Spies and unrest

[PhilD]

interesting catch, thejeff - but I seem to recall that probability of getting caught is supposed to be linked to the "army size" - so it seems to make sense that several spies/scouts/whatever are detected together, and the more, the easier.

What this means is that your spies collaborate, they're not independent, dormant agents. So it would make sense if several different scouts gave widely more accurate reports

[thejeff]

Army size, yes, but from the explanation in the manual that seems to apply to sneaking troops, not commanders.

I don't think it explicitly states each commander (and any squads he commands) are dealt with separately, but it is implied.

And I know I've seen only one of several scouts get caught.

I'd guess it's one patrol roll compared to a sneak roll for each commander. This produces reasonable results in normal conditions when the chances are decent, but when a really good open ended roll is required, you'll either catch none or all.

[Meglobob]

thejeff said:
Army size, yes, but from the explanation in the manual that seems to apply to sneaking troops, not commanders.

I don't think it explicitly states each commander (and any squads he commands) are dealt with separately, but it is implied.

Implied and it is actually the case. 5 spies have a seperate check to be caught. When all of yours got caught they must have all failed there seperate checks, producing just 1 battle. I have had several occassions when 1/5 or 2/5 have been caught by patrollers but the rest escaped detection.

Even a scout, effectively has +40 on the die roll to avoid detection (this is default stealth), a bard has +70 has he has a further +30 bonus. Every troop you lead without a large plus to stealth themselves gives you -1. So a scout for example with a command magic item leading 40 wolves would have +0 stealth and would be easily detected by PD/patrols.

[thejeff]

I don't buy it. I'll check the numbers again tonight, but this was 4 spies (+20 Stealth) with 150 unrest. The odds were against even one getting caught. All 4 in a single turn is really pushing the odds. It happened once before in the same game, and those were the only times any of my spies were caught there.


And they did produce 4 separate battles.

[Meglobob]

thejeff said:
And they did produce 4 separate battles.

This confirms each one was detected seperatly.

I believe patrolling creates 2 seperate checks, 1 to reduce unrest and another to detect stealth units. High unrest adds hugely however to avoid detection, but as I have said before there are so many random rolls in Dom3, you are bound to get extemely unlucky every now and again.

Abit like I fumbled with a -700+ fumble that time in Middle-Earth...