Newbie questions, sitesearching + lots more Qs

[binarysolo]

Hey all, Dom3 newbie here. Had a few SP/MP questions to ask.


1. Sitesearching Q's -- so basically any land can have from 0-4 magic sites, AFAIK. Do those sites include hidden fortresses? Pre-existing Mines? Temples/Mines/Labs/etc. from luck events (more specifically, do those luck events uncover sites, or just create sites)? There's a buncha FAQs on sitesearching but I can't seem to find an answer to this specific question. :/


2. Casting globals enchantments -- say there are 5 globals in effect and I want to cast a global. Does my global basically act like a random dispel at that point, subject to DRN and what not? And it can attack my own globals too, should it be one of the 5 preexisting?


3. Domain effects -- what positive/negative effects do I suffer when under enemy domain? I vaguely remember reading on the forums that while under another nation's luck domain that ends up being bad luck to me. I'm sure somebody compiled a list, but I can't seem to find it again (blah)... can anybody kindly point me to it?


4. Overland spells -- Okay, I'm being shot at by arrows from the sky. And lesser horrors are eating my commanders. And stuff. Is there any way I can ID who's doing this to me, or do I just suck it up, build domes and get bodyguards? :/

Inverse question - I'd like to cast overland spells at some secret/presumed enemy... which spells are detectable and which aren't?


5. Commander (execution) order -- What determines the execution order for commanders/mages? Is it rearrangeable?


6. How exactly does protection work? It seems to be like damage reduction... is this applied to every single attack in the same turn, and does it get reduced after every attack (like defence)?


7. How does fatigue work for items with spell abilities? Does it just use encumberance? I notice my guy spamming thunderstrike using an artifact sword and the rate of fatigue is significantly lower than I expected.


8. A flyer self-casts blink and teleports around the battlefield, being instructed to "attack rear". I notice the flyer's going to the exact same spot, even though the battlefield is changing and the locale he's at is definitely not the rear of the enemy army. What gives? (Or rather, what am I doing incorrectly here...)


9. I hear there's an active IRC channel where actives lounge around and answer these questions in real time. Now where could that be... (kindly point the way to a noob who isn't finding relevant posts, le sigh)

[thejeff]

1) Up to 4 sites. This counts sites from events, but not temples, labs or forts, just like you can build a building in a province with 4 sites.
It counts non-hidden sites (level 0). It counts the sites that produce forts, but not the fort itself.
Buildings are not sites.
Luck events create sites, but only if there is room for them.

2) Random dispel. Same mechanics. Can overwrite your own globals. Obviously, if you're casting a global that already exists it will go against that one.

5) Execution order is not rearrangeable. It goes by unit id. Which is also the order commanders are shown in the army set up screen. Order in battle is fixed, top to bottom. Ritual casting order, I believe, flips between top to bottom and bottom to top randomly.

6) Protection is damage reduction. Applied to every attack. Does not get reduced like defence.

7) 5 fatigue for item spells. No encumbrance.

[Gregstrom]

9. Check the stickies

[Amonchakad]

I have a couple counter-questions to the answers...

1.thejeff, you say that the site limit of 4 counts the event sites, but magic sites are distributed at the map generation phase,right? So basically you can have lucky site events only in provinces that were assigned less than 4 sites, even if you haven't discovered them all?

2.I don't have much experience with them, but I thought that casting a 6th global targeted the one with less gems invested in it? At least, that's what someone told me.


Now for answering 3, though this isn't off accurate testing but common knowledge:
troops gain +1 morale in friendly dominion and -1 in enemy one,
regarding enemy dominion on your lands, for order/productivity/growth, you can only get negative effects(so the -% to income/Resources/etc) but not any positive ones; for heat/cold, it depends on your nation's preferences, and enemy luck is treated as misfortune,while misfortune is obviously treated the same:P I have no clue about the Magic scale.

[thejeff]

1) That's how I understand it.

2) I'm not 100% sure on that, but I thought it was random.

3) AFAIK, magic scale works like everything else for the research bonus: drain always gives penalties, but there is no bonus for magic outside your dominion. I believe the battlefield mr bonus/penalty always applies.

[Illuminated One]

ad 4.)

All remote rituals are anonymous.
So you can only make educated guesses about the casting nation by looking at the magic and research the spell requires.
If you want to remain anonymous it's best to cast spells you cannot cast naturally and let someone who can take the blaim.

ad 8.)

I don't know, there was some thread about the battle behaviour of flyers way ago, I can't remember the conclusion but one thing is certain that fliers set to attack rear will often get stuck on the frontline (since the unit makes some kind of morale check or so).

[vfb]

1) Yes, up to 4 sites per prov on the map. This includes mines, and sites that give you a lab or fort. Random events can give you another site, mostly mines, if there are less than 4 sites currently in the prov. You can get free labs and temples from events even if there are 4 sites. Temples have nothing to do with sites.

2) Yes your global does a DRN dispel if there are already 5 up, and yes it is completely random which of the 5 existing globals it will try to replace, your own global is possible.

3) Under enemy dominion your units have reduced morale. You do not get any positive income/resource/luck/research benefits from scales. Your god and pretender will be weaker. Some enemy globals will be more effective in enemy dominion.

4) You can guess who's doing it based on the paths required. Also remote rituals where an army is summoned that you get to keep (Call of foo, Arouse Hunger, Horde from Hell) will identify you in the battle screen.

5) Top to bottom in the battle setup screen ('t' or 'y'), except spells are cast first during each combat round, and commanders go before troops.

6) Protection is applied to every attack that is not armor-negating. It is not reduced by hits, except for special attacks that destroy armor.

7) 5 fatigue per cast from an item.

8) Flyers have less change of making it all the way to the rear when there is a big army in the way.

