immortality / dominion bug

[Dogboy]

I just encountered a bug that seriously undermines a major part of my strategy.

According to the turn sequence on pages 71-72 of the manual, battles are resolved in step 14, and dominion is not changed until step 24. Therefore, if I move into a
territory that was positive last turn, combat should occur at that positive level of dominion, and only change after battle has been resolved (and 10 other steps take place,
such as global enchantments, building instructions, income, starvation, upkeep).

Therefore, I sent some immortal units in to attack an enemy in friendly domain, certain that if they died, they would return to my home province. Well, it turns out that all 56 units were killed, but they never revived. I see that my opponent managed to change the dominion to his side (dark candles) this turn, but this should not have had effect until after the battle.

Is this a recognized bug, or have I misread the rules?

Thanks!

[Tuidjy]

Dominion changes before battles. It's been like this since at least Dominions II,
and I did not even know it was a bug. I like it this way, actually.

[Kamamura]

Perhaps some rituals cast in phase 6 have immediate effect and affect dominion directly? Just a guess...

[Sombre]

Sounds more like the manual is being typically inaccurate than an actual bug.

[Jurri]

It would seem to me that the dominion changes from preaching happen when the commander's order are processed, that is, before the battle. The other dominion changes, from temples and pretenders and such, may very well happen at a later phase.

[Folket]

It sounds like a bug or typo... at least something is wrong.

I would not call it a typo. If so the Manual is just wrong.

[thejeff]

You can check during a battle to see if you're in friendly or hostile dominion. There's a visible morale bonus/penalty.

It would be interesting to verify the battle was actually in hostile dominion.