Newbies and Confused People - Look Here!

[olaf73]

A couple of things:

The Dominions 1 documentation links are all missing the /dom directory so they should read

http://www.illwinter.com/dom/spellmanual.pdf

instead of:

http://www.illwinter.com/spellmanual.pdf

And, you can also get Dominions 2 Online from www.tuxgames.com In fact its $5 cheaper there than from Shrapnel.

olaf

[Saber Cherry]

Huh. Thanks! I think IW's website reorganization broke those links=)

[Saber Cherry]

The Dominions II Newby Guide

This is updated often. The most recent Version is always at the top. Now with correct spelling!


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Hopefully, people that have never played Dom I (or are confused by some Dom II changes) can figure out how to use the demo by reading this thread. If you have any helpful suggestions, or unanswered interface/mechanical questions, please post in this thread. I'm trying to limit it topics that are crucial to playing the demo, not esoteric things like the probability of damaging an ethereal lucky target using a precision 14 non-magical crossbow at range 45...

This is now divided into eleven sections. I prefer to use Roman numerals, but the table of contents is in Arabic for consistent spacing.

1. How to Start a Game.
2. How to Play the Game.
3. Slightly More Advanced Gameplay Topics.
4. Technical Problems.
5. Keyboard Shortcut List.
6. Commander Strategic Orders List.
7. Effects of Dominion Scales.
8. How to Choose a Castle.
9. How to Run Multiplayer (PBEM and Internet/LAN) Games.
10. Dominions Threads and Websites.
11. Where Can I Buy This Awesome Game?


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Section I: How to Start a Game.


Download the demo here:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/d2/6.htm

To set up a single player game:

[Note: Illwinter is currently reworking this process to become much simpler and faster. They are very friendly and responsive!]

1) Click "Create New God".
2) Choose a nation.
3) Choose a physical God form.
4) Set up the God's magic, dominion, theme, and castle [hopefully, the in-game descriptions will become more complete soon - for now, see section 7 for scale effects, and section 8 for castle differences].
5) Don't put in a password (that's for MP, and is slightly annoying in SP).

Then:

6) Click "Create New Game".
7) Choose the nations to be present, and their AI strength.
8) Make sure there is a nation set to "human". You can only make a nation human if you designed a god for it!
9) Choose a map.
10) Use the standard settings, they're fine.
11) Enter a game name (like "Game1").

Now, the pre-game setup is done, and none of that has to be repeated for that game.

To play:

1) Click "Play an Existing Game".
2) Click on the game name, so that the circle gets a check mark.
3) Click "Play Game".
4) It says "Select Nation to Play", and unless you are playing multiplayer, there will only be one choice (the human nation). For example, it might say "Ulm - Turn Nbr 1", "Host" and "Exit", so click "Ulm - Turn Nbr 1".
5) Now you are at the "Messages" screen, showing all the events since the Last turns. Read them, then exit, and you will go to the strategic map. You can always return to the Messages screen by pressing "m".
6) Now you're at the strategic map. Build things, set up and move armies, and give commands to leaders.
7) When your turn is done, you click "End Turn" in the upper right corner.
8) You're back at the "next turn" screen, so choose "Host". This makes each nation execute the orders that were given.
9) The turn has advanced, so repeat steps 4 through 8 until you win.


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Section II: How to Play the Game.


You can have AI's of any race, but humans can only play about 6 possible races in the demo.

Before you play a race as a human, you must design a god for that race.

Right-clicking (or hovering) on things you don't understand can be very helpful.

Press "?" from the main map screen for a list of keyboard shortcuts (essential!)

To exit most screens: Escape. To exit a battle replay: q.

Scroll strategic map: Arrow keys, or hold down middle mouse button while moving the mouse. Pageup/pagedown zoom in and out.

Scroll tactical battle map: Arrow keys. Pageup/pagedown zoom in and out.

Pause tactical replay: Spacebar. You can right-click on units for info while replay is paused.

Select a province: Right-click on it.

Province/leader/army info screen: F1 (very useful!)

There are 2 kinds of units: Normal troops, and commanders. Only commanders can lead normal troops, or get orders and move on the strategic map. But when they move, they take all their normal troops along.

In the production screen (anvil), you can only produce one commander per turn per province... commanders form the bottom row of units (I think there needs to be a more obvious border, like a line between commanders/normals). You can produce as many normal units in a province as you have the gold (global quantity) and resources (province-specific quantity) to create.

To attack a province, you order a commander to move into the province. He takes all his troops with him.

To give troops to a commander: From the "Army Setup" screen, you select units (they get highlighted) and then click on the commander to drop them under the commander's command. Troops not set to a commander will not move on the strategic map!

Selecting multiple troops: control-click and shift-click work like in Windows. To merge troops into the same group, highlight troops and click on the group you want them to join. Clicking on the commander with put them under the commander, but in a new group.

How do you do assign orders? On the left side strategic map, below the commander's portrait, it will say "Defend" or "Move" or something. Click on that word and it will bring up a menu of strategic map commander orders. If multiple commanders are highlighted, it will change all their orders at the same time.

What do all the different commander orders mean? See Section 6.

How do I speed up combat? You cannot currently adjust the speed, though for very slow framerates, pressing 'w' to eliminate the background may help.


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Section III: Slightly More Advanced Gameplay Topics.


I picked a Dragon/***** Queen pretender. Why do I have a human instead in the game? Most pretenders that can change shape start out in human form. You can switch them back and forth with the "Change Shape" order. This can be useful to trick opponents, so you may not want to reveal too soon your Druid is really a Green Dragon.

What is the difference between resources and gold? Gold is generated by every province, and stored in your treasury. It is used to buy troops, hire mercenaries, and build buildings. Gold is also used to support troops, normally at a rate of (initial cost)/15 per turn. Resources, on the other hand, cannot be stored - the represent the amount of labor or production capability of a province. Heavy armors and weapons require more resources than, say, leather armors, spears, and slings.

How do mercenaries work? You bid on them, and if you are the highest bidder, they work for you - the price reflects a 3-month (3-turn) contract. They start in the province in which you hired them, so hire them near where you want to use them. If they flee in battle, they're gone. However, they are essentially disposable, and unlike normal troops, cost zero resources to create.

How do you research? Use the commander order "Research" - only mages can research, and they must be in a province with a lab. In Dominions 2, you just command them to research, and their research points go to a research pool... from the Laboratory screen (L) you can allocate this research pool. Note that when you gain a research level (for example, evocation 0 to evocation 1) you learn all the spells in the new level. But you can only cast the spells for which your mages or God has the requisite magic levels - for example, learning Fireball (an evocation spell requiring level 3 fire magic) will not allow you to cast it, if you have no level 3 fire mages.

