Patch Improvements

[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.

[Hadrian_II]

Endoperez said:

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?

Mages on stay behind act the same as mages on casting spells, at least they cast and get unconscious. But the fatigue thing is not that important.


Today i noticed some other things that might be improved:

whirlwind spell description

First it would be nice if the type of the snatched commander would be shown so that its simpler to notice what you have lost. Second I'd like it if there it would say if the commander survived or not (Or can i assume that when a commander drops down in an other Province than the start he died?)

AI should build more Province defence

AI almost never has big province defences, and i think it might be worth something if the AI might build at least 20 or so. (I think you get lots of troops for just 200 gold)

AI should consider strong Province defences as dangerous

What i noticed is that the AI attacks provinces always with too less troops. Last game i was against Tien Chi and they wasted every turn about 100 units on a province with 100 defence. If the AI would notice the province defence and build corresponding armys (I did only have PD in that province) i think she (is AI feminine??) would be a lot better.

Friendly fire

I'd like an option to order your archers not to fire where own troops are in the adjacent square as in a lot of the littler battles my only losses are from friendly fire. (Especially funny is the friendly fire when your archers kill the units chasing routing enemys :/)

[Taqwus]

Demobilizing troops: It should be possible to demobilize troops. Disbanded 'normal' units with minds might contribute to province defense, unrest, both, or neither -- probably depending on dominion, unrest, existing PD, and whether they were healthy or starving (wounded units most likely to simply vanish; healthy, but inexperienced units, especially hungry ones, in a province riven with unrest might turn to banditry).

Disbanded magical, undead or demon units might simply vanish or turn to unrest only, if they have minds; and simply dissolve, otherwise.

One question would be whether the commander demobilizes with them.