Lower level priests and blood sacrifices.

BigJMoney · #1 October 3rd, 2006, 11:35 PM

Think of my little icon for this topic as a caution sign.

The caution is to beware playing Mictlan for now if it turns out that the blood sacrificing mechanic was not changed in light of all the priests in the game having their holy levels reduced by one. Before, the basic priest who sacrificed blood generated two temple checks per sacrifice (using two slaves). Unless something has changed, they will now only be able to generate one. I'm wondering if this was taken into account, and if there are new sacrificing rules possibly like "a priest may sacrifice n number of slaves where n = h + 1". h is, of course, holy.

Anyone with a manual have the scoop? Or a tester/developer? I'm mentioning this now in case things are already being considered for the first patch. Maybe I shouldn't assume this hasn't been considered, but it seems to me someone would have mentioned this at some point when talking about Dom 3 features. If I wait until I get the game, there is no way I will remember it.

=$= Big J Money =$=

Graeme Dice · #2 October 4th, 2006, 12:21 AM

Quote:

BigJMoney said:
Before, the basic priest who sacrificed blood generated two temple checks per sacrifice (using two slaves). Unless something has changed, they will now only be able to generate one.

I'm not sure I see the problem. This makes a priest without a jade knife roughly as effective as a normal temple for every other nation.

BigJMoney · #3 October 4th, 2006, 12:27 AM

You don't see the excellent balance between sacrificing versus automatic temple spread that was achieved in Dominions II? Should I explain it?

=$=

Graeme Dice · #4 October 4th, 2006, 01:17 AM

Quote:

BigJMoney said:
You don't see the excellent balance between sacrificing versus automatic temple spread that was achieved in Dominions II? Should I explain it?

No, what I'm saying is that it's not a very big deal. Before it cost you 80 gold for the priest, then 2.7 gold and two slaves per turn too get two temple checks per turn. Now it costs you exactly the same in gold cost, but only one slave per turn for a single temple check. Mictlan never had too much trouble pushing their dominion. What this does is bring them down to about the same level as every other nation in a dominion war.

Ighalli · #5 October 4th, 2006, 01:21 AM

But Mictlan also has to buy temples. So now, instead of having a slightly more difficult time spreading dominion and getting a much more efficient effect, they get no advantage (unless they can do multiple slaves a turn) for a priest and a sacrifice each turn. What level are all the priests they can recruit now?

Graeme Dice · #6 October 4th, 2006, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Ighalli said:
But Mictlan also has to buy temples. So now, instead of having a slightly more difficult time spreading dominion and getting a much more efficient effect, they get no advantage (unless they can do multiple slaves a turn) for a priest and a sacrifice each turn. What level are all the priests they can recruit now?

Requiring blood slaves for dominion spread is likely supposed to be an overall disadvantage, not the advantage for Mictlan that it was in Dom2. This is a balancing factor against their extremely efficient blood slave hunting and having mages that can easily cast the majority of the powerful blood spells.

Endoperez · #7 October 4th, 2006, 03:13 AM

29th march
* blood sacrifice now more efficient.

BigJMoney · #8 October 4th, 2006, 12:56 PM

I'm going to assume that dominions spread info is not in the the manual (it doesn't seem the type of thing they'd put there), and we know this is going to come up as a question by some poeple in the future, so I'd like to go ahead and request, if any of you testers know how it is more efficient, please post some info. This thread has a good title for people doing "blood sacrifice" "priest" searches on the search engine.

Graeme, I have probably been wrong about Mictlan, but like Ighalli, I too interpreted Mictlan's sacrificial abilities to be a potential dominion advantage, if the player was willing to spend just a little more in gold. If a Mictlan player can have an equal amount of sacrificing priests as an enemy nation can have temples, they gain double the amount of temple checks. This is not easy to do, though. Having a priest regularly sacrificing in every province takes effort, as I'm sure you are aware. Now, however, Mictlan must put forth the same effort, but this time, he is generating exactly half the number of temple checks. You may see that as being on the same level as everyone else, but I see it in comparison to what it was in the previous game: 50% effectivity. But, like I said, you've been playing this game longer than I have, and you're more likely to know how it's supposed to be. If Mictlan is supposed to be at an overall disadvantage to other nations, then... hey, this thread is still appropriate because people who think like me will be forewarned.

=$=

Endoperez · #9 October 4th, 2006, 01:10 PM

Jurri just confirmed that manual has something for both dominion spread and blood sacrifice.

So, let's wait and see.

Morkilus · #10 October 4th, 2006, 04:40 PM

Page 93:

Quote:

Blood Sacrifices To conduct a blood sacrifice, a priest of the appropriate nation can sacrifice a number of blood slaves up to and including to his priest level. The province he occupies must contain a temple. For each blood slave thus sacrificed, one temple check (described above) is generated. Thus, blood sacrifices can be a powerful method of spreading dominion.

I can't say anything about Mictlan's priests, since they're not specifically tabulated into the manual (yay, something for the Wiki, finally!)