How does "Stealth" work - or, why did my army not fight / participate in combat? Stealthy commanders (e.g. Scout, Spy, Monk, Assassin, Slayer, Druid) can move undetected in enemy lands, without attacking. If they can command other units (not all commanders have leadership!), and all units under their command are also stealthy, they can sneak a stealth army into an enemy province, and hang out there. Highlighting a stealthy leader and clicking on a target province (which normally issues a "move" command) will, by default, issue a "sneak" command, and neither he nor his army will fight in the target province. If you want a stealthy leader/stealthy army to fight, hold down the key while clicking on the destination, which forces the "move" command rather than the "sneak" command. You can also click on the word "sneak" and change it to "move". Note that a stealth unit's stealthy icon shows a number when you right-click on it (like "Stealth +20"). Higher numbers are better, and low numbers mean the unit is more likely to be caught by patrolling enemies.

What do unit stats mean? When a unit attacks in melee, whether it hits or not is determined by comparing (the attacker's attack skill plus 2d6) to (the defender's defense skill plus 2d6). If the attacker's number is higher, then he hits. The damage dealt to the defender's HP is (the attacker's strength, plus weapon damage rating, plus 2d6) minus (the defender's protection, plus 2d6). The dies are 6-sided, but "open-ended" so they can (rarely) go up arbitrarily high. There are more combat mechanics but those are the basics.

What are fatigue and encumbrance? "Fatigue" starts at zero and increases as the unit takes actions - generally, fatigue increases by "encumbrance" each time the unit attacks. High levels of fatigue decrease performance, and when fatigue reaches 100, the unit falls unconscious and can be easily slain. Heavy armor increases encumbrance. Fatigue is only recovered in 3 ways: First, an unconscious unit recovers 5 fatigue per turn; second, a unit with reinvigoration (from an item, spell, or heroic ability) will recover some fatigue each turn; and third, some spells can reduce fatigue. A normal unit does not ever recover fatigue in combat unless he passes out.

What is a 6-sided open-ended die? This is used for all Dominions die rolls. The rolls are mostly 2d6 (2 six-sided dice), sometimes called 2d6* because they are open-ended. The die used is a normal die with 6 sides, labeled 1 through 6. It is worth the face value if you roll a 1 through 5, but if you roll a 6, it is worth 6 plus the value of the next roll. However, all additional rolls are 6-sided dice labeled 0-5. Fives can be chained forever, but high rolls become inverse-exponentially rarer. So a single die can roll 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8... etc. While 1-5 are each rolled 1/6 of the time, 6-10 are rolled 1/36 of the time, and so forth. For a complete analysis, look here:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000772

My god died! Do I lose? No. Your priests (units with holy magic) can be ordered to "Call God", to summon him back (but he will lose some magic skills). More priests will call him back faster.

My immortal god or immortal unit died! I thought he was immortal!?? Immortals are only immortal in friendly dominion (white candle provinces). If they are killed within their dominion, they reincarnate in the capitol, so check there. In hostile dominion, they just die. Incidentally, according to Johan O.: "Dominion shifts after battle, so if you attack a province that is stated as having friendly dominion your immortal pretender will be reborn."

How do I get rid of battle afflictions like Blind, Limp, Chest Wound, and so forth? Answer: You don't. You get these from being wounded, and regeneration makes them (ten times) less likely to occur, but does not solve them. In the demo, only Arco priestesses can remove afflictions (with the Heal command). Gods sometimes lose afflictions when reincarnated, and immortal units or units on unicorns heal them automatically. Normal wounded units are wounded forever, unless they're diseased, in which case they die quickly anyway=) In the full game, Gift of Life and the Holy Chalice can remove afflictions, and there are other units with the Heal command, such as a Tien Chi national hero and the Nature summon Faerie Queen. The combat spell "Heal" is rumored to heal afflictions. (Credit: Zen)

How do I make my mages more powerful in magic? There are only 5 ways.
1) Empowerment - infusing the commander with gems at a laboratory - permanently increases his level by one in that path.
2) Forging a magic item like Earth Boots and giving it to the commander increases his level, but only if he already has magic in that path. In other words, giving Earth boots to an Earth-1 mage makes him an Earth-2 mage, but giving them to a Fire-1, Earth-0 mage does nothing.
3) Casting a spell at the beginning of combat like "Summon Earthpower" will increase the mage's Earth level for the entire battle. Communion or Sabbath Master can also boost magic levels. All enhancing spells cast in combat are temporary, and none have any effect after the end of combat.
4) Putting gems in the mage's gembox allows them to use gems during battle. Some spells require gems, but even "free" spells can use gems... specifically, if an Earth-2 mage wants to cast the Earth-3 spell Blade Wind, he can use an Earth gem from his gembox to boost his level to 3 for that one casting only. Mages run out of gems fast, though, because the AI uses them whether it needs to or not.
5) Holy and unholy "magic" can be increased by making the priest into your prophet.

There are no other ways of boosting normal magic paths! Experience does not increase magic levels, though it does increase the precision of all ranged spells, and the power of some spells like banishment. Battlefield fire magic and water magic benefit slightly from heat and cold scales, all magic benefits from a magic scale, some spells benefit from holding certain weapons that increase magic penetration, and there are other ways of increasing ranged precision, like casting eagle eyes, aim, or using an eye of aiming. Quickness, reinvigoration, ironskin, stoneskin, barkskin, invulnerability, body ethereal, luck, air shield, and elemental resistances are all quite useful to mages. But everything in this section increases the combat effectiveness of mages, not their magic levels.

How do I boost holy magic levels? There are only 5 ways.
1) Making a unit into a prophet increases holy or unholy magic by one (to a minimum of 3).
2) There is an artifact that increases holy level by one.
Anything that "boosts all magic paths" includes holy and unholy. So in combat only:
3) The spell "Power of the Spheres,"
4) Communion,
5) And Crystal Shields will boost holy level. For weak holy races, a Crystal Shield on the prophet is useful for getting Divine Blessing, Fanaticism, and Smite.

How do I forge the best magic items? Magic items are classified according to level:
Trinkets - Construction Level 0
Lesser Items - Construction Level 2
Greater Items - Construction Level 4
Very Powerful Items - Construction Level 6
Unique Artifacts - Construction Level 8

Note that all the items are unlimited except unique artifacts, of which only one may exist per game.

