Did you know that? (Dominions trivia)

[chrispedersen]

Minor trick:

Sieging a Lanka, or abysian castle? Wolven winter, changing the temperature scales, and hence the supplies, can help starve your opponent faster.

[vfb]

It was an accident for me too. Down to 1 HP on a diseased capitol mage, and Late Winter was approaching rapidly. So I sent him solo into the indies, just holding one turn then retreating, so I could at least get up to 2 or 3 HP and live one more year. I was surprised to see he had the full 9 HP after retreating from the battle.

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by HoneyBadger

I think that's a great candidate for the Exploits thread, vfb

IMHO that's not an exploit. It *should* work like that even if you don't go into combat.

Note that the units you send in also gain an extra point of experience for being involved in a battle, according to the manual.

-Max

[chrispedersen]

It is an exploit. No reason for a unit to ever die of disease, if you can keep a battle nearby.

[vfb]

With regen they won't die of disease anyway, or it'll take a really long time (like 10 years) for 10 Late Winters to wear them down. In my case above, it was that I'd only reached Const 4 just as the mage was about to die.

I'm really surprised that anyone would think that this is an exploit. I thought HB was joking! Maybe he was? Chris sounds like he's not joking though.

[cleveland]

1) Did you know that the "Charge Bonus for First Strike" that Lances receive is a damage bonus equivalent to 30% of the unit's action points?

So for example, a Lance-wielding indy Heavy Cavalry (20 action points, 16 damage, strength not added) will deal 16 + 20*0.3 = 22 damage. If he is Quickened, his action points will double to 40, so he'll deal 16 + 40*0.3 = 28 damage.

2) Did you know that with Strength of Giants, a Light Lance 1st strike becomes at least as deadly as a Lance?

Light Lances are 3damage plus strength of the wielder, while Lances are 16damage, but strength isn't added. The weakest Light Lance wielders are 9str (Jade Maiden, Nightmare, and Pegasus Rider), so after SoG they deal 9+3+4 = 16 damage before the 1st strike bonus, same as a Lance. Actually, most Light Lance wielders are stronger than 9, so Strength of Giants generally makes the Light Lance 1st strike more deadly than a Lance.

[Fate]

Originally Posted by MaxWilson

...Forge of the Ancients counts BEFORE forge bonus? If the forge bonus came first, a 15% forge bonus on a 5 gem item would round down to 4 gems, and then Forge of the Ancients would halve that to 2 gems. Instead, Forge halves the cost from 5 to 2, and then a 15% bonus on top rounds down to 1.

It's also possible to forge items for free, if you can get the cost below 1. (It's almost never worth doing so, though.)

-Max

Are you sure it doesn't just stack?

50% FoA + 15% hammer = 65% off of 5 gems = 1.75 rounded down to 1 gems.

and for 8 gem ring of wizardry
50% FoA + 15% hammer + 20% site bonus = 85% off of 55 gems = 8.25 rounded down to 8 gems?

I haven't actually tested any of this, but I do know that natural construction bonus (such as on dwarven smiths) stacks w/ the hammer, so I would think FoA and site bonuses would as well.


Another one:
Construction bonus from the dwarven hammer applies to the cost of rituals and even globals, like FoA and Mechanical Militia.

So you could get a 64 gem FoA and follow it with a sub-40 gem mechanical militia!

[HoneyBadger]

No no, I think it's funny, but I'm definitely not joking, sorry.

It's blatantly and obviously an exploit.

[vfb]

Originally Posted by Fate

Another one:
Construction bonus from the dwarven hammer applies to the cost of rituals and even globals, like FoA and Mechanical Militia.

So you could get a 64 gem FoA and follow it with a sub-40 gem mechanical militia!

Are you sure about that? I just tested the Mechanical Men ritual, and there was no difference in gem cost whether wielding or not wielding a hammer.

I though the only thing that affected both ritual casting cost and item construction cost is magic sites with a Const discount.

[MaxWilson]

...Lifelong Protection only summons imps while the "wielder" is conscious?

-Max