Luck test, v 1.00

[Teraswaerto]

I'd like to see more events that give free special commanders and troops. There are some, like the ethereal assassin. More of things like that, and with more powerful troops/commanders, like a whole company of Grey Knights, etc.

They should be tied to what turn it is so as to not give someone 20 ethereal knights on turn 5, obviously.

Luck should give less gold than Order, but the other events should more than make up for that. Even if Luck was buffed quite a bit, Order would still be the safe choice: you know what it's going to do, and you get the extra gold every turn, and from every province (within your dominion).

[curtadams]

Teraswaerto said:
I'm pretty sure Luck will always lose to Order when it comes to money. What it can do is get you a Staff of Storms before turn 10, or something like that.

Well- in this test Luck got 8000 gp in bonuses on an income of about 55000. That's a 15% bonus, which is almost as much as Order gives. Add in the income boost and Luck came out ahead this time, even ignoring all the bonus gems.

[Teraswaerto]

Didn't Growth and Production also affect the income? Agartha had them and Jotun didn't.

[KissBlade]

Luck 3 also spent points on Growth 3 & Prod 3 in this test ...

Another quibble I have with the luck scale, you can get /unlucky/ and attacked by knights or "lucky" and get a horde of militia as followers ...wtf ...

[Meglobob]

curtadams said:

Well- in this test Luck got 8000 gp in bonuses on an income of about 55000. That's a 15% bonus, which is almost as much as Order gives. Add in the income boost and Luck came out ahead this time, even ignoring all the bonus gems.

Yes but take the 3 growth plus 2 prod out of the equation, ie... Order 3 Prod 1 vs Luck 3 Prod 1 and the gold income from order would be considerably more.

Try order 3 prod 1 vs growth 3 prod 1 and order wins by even more probably.

Taking order 3 for alot of nations gives u a big advantage at the moment, its also 100% reliable, luck is not.

[Endoperez]

I counted 7950 gold from positive events for the Luck nation. Only events. The increased revenue from mid-point on not counted in, of course. I think that's where the 8000 gp comes in. If I hadn't taken Growth and Prod, and had had the same events, the 8000 gp would be more than the 15% order would've given. If that doesn't work, I'm too tired and shouldn't be writing anything about numbers.

[Agrajag]

Don't disrespect the free militia, for the few gold you will pay until they die, they make nice arrow-fodder to decrease casualties in more important squads

[curtadams]

Agrajag said:
Don't disrespect the free militia, for the few gold you will pay until they die, they make nice arrow-fodder to decrease casualties in more important squads

That's kind of how I feel about it. In Dom2, they were often catastrophic because of supply issues and it was often hard to use them. Now, with the increased supply, it doesn't seem difficult to make them die usefully for my cause.

[FrankTrollman]

This was such an interesting idea that I decided to do a test of my own. 4 nations, each with neutral heat scales and a dominion 7 Oracle and 2 positive scales. Arco with Order 3/ Growth 3; Pythium with Productivity 3/Growth 3, Ulm with Order 3/ Productivity 3, and Pangaea with Luck 3/Growth 3.

Initial setup was to purchase all Province Defense up to 10 and then start running turns.

Arco began with an income of 1020 and an upkeep of 25
Pythium began with an income of 733* and an upkeep of 23
Ulm began with an income of 1387 and an upkeep of 14
Pan began with an income of 931 and an upkeep of 25

* Pythium started in a swamp, they were boned.

On turn 10 (I'm controlling for upkeep):

Arco had made 9273 gold and a necromancer.
Pythium had made 6603 gold, 4 Air Gems, Boots of the Messenger, and a hero.
Ulm had made 12631 gold and 7 water gems
Pan had made 8363 gold and 4 Earth gems

On turn 20:

Arco had made 20902 gold, a necromancer, and 20 air gems
Pythium had made 13954 gold, Bartholomeus, Boots of the Messenger, and 4 Air Gems
Ulm had made 27833 gold and 16 Water Gems
Pan had made 21013 gold, 54 militia, 4 Earth Gems, 7 Nature Gems, a Hammer of the Mountains, and a Lightning Rod

On turn 30:

Arco had made 33266 gold, a necromancer, 8 Nature Gems, and 20 air gems
Pythium had made 22115 gold, Bartholomeus, Boots of the Messenger, a High Priest with 33 Militia, and 4 Air Gems
Ulm had made 44468 gold, 37 Flagellants, 4 Fire Gems, and 34 Water Gems
Pan had made 34190 gold, 54 militia, 2 Animists with a combined 40 Wolves, 60 Flagellants, 14 Fire Gems, 6 Air Gems, 11 Earth Gems, 7 Nature Gems, a Hammer of the Mountains, A Sword of Sharpness, a Fire Bola, and a Lightning Rod

So... in 30 turns we've learned what? First, we've learned that swamps are totally ***, and getting started next to a bunch of them is going to jack your income harder than any scales you could imagine.

But more importantly, we've learned that Luck is good. Growth is good. Order is good. And also that your starting setup is probably at least as important as your scales. Ulm, for instance, kept getting water gems, which I believe has something to do with owning provinces with fresh water in them.

-Frank

[KissBlade]

Actually I don't think starting in a location effects any nation's capital. At least it shouldn't have since your income is fixed from your population and the population shouldn't be that deviantial ... still those numbers look odd ...