Question: Overcoming the barrier to understand Dom 3?

[Stagger Lee]

Hi Yskonyn. You organized my first MP game a few years back, David and Goliath. I learned a few things in that game, but we got sidetracked by a couple of bad rollbacks and an odd combination of new and experienced players which led to a slightly unbalanced game. It was still fun, but I got the sense that you were focusing more on the admin part than on actual gameplay. A couple of games where you only think about your own nation and position might help you over the hump. Anyway, thanks again for that!

Originally Posted by Yskonyn

For the sake of argument here's the link to the guide I found fascinating; Why Caelum should go for Blood magic

Another thing I notice, is that you are talking about 3 to 4 levels of each magic path.
Can levels be increased during gameplay? Because I always thought once you have a certain level chosen, you cannot increase it anymore and thus the maximum level spells are restricted to your initial build.
Am I mistaken?

First, I think playing Caelum (or any non blood nation) with a blood magic strategy is more of a vet (if it works),or total noob (when it doesn't) move. What people are telling you is to pick a nation which can focus on one type of magic, so that you can learn how to use that magic. Once you've learned the value of (in this case) air magic, those lessons will stick with you and help you whenever you play a nation with any level of air access.

Second, I get the feeling that you are mixing two concepts that are separate. When you build your pretender, the magic paths you put on him count toward your bless. If the pretender has E3, there is no earth bless, and empowering him or giving him earth boots won't change that. If he has E4, your sacreds will get some reinvig, and even if your pretender is killed and he drops to E3, the bless stays the same. For all other purposes, you can empower or add items to improve him, and magic research is never limited by level unless there is a specific mod in use. (I've seen games where magic was limited to level 6) The ability to research and cast spells is not a function of initial magic level on a pretender.

Oh, and remember - Executor's suggested build is for a good rainbow, not a bless chassis (in case you were wondering why E3/D3). His job will be to go out and find stuff that your national mages can't, forge stuff that your national mages can't, and cast rituals that your national mages can't. And research in his spare time.