Question for Luck Experts

[Xietor]

I had 4 in one turn today, playing 3 order 3 luck events common(solo game). 2 of the events occurred in the same province. All 3 provinces were mine at the start and end of my turn, and i had gorgon.

[DrPraetorious]

Even with rare events, I'd take misfortune 2 rather than misfortune 3.

AFACT, The "event is bad" modifier doesn't just make events more likely to be bad - it makes events *worse*.

In the controlled studies I ran, misfortune 3 was basically never worth it (vs misfortune 2), even at events rare. I would not take luck with rare events, however.

There is some sort of combined effect from fortune with other beneficial scales - order 3 / fortune 3 gets fewer events than turmoil 3 / fortune 3, but the events you get are more likely to produce money? I haven't run enough tests to say conclusively, but fortune 3 / productivity 3 and fortune 3 / growth 3 both seem to get more money than they "should".

[Baalz]

Another thing to consider is that income from luck (as far as I know) doesn't show up on the score graphs. Taking order vs turmoil/luck will show you as having significantly stronger income on the charts (close to a 60% swing in apparent income). I've found in the MP games I play that this is a significant consideration because of the importance of diplomacy. Of course, appearing too weak is even worse than appearing too strong, so when I say worth considering that's exactly what I mean.

[Xietor]

What is this diplomacy that you speak of? There can be only one true god, and that be mine! hehe.

[Ironhawk]

Xietor said:
I had 4 in one turn today, playing 3 order 3 luck events common(solo game). 2 of the events occurred in the same province. All 3 provinces were mine at the start and end of my turn, and i had gorgon.

Order scale influences the number of events you get. So it is counterproductive to take Order and Luck at the same time. If you were really insistent on taking luck I would say take only Luck 1. Any more than that is a waste since Order 3 will reduce the overall number of events.

[Xietor]

On big maps i get plenty of events with 3 order and 3 luck. I got 4 in one turn!

[Foodstamp]

I have been testing order 3 with luck 3 lately. It yields interesting results. Turmoil 3 luck 3 used to yield a lot of unrest events for me. Choosing Order 3 Luck 3 seems to cut the total events I have received by a fraction, but the events I do receive are good more often than turmoil 3 luck 3. The only notable bad event I can think of recently in both games I am trying these scales is 2 units getting cursed. I like this scale layout, it yields great events without some of the more chaotic ones.

I need to test it more to decide if the reduction in events really makes it worthwhile, but both games I am running yielded 3 events last turn (one was the curse event) so It seems that they cancel each other to a point of making events still fairly common.

PS. I got a national hero on turn two with those scales!

[Ironhawk]

Its possible that the luck statistics break down on larger maps. But I personally would not consider Order and Luck to be a good investment of design points.

[Tichy]

I too have noticed (I think) that Luck and Order interact. Fewer events overall, but even a smaller proportion of the events are bad than with luck/turmoil.

Come to think of it -- might it be that there are certain *kinds* of bad event, namely unrest/revolt events and maybe big barbarian hordes -- that order prevents?

[DrPraetorious]

That was certainly true in Dominions 2. Many of the more extreme events had a scale requirement - so the largest barbarian hordes *required* turmoil.

I have noticed that -
death/misfortune seems to get more plagues,
growth/luck seems to get more pop growth events,
productivity/luck seems to get more free improvements (temples, forts, defense rating, resource production, etc.).

I'm not sure if it's just that some events require scales (as seemed to be the case in dom 2) or if your other scales bias which events you get. It requires more testing.