So far what nations look strong... and weak?

Johan ... you were right.

You can't expand fast enough for the theme to work if you play anything but a short/fast game. Perhaps there could be a reworking that maybe population is eaten slower or that the good units (Like the Black Centaur and the Pans) were buildable everywhere.

[Saber Cherry]

Or maybe if lots of vinemen/ogres/mandragoras rise up in strong dominion, regardless of population... then the pop-killing thing with a growth scale would make sense=)

[Arralen]

Originally posted by Keir Maxwell:

quote:

---

Originally posted by LordArioch:
Solution...magic duel immunity item!

I would like to second this.

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What's easier ??:

- Tweaking all nations mages so their weakness to magic duel is balanced in one or the other way.
or
- Making another item which has to balanced and adds another opportunity for micromanagement
or
- Tweak the spell to be more sensible.

I vote for the third. It's unnecessary anyway - there aren't any duel spells with the other paths, so why should it be there for astral?
Or to put it the other way 'round - a mage cannot target another mage, unless both know astral magic. All of a sudden both become big fat, not particularly fast moving targets ... .

A.

[Arralen]

Originally posted by Chris Byler:
..., although with what I know now I'd probably go for a rainbow mage next time; T'ien Ch'i needs access to a variety of booster items) in Spring and Autumn.

Try the following:

Frost Father
Fire - 4
Water - 4
Earth - 4
Death - 4

Turmoil 1*
Sloth 1
Growth 2
Luck 1
Magic 1* .. *preset

Watchtower
1pt left

... makes interesting bless for Celestial "Ogers" and the mages...

A.

[apoger]

> It's unnecessary anyway - there aren't any duel spells with the other paths, so why should it be there for astral?


Agreed.

How's this for an agrument... Magic Duel is -NOT FUN-. I consider it a burden. It is added complexity that almost never makes the game better. At least in my opinion.

Any other opinions? Does anyone out there ENJOY what magic duel brings to the game? This is perhaps the question that needs to be asked.

[Nerfix]

Apoger, if we drop out all things that people find -NOT FUN-, Dominions II gets pretty poor in the content.

[Truper]

Agreed.

How's this for an agrument... Magic Duel is -NOT FUN-. I consider it a burden. It is added complexity that almost never makes the game better. At least in my opinion.

Any other opinions? Does anyone out there ENJOY what magic duel brings to the game? This is perhaps the question that needs to be asked.

It's a question that I suppose only the MP vets can answer, as the AI doesn't use magic duel.

But I think it may have been put into the game as burden to make people think twice about one of the unique abilities of astral mages, since toned down in Dom2 - namely gateway. Sure you can blip entire armies around the map, and get a special attack before the other guy moves, but make a mistake, and blip into a province with a better astral mage, and run the risk of stranding that army, with appropriately dire consequences.

I also don't see how the management of dueling is especially more burdensome than some of the more mundane management tasks - ensuring that your armored Ulmish hordes aren't going up against too many crossbows, or whether the enemy might have a force capable of using wrathful skies, or whether they might use one of the other instant-death spells like disintegrate, etc.

It also comes with its own fair share of risk, now that it is no longer deterministic.

Why is it any -LESS FUN- than any of the myriad other ways you can get stomped?