adding debuffs?

[tinkthank]

The multitude of neat spells, especially of the support kind, is very nice in this game. I like that. Especially those of the buff types.
I sort of miss debuff spells however. The only ones I know of are those affecting protection.
Is there a particular reason why there are no spells which
- lower magic resistance of 1 target / square / whole battlefield?
- lower speed of 1 target / square / whole battlefield?
- lower attack skill of 1 target / square / whole battlefield?
- (probably imbalanced but: lower magic ability of 1 target / square / whole battlefield?)
and spells of similar types?
Would it make countering too easy?
Just curious
thanks much

[DeathDaemon]

I usually dont get to the higher levels of magic research, but I do know that nature magic has this sort of stuff - entangling, sleep, panic. Of course there are other non nature debuffs like earth meld or storms, but I do like your idea of messing with the enemy on a more regular basis.

[Argitoth]

A chart for lowering magic resistance.
NOTE: Just a little idea.

(#) = Research Level
(*) = 10 and above (impossibility)
[#] = Required number of path levels
+ = Gems required

--TARGET---
Lower target by 1 (4) [3]
Lower target by 2 (7) [4]
Lower target by 3 (9) [6]

---SQUARE---
Lower by 1 (5) [3]
Lower by 2 (8) [4]
Lower by 3 (*)

---ARMY---
Lower target by 1 (6) [3] +
Lower target by 2 (8) [4] ++
Lower target by 3 (*)


---BATTLEFIELD---
Lower by 1 (7) [6] ++++
Lower by 2 (*)
Lower by 3 (*)

On average, a pretender would have 18 without any items. 18 going to 15 spells death when encountering disintegration, polymorph, and other 1 hit KO spells.

[ April 21, 2004, 23:13: Message edited by: Argitoth ]

[Scott Hebert]

Along this line, I was thinking of something that would be neat and thematic to add to Dominions.

Why not give Curse effects to Unholy Priests, the same as Bless effects but inverted. Obviously, these would affect your opponent instead of your own units.

Most of the Paths (Fire/Water/Astral/Blood) would be easy to emulate (at least the base bonus). I don't know if you could code the Air one easily (Missile Attraction, like a 3E hit chance?), and the Earth one should be pretty easy. Nature would be _weird_, as would Death.

What I would suggest for a Death curse would be to lower _any_ aura effect the target have. Principally, Fear/Standard/Awe.

For the level 9 'curses', you could use a few interesting things. Level 9 Blood could be the healing of an affliction for anyone that killed the cursed unit. Level 9 Air could be reduction of Shock Resistance, etc.

Of course, this would benefit mainly Ermor, but Desert Tombs and any Death nation _could_ benefit, given time.

Just some thoughts.

Bayushi Tasogare

[Argitoth]

Originally posted by Bayushi Tasogare:
Why not give Curse effects to Unholy Priests, the same as Bless effects but inverted. Obviously, these would affect your opponent instead of your own units.

This would totally degrade bless effects since very few nations have unholy priests.

It's like you are debuffing someone's quickness, regeneration, and a bunch of other very good things.

[Crandaeolon]

A couple of spells that could destroy or suppress magic items would be a welcome addition. Perhaps to fire, earth, nature and astral paths, or a combination of these.

A province-affecting item-smashing spell that affects lower-level items first could make clam-hoarding a riskier strategy.

In battle, losing the utility of some of its magic items could give an item-reliant SC a nasty shock. Or burn.