Bash & Crush vs. Cut & Slash

[jutetrea]

Would be complicated but:

Second form for all units with slightly increased stats/resistences. Resistances would be tough, may need multiple forms for the different combos...hmm. Possibly just stats then.

Province specific "dome" type enchantment that induces the 2nd form to show up as recruitable. Or "unlock" additional recruitables. Const 7 maybe.

or

Mytheology mod has spells which summon a Menhir type unit (immobile) that gives province specific bonuses (+morale, +growth, -unrest, etc) which I THINK work. Presence unlocks second form. "all units built in the presence of the molten altar receive 50% fire resistance". Limit 1 per province or make them unique per nation?

Would say +20% to all stats make units more worthwhile or would it have to be more significant? Say +60%?

[Taqwus]

On repel... more than once I've wondered whether multiple long weapons in a single square should have synergies in repel.

A single pikeman repelling... not effective. Too easy to go around.

Multiple pikemen -- much more dangerous.

[Chacal]

Taqwus said:
On repel... more than once I've wondered whether multiple long weapons in a single square should have synergies in repel.

A single pikeman repelling... not effective. Too easy to go around.

Multiple pikemen -- much more dangerous.

That's where Dom3 lacks a formation thing. Regular, trained, pikemen should be very efficient, particularly against mounted charging them. But they would be vulnerable to a mobile oppononent able to turn them. Maybe one day...

[Chris_Byler]

You can already upgrade your troops with Strength of Giants, Legions of Steel, Weapons of Sharpness, etc... since that's a major strength of earth magic, I think it would be problematic to make it available to everyone.

And there are already too many ways to get through armor - that's why the armored nations are weak, they pay four times over in increased resources (often needing productivity), higher encumbrance and lower defense skill and mobility for armor that then only protects them against some attacks. What we need are easier ways to buff resistance against the common AN attacks like lightning, poison and shadow blast, not even more ways to kill Ulm.

It *would* be appropriate for blunt weapons (including slings, which could really use the help) to do a small amount of AN stun damage per hit whether or not they do any HP damage through armor/shields, but I'd be concerned that the effect of such a change by itself would be to further weaken the effectiveness of armored troops.

Well, in reality the reason that with the increasing popularity of plate armor more unpleasent blunt implements were being used has little to do with armor piercing effects. A sword of comparable weight is more effective at hitting plate armor than a blunt hammer and only beaten (haha) by pointed weapons. For piercing armor you need a fine point so something like a pick works best, but when you can't pierce the plate anyway and just cause some blunt trauma, weight of the weapon is the only thing that matters, not if it's hammer or blade shaped.
But it is a lot more expensive to forge high-quality steel for a sword that does not break after a couple of dozen hits to plate armor than to simply put a big lump of iron on top of an oak pole, giving you a functional if unrefined weapon.

[Endoperez]

In Dominions terms, a Great Sword is dam 9, att 1, def 3, length 3 and costs 5 resources, while a Maul is dam 9, att 0, def -1, length 3 and costs 1 resource. The difference between Great Sword and a Maul is that in Dominions, the resource difference between the two is much, much smaller than it would be in real life. Battleaxes are identical to mauls except for def 0 and resource cost of 3 (+1 def costs 2 res). I Great Sword's cost scaled similarly, they'd cost about 9 resources.

[CUnknown]

I really like the idea of upgradable national troops as the game goes on, I hope this is incorporated into the game at some point. Not only would it make national troops more viable in the late game, it would increase the number of options available in the game, which is always a good thing, imo.

I think care would have to be taken so as not to make this overpowering (especially for sacred units). In fact, I think that generally improving your units like this should be less effective on a per gem basis than simply summoning better troops. Sort of like empowering is usually kind of a waste. The advantages would lie in mage-time (as in, it's not being used), and it would be an easy way to use up a large quantity of gems and see an effect immediately.

I'm thinking it would work like this: Research up to evocation-6 and construction-6, let's say, and that lets you spend 50 fire gems in any fort (in which you also have a lab) to give all the troops coming out of there fire weapons.

You can already upgrade your troops with Strength of Giants, Legions of Steel, Weapons of Sharpness, etc... since that's a major strength of earth magic, I think it would be problematic to make it available to everyone.

Well, it wouldn't be available to everyone, only those people who decided to make the investment. The investment should be large enough to discourage most people from doing it. Additionally, you could make it require one turn of mage-time, a mage with certain required paths for certain effects if you want to restrict it to nations with certain magic abilities.

This sounds like a great idea to me!