Dominions 4 Teasers
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Avoraciopoctules
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Re: throne effects
Last edited by Avoraciopoctules on Tue Aug 06, 2013 12:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Username17
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Well, the Throne of Abundance is awesome in the early game and kind of crap in the late game. The Throne of Bureaucracy is crippling in the early game but a considerable advantage in the late game.
The breakeven point on gold is about 1429 base gold production for the Throne of Bureaucracy. So the cost is going to be quite high until you're an established empire. Once you are an established empire, it's a net money producer and spreads dominion.
-Username17
The breakeven point on gold is about 1429 base gold production for the Throne of Bureaucracy. So the cost is going to be quite high until you're an established empire. Once you are an established empire, it's a net money producer and spreads dominion.
-Username17
Where are you getting this from? I've been reading this thread (http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/ind ... 497&st=180) and haven't found anything about any of that.K wrote:Wow. Luck does not protect undead or inanimates any more.
Someone really hates Banelords.
That Pewpewchew guy. He decided to do another Let's Play for Sceleria (MA Ermor).Shatner wrote:Where are you getting this from? I've been reading this thread (http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/ind ... 497&st=180) and haven't found anything about any of that.K wrote:Wow. Luck does not protect undead or inanimates any more.
Someone really hates Banelords.
So he pulled up the tooltip for Luck on the Luck Amulet and that description says that undead and inanimates don't get Luck.
Can you provide a link? I looked on the Invision forum and wasn't seeing it.K wrote:That Pewpewchew guy. He decided to do another Let's Play for Sceleria (MA Ermor).Shatner wrote:Where are you getting this from? I've been reading this thread (http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/ind ... 497&st=180) and haven't found anything about any of that.K wrote:Wow. Luck does not protect undead or inanimates any more.
Someone really hates Banelords.
So he pulled up the tooltip for Luck on the Luck Amulet and that description says that undead and inanimates don't get Luck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWQQH9EEobA
He screws with the items somewhere around the 30 min mark.
He screws with the items somewhere around the 30 min mark.
Vortex of Unlife is almost the same effect, but Evo 8, Death 5, Area 6+.K wrote:Blast of Unlife
Evo5, Death 2, Range 25+, 15 AN, Area 1, MR negates, doesn't affect mindless, units killed rise as soulless.
Alteration also has a Death spell called Skeletal Army that gives piercing resistance to your army, but might disease them.
Invulnerability does not work against magic weapons.
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Avoraciopoctules
- Overlord
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- Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:48 pm
- Location: Oakland, CA
The zombifying Death attack spells are a carryover from design decisions made in Conquest of Elysium 3.
In CoE3, you got a basic human zombie whether your deathbolt killed a man, a rabbit, or a giant evil flower. I wonder how Dominions 4 will do it? They certainly won't make zombie sprites for every animal.
In CoE3, you got a basic human zombie whether your deathbolt killed a man, a rabbit, or a giant evil flower. I wonder how Dominions 4 will do it? They certainly won't make zombie sprites for every animal.
Looks like Skull Staves are either gone or moved to Construction 6.
Add that to Skull Mentors being gone or moved to Con 6, it looks like there is nothing to spend Death gems on any more aside from summons.
It also looks like climbing the ladder of Death casters by summoning progressively more powerful Death casters just got a lot harder.
Add that to Skull Mentors being gone or moved to Con 6, it looks like there is nothing to spend Death gems on any more aside from summons.
It also looks like climbing the ladder of Death casters by summoning progressively more powerful Death casters just got a lot harder.
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Username17
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Those guys have been in there since at least Dominions 2, so the news there is just that Sceleria gets the MA Ermor special undead legionaries.K wrote:Looks like Sceleria (MA Ermor) is one the nations that sometimes get special longdead when they reanimate. The one I saw was a longdead legionnaire that has protection 16 and a Tower shield.
-Username17
After some 36 hours of play in the last two days, a few muddled observations:
Skull Mentor is indeed at Construction 6...sheesh, that's way too late. The fire lantern is in the right spot.