You have to research the appropriate level of Construction before you can forge those items. Also, items have requisite magic path levels, and only an Earth-1 or higher mage can forge (or even see in the forging menu) Black Steel Plate, which requires 5 Earth gems. More powerful items require more gems, higher magic path level (like Earth-2 for a 10 gem item), and sometimes even multiple paths. The gem price is always 5*2^((path level)-1) for each required path, so an item that needs 20 Earth gems and 10 Blood Slaves needs an Earth-3 Blood-2 mage. Some items (like the Dwarven Hammer) and magic sites give a "forge bonus", which reduces forging cost by that percent (final cost rounded down). Ulm Master Smiths (and Iron Faith Black Priests) have an inherent 25% forge bonus.

How do I find magic sites? There are magic sites in all magic paths, plus holy and unholy. These are usually hidden, and each has a level of magic that must be met in order to be found. So, any mage or priest can search, and if a site can be seen by the commander, it will be revealed on the first try. Some players make a "Rainbow Mage" pretender with level 2 or 3 in every path (except holy and unholy) and use him just for searching. Important things to note: Once a site is found, it is found forever, and if the province is captured, the site will be usable by the enemy without having to search. As far as anyone knows, there is a limit of 4 magic sites per province, and it is never necessary to search in the capitol. Around 95% of the sites are level 3 or lower, but every path has at least one level 4 site. There are no sites that require searching above level 4. Magic sites that produce gems send them straight to your lab (you do not need to build a lab in these provinces). Sites that let you recruit special mages require a lab for the mage to be recruited, as do sites that give forge bonuses, summoning bonuses, and other lab-related actions. It is important to note that several spells allow site-searching in a remote friendly province, and can be very efficient. These are as follow: (Thanks to HJ and Zen)

Conjuration 2: Dark Knowledge (Death 1, reveals all death sites)
Conjuration 3: Voice of Aspu (Water 2, reveals all water sites)
Conjuration 3: Voice of Tiamat (Water 2, reveals all elemental sites in an underwater province)
Conjuration 5: Acashic Record (Astral 3, reveals ALL sites)
Evocation 2: Arcane Probing (Astral 1, reveals all astral sites)
Evocation 9: Strands of Arcane Power (Astral 7, special)
Thamaturgy 2: Gnome Lore (Earth 2, reveals all earth sites)
Thamaturgy 2: Auspex (Air 2, reveals all air sites)
Thamaturgy 2: Augury (Fire 2, reveals all fire sites)
Thamaturgy 2: Haruspex (Nature 2, reveals all nature sites)
Blood 2: Bowl of Blood (Blood 2, reveals all blood sites)

How does trampling work? Trample uses a lot of fatigue, and can only be used by a larger unit against a smaller unit (right-click on HP to find the unit's size). There is no weapon-repel attemt versus a trample. Also, in one combat round, a unit can trample and then make an action - for example, an Earth Mother can trample until her move points are gone, then cast "Flying Shards" or attack. According to Kristoffer O:
Trampling always succeds. Troops with high defense (not counting shields) can avoid damage, but always take at least one point (IIRC).
Trample damage is armor-piercing and size dependant (dmg=size*4 IIRC).
High size difference allows several tramplings in one turn.
Strength and Attack are not relevant when trampling.
Trampling units rout through their own ranks - so morale is very important for tramplers!
To draw a conclusion from this information... don't give Boots of the Behemoth (trample boots) to a human-sized unit, and don't worry about the strength or attack of units that trample - it is their size, morale, and encumbrance (and of course, defense, HP, protection, action points) that matter most.

What are the differences in terrain types? According to Johan K:
"mountain - good for resources and magic sites, bad for money
forest - same as mountain, but less so
farmlands - good for money, bad for resources and sites
swamp - just plain bad
waste - good for magic sites, bad for money
sea - good for atlantis
freshwater (meaning a land province holding a lake or river) - good for income, but can flood
Another important thing is that movement is more difficult in certain terrains."

How much research will my pretender or mage generate? Research ability is (2) + (sum of all magic paths except holy and unholy) + (4 points for being a sage, or 8 for being a great sage pretender) + (1 per experience star) + (1 per magic scale or -1 per drain scale) + (3 points for having an owl quill) + (9 points for having a skull mentor) + (6 points of having a lightless lantern). You suffer from your own drain scale or hostile drain scales, but get no research benefit from enemy magic scales.

How do you calculate total protection on a unit with natural protection (thick skin) and armor? According to Johan O.:
"Pb = base protection, intrinsic, from stone skin etc.
Pa = protection from armor
Pt = total protection
Pb and Pa are always restricted to 40 or less. (This quote has been changed because the forum Boards cannot handle greater than and less than symbols - Cherry)

Pt=Pb+Pa -(Pa*Pb)/40
So a unit with 10 intrinsic 10 protection and a total of 18 in equipment armor would have an effective armor of: 10+18-(10*18)/40 = 28-4.5 = 23.5, rounded up to 24"

What is supply? Supply is, essentially, food. If your army uses more supply than the province generates, starvation occurs. While a unit is starving, an icon appears in the unit menu, and it gets a temporary -4 morale and other penalties. If it starves two consecutive turns, it becomes deseased and will die quite quickly. Commanders never starve.

How do I calculate supply usage? Some fantastic units like undead, trolls, magical creatures, and vinemen do not eat, and have a "Need not eat" icon. For almost all other units, supply usage is (size-1) with a minimum of 1. Size can be found by right-clicking on HP in the unit stat screen. So, an army with 10 barbarians, 1 barbarian commander, and 1 hoburg champion leading 10 heavy cavalry will use 32 supply total: 11 size 2 units = 11 supply, 1 size 1 unit = 1 supply, and 10 size 3 units = 20 supply.

How do I avoid starvation? Use heavy, expensive units, which use less supply per unit of power. Summon undead and magical units. Avoid large units like light cavalry and shamblers. Stick to plains or farmland, stay near castles, or take a growth scale. Avoid mountains, wasteland, swamps, places with death or heat/cold scales, depopulated provinces, or provinces with high unrest. Lastly - keep nature mages in your army, and forge Bags of Wine, Cauldrons of Broth, or Summer Swords. Some special units give supply bonuses as well.

