misc questions

[Arryn]

Originally posted by GavinWheeler:
I'm pretty certain "Imprint Souls" also identifies itself as being an attack by you.

I'm positive it's anonymous. I've been the victim of it countless times ...

[Taqwus]

It's only anonymous if the units don't belong to you, and thus show up as 'Special Monsters'. This includes Horrors, Ghost Riders, Manifestations, Earth Attack (special: will not attack you).
Imprint Souls is _not_ anonymous. Check your battle report; it'll tell you which AI cast it on you.
Nor, for that matter, are assassins; perhaps they should be, at least if they assassinate a leader and get away.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Taqwus:
Imprint Souls is _not_ anonymous. Check your battle report; it'll tell you which AI cast it on you.

Is there a random event that attacks a province with a mixed bag of ~20-30 militia & knights? (I know there's another one that's only knights.)

There was one game I was playing in which I was being attacked EVERY turn in 2-3 provinces by "Independents", always in the same amount and composition, for over 6 straight turns. I asked about it here in the forum and was told it was Imprint Souls.

[ March 03, 2004, 17:42: Message edited by: Arryn ]

[Taqwus]

Arryn --
Imprint Souls results in 2 Mad Priests with an army of madmen and fanatics, usually ~60 total per cast. Unless there's interaction with a mod going on, it won't generate kniggets.
Feudal-type attacks do happen due to randoms, although I don't see them very often. To my knowledge, no spell causes this sort of attack.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Taqwus:
Arryn --
Imprint Souls results in 2 Mad Priests with an army of madmen and fanatics, usually ~60 total per cast. Unless there's interaction with a mod going on, it won't generate kniggets.
Feudal-type attacks do happen due to randoms, although I don't see them very often. To my knowledge, no spell causes this sort of attack.

Thank you. Then I'm wrong and it wasn't Imprint Souls as I do not recall any Mad Priests, nor did the attackers number ~60, but about half that.

Guess that pretty much limits the anonymous summons to just the Conjuration-9 Ghost Riders.

[NTJedi]

Originally posted by Arryn:
.......Guess that pretty much limits the anonymous summons to just the Conjuration-9 Ghost Riders.

Myself and a few others I know have Banned Ghost Riders because it's so powerful especially against AI opponents. The wraith lord leading the pack is also extremely deadly. Based on what it does for the cost of only 5 gems... seems too powerful.

[ March 03, 2004, 18:21: Message edited by: NTJedi ]

[Sindai]

Originally posted by GavinWheeler:
I'm not sure about things like 'the looming hell', and spells such as 'seeking arrow' don't provoke battles, just damage reports.

Seeking Arrow doesn't reveal the caster. It just says "an arrow fell out the sky."

With Looming Hell, the question seems more or less academic, since you can always see whose global enchantment it is anyway.

[GavinWheeler]

Originally posted by Sindai:
Seeking Arrow doesn't reveal the caster. It just says "an arrow fell out the sky."

That was kind of my point. There are plenty of spells that do damage, cause unrest or reduce population anonymously. But the only one I know of that causes a battle and is anonymous is "Ghost riders".

With Looming Hell, the question seems more or less academic, since you can always see whose global enchantment it is anyway.

Umm.. true! I guess I was a little too focussed on the issue of whether the battle itself is identified as an attack by independents or as a battle with the casting nation.

Although, if it were identified as independents attacking, then the AI might not see it as a declaration of war even if a human player would look at the global enchantment screen and work out who to blame.

[GavinWheeler]

Originally posted by NTJedi:
Based on what it does for the cost of only 5 gems... seems too powerful.

There are a couple of cracking spells that are high in research cost but low in gem cost. I think - the only other example that comes to mind right now is another necro spell, Tartarian Gate.

Oh yes - Earth attack is another good one.

Wouldn't it be better to have an agreed mod that increased the gem cost, if that would make the spell usable in your opinions? Or is that hard to do? (I haven't played with the mod system yet)

[Norfleet]

It should be noted that Ghost Riders, while powerful for its cost of 5 gems, is nearly totally ineffective on any province with a Fort: The Ghost Riders will attack the province and kill your PD and patrollers, but can't neut the province because they don't stick around to siege the fort: Therefore, since you hold the fort, after a Ghost Rider attack, the province reverts to your control again even if you lost the battle.