It seems like I got Skull Staff before then, though--maybe the skill needs to be 3, now?
They took the edge right out of clams, not that I've tried to see if "temporary" pearls are better than they sound. You can't use them for rituals.
Lots more random events, and more interesting ones at that ("Hey, a free vampire!").
You can't summon whole troll armies anymore, just handfuls at a time...there are lots more summons, though they are unimpressive. Except for ogres, which are pretty cheap, easy to cast, and don't require much research. Still not great, but decent so far.
Anyone know how to alchemize gems into other gems? I can't seem to find the button anywhere, but it's been so damn long I may have just forgotten.
The thrones are definitely iffy more often than not. But you don't have to take them until you're ready to win (if you're in a faction that has convenient rank 3 priests, anyway). I actually forgot to cap a throne, had to teleport my god over to it (either god or rank 3 priest can cap).
Gelatinous cubes don't seem to be that good, alas. My dicebag of cubes (like "pride of lions" or "murder of crows") was woefully smacked down by mermen of no particular ability. Maybe it was just being underwater....but thrones can be underwater.
LA Argoth is pretty weak, either that or LA Ulm is pretty dominating, I got totally rolled by swarms of Ulm troops, and I hadn't lost a single battle to independents or even fought another AI player, and I totally fortified and let them come to me. The AI in general seems to build much more rapidly than before, but that could be my imagination.
PD is fairly disappointing, still.
I wish they had some map options beyond random, it's much easier to avoid multifront wars (so I can spend more time screwing around instead of just surviving).
Skull Mentor is indeed at Construction 6...sheesh, that's way too late. The fire lantern is in the right spot.
It seems like I got Skull Staff before then, though--maybe the skill needs to be 3, now?
They took the edge right out of clams, not that I've tried to see if "temporary" pearls are better than they sound. You can't use them for rituals.
Lots more random events, and more interesting ones at that ("Hey, a free vampire!").
You can't summon whole troll armies anymore, just handfuls at a time...there are lots more summons, though they are unimpressive. Except for ogres, which are pretty cheap, easy to cast, and don't require much research. Still not great, but decent so far.
Anyone know how to alchemize gems into other gems? I can't seem to find the button anywhere, but it's been so damn long I may have just forgotten.
The thrones are definitely iffy more often than not. But you don't have to take them until you're ready to win (if you're in a faction that has convenient rank 3 priests, anyway). I actually forgot to cap a throne, had to teleport my god over to it (either god or rank 3 priest can cap).
Gelatinous cubes don't seem to be that good, alas. My dicebag of cubes (like "pride of lions" or "murder of crows") was woefully smacked down by mermen of no particular ability. Maybe it was just being underwater....but thrones can be underwater.
LA Argoth is pretty weak, either that or LA Ulm is pretty dominating, I got totally rolled by swarms of Ulm troops, and I hadn't lost a single battle to independents or even fought another AI player, and I totally fortified and let them come to me. The AI in general seems to build much more rapidly than before, but that could be my imagination.
PD is fairly disappointing, still.
I wish they had some map options beyond random, it's much easier to avoid multifront wars (so I can spend more time screwing around instead of just surviving).
Kaelik, to Tzor wrote: And you aren't shot in the face?
Frank Trollman wrote:A government is also immortal ...On the plus side, once the United Kingdom is no longer united, the United States of America will be the oldest country in the world. USA!
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Avoraciopoctules
- Overlord
- Posts: 8624
- Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:48 pm
- Location: Oakland, CA
Bottom line, I'm nowhere near you guys' level of expertise in this game. So I dunno about Lanka, since I really never knew the optimal strategies before. That, and it's been 5 years since I played (still have it on my old laptop, tho), so I really can't recall what the exact rules were before.
Make a very specific request and I can set up a game and I can look it up.
I'm playing as LA Ulm right now, and rocking hard against 4 crap AI players; the previous games I had to think a little, or I got dogpiled too early to survive, but this one hasn't presented any speedbumps, and I don't think it will. I'm playing more to see stuff than for challenge.
