Could someone help a clueless newbie?

[Saber Cherry]

FallenBishop said:
I just got this game a few days ago, and I absolutely love it. It has to be one of the most varied strategy games I have ever played.

How did you hear about Dominions? Almost everyone seems to find it through a forum of another game...

[shovah]

i found the demo on a disc that came with a magazine and as soon as i played i was hooked. m first game was as ulm but i found hem boring so i gree with others that abysia and jotuneim arethe ways to go

[Morkilus]

I found out about it from PC Gamer magazine, in a wargame column of all things. That, and a GoGamer.com advertisement. Jotunheim is quite appealing for a newbie like me, who hates to see his troops run away. My favorite tactic (in Nifelheim theme) is to send a dozen heavily armored jotun infantry (I like the most expensive one) backed up by a Skratti that casts Quicken and Numbness with an ice pebble staff. Then you can expand your magic diversity with the giant hags.

[FallenBishop]

Yeah, I think I'm going to try Abysia next. Being able to crank up the heat scale to what Abysians like and get extra starting points is awesome. Thanks again everyone!

Saber Cherry said:
How did you hear about Dominions? Almost everyone seems to find it through a forum of another game...

Well, to be honest I've known about it for a while since I have owned SEIV Gold for over a year. But I had just heard Shrapnel was offering a discount on Dominion II from some thread in the boards of Paradox Entertainment(Europa Universalis II, Hearts of Iron II, etc.) I don't know why I waited so long, ususally the responses about it are really positive besides how steep the learning curve is. And if you like strategy or wargames that is pretty much par for the course, heh.

[FallenBishop]

Ok I've just recently learned about the wonders of Wish and I'm interested to learn all I can about it. I've read all the things Sunray was able to find(for the people who haven't seen it, I'll quote it directly below) and I was wondering if anyone has found any other keywords and what effect they have?

Wish : a few keywords are acceptable for the computer. All wishes can be repeated. This is a (probably incomplete) list:
"Armageddon" : earthquakes and meteors kill 20% of the population and of the units in most provinces of the world.
"Army" : gives you 300 militiamen.
"Artifact" gives you a random unique artifact. This is pretty funny if that artifact exists, whoever has it gets a message that it disappears into a poof of smoke and your mage suddenly has it! If the item is cursed, the mage cannot remove it.
"(Artifact)" : gives you the said artifact... including those which aren't listed in the magical item manual or in the forge lists : Vial of Frozen Tears (+1 D,W), Sun Sword/Shield/Armor/Helmet (of Solaris - mostly awe, berserk, and magic resistance), Hammer of the Cyclops (50% forge, 37 damage), Precious (attack and strength bonus), Greenstone Armor (prot 17), Robe of the Sorceress (+1 S,D,N,B and prot 15), Crown of Karafagus (+1D and 1 mummy/t), Admiral's Sword (curses those it touches).
"Blood slaves" : you get 250.
"Broth" : same as "food"
"(Creature Name)" : you get the said creature. Like "hero", they lose all magic. However, if you can cast Gift of Reason, they still have secondary powers, so Arco Priestesses have heal, etc.
"Death" : guess what happens to the mage...
"Death Match" : a Death Match is scheduled next turn.
"Defence" : same as "power"
"Dominion" : your dominion increases slightly.
"Experience" : the caster gets 1000 experience.
"Fame" : same as "experience".
"Food" : you get 2 Cauldrons of Broth and 5 Endless Bags of Wine.
"Gems" : gives 25 of each gem type, including astral (that's 175 gems for the price of 100 astral), but no slaves.
"Gold" : gives you 3000 gold pieces.
"Hero" you get a random hero from any race. The hero shows up as a normal unit, but loses his magic skills since he is not a commander (if you cast gift of reason on him, he still has no spells available). You cannot ask for a specific hero however.
"Magic power" : the caster gets +1 to all magic levels, up to 10.
"No starve" : same as "food"
"Population" : brings more pop (+20%) in a random province you control.
"Power" : the caster gets +20 strength, +10 attack, +10 defence, +10 precision, and +50 hitpoints.
"(Pretender name)" : you get that pretender, with default magic and abilities (Daughter of the Land gets gems, Moloch gets imp, Ghost King gets ghosts, etc).
"Provinces" : a couple of provinces just convert to be yours.
"Strength" : same as "power"
"Supply" : same as "food"
"Troops" : same as "army"
"Weapons" : get a random weapon artifact.

Also, what things do you recommend the most for getting the 100 pearls worth out of this spell? I imagine Pretender Super-Combatants would be pretty high on the list, like the 4 armed Nataraja. Are there any regular creatures that would be worth it too, like perhaps Doom Horrors or Vastnesses? Though I guess enough Power wishes would make even a crone a super-combatant eventually. Just curious what you guys thought.

[PDF]

The usual best use of Wish is to ask for gems or slaves ...

A nataraja is cool sure, but you'll get all creatures as non-leaders, and have to additionnaly cast Gift of Reason on them to have "real" SC chassis.

[Daynarr]

I think wishing for 'power' works only once for each caster.
Not 100% sure though.

Casting Gift of Reason usually isn't that much of the problem.

On Sunray's site you will also find a full item list in .pdf format. You can use it to see all the items you can wish for.

[Graeme Dice]

You can only wish for "power" once for each caster. You can wish for "magic power" as many times as you want, but it will not raise your magic paths beyond 10.

[shovah]

try wishing for a mandragora ettin, he rocks. and if you can gift of reason him... and yes power only works once