What causes routing? Routing is caused by three things - morale loss, total leader loss, and total unit loss. If all leaders are gone, the normal units will rout... and if all normal units die or rout (not including bodyguards), the commanders will rout either immediately or as soon as one is damaged, regardless of the commander's morale. So, sending a powerful dragon pretender into combat alone might allow a victory, but if he leads a militia unit that is killed, the dragon will rout immediately even though he has 30 morale (which will generally prevent any morale-based routing). And sending a powerful army with only one commander, who charges into combat first, is not usually a good idea, since if that leader is killed, all the normal units will be leaderless and rout. As long as a single leader remains on the battlefield, you are OK; even if you have 500 normal units, and all your commanders get killed except one, who has only 10 leadership and is frozen, paralyzed, feebleminded, mute, diseased, poisoned, unconscious, blind, crippled, and entangled, your normal units will not rout due to commander loss. The free commander you get from province defense counts, too; units in a province with no leader will route in combat, but if you have even 1 point of province defense, you get a free leader, and they will not route from leaderlessness.

Routing from morale is much more complex, and will be subdivided into three sections.

When does morale cause routing? A group (one line of units on the army setup screen) can lose morale when any of its units are hit for damage, or affected by the spells "Terror" or "Fear", or are near a unit that "Causes Fear". The probability that the group will lose morale from such attacks depends on the affected unit's morale (so a group of units with 11 morale each will have higher initial group morale, and will be less likely to lose morale when a unit gets hurt, than a group of units with 10 morale each). When the group morale drops enough, they rout, and will run away no matter what... unless the group contains berserkers, who will never flee combat when berserking. The non-berserking group members will still flee, though.

How do I regain lost morale? First, note this can only be done once some morale has been lost - not on the very first turn of the first side in battle. To regain morale, there are some useful spells, the best of which are the Holy spells "Fanaticism" and "Sermon of Courage"... it is generally useful to have a high-level priest (such as the prophet) casting Fantaticism or Sermon of Courage constantly in battle. Alternately, troops with a "Standard" (such as Pythium's and Ermor's "Standard" unit, or Ctis's Sacred Serpent) restore some morale to all nearby units each turn, so placing one or two in each group may help a lot. ***Note*** Damaging an opponent may recover morale. If you know whether this is true, please reply.

How do I prevent morale loss? Use mindless units, that never lose morale. Use high-morale units, that are unlikely to fail individual morale checks. Use heavily armored units, that are unlikely to be damaged often. Use blessed sacred units, that get +3 morale. Use berserkers, that gain 99 morale when damaged, and thus cannot ever fail a morale check. Use units with long weapons (spears, pikes, halberds, glaives, greatswords, tridents), because attacking a unit that has a longer weapon triggers a repel attempt - thus, a unit with a dagger can be hurt, and thus get a morale check, when attacking a spearman. Enemy archers can rout your units before they even get into melee range, so when fighting archers, use units that have shields (shields block arrows somewhat), are heavily armored, or are very fast (and thus close to melee range quickly), and put them at the very front so they don't have to sustain arrow fire for many rounds. Combining all your units into one huge block makes routing less likely, since the single group has a very high initial morale. Alternately, multiple small Groups are likely to rout individually, but it is less likely that your entire army will rout... and as a hybrid solution, you might want a small group of cheap, shielded units (or just wounded soldiers you want to get rid of) in front to draw archer fire while your main melee group(s) close(s) in. And most importantly - use your own archers and spells to rout the enemy before it gets close enough to hurt your own units!

How do I disband troops? You can't, but you can put them in the front to die

What kind of bonus does a morningstar get versus shields? It ignores the shield defense when rolling to hit.

How many troops to water mages get to take underwater? One human-sized unit per level of water magic. You cannot bring troops underwater if they will drown - they will be automatically removed, so don't worry too much about counting just right. However, don't leave land units in an underwater garrison and take the mage away, or they will drown.

Why is weapon length important? It only affects repel attempts and dual-weapon use (short weapons are easier to dual-wield). Any time a unit strikes another unit, if the defender has a longer weapon (like a spear - length 4, versus a dagger - length 0), the defender gets a repel attempt, and the attacker must make a morale save. If he fails the morale save (50% chance at morale 10), he will not attack. Also, even if he does attack, he may be hit by the longer weapon while attacking, though repel damage is capped at 1... so the attacker won't be hurt badly, unless the weapon is poisoned.

What affects repel attempts? The success or failure of a repel is determined by the attacker's morale and defense, and the defender's attack. If all these values are 10, there is a 25% chance of a successful repel (neither side is damaged). Not that weapon's specific length does not affect repel success rate, or morale saves; all that matters is that the defender's weapon is longer, not how much longer.


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Section IV: Technical Problems. (Credit to various people)


Why is my game running at approximately 6.5 frames per second? Answer: Try updating your video drivers. If you have a "Rage" or "Radeon" card, these can be found at www.ati.com ; drivers for "Vanta", "TnT" and "GeForce" cards can be found at http://www.nvidia.com. Before you install new drivers, be sure to uninstall the old ones (normally from the add-remove programs menu). For Nvidia cards, I suggest this utility: http://www.guru3d.com/detonator-destroyer/ after uninstalling the old drivers, to fully remove them, before installing new ones. Please note that some people have had problems using ATI's Catalyst 3.9 and 3.9 drivers, and find 3.7 work the best. If you're still having trouble, try a more complete computer tuneup that should fix most problems caused by software, detailed in this thread...
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000476

I have an ATI Radeon card, I'm using the latest drivers, and the demo won't run at all! Try using Catalyst 3.7 drivers instead of the latest drivers, or if you have Hydravision turned on, try turning it off. These changes solved the problem of the demo not running at all for a couple people... and whenever changing drivers, be sure to uninstall the old ones prior to installing the new ones!

If you are using a laptop and the manufacturer is too lazy to provide recent drivers, try generic drivers from here: www.omegacorner.com . The drivers there are confirmed to solve this problem in ATI Radeon Mobility 9000 chips. Credit: Pocus

Why is the sound stuttering? I had this problem, and changed the sound mode to "wave out". This solved the problem. It requires exiting and restarting the application.

Why is my refresh rate like 60Hz in every fullscreen resolution? Answer: "This is not DOM 2 issue. Its windows issue. Windows will default to 60 Hz for every game/program that doesn't set its own refresh rate as some sort of protection from damage in case your monitor can't support it. There are some programs out there that help you set refresh rate for each resolution that will work in any game/program. One tool for NVidia graphic cards is NVRefresh and you can find it at http://www.nvrt.org/ (Credit: Daynarr). That worked for me. But, you can also switch to "windowed" mode and maximize the game window, in which case it will run at your desktop refresh rate. Plus you can quickly switch to a spreadsheet if someone comes by...

