Wishlist: Does a mod like this exist?

[Ond]

I'd really like a mod that eliminate the need for gems on commanders, and just pull the gems from my bank instead. This always seemed like a totally pointless level of micromanagement to me. Especially in SP games.

Does something like this exist? Preferably its compatible with CBM

[elmokki]

Not possible to implement. You could remove gem requirements from all battlefield spells but that'd upset the balance even more.

This'd also remove the consume-gem-to-cast-with-higher-path feature

[Ond]

Originally Posted by elmokki

Not possible to implement. You could remove gem requirements from all battlefield spells but that'd upset the balance even more.

Gotcha. Yea I dont want the cost removed, thats needed for balance purposes. I just want to remove the boring micromanagement of moving the gems around, handing them from one guy to the next constantly etc.

Oh well, maybe in Dom 4.

[Squirrelloid]

Originally Posted by Ond

Gotcha. Yea I dont want the cost removed, thats needed for balance purposes. I just want to remove the boring micromanagement of moving the gems around, handing them from one guy to the next constantly etc.

Oh well, maybe in Dom 4.

Personally, i think you're asking for a bad change.

Logistics wins wars. Currently the game lets you attempt to exhaust the accessible gem-supply of your enemy, which your suggestion would remove as a feature. How and why to parcel out gems is an interesting decision.

Also, I would rather not give the AI access to my gem vaults. I like being able to control just how many gems it can choose to spend.

[Ond]

Originally Posted by Squirrelloid

Personally, i think you're asking for a bad change.

Logistics wins wars. Currently the game lets you attempt to exhaust the accessible gem-supply of your enemy, which your suggestion would remove as a feature. How and why to parcel out gems is an interesting decision.

Useful feature or smoother gameplay. Its a tough balance, but I think this and many other micromanagement sinks could be plugged safely. Winning by overtaxing someone's available free time or even by powering through something really boring just to squeeze out an advantage, should be reserved for the hardcore audience only.

I propose a solution. Add a settings option for "normal" gameplay or "hardcore" gameplay. Hardcore will let you spend hours fiddling with gems.

Also, I would rather not give the AI access to my gem vaults. I like being able to control just how many gems it can choose to spend.

Yes thats a valid concern. With a fix like this, the AI should never be allowed to use your gems, unless you have scripted it to do so.

[Soyweiser]

Originally Posted by Ond

Yes thats a valid concern. With a fix like this, the AI should never be allowed to use your gems, unless you have scripted it to do so.

Even then, teleporting in a few sacrifical units to trigger gem use (bonus, teleport them home as last script action). Ghost riders, and a normal sacrifical move attack, can trigger three seperate combats. If the enemy army is large enough, and scripted enough spells, you can drain somebodies treasury in almost one turn. (Even better, if your enemy has multiple similar armies in the field, all scripted to cast every global battlefield spell there is).

Also, not being able to put gems on commanders makes the gem removal random event even more dangerous. (Lets say this event hits you just before a major battle. No gems in the treasure, no gem spellcasting. Dead army).

[Ond]

Originally Posted by Soyweiser

Even then, teleporting in a few sacrifical units to trigger gem use (bonus, teleport them home as last script action). Ghost riders, and a normal sacrifical move attack, can trigger three seperate combats. If the enemy army is large enough, and scripted enough spells, you can drain somebodies treasury in almost one turn. (Even better, if your enemy has multiple similar armies in the field, all scripted to cast every global battlefield spell there is).

Also, not being able to put gems on commanders makes the gem removal random event even more dangerous. (Lets say this event hits you just before a major battle. No gems in the treasure, no gem spellcasting. Dead army).

Yes there are some possible exploits that would need to be looked at. However I believe the AI already skips big battlefield spells if the threat is very low. With some extra tuning, I am sure it wouldnt be a big deal.

No gems in treasure.. I am sure that could happen now and then, but sounds like a fair risk. If you want to be 100% safe, leave a safety net of gems in the bank.

[Squirrelloid]

Sometimes you *want* the AI to overcast by spending extra gems. I've definitely handed out e gems to E1 mages so they could cast Summon Earth Power. Handing D2 mages a d gem to cast soul vortex is also common for thugs. You'd have to totally redo scripting to get what you want in 'scripting to spend gems'. And the AI is notoriously bad about what it considers a significant threat. (Yes, a single GR is enough threat to convince a 500 troop army to have its mages blow their entire inventory of gems).

And logistics is not fiddly micromanagement. The entire game is about logistics. (All good strategic-level war games are about logistics) I suppose we should remove supplies too so you don't have to worry about feeding your army and possibly forging and carting around magic items which produce food? And maybe we should remove having to actually move troops - just let them teleport at will within our territories - so we don't have to fiddle with moving troops around.

Manipulating gems hardly takes that much time. It requires provisioning scouts with a gem supply to resupply in the field, sure. Its an excellent logistic dynamic, and it takes maybe a minute or two to figure out how many gems to carry. I'm not seeing the major time component here in supplying combat mages with gems.

Now, if you wanted blood slaves harvested from provinces to go directly into the national vault, that has a lot more to recommend it and less logistical justification to avoid doing so, and would address a lot more time used in micromanagement. Sadly also not possible to mod, and there are disadvantages to doing so. (Bloodhunters do a decent job protecting themselves right now because they have immediate access to the slaves they harvest).

Edit: It bears noting that your proposed solution doesn't actually solve anything since you can still spend 'hours' fiddling with gem usage, you're just doing it at the scripting stage without having to worry about resupply. This actually makes it worse, as you can totally rescript on the fly far from any resupply point to use as many gems as you want and/or have, and thus could spend even more time effectively 'fiddling with gem use'. Whereas needing to plan ahead limits your possible gem-use and thus constrains the space of possibility. (Unless of course your army is sitting on a lab). tldr; your 'solution' only makes it possible to spend even more time to gain advantage.

[Ond]

Anyways, with a hardcore option and a normal option, we'd both get what we want.

[Squirrelloid]

Originally Posted by Ond

Anyways, with a hardcore option and a normal option, we'd both get what we want.

No, it would dilute the player base. Its a terrible idea.

If you want some mindless RTS, go play SC2 or WC3.