Bug Bug Thread: Discussion - Page 78

Sandman · #**771** March 6th, 2007, 10:39 AM

Could we have a bug sub-forum, rather than this ugly thread?

thejeff · #**772** March 6th, 2007, 10:59 AM

No, this is a different behavior. I've definitely seen (probably unscripted) archers stop firing when other troops close with their targets. The archers then close to attack in melee.

I think I've seen it most commonly with SC pretenders taking indies in the early game.

SlipperyJim · #**773** March 6th, 2007, 11:15 AM

Are the archers out of ammo?

Also, my Nature mages have picked up an annoying habit of casting berserker spells on my archers. I'll have to figure out a script to stop that.... Meanwhile, that creates another way for my archers to charge into melee: by going berserk.

thejeff · #**774** March 6th, 2007, 11:30 AM

Here's a link to the discussion on the "Any member of squad unable to shoot, whole squad charges" problem. I don't know if it still exists. I may try it out tonight if get the chance.

Gandalf Parker · #**775** March 6th, 2007, 02:05 PM

If we made a subforum Id rather have one for suggestions than for bugs. Having a forum for bugs would encourage everything to be discussed as a bug. I think thats part of the problem now. It gives the impression that everything is broken rather than just being some peoples wishlist for tweaks.

Nick_K · #**776** March 6th, 2007, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Edi said:

Quote:

Beorne said:
As 3.06
Units descriptions in Ryleh EA do mentions Ryleh instead of the Aboleths

WAD. This is nothing but pointless whining. The various slave trooper and slave guardian units and several of the slave commanders are used by EVERY SINGLE ERA OF R'LYEH. It is quite unreasonable to expect there to be a separate set of completely identical units except for the description, but no functional OR thematic difference.

I'd like to take issue with this, if I may. Firstly, I don't especially like seeing aggressive language like 'pointless whining'. If it was my post you were replying to, I'd view this as a personal attack.

I think that immersion is important in games, and especially in ones like Dominions where the huge roster of interesting units etc is a major strong point.
Seeing this sort of description breaks immersion. If I were a new player looking at the demo, I would find this sort of reference to a nation that does not even exist in EA confusing and I'd certainly consider it a bug.
In fact, I do find that issues like this are annoying and I do view them as bugs. They may not be major ones, but they are certainly on the level of the other typos.
I also feel that naming EA "R'lyeh" as "R'lyeh" does not make much sense. After all, R'lyeh is clearly defined in the manual as the name of the sunken city that I thought was supposed to be the remnant of the fallen star. I'd prefer it if the name were changed.

As for the unit descriptions... I think it is perfectly reasonable to expect units to exist that differ only in their description, if this is needed to make the background actually make sense. After all, this doesn't seem like it would be a difficult change to make.

(edit) Just noticed the stuff about sub-forums... why not have one for bugs /and/ one for suggestions?

Teraswaerto · #**777** March 6th, 2007, 03:55 PM

I have to say that I agree with Nick_K. Having age specific descriptions on units that appear in multiple ages is not good. It breaks immersion.

Kristoffer O · #**778** March 6th, 2007, 04:06 PM

> I'd like to take issue with this, if I may. Firstly, I don't especially like seeing aggressive language like 'pointless whining'. If it was my post you were replying to, I'd view this as a personal attack.

I think you are right about Edi's language sounding a bit harsh. However, I do not think it is meant to be rude. Edi sometimes sounds that way.

Edi, could you try to sound more nice than you are ?

> I also feel that naming EA "R'lyeh" as "R'lyeh" does not make much sense. After all, R'lyeh is clearly defined in the manual as the name of the sunken city that I thought was supposed to be the remnant of the fallen star. I'd prefer it if the name were changed.

You have a point. The name is a remnant of old coding and a possibly misdirected intention to make newbies aware of a history of the nation and that it is in many ways the same nation. In some cases, as in Sauromatia, I didn't keep the name throughout eras, but in most I did, not to confuse new players. Arco could easily have another name in the early era. But you have a strong point in the fact thet the star is basically the origin of the name. Perhaps the Aboleths took the name from the sacred star they called down on the world.

> As for the unit descriptions... I think it is perfectly reasonable to expect units to exist that differ only in their description, if this is needed to make the background actually make sense. After all, this doesn't seem like it would be a difficult change to make.

Not too difficult, but annoying work. Descriptions are linked to units, so a whole bunch of duplicate units would have to be made and then inserted in the nation data for recruitment, province defence etc. Not difficult, but somewhat bug prone.

Teraswaerto · #**779** March 6th, 2007, 04:23 PM

Perhaps the descriptions could be slightly altered to not be specific to a certain Age? That way no duplicates would be needed, although obviously it would still be a lot of work.

Edi · #**780** March 6th, 2007, 04:27 PM

Note to self: Refrain from posting bug commentary at 0:47 am after working three hours on the bug shortlist.

Point taken about the use of language, I will be more diplomatic in the future. My apologies to Beorne and Nick.

The point about annoying extra work still stands, though. Getting all of the Aboleth R'lyeh recruitables to match the era in descriptions as well will require a minimum of 15 new units to the game that have to get their stats, abilities and other specials (such as land-forms and sea-forms) correct and have the descriptions altered by one word, making it start with "The success of the Aboleths is largely due..." instead of the "The success of the R'lyeh is largely due..."

If ever I've seen a nitpick, then this issue is it. In my personal opinion anyway. That may have something to do with how I perceive EA R'lyeh, though. To me, it seems thematically almost indistinguishable from the MA R'lyeh, barring the void gate summons.

Put crudely, the difference being that instead of squishy fish with mind control powers there are squishy squids with mind control powers running the show and both fish and squids regard everything else as slaves, fodder and food.

When we look at the ape nations and the evolution of Sauromatia to Pythium to Serpent Cult Pythium (Pretty please?), there is a great thematic difference between Sauromatia and Pythium and less so between Pythium and SC Pythium.

Edi