Whoah theres a lot of micro management in this game

[Jiggymike]

Honestly a lot of learning in this game comes from experience, going through the wiki, and going through some of the strat threads on here. I remember being totally lost when I first started playing, to the point where I stopped for a couple of years before rediscovering how awesome this game is (mostly thanks to mods...personally I am a huge fan of the CBM mod and some of the ones that add new and powerful units, like Mytheology and Epic Heroes). I basically started a lot of SP games to see how different nations play and to test out some strategies; once I got bored or realized I could have played it better, I started a new game with a different nation. When I get a good one going, I play it out to mess around with late game summons and magic.

In reference to a couple of your questions:

-The "Attack Rearmost" command doesn't guarantee that you will attack the enemy's commander. In fact, I believe the game purposely made it quite difficult to attack commanders, as this would make enemy armies overly easy to route and kind of nullify the whole strategy aspect. Attack Archers usually works to specifically target archers whereas Attack Rearmost will cause you to attack at the flanks of one of the enemy's groups, though not always the one you want.

-I think part of the problem with scripting is the range on spells (I could be totally off base here but this is just what I feel like I've seen, most people on this forum have a far better understanding of the base mechanics behind the game than I do). If your mage is way in the back and you script him to cast a spell with a range of like 25 that can't reach the enemy, he'll just do something else and he won't go back to the spell he was supposed to cast previously. Either position your mage closer or start with self-buff spells or those with high range e.g. Frighten.

These were the two items that stood out from your post that I don't think anyone else answered yet. Some aspects of the game you'll just have to deal with because there isn't much you can do about the micromanagement. Personally I feel that CBM removes a little of the most tedious micromanagement from the game (like worrying about making zillions of gen gems), but overall it's the nature of the beast. Get involved in some newbie multiplayer games; having to wait for your turns will make you more patient and allow you to enjoy single player more, in my opinion (I used to get too obsessed with cranking out turns and miss out on a lot of opportunities). Hope this helps and that you enjoy the game because it can be a ton of fun if you can deal with it's more annoying aspects.

[Knai]

Originally Posted by Jiggymike

-I think part of the problem with scripting is the range on spells (I could be totally off base here but this is just what I feel like I've seen, most people on this forum have a far better understanding of the base mechanics behind the game than I do). If your mage is way in the back and you script him to cast a spell with a range of like 25 that can't reach the enemy, he'll just do something else and he won't go back to the spell he was supposed to cast previously. Either position your mage closer or start with self-buff spells or those with high range e.g. Frighten.

Range is a lot of it, but when it comes to self buffs the AI stubbornly refuses to cast some. The best example of this is taking any unit with a complete resistance, casting a protection upgrade spell that reduces it, then trying to cast an elemental resistance spell to bring it back up - the last step rarely goes as planned. There is a lot of weirdness in the AI, but you do get used to it pretty quickly, even if it does retain the ability to throw the occasional surprise.

[Soyweiser]

Well there is some anecdotal evidence that there is a check. But it simply isn't a morale check. Nobody knows what it is. But assume that it is there.

[Gandalf Parker]

Impressions can be misleading. Keeping specific counts tends toward the AI going off script for good reasons more than not. Of course, anytime we disagree with it that tends to stick in our memory for a long time.

However, you will find that many of the advanced players will take scouts along with any walking army that has mages. The scouts can stay hidden out of combat and hold things. Gems, blood slaves, equipment for breaking castles, etc etc. Its abit more micromangment but it is a way to handle the situation. Instead of having mages haul enough gems for a long war, only give them enough for the next fight. Even better if you have stealth flyers who can quickly replenish

[Knai]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

Impressions can be misleading. Keeping specific counts tends toward the AI going off script for good reasons more than not. Of course, anytime we disagree with it that tends to stick in our memory for a long time.

However, you will find that many of the advanced players will take scouts along with any walking army that has mages. The scouts can stay hidden out of combat and hold things. Gems, blood slaves, equipment for breaking castles, etc etc. Its abit more micromangment but it is a way to handle the situation. Instead of having mages haul enough gems for a long war, only give them enough for the next fight. Even better if you have stealth flyers who can quickly replenish

The vast majority of deviation from script is caused by an inability to perform the actions required. There are, however, a few odd cases where the mage just does something wrong.

I'm well aware of this technique. It doesn't help when the next fight is something other than what you think it will be, and your mages decide to blow the gems they have on a relatively small advance force that arrived magically, and then they lack the gems for the major fight. Gem use AI is a hair too trigger happy, though its better that than the opposite.

[Question]

Is there any way to stop mages from eating gems? I want them to only use the gems they carry for casting scripted spells.

Actually im kind of surprise there hasnt been any AI improvement mods yet, given how poor the AI is and how important a role it plays. Also surprised at the lack of UI mods.

[Squirrelloid]

Originally Posted by Question

Is there any way to stop mages from eating gems? I want them to only use the gems they carry for casting scripted spells.

Only give them enough gems to cast scripted spells, plus any likely 'buff' gems they'd burn if you need multiple gem-eating spells from the same school. (If and when a mage will burn extra gems is somewhat predictable, but i don't have a formalized equation you could plug numbers into).

Actually im kind of surprise there hasnt been any AI improvement mods yet, given how poor the AI is and how important a role it plays. Also surprised at the lack of UI mods.

UI: Not easily modded. If its possible at all, it would require hacking the game process as its running and injecting stuff directly into the process. I know this has worked for some Diablo modding, but there's maybe one person in the dom3 community who i'm sure would be capable of such a thing, and he's not an active modder.

AI improvement: there was one attempt made. Again, outside of tweaking some spell mechanics which influence AI decisions (which is what the one attempt does), you'd need to hack the process as it ran.

Basically, the game doesn't have convenient hooks for modding most of this stuff, and since hacking the game is an extraordinary measure for something like a UI hack, no one has tried it.

[Question]

Well that kind of sucks. Hopefully the sequel will be a lot more moddable with less micro management, wasnt this game released 5 years ago though?

About generating maps...how do you generate a map with entirely no water at all?

[Squirrelloid]

Originally Posted by Question

Well that kind of sucks. Hopefully the sequel will be a lot more moddable with less micro management, wasnt this game released 5 years ago though?

About generating maps...how do you generate a map with entirely no water at all?

Draw a map. Define no provinces to be water.

Its actually not *that* hard. But you'll want to check out the modding documentation for map making.

Now, if you want a *random* map with no water, i can't help you there.

[Question]

I meant use the generate map option to generate a map with no water...apparently you cant select any parameters for generating a random map...