Dom3 Questions thread

[Kristoffer O]

Oh, sorry. I though that was obvious

[HoneyBadger]

Oh, I see now that they're just clumpy accretions of random, rusty minerals that happen to store magic, kind of like discarded iron slag, or something I'd dig up in my garden, with nasty bugs and worms living under it, instead of rare and beautiful jewels the size of pigeon's eggs, lovingly cut by master craftersmen, glowing with an inner fire of their own, and filling the very air with a magical light that makes the world a better place to live in, and inviting even the dullest spartan to covet them.

I get it now, and having gotten it, I am somehow... diminished

[Kristoffer O]

Nah, not rusty minerals. More like a crying root in the shape of a small human, a silver acorn, a golden apple, a crystal flower, a rainbow liquid, a floating darkness, a pouch with a trapped sound.

But also gems with trapped midsummer sunlight, the size of an egg.

Obviously magical, but only rarely something a king can use to pay his soldiers with. Soldiers are down to earth and sensible and knows that gold is useful. Barking clams are not.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Lazy_Perfectionist said:
Thank you for clearing that up, that has been puzzling me for a while.

This post was in reference to the gold/alchemy, and not what gems were.

[HoneyBadger]

Thanks Kristoffer-that was a very nice answer I guess I'm the sort of person that likes things to be quantified-if a thing does a thing, then a similar thing should relate to it. It helps me understand the world, but I can't expect things to be that neat. As long as, in their "messiness" they are more extraordinary, which is what you've given me.

And I am satisfied.

[Kristoffer O]

Glad to help

[OmikronWarrior]

I have some questions about Piercer and Long bow of Accuracy. I usually set my commanders to remain behind troops so as to protect them, which I sort of see as a waste since they won't be attacking. I'm wondering if crafting these specialized missle weapons are worthwhile, particularly if trying to target commanders. For that matter, does anyone know if the 30 Precision of LBoA is symbolic (meaning it always hits the target square), or actual, meaning so high it will usually hit the target square accept from very far distances?

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Spells with symbolic precision have a value of 100.

I'm thinking the precision is actual.
If you cast darkness (75% hit to precision), a value of 40 (30 plus base 10) becomes 10.

On the other hand, if it was symbolic, with prec. 100,
the actual precision value becomes a bit more than 25. Considering that precision over ten counts double, thats darned accurate even under conditions of darkness.

Practically speaking, a commander with precision ten plus a precision 30 weapon will rarely deviate.
Lets see...
30+10=40. Since precision over 10 counts double:
10+30x2= 70 precision for calculations.

If the range from attacker to target is greater than precision/2-2, then the missile will deviate.

That means it will shoot 33 squares before deviating. I'll do the math for that in a bit.
Longbow of Accuracy - range 45
Maximum Deviation = distance x 1.25 / precision
45x1.25/70 = 0.8
Longbow of Accuracy will never miss its target square. The defender can still dodge, though- and the longbow is of little use against MA Agartha's very well shielded infantry.

I do wonder if it's considered a magical weapon for calculating hits?

Piercer has less range and accuracy, I'll leave you to calculate that on page 77 of the manual.

[OmikronWarrior]

Believe me when I say I can and have done the math myself. Piercer has presicion 10 and Range 35. That means 1.46 deviation max. Of course, the commanders I consider giving it to have a bit more then your basic precision (Vans with opportunity to cast Aim). What makes the Piercer more appealing despite the higher cost and shorter range and accuracy is its AN properties. 12 HP damage gives it an even shot of killing or at least wounding normal human commanders.

What I'm really interested in is how well these things work in practice, and are they worth investing in to pick off enemy commanders. If so, how would one go about maximizing their chances of getting a commander kill?

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

I am curious if they count as a magic weapon, for purposes of bypassing shields.

I haven't been getting the right races and gems for testing out bows in MP, though I'm very curious myself. If I find the time, I'll investigate myself.

I had an assassin type character with that feebleminding bow and heroic precision. Prophet also, but died fast enough against skellyspamming, bodyguarded Ctis necromancer. I do wonder if there's any priority targeting or purely random. I don't think I was clever enough to fire rear, because I was expecting a finite number of bodyguards.

I'll get another chance eventually, and will continue experimenting. I'll let you know if I figure something.

What I'm probably going to try next is a few standard indie commanders set to the front with a few bodyguards and fire rear orders. None of the races I've been playing with have cavalry, but seeing how devastating (and hard to hit) Tien Chi's sacred mounted archers are...