Help!!! I have a Mac, and the demo won't run! ...Unfortunately, I don't know anything about Macs, but this thread seems to detail the necessary process:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000194

Why won't my game run in Windows 98? Because Bill Gates is a demon (you can summon him with level 9 blood magic, or a lot of money). The solution is here:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000209

This game is too easy! Solution: Play either map, with all nations in the game, half set to "Impossible" and half set to "Difficult". Set independent strength at 5 or 6. Good luck!

Why is there no documentation or tutorial in this demo??? "The demo documentation was just overlooked when the demo was put out, we have a new one in the works." There is a nice 3rd-party tutorial, though - look in the links section.

How do I play multiplayer through a firewall? Hmmm... turn it off. Or else, look here: http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000643


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Section V: Keyboard Shortcut List. (transcribed by PhilD)


Pressing "?" also displays this information, but non-English keyBoards sometimes lack a "?". And besides, PhilD was kind enough to type them out.

a = select/deselect all commanders
b = bid for mercenaries
d = recruit defense
e = end turn
f = fort info
i = province info
m = read Messages
n = next commander without orders
o = temple and dominions
r = recruit units
s = send Messages
t = transfer units
v = view battles in current province
x = change tax
TAB = hide researches
+,- = scroll commanders
RET (aka ENTER) = deselect all commanders

Statistics screen

F1 = nation overview
F2 = score graphs
F3 = hall of fame
F4 = pretenders of the world

Magic

l = arcane laboratory
F5 = research
F6 = global enchantments
F7 = magic resource treasury
F8 = magic item treasury

Map view

right click = select province
arrows = scroll maps
home = goto capital
end = zoom x0.5
ins = zoom to cover the whole screen
del = zoom to view entire map
page up = zoom in
page down = zoom out
# = goto province number

Map filters

1 = flags
2 = army boxes
3 = money
4 = dominion
5 = forts
6 = temples
7 = enchantments
8 = neighbors
9 = province names

Unit orders

SPACE = choose order from menu
A = reanimate, call spirits
B = blood hunt
C = cast ritual spells
D = defend
E = break siege
F = forge magic item
G = call god
M = monthly ritual spell
P = preach
R = research
S = search for magic sites
T = storm castle
W = capture slaves
X = patrol
Z = put all blood slaves in the lab


-------------------------------------------------

Section VI: Commander Strategic Orders List - Alphabetical. (by Nerfix, Saber Cherry, and Taqwus)


Alchemy: Converts magic gems to other gems, or gold. This is a lossy process! Only Earth and Fire gems may be turned to gold. Blood slaves are not considered gems. This may only be done by a mage in a lab, and happens instantly. Some mages (particularly the Alchemist pretender) perform alchemy more efficiently.

Assassinate: Attacks a random commander in the current (enemy) province. The assassin fights only the commander and his possible bodyguards, to the death. There is no retreat from these battles.

Become Prophet: Makes the commander your prophet. You can only have one prophet at a time, and if he dies, you have to wait a while to appoint a new one. The prophet becomes sacred and permanently blessed, and gains level-3 holy magic, or if you make a prophet from a commander that already has holy magic, he gains a level. The prophet also gains +2 Attack, +2 Defense, +2 Precision, and 30 Morale, as well as an HP bonus or penalty dependant on local dominion strength. Prophets are good at spreading Dominion, and like the God, automatically increase dominion in their current province, regardless of their orders. (Partial Credit: Zen)

Blood Hunt: The commander tries to find Blood Slaves each turn. This increases unrest. Any commander may blood hunt, but those with skill in blood magic will have much better success than those without. Blood slaves are used like magic gems (by mages, to cast spells), but only for blood magic. If your nation does not use blood magic you will probably never need this. Note that troops under the commander do not increase the probability of success or the yield; the factors that increase yield are low unrest, high population, high skill in blood magic, and holding a Sanguine Dousing Rod.

Break Siege: Used only by defenders under siege. Y'all charge out of the gates and hope you defeat your besiegers. The castle defenses will not help you in this fight, and if you lose, your troops will not return to the safety of the castle – they will either retreat to a nearby province, or die if all adjacent provinces are hostile.

Call God: If your god dies, priests gain this command. Setting priests to "Call God" pools their holy points - 1 point per holy (white) or unholy (black-purple) magic candle symbol. A normal independent priest (2-holy) contributes 2 points per turn. When the pool reaches 40 points, the god is reincarnated at the capitol (even if the capitol is under enemy control).

Capture Slaves: Used only by Mictlan Tribal Kings and Priest Kings, it's used to press people into your army. Such troops have poor training, morale and equipment, but have excellent potential as cheap fodder for arrows, blade winds and the once-per-battle lance attacks of Knights. Please don’t confuse this with Blood Hunt (above).

Cast Monthly Ritual: This does not appear on the orders list (bug). But pressing shift-m while highlighting a mage casting a ritual will make him recast it each month.

Cast Ritual Spell: The mage casts a ritual spell, such as summoning a magic creature. This can only be done in a lab, and requires gems or slaves.

Change Shape: Some commanders, particularly Dragons, have the shape-shifting ability. This instantly changes them back and forth, so that you can control which form they are in on the strategic map. Dragons can fly, for example, but their human forms cannot. Shape shifters start a battle in the form they were in on the strategic map (though they can also change form in battle).

Compete in Arena Deathmatch: The commander fights champions from each nation to the death in an arena, for a prize. The prize is good, but not worth risking your God. Only one commander may be sent per nation, and he must be sent the same turn that the arena contest is announced.

Construct Building: Builds a laboratory, temple or a fortress in the province. Any commander can build a fort (which takes several turns), but only priests or the prophet can build temples (1 turn), and only mages can build labs (1 turn). Forts and labs can be captured, but captured temples are burnt to the ground.

Continue Fort Construction: Forts generally take multiple turns to build. If interrupted, you can resume construction with this option from the Construct Building menu. It costs you nothing but the commander's action since you've already paid upfront.

Corrupt Commander: This functions the same way as Seduce Commander (probably with a better success rate), but is only available to one Demon Lord, Belial (according to Taqwus and Zen). If the corruption succeeds, Belial and the corrupted commander will appear in the owning player's capital province. If it fails, he will attack the commander as if it were an assassination attempt.

Defend Castle / Defend Province: Defends the province against attacking armies.

Demolish Building: This only takes 1 turn, and any commander can demolish any building, except structures that are part of a magic site (like a Firbolg Fortress).

Empowerment: Makes any commander more skilled in a magic path, by infusing him with the power of many gems (or slaves). This can only be done in a lab, and requires gems or slaves. Empowering your God does not improve his bless effects.

