Some mages will not cast "resist lightning" -- shocking results are evil, help needed

[tinkthank]

I just had a very valuable Celestial Master get fried in a friendly-cast Wrathful Skies combo in which the enemy got hurt badly by my small but electrically-protected armylet.

I actually had the old turn saved, since I had transfered the file from another computer, did my turn on that new computer and hosted there, with the shocking results (no pun intended).

Sure enough, "resist lightning" was the first spell scripted (thereafter quickness, power of the spheres etc.).

I was furious. Why, why, why?

I can only think of one reason (besides: general paranoia, the computer hates me, the AI is a excremental fornicator, etc.):
He was carrying a staff of elemental mastery. And one which was made with Air3-Earth-3, which gives partial resistance to shock. Does anyone know if a mage with partial resistance to X will refuse to cast "resist X" (even if scripted, even if he NEEDS it)?? Must I take such a staff off him, that being the source of the problem? Or is the problem really that the AI is an excremental fornicator?

[Norfleet]

That's right: Partial resistance kills. If you have partial resist, your mage refuses to cast any resistance spells, even if the resistance spell would give him full, proper resist.

This, of course, is why partial resist is worse than no resist. It's just as useless, AND makes it impossible to cast immunity.

[tinkthank]

I see, thank you.

I have not seen vast numbers of complaints about this on the Boards, so apparently I am one of the very few who finds this to be extraordinarily suboptimal. Partial resistance is, so to speak, a kick in your own shins.

If there has not yet been a plea to have this revamped (I suppose, however, that this would mean AI rehaul: the AI must love full resistances more than partial resistances), I would hereby like to start that now.

Thank you!

[Endoperez]

I think this part of the combat AI dates back to the times of Dom:PPP in which there was only two choices in resistances: no resistance at all and total immunity.
As partial resistances were implemented, I think the developers forgot to change the AI. This can be deadly in some situations, so I think this is a bug.

[tinkthank]

I see.

(What exactly is this Dom:PPP that people keep mentioning?)

Thank you for corroborating. Would this be difficult to fix?

Posted the same info 3 months ago, but it was not fixed.
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...=001713#000004

The solution seems to cast Thunder Ward (50% prot + 50% prot = immunity).

Cheers

[tinkthank]

Thank you.
Thunder ward is, of course, a nice spell, but it is also Alt-6 (or Enchant-6?), if not 7, I think, and is also steep on the gem/fatigue requirements, whereas Resist Lightning is a level-1 spell with only 5 or 10 fatigue cost, plus it gives you 100% res.

On another note, what is DomPPP?

[atul]

Originally posted by tinkthank:
On another note, what is DomPPP?

Dominions: Priests, Prophets and Pretenders (I might have fumbled the order). Also known as Dom1.

I think.

[ioticus]

Damn, that's a bad bug Hope they fix it.