Newbish question

[GrudgeBringer]

I have a few other Noob things to ask, sorry if they seem so basic but I have read about everything I could and still am blind as a bat.

Let me say I have been playing every night and get a little farther and know just a little more before some AI comes and beats hell out of me.


I have been playing this as Late Man and playing it more or less like RomeTW just to get the mechanics down.

My questions (for now anyway)are:

1.Should I make my First Army Commander my Prophet or should I use a Mage of some sort.

I'm still not sure what a Prophet does for me (or for My Commander for that matter)I know it speads Dominion and I THINK I know that that means, I get more bucks, supplies, and he makes folks happier in the provinces.
BUT what does it do for the Commander?

2. I figured out (sorta) what being on the Hall of fame meeans and it be Gooood. (if there are any hidden things about it could someone let me know)

3. What good does a MOVABLE Pretender do (say a Ghost King)if I am afraid to get him killed? Wouldn't it be better to have a non movable Pretender and protect him?

4.I have been sending out units that can patrol area's to evey border province (I mean EACH province has its own) and am building a Temple in EVERY Province.

The Problem is I have no Idea if (and why) building a Temple in that many provinces is a waste of money and resourses (not to mention time away from building something else).

5.. When I have my Army Commander (he is a Prophet but NOT a mage)cast Bless, do I need to do it EVERY round of battle or once for the battle?

6.Do the low magic items I can forge protect only the Commander or do they apply to his troops also?

And along that same line, If I forge flying boots and it only affects the Commander can I leave my army in a province by itself and fly home for more men in say 1 turn?

7. Last (Sigh) question for know (tonight anyway so I can get my nightly WHOOPIN under way by the AI) When a different Faction declares war on me it seems an empty threat....BUT when I attack an AI he comes at me with EVERYtHING he's got.

So I ask this...Does the AI consider an attack without declaring war a big deal (and if so WHERE do I find the option of declaring war)? AND when I come upon a new faction If I leave it alone will it leave me alone (for a while anyway).

Sorry for being so long but I figure If iask 6 questions at once I won't be taking up space for others to ask more advanced questions.

Thanks in advance...this is a GREAT game but it has a learning curve as steep as AGEODS American Cilvil War and the forums arr the ONLY place to get good info!!!

[sector24]

Apologies if other people answered first!

1) A lot of people make their scout into their prophet. The prophet gets 3 holy magic OR +1 holy magic if he already has 3 or more. He also gets the "blessed" status meaning if your pretender has more than level 4 in any spell path he always gets the bless effect. The advantage of a scout prophet is that you can stealth preach in hostile lands, but you can still fight if you want to by just following around the commander. Also, you can use your commander to patrol on turn 1 and increase taxes for some extra cash early on.

2) There's a spell that lets you raise dead heroes that made it into the Hall of Fame. Also, the bonuses are semi-random, but in part based on what you were doing to get into the Hall of Fame. For instance, there's a bonus that gives you increased research, but it's very hard to research your way into the Hall of Fame!

3) Pretenders generally come in 3 useful flavors:
Rainbow mage for site searching or forging
Heavy bless pretender (level 9 magic in 1 or more paths)
SC Pretender for early expansion and general mayhem

An immobile pretender could be useful if you wanted to set them up to cast Wish late in the game, or as a researcher, etc. But generally you want your pretender to do things that your nation normally can't do, like diversify your magic paths or supplement your weak national troops.

4) You don't actually have to build structures everywhere. In fact, every temple you build is 400g that you haven't spent on troops. The quickie answer on why you build temples is to unlock the recruitment of priest commanders, and spread dominion, which in turn spreads the scales you chose at the beginning of the game.

5) Divine Bless affects everyone on the field for the duration of the battle. Bless affects a bunch of units for the duration of the battle.

6) Most items only affect the person wearing them. Exceptions like the Endless Bag of Wine will say so in their description

7) There is no diplomacy, you're always at war with everyone. However, you start the game with a "cease fire" against all the AI nations. If you attack them or they declare war on you via a message, you are at war for the rest of the game. The notable exception is if you both attack a 3rd party province at the same time; this does not break the cease fire.

[Endoperez]

Apologies if other people answered first!

You should also have apologised for people who answered late.


1. Prophet can cast Sermon of Courage and Smite, which are useful in the early game, and prophet also gets boosted hp, str and some other stats in your own dominion, but penalties in enemy dominion. He's also always blessed, but that isn't important with LA Man. Starting commanders make good prophets if you want the spells.


2. Staying in the Hall of fame longer is even better, and if you have Death magic you can recall dead heroes still in Hall of Fame. Unique summons and pretenders don't get heroic abilities.

3. Sitesearching alone is worth a little risk. You don't have to move a mobile pretender into danger. Some pretenders are more about magic and rituals and support, others can fight or cast good battle-spells and are tough enough to stay alive.
You can make your priests recall dead pretender, but he loses 1 point from all of his magic paths.

4.You don't build up provinces, but search for any sites they might have. Those replace buildings you'd build in other games.
Build castles to protect important provinces, such as sites with lots of good sites and recruitable mages. Also near chokepoints and enemies, so that you can build your armies closer to the enemy front.
Recruit PD (provincial defence) instead of patrollers. 1 point everywhere is good, 10 or more in border provinces might catch spies, anything over 15 starts to be quite expensive but LA Man gets very good troops from it. See pg 120 of your manual and compare the units you get to other nations' PD.

5. Only sacred units can be blessed. Bless works until the end of battle. Prophets are always blessed.

6.Items affect only commander unless otherwise stated in the item's description.