Enter Magic Site: Some magic sites can be entered by one or more commanders, in that province. Often they require skill in that magic area. The effects vary, from free units each turn to bonus experience for units. The commander brings his troops with him, when appropriate.

Forge Magic Item: The mage forges a magic item, and places it in the lab. The item may then be given to any commander at a lab. This can only be done in a lab, and requires gems or slaves.

Heal: Some commanders, for example Arco priestesses, can heal battle afflictions of troops in their province. Only a limited number of afflictions can be healed per turn by a given commander.

Hide: For stealthy units, stay in the current province and do nothing except gather information. If the province is attacked, the stealthy unit will stay hidden and not participate, though you will be able to view the battle.

Instill Uprising: A spy ability. Gradually increases unrest in the province. This can effectively cripple rich enemy territories, as unrest decreases gold and resource production. If you suspect an enemy is doing this to you, patrol the province to catch the enemy spy.

Move: Move to the province indicated (bringing units assigned to that commander).

Move and Patrol: Combination order; it automatically sets troops to patrol on arrival. Useful when you want the troops to defend outside the castle instead of remaining inside it. Since the default order is “Defend”, if you “Move” reinforcements to a castle, and an enemy attacks the same turn, the reinforcements will hide inside the castle rather than fighting. “Move and Patrol” forces them to engage.

Patrol Province: Patrols the province, reducing unrest and defending the province itself. Unrest reduction is proportional to the size of the patrolling army. Patrols can also catch enemy stealth units. Note that reducing unrest with patrols kills about 10 population per unit of unrest reduction.

Perform Blood Sacrifice: Sacrifices blood slaves in order to increase your local Dominion; each slave sacrificed increases dominion as much as one temple for one turn. Only priests of Abysia, Vanheim, and Mictlan can perform blood sacrifices, only at a temple, and only with the blood slaves in their personal inventory. Note that Mictlan MUST do this to increase dominion.

Pillage: Kills population to gain gold and (temporarily) supplies. The bigger the army, the more population is killed, and the more gold is generated. This increases unrest. Physically larger units, and units that cause fear, are more effective.

Preach the Teachings of God: Gradually increases your Dominion in the province. Only for priests. This is more effective in provinces with temples, and for priests with a higher holy level. Multiple priests can preach in the same province for cumulative effect. Remember, if your dominion drops to zero everywhere, you lose!

Research: The mage contributes his research points to the research pool each turn. This can only be done in a province with a lab. The research pool may be adjusted from the magic screen.

Reanimate: Unholy priests can freely raise the dead. To reanimate soulless (from the strategic map or in battle), there must be unburied corpses in the province. Most other reanimations (like skeletons) have no such restrictions.

Search for Magic Sites: Magic sites are hidden in some provinces, and can only be used once discovered. Only mages and priests can find magic sites, and only sites up to the level of their abilities. Thus, a level-3 water and level-1 earth mage could only find sites up to level-3 water and level-1 earth. If a site is present, and within the power of a mage/priest to find, it will be found 100% of the time, so you never need to search the same province twice with the same mage. The province info window records which level the province has been searched in which magic fields.

Seduce Commander: When in the same province as enemies, a succubus can attempt to seduce an enemy commander. Just as with assassination attempts, the player cannot choose which commander will be seduced. If the seduction succeeds, the succubus and the seduced commander will appear in the owning player's capital province. If it fails, she will attack the commander as if it were an assassination attempt.

Siege Castle: Tear down the castle walls. You get this option when occupying a province with an enemy castle. You cannot attack the castle itself until you damage the walls enough... more troops make it go faster.

Sneak: Move to the province indicated, stealthily (bringing units assigned to that commander). This will not cause combat, and the stealth army will not participate if a fight occurs in the province where he is sneaking.

Summon X / Create Monster: Some commanders, like werewolves, can freely summon units (like wolves) every turn.

Other Orders: Please note any orders not listed here, and they will be added.


-------------------------------------------------

Section VII: Effects of Dominion Scales. (by Daynarr & Saber Cherry)


How do scales work? You can choose scales that have special effects on provinces (like bonuses to income or supplies), but the values of these scales can change from province to province. The strength of your dominion determines whose scales affect a given province... so if you choose +3 order and expect +21% gold income in every province you own, think again! Provinces start with neutral scales, and slowly convert to the scale of the god whose dominion dominates there, regardless of who own it. So if you play a +3 cold race (Caelum) and capture a province from +3 heat Abysia, the province will stay hot until your dominion spreads there (from preaching, and so forth). Once your dominion dominates (and you get a white candle), it will take many turns to turn from +3 heat to +3 cold, depending on the strength of your dominion in the province. So, if you spend a lot of design points for expensive Magic, Order, Growth and Productivity scales, make sure you have strong dominions in all your provinces or the points will have been wasted!

There are other effects of strong dominion, in addition to enforcing your scales.

All units fighting in friendly dominion get +1 morale, and -1 morale in hostile dominion.

Your prophet and god receive +1 STR, +.5 MR, and +20% HP for every level of Dominion in the current province (Credit: Zen and ?)

Provinces get -X unrest per turn, +Y% income and +Z% production for each level of Dominion (please reply if you know X, Y, or Z).

***

Order/Turmoil - Each level of order increases overall gold income by 7%, and causes 10% fewer random events. In other words, Order 3 gives you a 21% income boost (multiplicatively cumulative with benefits from castle admin, growth and productivity scales), and you receive 70% as many random events as normal. You don't get income bonuses from the dominion of other pretender.

Similarly, each level of turmoil decreases gold income by 7%, and causes 10% more random events compared to a neutral scale.

***

Productivity/Sloth - Each level of productivity increases resource production by 10% and gold income by 2%. You do not get any bonuses from the productivity dominion of other pretender gods.

Each level of sloth decreases resource production by 10% and gold income by 2%.

***

Heat/Cold - For every degree away from a race's preferred temperature, a heat or cold scale decreases tax revenues by 5%, and supplies by 10%. These scales also affects the strength and fatigue of fire and water spells - fire spells generate more fatigue and can be less effective in cold provinces, and vice versa. These scales also affect the stats of and heat- and cold-attuned units (like Summer Lions and Winter Wolves, which get strength, attack, and defense bonuses or penalties). Heat scales also decrease protection provided by ice armors (used by Caelum, for example). Temperatures away from a unit's preferred level increase fatigue in combat (all humans prefer a neutral scale), and cold-blooded creatures are extra-sensitive to this. Lastly, heat and cold scales affect the strength of heat and cold auras emitted by some creatures.

