. Then their contract ran out and I crushed Arco like a bug.

[tinkthank]

Hello there!

Almost all of your questions have been answered previously by others, so it may be helpful to use the "search" command on this forum to search previous threads.
So I will be brief:

1. Is your prophet immortal?
2. You conquered and enemy Home Capital (Ulm). You can never recruit enemy special units, even if you capture their territory.
3. There are holy magic sites. They often yield 1 astral pearl, or decrease unrest, or let you recruit a priest. Level 4 is enough, you ALWAYS find sites 100%.
4. Orion just showed up, huh? He's a merc. Mercs also are famous.
5. You cant buy PD in seas if you are a land nation.
6. Not that I know of
7. search!
8. Sometimes "safe and orderly" means Unrest around 1-7
9. Could be an undiscovered site. Sometimes some scale factors (like heat) dont match up well with dominion.

sorry so short, must run, hope this helps

[tinkthank]

Damn I type too slow.

[Wendigo]

Originally posted by magnate:
[qb]1. My prophet is dying from a battle affliction (-1hp per turn). I've got a level 5 nature mage and researched Gift of Healing, but don't have enough nature gems to cast it yet. He was at 1hp so I hit Host and waited for him to die, but next turn he was at 19hp (though he still has all the battle afflictions, including -1hp per turn). What happened? If he was healed in battle, then I can keep him alive indefinitely by ordering someone to cast Healing on him every battle, yes?

Yes, you can keep a diseased commander alive by getting him into battle and scripting a nearby mage to cast "Heal" or "Healing light". This would counter the hp drain from the disease (kind of resetting the countdown), note however that your commander will keep piling on afflictions from the disease until you find a permanent cure.

Another way of stalling the HP drain is to equip your commader with an item that grants regeneration.

[BkWyrm]

I had a hero appear suddenly in the HoF in one of my games but I had a major part in his meteoric rise. He was an indie commander, Bogus, and my attempt to take his province nicely padded his totals.

[Tricon]

My,my, Bogus got very popular as of late....
(numerous threads mention him now)

[LintMan]

Originally posted by magnate:

(1b. Are there any ways to acquire gems other than random events and magic sites?)

This isn't a way to acquire *more* gems, but it may help in your situation: you can use Alchemy to convert gems. Alchemy lets you convert from Astral to any other gem type at 2 for 1, and from any other gem type to astral, also at 2 for 1. (So you can go from any gem type to any other at a maximum of 4 for 1 cost). So if you have a big enough surplus of some other gem type, you can use that to boost your nature gems up to the amount you need to cast your spell.