7. About wars...

If you attack AI nation, you're in war. It's just like he sending a message about you two being in war, except that the AI can actually attack you. Wars can be declared from the other side of the world...
Wars will eventually end if nothing happens for a time, but AI doesn't tell you this. Another aggression will make it angry again.
If you kill an enemy pretender, AI attacks you more agressively and doesn't forgive as easily, or perhaps at all.
To get an AI leave you alone, don't appear weak. By PD in border provinces and recruit some independent archers to accompany it; they work very well with your PD.

edit: made my post more coherent.

[GrudgeBringer]

Thank you both!!!

I can now take my nightly whoopin but make it last longer (somehow that doesn't sound right).

Seriously, That was a big help and push in the right direction.

I have never really played magic (being the THUG that I am) games so I am a little behind everyone else.

this Forum is every bit as good as Ageod ACW for helping prople and I/we appreciate it!!!

[GrudgeBringer]

OK (sigh) my whoopin came a little quicker than normal so I will ask the one question that has been bugging me every since I started this game.

What spell can I use to check for magic sites without having to travel to each province.

IF I have a pretender (Ghost King) who is 5 death 4 earth 2 air and have him search for sites....shouldn't he find ANY of the above type sites if he travels there (i'm talking about sites that have a white sunburst and say they have stuff? (cause mine does not find anything....I think hes Drunk half the time anyway)

BTW Is that a good spread for my pretender in the 'magic' paths? Or should I have like a death 3 Earth 9 ect?

Thanks agian

[Master_Li]

Hope this helps

What spell can I use to check for magic sites without having to travel to each province.

Fire - Augury
Water - Voice of Aspu
Air - Auspex
Earth - Gnome Lore
Astral - Arcane Probing
Nature - Haruspex
Death - Dark Knowledge
Blood - Blood Bowl

Some are Thaumaturgy (Level 2), Evocation (Level 2), Conjuration (Level 3). If you order a mage to cast one of those spells with the monthly casting command (shift+m) he will do this every turn for another province.

There are 3 special Spells for Site Searching:
Voice of Tiamat - Detects all Elemntal Sites in a Water Province (Conj 4)
Acashic Records - Detects all Sites in a Province
Arcane Strands (hope I remmebered right) - The Caster detects Magic Sites in your dominion randomly, up to his paths

The sites have different Levels (0-4), If you use the command "Search for magic sites" your mage can only find sites up to his levels in magic paths. I.e. a Nature 3 mage can find only up to Nature 3 sites. If you searched a province, you can always check at the upper screen or the overview (F1), what level and paths already have been searched for - small colored icons with numbers in them. Maximum needed mage level is 4 to find everything of that path. The spells above all do a "9" search.

IF I have a pretender (Ghost King) who is 5 death 4 earth 2 air and have him search for sites....shouldn't he find ANY of the above type sites if he travels there (i'm talking about sites that have a white sunburst and say they have stuff? (cause mine does not find anything....I think hes Drunk half the time anyway)

First, did you instruct him to "Search for magic Sites"? You do have to do this every time you want him to search a province.
There is just a probability for magic sites. So it is possible to have no magic sites in a province. The Sun Symbol normally shows an increased chance, but still there is the possibility of no sites. Even, if there were 4 (the maximum) sites in that province, those can be sites from magic paths not available to you.

BTW Is that a good spread for my pretender in the 'magic' paths? Or should I have like a death 3 Earth 9 ect?

There are some strategies picking paths:

You pick your paths for bless effects. These are good for any sacred units. Those can be blessed by priests in battle. If your nation has strong (either in number or raw power) sacred units, then this is commonly used Strategy. Bless effects start at 4 in any path and a second effect comes with 9.
Bless strategies commonly use 2 or 3 blesses at 9. This is very expensive, because you get only those bless effects, your pretender starts with (no booster increases bless effects). So a pretender wit 3 paths all at 9 is cost intensive.

rainbow
you give your pretender as many paths at levels 1-4 as you can afford, so he can site search for a lot of sites. Level 2 is often enough, because most sites are 2 or lower.

caster
you have some casting strategy. You want some spells available to your pretender. Then you can pick your paths accordingly. Often used for special spells not avalable to your nation.

SC (Super Combatant)
A martial pretender. You pick the paths to be able to cast effective combat spells.
Or sometimes you don't pick any paths and invest in good scales (order, luck etc.)
An example for the later is the Great Wyrm. He is quite effective even without speels. If you choose dominion 9(10) your pretender gets Awe(+4), a very effective defensive power.

Any combination of the above.

[Tuidjy]

> Arcane Strands (hope I remmebered right) - The Caster detects Magic Sites in your
> dominion randomly, up to his paths

Strands of Arcane Power doesn't detect up to the full value of the caster's paths.
I think it's up to at most half his magic levels, and boosters don't seem to count.

[Agrajag]

Fire - Augury
Water - Voice of Aspu
Air - Auspex
Earth - Gnome Lore
Astral - Arcane Probing
Nature - Haruspex
Death - Dark Knowledge
Blood - Blood Bowl

Some are Enchantment (Level 2), Evocation (Level 2), Conjuration (Level 3). If you order a mage to cast one of those spells with the monthly casting command (shift+m) he will do this every turn for another province.

Fire,Air,Earth and Nature are in Thaumaturgy 2, Astral in Evocation 2, Death in Conjuration 2, Water in Conjuration 3, Blood in Blood 2.
There's nothing in Enchantment.