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Total Members Voted: 9

[Kebooo]

Well, ever since I patched to 3.24, my game doesn't work properly.  So I just took the oh so painful option of paying $55 for a 4 year old digital download.  I suppose I shouldn't complain about helping my favorite genre of games.  Still, how did it never go down in price?

[Il Palazzo]

It's bloody strange if you ask me. Perhaps there's just no competition for this kind of game on the market? At least I can't think of one that'd approach dominons' level of complexity.

[slMagnvox]

Bloody Strange is right.  And digital download?  That has only been an option for like six weeks.  Seriously.

Good to have you on board Kebooo, have fun!  Feels like we oughta be more serious about this game now, considering our new friend's investment!

[Kebooo]

If by "more serious" you mean, turn a blind eye as I conquer everyone unimpeded, and intentionally creating weak armies with poor tactics, then I agree.

I think I'm finished with my turn, but I'm going to wait to submit it until closer to the deadline.  I feel like I should read more into strategy for my particular faction before I start sending out the most ill-conceived forces to ever be assembled.

If anyone would like to solicit my cooperation feel free to in PM, I have to quickly figure out which options give me the best chance of somehow winning (none).

[Bluerobin]

Well... I'm willing to give you what's left of my (Caelum's) land if you go up against Pangaea. And by "give" I mean "defend poorly so you can maybe get to it before everyone else does." And by "defend poorly" I mean "leave exactly as it is because I don't have any unsieged forts left."

Right. C'mon people, finish me off already.

[EuchreJack]

Sorry Kebooo, but you needed to enter a new key upon updating.  But it still may not have worked for multiplayer.

Bluerobin427, couldn't you move all your forces away from Kebooo's faction and towards everyone elses?  Waste whatever cash you have left on fortifying the other fronts?  Enjoy the slaughter, even of your own (hawk)men!

[Bluerobin]

Yeah that's basically what I did. I've just been sitting on basically nothing for about 5 turns now because I had my armies almost completely taken out and my forts are sieged. Makes turns really quick to submit though!

[Kebooo]

I'm sure it violates all codes of honor and dignity, but do you know why my troops haven't been able to do anything to your fortress?  The first turn I received, you were under siege by a T'ien Ch'i army.  But I get a message "more troops are needed".  Will it eventually fall, or will it simply stand until I send more troops?  I demand your walls crumble!

[Bluerobin]

Well... I don't know exactly how it works, but I believe the units garrisoned in a fortress can repair it as it's under siege which means it might actually be gaining defense points back if you're getting that message. Unfortunately for me I'm pretty sure there's no way I can break that siege, it's just kind of an annoying resource sink at this point 

[EuchreJack]

Oh, your commanders are all dead, right Bluerobin427?

Kebooo, just leave some expendable forces to siege and move on, or bring a large army to siege Bluerobin427.  Don't allow yourself to get bogged down by fortresses you can not take.

[Il Palazzo]

Gosh, the amount of battles The Stolid Kiff has seen, the thousands(literally) dead creatures... it's like Verdun or something.

Kebooo, If I were you(and if I hadn't had a Pangean friend to save this instant from industrial revolutionaries), I'd just buy A LOT of cheap stuff and send it to besiege the fort.

[Kebooo]

I'd like to say this is one of the few games in my lifetime where even reading the manual is riveting.  I definitely don't regret the purchase.  I still feel like an ignorant caveman in a dark cave, but I'm slowly seeing the light.  I don't think I've played a game with this depth of combat before.  The sheer number of spells and possibilities are overwhelming.  I wish I had started the game from the beginning so I could've had more clear strategies going on.  Count me in for any future Dominions 3 games.

[Kebooo]

I'll post general game mechanic questions in this topic so Il Palazzo doesn't have to explain the game to me as a part time job.

1) I'm under the impression blessing sacred troops in battle gives morale and then various bonuses gifted to you by your pretender's magic levels.  Suppose I empower my pretender to have a higher magic level, will that change the gifted bonuses, or are they always the same throughout the entire game no matter what?

2) Magic leadership.  Am I correct in assuming this stats' sole purpose is to increase the number of magic units said commander can lead?

3) I'm a bit confused about 'temporarily' gaining magic levels in combat and what a magic level entails beyond what you can cast.  I read the part in the manual and it's not quite clear to me.  Does a nature 3 mage cast a nature 2 spell better and more powerfully than a nature 2 mage does?  And if I give a nature 3 mage 4 nature gems, and have him cast a spell that takes up 1 nature gem 4 times in a row, how would it be decided he 'uses' a gem to gain a level in that skill?  Or does he automatically gain it and not consume the gem for such a purpose, rather its passive, automatically, by the mere presence?  Or does he simply not gain a level at all because I used up all the gems on specific spells?  And the manual says something about the computer controlling whether a gem is used to reduce the spell fatigue in half.  Is there any way to micromanage or predict this use?

[EuchreJack]

I'll answer what I can to help Il Palazzo.  If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me.

1) Blessing are determined by the starting magic levels of the Pretender.  You can not change them in-game.

2) Yes.  Note that units without Magic Leadership can not lead magic units.

3) Basically, as you gain magic levels, spells work better (more likely to properly cast and more likely to penetrate enemy magic resistance) and cost less fatigue.  To be more specific, when using a spell that is one level lower than your in-battle spell level, the fatigue is half.  When any character's fatigue reaches 100, they can no longer do anything, even flee.  And some spells have a fatigue usage of 200!  Hence, gems are lifesavers.  You can not micromanage gem usage best as I recall, but magic users tend to use one gem per casting if possible.

3a) Also note that you can increase magic levels via spells, and not use gems.  Also, certain spells require the use of gems in order to work.

[Il Palazzo]

Bah, I actually enjoy talking about dom3, probably just as much as Kebooo likes to talk about EOFS. But it's a good idea to post questions here.

Just an extra info on few matters:

2)keep in mind that there are three kinds of leadership - normal, which increases with experience; magic which increases with magical paths your commander has or gets(e.g.empowerment), undead leadership - which increases a lot with each death magic path, and less so with each blood magic path. These are all separate stats, so a leader with 80normal, 40magic and 10undead leadership abilities can lead up to 130 units.
There do exist magic items which can raise each of the three stats.
Magic and undead units left without their respectable leaders dissolve instead of routing.

3)on top of what EuchreJack said, let me point out that the battle AI does have a bit of free will, so if you'll for example script a spell that's not applicable(e.g.no enemy troops in range), the AI will choose what to cast instead. Also, if you script a powerful, gem-intensive spell, and the foe you're facing is weak(according to AI), it might decide to forgo casting that spell in favour of something weaker and thus preserving the gems.
Also, there are some mechanics that nobody really knows how they work. One example is exact mechanic of fear aura, and another one is the extra gem usage for making casting easier.

If you're interested in stuff absent from the manual, visit the wiki http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Main_Page . The various FAQs are a good source of explanations for some of the more obscure stuff.