K: the device that improves summoned longdead, etc...doesn't improve them. The description says it just increases the numbers. LA Ulm is the first nation I've played with much Death magic...and the best it comes with is a D1. I've empowered a mage to D2, and built the Skull staff (it takes Construction 4 for sure)....but more longdead/etc is a pretty low priority with the only deathmage I have that could cast the relevant spells. I'll do a couple castings with/without once I get enchantment high enough for the right spells and get back to you on that. At least my Revenant can make the item (he's doing it this turn).
You get many more magic items via random events now...or maybe I've been playing Luck 2 and that's a big factor. Magic drain is now 1 point per penalty (found a Throne that gives Magic, offsetting that).
You get combat formations, though it's still limited...instead squares, you can also get rectangular (line) formations, and skirmish formations. You can get a line across the whole battlefield with just one unit.
There are some sort of stacking limitations, and you can get moral penalties/bonuses if you mix units. Magic units have to go into their own formation, as do undead (so no Ghoul Guardians in the same unit as crossbowmen, for example).
Some of your commanders, the best ones, are "slow build", and take two turns to come into play.
There's a button that lets you "repeat build", freakin' finally, so you can build the same units over and over again in a zone.
No button to "auto-rehire" mercs, so I still accidentally lose them from time to time. The AI is a bit more aggressive about hiring them, now, but only a bit.
One thing I really am liking are the more numerous mountain passes and such. Building castles at key junctures makes for a much more interesting game. It's not just river crossings that only happen in winter, it's ocean crossings (yeah, that's stupid). There's an island that I had to wait until winter to invade. I *finally* got the air gems to make some flying boots so I can search it and get out in a sane amount of time...and take the sucky Throne that's there.
Throne victory, by the way is pretty much like the old "victory point" victory. You can have 1 point thrones, 2 point thrones, etc, with increasing ability and defenses, and set the game up so that you only need X points to win.
Acashic Record, by the way, SUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKS now. It's cheaper, but now it just gives info on a nation if you cast it on the capital. Finding sites (a personal hobby) is harder now, as the search spells have a range on them. You need to find sites more, though, as there's no alchemy from one gem type to another....or at least I haven't found it yet (I haven't researched past 6 in any field). I did alchemize into gold; it's still way too little (12 gp a gem? Something like that, and I used a good mage)...with no way to alchemize gems, I can't use this until I'm sure I'll never use the gems (and c'mon, you need the right mage to turn the gems into gold, which means you have a mage that can turn the gems into items or critters, a better deal every time), at which point the piffling gold is meaningless.
Eyes of God doesn't find sites, either. There seem to be more Blood sites, though.
Blood now gets a research item, Imp Familiar...it's a little better than the quill, and level 4 if I recall correctly.
Magic items are now divided by category and research level when you try to make them, which is right convenient.
Lots of new little stuff. There's a blood spell to cure afflictions (on the caster), a magic potion to cure diseases, an amulet that major helps to prevent afflictions. A dancing shield is nice, and there are more helmets. Bloodhunters automatically unload into a lab, if there is a lab.
Gift of Health is a still a gamebreaker, IMO, though my Cyclops (in another game) still never got his arm back, could just have been bad luck.
Haven't seen a horror mark yet, though I did use the lanterns a lot in a previous game.
The game still ends abruptly when you win, which rather suxxors when you're trying to experiment.
You can build more stuff in your castles, roads, storage, towers....no roads for general zones, something of a wtf for me.
For some reason, my lich died in his own dominion (was up to 5 candles), and I still had to "Call God" to get him back...he'd died several times before and it wasn't an issue. Bug?
The game has crashed at least half a dozen times, but all good crashes (i.e., right after the autosave, which loaded up and played fine).
But after a few nights of playing past 1am, I'm going to bed earlyish...I try to check out the better longdeads item manana.
Make a very specific request and I can set up a game and I can look it up.
I'm playing as LA Ulm right now, and rocking hard against 4 crap AI players; the previous games I had to think a little, or I got dogpiled too early to survive, but this one hasn't presented any speedbumps, and I don't think it will. I'm playing more to see stuff than for challenge.
