Indep grimoire slightly improved

Kristoffer O · #1 July 27th, 2007, 07:07 PM

The grimoire works differently from dom2, and I think that is why #startspell doesn't work anymore. In dom2 your grimoire was given at start and whenever you learned new spells they were added. In dom3 the grimoire is rewritten every turn, and filled with those spells you have researched, but spells you do not know are wiped. This makes patches less problematic, since you can't get your spells whacky due to added or removed spells, but it also makes #startspell obsolete in its current form. I suspect the command would need to reread the mapfile every turn, and that is not done atm, since it would open cheat possibilities. So some kind of change is needed, not just a fix of something broken.

MaxWilson · #2 July 27th, 2007, 08:20 PM

On the other hand, that might mean it's easier than it would have been in Dom2 to add a feature to restrict your mages from casting e.g. Touch of Madness, for those of us who hate that spell. Pretty please?

-Max

Kristoffer O · #3 July 27th, 2007, 08:21 PM

How do you figure?

MaxWilson · #4 July 27th, 2007, 10:43 PM

Well, you're already keeping track of two concepts here:

1.) The spells you really have access to (defined by your research level), and

2.) the spells you can cast.

Right now #2 is just a cache of #1, regenerated every round, but if you allowed disabling spells by clicking on a toggle or something you just remove them from #2 (and put them on a list of "restricted" spells to remove every time you regenerate #2 from #1). The combat AI doesn't have to change at all, and since it's purely subtractive there's no worry about bugs that "enable" spells you haven't actually researched yet. I'm presuming that the Dom2 way would have necessitated adding *and* subtracting spells to/from the list as they were enabled/disabled.

Of course, maybe it's not as simple as that. For one thing, you have to also encode the "restricted" list as part of the .2h file for PBEM games.

-Max

Kristoffer O · #5 July 28th, 2007, 06:10 AM

Uhu, I have no idea. You might be right.

Gandalf Parker · #6 July 28th, 2007, 11:21 AM

From the look of the game logs it appears that the list doesnt have any "no use" but it does use a weighted system with just a touch of random thrown in. It might be possible to examine a game log and make suggestions on changing the order that choices are made.

The problem would appear to be that there isnt any "if I am Ermor" or "if I am undead" type of thinking involved. So any suggestion would need to be balanced between its worth in removing it from a bad-use situation while also removing from all other nations use.

Just a small part of the thinking for one mage looks like this in the logs.....
com Aziakos cast spell (favspell Swarm) (mayusegems 1)
est. choices 66
best spell so far Flying Shards (score17)
best spell so far Call Ancestor (score18)
best spell so far Wrath of the Ancestors (score578)
best spell so far Stoneskin (score7197)
best spell so far Ironskin (score12730)
best spell so far Swarm (score100697)
castspell: cnr765 spl365 (Swarm) vis2 x18 y10 spldmg591
Get an order for 5543 Dragonfly, ord 0
Closest enemy (for unr 5543)

The AI code was all added into the game late. Its pretty linear and generic to all nations and conditions. Any suggestions would probably have to be also unless the AI code got a massive rewrite from scratch.

MaxWilson · #7 July 28th, 2007, 05:35 PM

When you say "removing it from a bad-use situation while also removing it from all other nations' use," it seems like you're talking about a mod, which is as good as we can do at the moment, but I meant that the Dom3 change to spell lists was conducive to adding a new feature (probably tied into the GUI) for forbidding one's OWN mages from casting a particular spell. E.g. Touch of Madness, or Conjure Earth Elemental (waste of gems), or Phantasmal Warrior (if my PD Vanherses keep casting that instead of Orb lightning), or whatever spell is annoying me.

-Max