The Heat/Cold scale can vary depending on the season, so keep an eye on the time of year if you use hot or cold units, fire or water magic, or big armies with supply problems.

***

Growth/Death - Each level of growth increases population in the province by 0.2% per month, increases supplies (army food) by 20%, and gold income by 2%.

Each level of death decreases population by 0.2% per month, reduces supplies by 20%, and gold income by 2%.

***

Fortune/Misfortune - Each level of luck gives a 10% greater chance of each event being good, and 10% less of it being bad. In other words, with neutral luck, an event has a 50-50 chance of being good or bad; with +1 luck, the probability is 60-40, and with +3 luck, the probability is 80% good, 20% bad. +3 unluck gives 80% bad events, and 20% good events.

There are also rituals that depend on luck: blood-magic Crossbreeding and Ryleh tentacle-monster summoning, for example.

Lastly, luck affects the chances of getting national heroes (the ones that show up on your doorstep, not the ones who get heroic power from experience). 3 unluck means you get no heroes, 2 unluck gives you a 1% per turn chance of getting a hero (cumulative, for 5% by turn 5, reset when a hero appears), and each luck level increases the percentage by one. Thus, 3 luck gives you a cumulative 6% per turn national-hero chance.

Luck does NOT affect combat at all - the "lucky" status of a unit means 50% of all attacks miss him, and is caused by a spell or magic item - this is not affected by the luck scale.

***

You might want to add to your Magic scales portion.

Magic/Drain - Each level of magic makes spells harder to resist (-0.5 MR for all units in the province, friendly or enemy), gives +1 research point to all mages in the province, and makes spellcasting in combat generate 10% less fatigue. You do not get any research or fatigue bonuses from the dominions of other pretender gods.

Each level of drain makes spells easier to resist (+0.5 MR), gives -1 research point to all mages in province, and makes spellcasting generate 10% more fatigue. Drain affects friendly and enemy units.

Ulm Smiths are immune to the magic and drain scales.

(Fatigue effects: Credit to Zen.)

***

Scales also affect what kind of random events can happen in a province.


-------------------------------------------------

Section VIII: How to Choose a Castle.


You start with the chosen castle at your home province, but if you want to build your national units in another province, you must build a new castle there. The castles are differentiated by their stats, and their tactical combat power. For example, the Mountain Citadel is expensive in design points and gold considering its low stats. But when being stormed, the enemy has to march through a hail of projectiles shot from multiple castle towers... so it is much harder to attack than a cheaper Watch Tower. Generally, people value the castle's admin, gold price, and design point price far more than anything else.

The stats:

(Inherent ability of all castles): Resources in the province are doubled.

Administration: Gold production in the province is increased by (Admin/2)%. The Admin% of resources in all friendly neighboring provinces are sucked away and used in the castle's province. Lastly, the admin is used to determine how much supply flows from the castle to increase supply in neighboring (and distant) provinces - the higher, the better, though I don't know the formula. Supplying neighboring provinces does not diminish the supply in the castle's province.

Defense: This value increases the time a sieging army needs to tear down the walls before it can attack, assuming no units are inside to repair the castle.

Supply: This determines how much food the castle can hold for a siege. Each month, the number is divided by the length of the siege... so a Mountain Citadel would have 350 supply, then 175, then 113, then 89, and so forth. Eventally, the defenders start to starve, unless they don't need food (undead, vinemen, commanders... who mysteriously never starve).

Time and Cost: The cost is the price in gold to build a new castle. Any commander can build a castle, but you must pay the cost up-front. The time is the number of turns needed to build the castle (during which the commander will be stuck building). Currently, the build time is always equal to the cost/150. When building a castle, note that you do not get a refund if you are interrupted partway through, and that enemies can capture your castles and use them for their own nefarious purposes.

Note: These stats have changed since Dominions I, so some of that information may be off! Feel free to make corrections=)

Descriptions of castles in tactical combat can be found here:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...=000258#000000


-------------------------------------------------

Section IXa: How to Run a PBEM Game. (by ywl)


1) Create a god (e.g. Man). And under the newlords folder of the game, you should find something like a "man.2h" - 2h stand for to host. Send that to the host.
2) After receiving all the 2h files, the host put all of them in a folder under the game directory. Choose to play it and then choose "host" the game.
3) After hosting, the host send out all the "trn" files under the folder to the players.
4) The players download the attached "trn" file from the email. Put it in a folder with any name he like.
5) The players choose playing the game (with the same name as the folder). Make their moves and then press "End Turn".
6) After that, there should be another "2h" file in the game folder. Send that to the host.
7) Go back to step 2.


-------------------------------------------------

Section IXb: How to Auto Host an Internet/LAN Game. (by Argitoth)


Make a shortcut, and set the command line to this:

"C:\Games\Dom2demo\dom2demo.exe" -x --nointro --quickhost --tcpserver --port # --noclientstart --nosound --nomusic

Where the first part, C:\Games\Dom2demo\, is changed to reflect the correct location of the Dominions 2 executable, and the # symbol is replaced with the port number (anything from 1000 to 65535 will be fine). Once you execute the shortcut and enter the game name, the demo will run in server mode and everyone can connect (unlike PBEM, the server must be running for players to take their turns). I believe the host has to run a second copy of Dominions in client mode to take his own turns. With the server running in the background, it will be completely innocuous and you can leave it running all day without noticing it, and when everyone finishes their turn it autohosts.

Descriptions of the command line arguments:

-x: Lowers graphics to minimum

--nointro: No intro (it doesn't do anything, maybe there’s an intro in the full Version)
--quickhost: Automatically sets quickhost on
--tcpserver: Automatically sets up a server
--port #: Automatically enters the port # to create the server
--noclientstart: Disables the ability for players to press start while choosing nations
--nosound: No sound
--nomusic: No music

Still having trouble running a TCP/IP game? Check this thread, which also explains how to resolve difficulties when using your own computer as both server and client:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000354

How do I host through a router? Try looking at this thread:
http://invisionfree.com/forums/Domin...?showtopic=271

How do I specify a repeated time at which the game will be autohosted? Read this thread:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000623


-------------------------------------------------

Section X: Dominions Threads and Websites.


