Patch Improvements

[Hadrian_II]

Hi

I just got Dominions3 and i like it, but there are some little annoyances.

Mage casting behavior

I think it should be possible to give your mages the order to cast only spells that dont use gems, as i noticed my mages to waste their gems pretty fast.

The other thing I'd like would be to give your mage the order not to use too much fatigue. Especially on a battle that you might loose it sucks when your mages stay with 160 fatigue on the battlefield and get killed. Maybe an order, not to cast spells that would render the caster unconscious, would be nice.

Show how much battles are left while processing the Turn

This is pretty minor but it would be nice if it could show how many battles are left while processing the turn, so you can predict how long it will take.

[Taqwus]

Global tax default: Mostly useful for AE Ermor: the ability to set the default tax rate to '200 and ignore unrest', since the pop is going to die rapidly anyway.

Possible 'extra size in formation' value: Recalling discussions of light infantry formations in Dom2, it seems to be that if there were an additional modifier that added to size -for the sole purpose of determining how full a square is- that +1 could be added to LI or similar irregulars not trained for close-formmation combat. +1 on size-2 human = 2/square instead of 3.

[Endoperez]

Hadrian_II said:
Hi

I just got Dominions3 and i like it, but there are some little annoyances.

Mage casting behavior

I think it should be possible to give your mages the order to cast only spells that dont use gems, as i noticed my mages to waste their gems pretty fast.

The other thing I'd like would be to give your mage the order not to use too much fatigue. Especially on a battle that you might loose it sucks when your mages stay with 160 fatigue on the battlefield and get killed. Maybe an order, not to cast spells that would render the caster unconscious, would be nice.

The above (not casting spells) isn't implemented, but could be useful. IIRC, mages ordered to "Stay behind troops" cast spells but stop before they are unconscious. I can't verify this yet, as I don't have my Dom3 manual yet, but I seem to remember it being this way. "Stay behind troops" would also be a good enough command for mages who you don't want to cast spells , wouldn't it?

[Ballbarian]

Battle replay "chugginess":
The fact that larger armies are common is fantastic. My problem is that while watching the replays there is a long freeze while the engine loops through an army's units looking for a suitable target for buffing spells. Similar stalls occur as large groups of units have their stats updated after having a spell like legions of steel cast upon them. I have plenty of graphic power, though my cpu is getting dated (1.3 ghz) and my ram could be better (512 mb).

All that said, I wondered if there was a programming equivalent to visual basic's "DoEvents" available for the next patch. If this was placed within any large loops it would allow the player to continue scrolling the view eliminating the sense of stalling.

[Fate]

Skipping Magic

The ability to skip the magic round of combat (using the "S" or "M" key), but still seeing all the others.

It seems to me that, even on fast forward, mages take a long time to cast their spells. This is because they pause for every mage (to give the player time to read the spell?).

I often find this annoying, and I just want to skip to the melee combat.

[DominionsFan]

Ballbarian said:
Battle replay "chugginess":
The fact that larger armies are common is fantastic. My problem is that while watching the replays there is a long freeze while the engine loops through an army's units looking for a suitable target for buffing spells. Similar stalls occur as large groups of units have their stats updated after having a spell like legions of steel cast upon them. I have plenty of graphic power, though my cpu is getting dated (1.3 ghz) and my ram could be better (512 mb).

All that said, I wondered if there was a programming equivalent to visual basic's "DoEvents" available for the next patch. If this was placed within any large loops it would allow the player to continue scrolling the view eliminating the sense of stalling.

1.3 Ghz CPU and 512mb RAM is just not enough. You should try to reduce the gfx settings, or buy a 3Ghz CPU and +1.5 GB RAM. Then you won't have any problems.

[Nerfix]

I have almost exact stats except double the memory.

[Ballbarian]

I think RAM is my primary bottleneck (and cpu). Guess I will be in the market for a new pc after I finish paying for my daughter's braces.

[Ballbarian]

Strange, my post didn't appear... so posted again.

Must be dreamlands in the forums again.

[DominionsFan]

Ballbarian said:
Strange, my post didn't appear... so posted again.

Must be dreamlands in the forums again.

lol
I can see both of your last 2 replies.