9) The Dominions 3 Faq & IRC Channel Info

[binarysolo]

Many thanks to the different people answering my noob questions. I have a few more, plus some additional clarification I'd like on a few old queries.


RE: 6) Huh, so I guess armor even protects against magic spells... just that a lot of them have AP/AN effects. (I was thinking in D&D mode I think, where armor has no effect on magical damage.) What about fatigue damage? Does armor protect against that?


RE: 8) So the thing I should ask is more about the behavior of units post-Blink spell... if a unit is attacking rear, gets blinked somewhere else, does it retarget based on its priorities? (Say I used "attack rear" and hit a big unit that did "Hold and Attack" and now it's finally moved to the front lines... does it retarget to attack the new unit at the rear? Based on personal experience it doesn't seem to do that.)

NEW QUESTIONS!

10) Sceptics (EA Arcoscephale) - does this unit reduce the dominion effect of the owner of the land, or the prevailing Pretender's dominion? Say if I was holding a territory that was under enemy dominion, does moving a Sceptic there help kill off the enemy dominion? Vice versa, say I am using dominion to attack other lands and sneak my sceptic into enemy territory (with my dominion prevailing), does that reduce my dominion spread there?


11) Spell casting scripts -- say if I script a unit to cast, say, Shock Wave (range 2) and no enemy is nearby, does the caster change spells to something with more range, sit out for the turn, or move towards the enemy so she can cast the spell?

Similarly, if I have a priest scripted to spam bless and all units are already blessed, does the unit move up to find other things to do, like engage in melee? (I'm noticing this in a test game, ugh.)


12) Domes - what spells do and don't they protect? Obviously, direct fire spells (seeking arrow, volcano, etc.) are prevented. What about Monster Boars, Wolven Winter, or Teleport (or other spells)?


13) I'm getting hit by the global "Wild Hunt" and my sacred leaders (not my priests) are targeted. What gives? (Oh, note I'm playing CBM 1.5.)


14) Twist fate - does that only protect against physical attacks, or does it protect against magic as well?


15) "Stay behind" - If I have a leader set on this command and units guarding him, does he actually stay behind the units guarding him or move towards the battlefield?


16) Elemental royalty - say if they're in the Hall of Fame, I still can't reanimate them into a mummy, right? To get them back I'd need to resummon them. If they are cursed/horrormarked (or have their paths empowered) do these effects last, or do they start fresh after each resummon, and I'd assume anybody else summoning them would get the same unit, complete with all debilitations/empowerments.

[lch]

Originally Posted by binarysolo

RE: 6) Huh, so I guess armor even protects against magic spells... just that a lot of them have AP/AN effects. (I was thinking in D&D mode I think, where armor has no effect on magical damage.) What about fatigue damage? Does armor protect against that?

Earth typically is physical damage and armor protects against it. Fire is armor piercing, meaning that armor is only half as good against it. Astral is commonly armor negating, armor doesn't protect at all. Armor doesn't protect at all against fatigue/stun damage (associated with Water), armor negating shock damage (Air), or poison (Nature).

Originally Posted by binarysolo

10) Sceptics (EA Arcoscephale) - does this unit reduce the dominion effect of the owner of the land, or the prevailing Pretender's dominion?

They work exactly like the Stone Idol item.

Originally Posted by binarysolo

11) Spell casting scripts -- say if I script a unit to cast, say, Shock Wave (range 2) and no enemy is nearby, does the caster change spells to something with more range, sit out for the turn, or move towards the enemy so she can cast the spell?

Something with an appropriate range. Units scripted to cast don't move. Only if they're set to attack will they get closer to an enemy in case they can't hit them directly. Attacking isn't the same as firing, too.

Originally Posted by binarysolo

12) Domes - what spells do and don't they protect? Obviously, direct fire spells (seeking arrow, volcano, etc.) are prevented. What about Monster Boars, Wolven Winter, or Teleport (or other spells)?

Protect against everything, including your own. Don't try to teleport back into your domed capital.

Originally Posted by binarysolo

13) I'm getting hit by the global "Wild Hunt" and my sacred leaders (not my priests) are targeted. What gives? (Oh, note I'm playing CBM 1.5.)

No idea, might be buggy.

Originally Posted by binarysolo

14) Twist fate - does that only protect against physical attacks, or does it protect against magic as well?

Against everything, AFAIK, like luck, but with a 100% chance and only once.

Originally Posted by binarysolo

15) "Stay behind" - If I have a leader set on this command and units guarding him, does he actually stay behind the units guarding him or move towards the battlefield?

If they're set to guard the commander that is told to stay behind, nobody will move.

Originally Posted by binarysolo

16) Elemental royalty - say if they're in the Hall of Fame, I still can't reanimate them into a mummy, right? To get them back I'd need to resummon them. If they are cursed/horrormarked (or have their paths empowered) do these effects last, or do they start fresh after each resummon, and I'd assume anybody else summoning them would get the same unit, complete with all debilitations/empowerments.

AFAIK that's right for unique units like that.

[thejeff]

10) My understanding is that they reduce dominion towards 0. Your dominion or an enemy's.

11) If the caster is scripted to cast a particular spell and can't find a valid target, they will cast another spell. If they can't find a target for any spell, like a low level priest with everyone blessed and no undead in range, they'll default to "Stay behind troops"
Post ninja edit: I normally wouldn't argue with lch, but I'm pretty sure about this. In practice this only shows up with H1 priests or with mages in the very early game when little is researched.

12) I believe domes work against anything targeting the province.
Including your own spells. Teleports, site searches, etc.

14) Twist fate works against (most?) magical attacks. Magic Duel may be an exception, there may be others.

15) Bodyguards are ignored for troops to stay behind.
Post ninja edit: I'll have to check this.