The latest Version of this guide:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000172

A large, comprehensive newby walkthrough for the demo or full game by ceremony, complete with screenshots:
http://www.maladjustite.com/dom2_walkthru.html

Where to post bugs you find:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000201

Where to post typos you find:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000227

The master list of Dominions II issues, problems, imbalances, and suggestions:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000203

Strategy game forum with Dominions II discussion:
http://Groups.google.com/Groups?hl=e...ames.strategic

DominionsX fansite, guides, forum, and good place to find an MP game:
http://www.dominionsx.tk/
changed to http://www.dominionsx.com

Sunray's Dominions library:
http://www.freewebs.com/sunray_dom2/

...and his still-mostly-relevant Dominions I information:
http://www.freewebs.com/sunraybe/

Illwinter's official, recently-updated site:
http://www.illwinter.com

Shrapnel's official, more-often-updated Dominions site:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/d2/1.htm

For the most complete Online Dominions II resource, try the Dominions I pdf documentation.
Manual: http://www.illwinter.com/dom/manual.pdf
Spells: http://www.illwinter.com/dom/spellmanual.pdf
Items: http://www.illwinter.com/dom/itemmanual.pdf


Mods and 3rd-party apps... discuss and contribute!

CherryMod thread:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000404

Lord of the Rings mod thread:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000655

Combat Simulator development thread:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000644

The combat simulator (latest Version: 6) can be downloaded here:
http://www.webpersonal.net/cyberpunk..._Simulator.zip
Or here:
http://www.treemme.org/~liga/dom2/Combat_Simulator.zip


-------------------------------------------------

Section XI: Where Can I Buy This Awesome Game?


Dominions II is developed by Illwinter and published by Shrapnel. There are currently no plans for it to be sold in retail stores, and it is available exclusively Online from Shrapnel. They mail it anywhere in the world, from the US, at reasonable rates (in New Zealand, shipping is $10 USD, for example). To buy it, go to the official site - http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/d2/1.htm - and click "Order Now".

It is also available at www.tuxgames.com, and though that is a Linux game site, the Dominions II CD will work on any supported OS no matter where you get it.

In the UK, you can also buy Shrapnel games from http://www.strategic-plus.co.uk

In Germany, near Germany, or Germanoid places like Ulm, you may want to order from here:
http://ixsoft.de/

I ordered, but it is listed as backordered! Does that mean they are sold out? No. Shrapnel lists your game as "backordered" until they actually put it in the mail, and that status has nothing to do with their inventory.


-------------------------------------------------

Please post any unresolved questions or suggested additions in this thread!

-Cherry

[ January 01, 2004, 06:48: Message edited by: Saber Cherry ]

[Gandalf Parker]

Im beginning to think that we need more FAQ's. This one is getting large and we could support seperate ones play, mods, maps, hosting
(and 17 more, one for each nation?)

In the process of molding and putting together threads in order to make more information immediately availiable to newbies I have taken all the information from the "Acronyms and Abbreviations" thread and reposted them here.

Credit due to Saber Cherry, Arryn, Kristoffer,

GoR: Gift of Reason.
RB: Rainbow Pretender, a human with a couple points in most magic paths.
JMC: Just Man's Cross
HfH: Horde from Hell / Heat from Hell
KoEF / KoEE: King of Elemental Fire / Earth.
PD: Province Defense
PBEM: Play by email
SoS: Staff of Storms
AD: Arch Devil
FA: Fallen Angel
IW: Illwinter
*: Open ended, like "oe", for dice rolls. Sometimes it also means a random elemental magic pick
?: Random magic pick
$: Random sorcery pick
FAWESDNBHU: Fire Air Water Earth Astral Death Nature Blood Holy Unholy
AE/LAE: Air Elemental/Lesser Air Elemental
BVC: Bane Venom Charm
BoT: Burden of Time
BoH: Blood of Humans (Abysia theme)
MW: Murdering Winter
FFTS: Flames from the Sky
GoH: Gift of Health
CotW: Call of the Wild / Call of the Winds
SDR: Sanguine Dousing Rod
BoB: Boots of the Behemoth
KO - Kristoffer O.
JO - Johan O.
JK - Johan K.
AFAIK - As far as I know
IIRC - If I recall correctly
oe - Open Ended
SC - Supercombatant/Saber Cherry
FoD - Fiend of Darkness
PoD - Prince of Death
PD - Province Defence
ID - Ice Devil/Iron Dragon
IW - Illwinter (not the spell)
FoB - Fountain of Blood
LotN - Lord of the Night
VotD - Vengeance of the Dead
MD - Magic Duel
TT - Taurotyrannos (not seen this since the days of Dom I)
AW - Abysian Warlock (I'm not sure if this was the actual name used in that thread)
BH - Blood Hunt
BS - Blood Slave
AAR = After Action Report, a description of a game that has been played.

[Inigo Montoya]

How do I make my mages more powerful in magic? There are only 5 ways.
1) Empowerment - infusing the commander with gems at a laboratory - permanently increases his level by one in that path.
2) Forging a magic item like Earth Boots and giving it to the commander increases his level, but only if he already has magic in that path. In other words, giving Earth boots to an Earth-1 mage makes him an Earth-2 mage, but giving them to a Fire-1, Earth-0 mage does nothing.
3) Casting a spell at the beginning of combat like "Summon Earthpower" will increase the mage's Earth level for the entire battle. Communion or Sabbath Master can also boost magic levels. All enhancing spells cast in combat are temporary, and none have any effect after the end of combat.
4) Putting gems in the mage's gembox allows them to use gems during battle. Some spells require gems, but even "free" spells can use gems... specifically, if an Earth-2 mage wants to cast the Earth-3 spell Blade Wind, he can use an Earth gem from his gembox to boost his level to 3 for that one casting only. Mages run out of gems fast, though, because the AI uses them whether it needs to or not.
5) Holy and unholy "magic" can be increased by making the priest into your prophet.
****************************************

Actually, there is a 6th -- Wishing for Magic Power.

[Saber Cherry]

Hmmm, that's true. To clarify, it increases power in all paths except holy and unholy, whether you start with the path or not, but can only be done once per mage.

[Gateway103]

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
Hmmm, that's true. To clarify, it increases power in all paths except holy and unholy, whether you start with the path or not, but can only be done once per mage.

You mean Wish for "Magic Power"? I didn't know there is a limit. In fact, I am positive such a limit doesn't exist, or that it doesn't apply to Pretenders. I regularly Wish my Pretender to full fluency in all magic via repeated rituals in SP games, if just for the fun of it.

-Gateway103

[ March 26, 2004, 05:30: Message edited by: Gateway103 ]

[Saber Cherry]

Might have been changed in a patch... I'm fairly certain that when I tried wishing for magic power with my pretender in a trial game, I was able to do so only once, and after that I got some sort of message saying it wouldn't work.

[Inigo Montoya]

You can wish for "Magic Power" repeatedly, but there IS a limit. The maximum is 10 (before items) for all non-holy/unholy magic.