K: the device that improves summoned longdead, etc...doesn't improve them. The description says it just increases the numbers. LA Ulm is the first nation I've played with much Death magic...and the best it comes with is a D1. I've empowered a mage to D2, and built the Skull staff (it takes Construction 4 for sure)....but more longdead/etc is a pretty low priority with the only deathmage I have that could cast the relevant spells. I'll do a couple castings with/without once I get enchantment high enough for the right spells and get back to you on that. At least my Revenant can make the item (he's doing it this turn).
You get many more magic items via random events now...or maybe I've been playing Luck 2 and that's a big factor. Magic drain is now 1 point per penalty (found a Throne that gives Magic, offsetting that).
You get combat formations, though it's still limited...instead squares, you can also get rectangular (line) formations, and skirmish formations. You can get a line across the whole battlefield with just one unit.
There are some sort of stacking limitations, and you can get moral penalties/bonuses if you mix units. Magic units have to go into their own formation, as do undead (so no Ghoul Guardians in the same unit as crossbowmen, for example).
Some of your commanders, the best ones, are "slow build", and take two turns to come into play.
There's a button that lets you "repeat build", freakin' finally, so you can build the same units over and over again in a zone.
No button to "auto-rehire" mercs, so I still accidentally lose them from time to time. The AI is a bit more aggressive about hiring them, now, but only a bit.
One thing I really am liking are the more numerous mountain passes and such. Building castles at key junctures makes for a much more interesting game. It's not just river crossings that only happen in winter, it's ocean crossings (yeah, that's stupid). There's an island that I had to wait until winter to invade. I *finally* got the air gems to make some flying boots so I can search it and get out in a sane amount of time...and take the sucky Throne that's there.
Throne victory, by the way is pretty much like the old "victory point" victory. You can have 1 point thrones, 2 point thrones, etc, with increasing ability and defenses, and set the game up so that you only need X points to win.
Acashic Record, by the way, SUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKS now. It's cheaper, but now it just gives info on a nation if you cast it on the capital. Finding sites (a personal hobby) is harder now, as the search spells have a range on them. You need to find sites more, though, as there's no alchemy from one gem type to another....or at least I haven't found it yet (I haven't researched past 6 in any field). I did alchemize into gold; it's still way too little (12 gp a gem? Something like that, and I used a good mage)...with no way to alchemize gems, I can't use this until I'm sure I'll never use the gems (and c'mon, you need the right mage to turn the gems into gold, which means you have a mage that can turn the gems into items or critters, a better deal every time), at which point the piffling gold is meaningless.
Eyes of God doesn't find sites, either. There seem to be more Blood sites, though.
Blood now gets a research item, Imp Familiar...it's a little better than the quill, and level 4 if I recall correctly.
Magic items are now divided by category and research level when you try to make them, which is right convenient.
Lots of new little stuff. There's a blood spell to cure afflictions (on the caster), a magic potion to cure diseases, an amulet that major helps to prevent afflictions. A dancing shield is nice, and there are more helmets. Bloodhunters automatically unload into a lab, if there is a lab.
Gift of Health is a still a gamebreaker, IMO, though my Cyclops (in another game) still never got his arm back, could just have been bad luck.
Haven't seen a horror mark yet, though I did use the lanterns a lot in a previous game.
The game still ends abruptly when you win, which rather suxxors when you're trying to experiment.
You can build more stuff in your castles, roads, storage, towers....no roads for general zones, something of a wtf for me.
For some reason, my lich died in his own dominion (was up to 5 candles), and I still had to "Call God" to get him back...he'd died several times before and it wasn't an issue. Bug?
The game has crashed at least half a dozen times, but all good crashes (i.e., right after the autosave, which loaded up and played fine).
But after a few nights of playing past 1am, I'm going to bed earlyish...I try to check out the better longdeads item manana.
Kaelik, to Tzor wrote: And you aren't shot in the face?
Frank Trollman wrote:A government is also immortal ...On the plus side, once the United Kingdom is no longer united, the United States of America will be the oldest country in the world. USA!