Re: Game suggestion
 

How about a lesser version of this: There is an order "Cast Spells"--how about adding "Cast Attacks" and "Cast Buffs".

Re: Game suggestion
 

Well, mages from my experience tend to favor doing damage over buffing if they are in range for any meaningful spell so it's not really needed. And five turns worth of spells is usually enough to turn the whole battle to needed direction (not always, though).

Re: Game suggestion
 

In my experience, mages tend to favor summoning creatures who will never even reach the front lines over attack spells.

Re: Game suggestion
 

I've noticed this too, and they will waste gems to do it, silly.

They WON'T spend gems to cast a spell you've hinged your strategy for the whole battle on, because by some evaluation algorithm it isn't worth the gem cost; then they proceed to spam summon lesser fire elemental through the entire battle, most of which don't reach the front lines, but do kill your other mages via their area effect heat.

Re: Game suggestion
 

I research Evocation very early for at least a couple of levels. And put off researching Alteration for quite awhile. Usually until I have a definite problem with some race that has a special weakness. I find that helps to avoid lots of the mage errors.

Re: Game suggestion
 

I beg to differ on two points: 1) The hardest part isn't coding it, it's being allowed to code it. Dom3 is very closed source. 2) I also would like better battle scripting options. Include here longer scripts, do exactly as I say, and more targets/options.

Well, if you only ever played checkers, could you really say that chess wouldn't be fun?

Re: Game suggestion
 

Actually it is the simplicity and constraints of options combined with the nearly innumerable configurations and interactions possible between the pieces that make chess such a grand strategy game, not its degree of realism. Such it is with Dominions scripting.

Re: Game suggestion
 

Or you could view it as a chess game where you allowed to play the first 5 moves, and then after that an AI takes over. :)

Seriously, it is frustrating, and I'm not sure that it becomes less so once you've mastered the combat and scripting system. The problem becomes even more galling with CBM, as you have dozens of viable combat spells to cast, but no way to get your mages to repeatedly cast them. Personally, I see it as the biggest flaw left in the game. If they were to fix this and call the resulting game Dominions 4, I would buy a copy.

Re: Game suggestion
 

I'd like to add that with this game of "chess" you can have seven queens on the board at once. And over a hundred pawns. And dozens of knights. And ranged attacks. And... It's called dominions 3. No, seriously, comparing chess and dom3 is not useful. In chess you have very limited types and amounts of units, whereas in dom3 there are quite a few options. One "piece" on the "board" can kill hundreds of others or indirectly cause their deaths due routing or dying to fatigue or even converting them.

I still think that the 5 scripted spells + (cast spells) is enough. Though I agree that summon elementals/stuff should be set to lower priority. Skeleton spam is still an useful to have up there, since (d2) death mages either should be doing something like disintegrate or raise skeletons/dead in the combat to be very useful. Of course there are exceptions, but most of the time those few spells are pretty much what you need those low-path death mages for.

Re: Game suggestion
 

I rather think this is a feature, as opposed to a problem. As in battle, plans tend not to last.