Mod: Warhammer Dwarfs, version 0.92 -- Quickfix

[rdonj]

Runic wards are still shields, so it would be difficult to give them a 2 handed weapon. I suppose he could make them a one-handed version of a two-handed weapon to use, but I wouldn't go that direction personally.

By the way, thunderers definitely are parried by shields. They're pretty decent even as is though. I've been playing dwarfs vs brettonia... they're my go to weapon for grail knights/kotr.

Also, I'm really liking iron breakers. They cost an arm, a leg, and a spleen, but they just do not die. And the Dwarfs do a pretty good job with buffs, so it doesn't really even take much effort to make them even better.

[llamabeast]

Could mapmove 4 really make sense for a dwarven messenger? That is as fast as fast undead cavalry riding across open plains, by both day and night. How can a dwarf cover that much ground?

[rdonj]

Underground roller coaster?

[Burnsaber]

Originally Posted by llamabeast

Could mapmove 4 really make sense for a dwarven messenger? That is as fast as fast undead cavalry riding across open plains, by both day and night. How can a dwarf cover that much ground?

First of all, Runebearers cheat. They travel along the abandoned and nearly forgotten underground tunnels build during the golden empire, basically giving them a major shortcut (to anywhere). They don't need to follow rivers to find a shallow point to cross and neither do they get slowed down by rain, winterstorms and muddy terrain.

Second, they are not called "Runebearers" just for fun. Let's just say that they are packing something more to help them run than just a dry pair of socks.

Third, do not underestimate the power of dwarven willpower and sheer refusal to give up, even when faced with a nigh impossible task.

[alansmithee]

I would recommend waiting to remove prospectors now until there's some multi-player action with the dwarves. As it is, you'll have almost no battlefield magic presence until you hit the anvils (outside of some buffs). I kinda saw prospectors as a way to help deal with that. Against AI scripting they're good, but I don't think it would be as gamebreaking against a human player (I could be wrong though).

[Burnsaber]

Originally Posted by alansmithee

I would recommend waiting to remove prospectors now until there's some multi-player action with the dwarves. As it is, you'll have almost no battlefield magic presence until you hit the anvils (outside of some buffs). I kinda saw prospectors as a way to help deal with that. Against AI scripting they're good, but I don't think it would be as gamebreaking against a human player (I could be wrong though).

The thing is that you can't script pd, allowing prospectors to raid even 15+ pd provinces without losses. Combine this with stealth. Also "no battlefield magic" is a pretty heavy statement. Everyone seems to overlook Journeyman Runesmiths. Sure, E2 is not much, but it is everything you need, especially if you give them Earth Boots.

[alansmithee]

Originally Posted by Burnsaber

The thing is that you can't script pd, allowing prospectors to raid even 15+ pd provinces without losses. Combine this with stealth. Also "no battlefield magic" is a pretty heavy statement. Everyone seems to overlook Journeyman Runesmiths. Sure, E2 is not much, but it is everything you need, especially if you give them Earth Boots.

There's many things that are able to raid provinces, I don't think prospectors are unusual in that regard. I just think it might be a bit hasty, considering most (if not all) of the testing has been coming against AI opponents.

And E2 isn't much at all, especially since you can't really afford to span the journeymen (with castles costing so much, you need someone to research) and they can't lead troops. Also, most of the big earth combat magic is really exhausting, and you're wasting at least one turn to summon earthpower them.

Going after anvils really also has the benefits of giving you all the runes right there.

[rdonj]

The thing prospectors do that normal PD raiders don't though, is flee rather than dying when they fail. They're also pretty cheap. You're expending a lot of effort to make large enough groups of them to take out significant PD, should your opponent choose to field it. But chances are you'll never lose a single prospector to anything but routing. Except possibly battlefield-wide AoE spells.

As for journeyman runesmiths, well, honestly so far mostly I've used them to run around and build forts/temples... but they are still quite useful in battle. They can cast plenty of decent spells with just summon earthpower. I'm not quite sure why it's a "waste" of a turn to cast, either... summon earthpower is a quite handy buff. The only thing I really miss from them is the rune of grungni (which is only marginally better than legions of steel anyway). But a journeyman runesmith can cast just about every other buff you'd want. Just bring a runesmith around for weapons of sharpness and you're good.

[rdonj]

I realize the AI is a spectacularly bad opponent to test on for this, but I decided, basically, I was going to try to beat the AI with armies of nothing but prospectors. Took O3/P1/G3/L3 with a dormant dom10 brother of war for scales and domspread ability.

For the first phase of the game, I did the two prospector+two rounds of crossbowman production expansion while I built up castles, to produce more and more groups like this. Eventually, when it started becoming too expensive to produce max crossbowmen every turn from every fort, I stopped producing them altogether to focus just on forts and prospectors. I'm now in late winter of year 3, producing 22 prospectors each turn, who in turn generate essentially 88 freespawn every turn... who do 24 damage a hit, screw with opponent scripting, have pretty decent armor, etc. Long story short, swarms of prospectors are entirely capable of killing entire armies by themselves with no losses or even any real danger to them. Maybe if you start bringing real magic into the battles things would change a bit, but I don't think there's much chance of actually getting any kind of real attrition in on said prospector swarms.

[Burnsaber]

Originally Posted by alansmithee

And E2 isn't much at all, especially since you can't really afford to span the journeymen (with castles costing so much, you need someone to research) and they can't lead troops. Also, most of the big earth combat magic is really exhausting, and you're wasting at least one turn to summon earthpower them.

E2 is enough for you to cast Legions of Steel, Earth Might/Strength of Giants, Armor of Achilles/Destruction and Earth Meld (+ you have Grudgestone). Those spells, if used right, can be a lot more devastating than the exhausting Blade Wind. Armed with boots, Journeymen can also take care of casting Weapons of Sharpness.

"Summon Earthpower" as a waste of turn? That reinvogration bonus is absolutely awesome. I often cast it as my first spell, even if the caster isn't likely going to cast any other earth spells (like E2F3 mage for example). Journeymen are also your most cost-effective researchers in the terms of upkeep.

On other news, my final exam for this fall will be Wednesday. I'll start forging the 0.8 update after that.

Althought I got a surge of inspiration today and drew Thorgrim (The High King, holder of the Book of Grudges). I'll probably fiddle with the axe a bit, but other than that, he's pretty finished.