Final Newbie Question (or compilation of questions!) - Page 3

Fate · #1 June 29th, 2009, 06:35 PM

About the repeated Sermon of Courage castings. The spell hits random squares (well, the first square is 100 precision and will always hit the target, but all subsequent sqares are randomly placed around it). So there is most likely 1 or more squares of troops missed. You can veryify this by looking through your troops and seeing that while many (maybe most) have the better morale, not all do.

This applies to all AoE spells with an AoE > 1 (the Mass xxxx spells), so don't expect them to hit all of whatever your force is in one casting, even though it should be large enough to cover them.

chrispedersen · #2 June 29th, 2009, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fate

About the repeated Sermon of Courage castings. The spell hits random squares (well, the first square is 100 precision and will always hit the target, but all subsequent sqares are randomly placed around it). So there is most likely 1 or more squares of troops missed. You can veryify this by looking through your troops and seeing that while many (maybe most) have the better morale, not all do.

This applies to all AoE spells with an AoE > 1 (the Mass xxxx spells), so don't expect them to hit all of whatever your force is in one casting, even though it should be large enough to cover them.

Thats not exactly true. At least its not my understanding of true.

They don't hit random squares. They hit a predetermined pattern.

Additionally, it is my belief that the the AI casts to maximize results. It may miss, but it still attempts.

So what I am saying is suppose you were casting Mass X.

The template is

7 1
6 02 4
3
5 9

Edit: Ruined by ascii graphics, but I was making it up anyway).
(I'm making that up). If you were to position single individual troops in that exact pattern you would get a hit every time precision wasn't missed.

Seems like way too much work tho

Black Sun Empire · #3 June 30th, 2009, 09:49 PM

Cheers for your help, I find that when I go all out against the AI, then I get two or three of them coming to attack me from all fronts. I may have to rethink my SP rushing.

I think the main things I need to learn at the moment is a proper scripting for my armies. Then how to equip my units with magical items and how to properly search for magic.

There is just so much information to know.

happygeek · #4 July 1st, 2009, 03:17 AM

I always play in windowed mode, it helps switching.
One thing I cannot get to work is the page up and page down buttons during battle replays. I only have a laptop and only have p-u´p and p-down buttons on the "numpad" section. Is there a trick for laptop users?

Thank you, Edi!
I will check that out as soon as I start a new game.
Do many people use this for MP too?
I was tinking of installing CBM too since many people seem to have that installed default for MP games ... or am I being too rash?
THank you very much!

rdonj · #5 July 1st, 2009, 04:07 AM

CBM is very popular in mp these days. Only a few games start without it. So yeah, it would probably be a good idea to get cbm if you intend to play much mp.

happygeek · #6 July 1st, 2009, 03:58 PM

THank you! OK I'm trying it now.

One more question: Isn't being a water mage supposed to allow you to be able to breathe underwater? I cant seem to get my pythium archtheurg underwater!

thejeff · #7 July 1st, 2009, 04:04 PM

No. It was in Dom2, but not since then.
Water mages can forge items that let them (or others) go underwater and some of them are amphibious, but just having water magic is not sufficient.

happygeek · #8 July 3rd, 2009, 03:57 AM

Thank you! I must have read the wrong stuff then.

Well I started a new game with CBM and Better Independents, and am liking it. Fun! Some new questions however:

- Luck: The very first province I conquered had that site I found with my ArchTheurg whose name I forget but it lets you recruit sages and lore masters. Wow! I seem to have a huge advantage! Luck seems to play a really prominent role in this game, more so than in others I know. Is there any consensus on this as to how to deal with that?

- Blood and Magic: I'm not really sure I know what to do with Pangea MA, they have some great stealthy troops, but only two real mages, both really expensive, and one has B3. I suppose I miss the magic point, I am overwhelmed by the number of spells and what they do, so I simply build troops (I understand that!) and let the mages pretty much decide on their own. But what's that black Pan guy supposed to do? He costs a fortune, and I have to use him for blood hunting to even get anything to do with his magic powers. And I get some ok summons for that, eventually, but until then, I seem to waste a lot on getting slaves, and I cant really use him in battle. What am I getting wrong?
Here's another thing I dont understand about magic. I scripted my ArchTheurgs to cast some things like air shield and personal luck etc., and then they usually cast smite and things like that, very nice -- until I saw a few of them disappeaering suddenly -- and dying at the end of the battle. I watched the replays closely, and oddly enough, my little old men seem to be doing just fine -- until the enemy routs! Then they cast "blink", teleport themselves into the middle of the routing enemy, and get bashed to bits. NO NO NO! WHY!?!? They could have cast anything else, even the low-level-spell "Bruise My Own Shins", they can smoke cigarettes or have a nap for all I care, but why must they do that? What can I do about it, it happens frequently now?

- Communion: I researched Thaum1 to get C-Master and C-Slave, sounds nice for Pythium. Seems to work as expected, except that I do not see the power of my mages increase. When I click on their avatar in the middle of battle, their paths are still the same as at the beginning. Is there a trick?

Thank you in advance again!

thejeff · #9 July 3rd, 2009, 07:37 AM

Blood: Blood magic is not usually battle magic. It's more useful to forge items and summon creatures. The blood Pans are expensive to use for blood hunting, but even a few of them hunting can bring in far more slaves than you will have gems of other types. Forge and give them Sanguine Dowsing Rods to bring in more. Then start summoning. For troops, Demon Knights work well with Pangaea. Forging Blood Stones brings in more Earth gems and boosts your Pans earth magic. Experiment. Many of the high end blood summons can be turned into SCs.

Magic: There's not much you can do to control what your mages cast after the script runs out. It sounds like what's happening is that when the enemy retreats, they get out of range of any attack spells your Theurgs have and they've already cast the available buff spells. Since their orders are to cast, they cast blink. If you research longer range spells for them, they'll probably stop. Or battlefield summons. My air mages love to cast phantasmal warrior after their scripts run out.

Communion: Path increases due to communions aren't shown. If the slaves are getting fatigue when the masters cast, it should be working fine.

happygeek · #10 July 3rd, 2009, 04:04 AM

Oh sorry one last one:
- disease: I made an assassin my prophet (he has the most stealth in Pythium) and sent him off to indy lands to preach. But around turn 12 or 15 or so, he got a disease, and soon died! I know there was no C'tis in that game, and he was never in battle -- how can that happen?!?