Epaminondas' Miscellaneous Questions

[Epaminondas]

I had several possibly newbie questions about the various nooks and crannies of the game, but I neglected to post them, because I didn't want to clutter up the board with too much trivia.

But I thought the better alternative would be to simply ask them in a single thread, as they emerge in my mind. I've forgotten most of the questions I wanted to ask, but here are two that came immediately to mind (and I am sure more will follow):

1. I recognize that most armor destruction type of spells do not affect "magical armor." Does this apply also to those magical armor that you put on regular units--say, if I were to give all Myrmidons Fire Plates? I only ask, because I noticed that a lot of the secondary effects of magical armor do not show up on the modded unit stats, and I was wondering perhaps that affected the "magical armor" status as well.

2. One of the lower-end weapons you can forge (I forgot which--I rarely force lower-end weapons) had an ability associated with it called something like "Crusherknack." What is this particular ability? I couldn't find it in the manual.

[MaxWilson]

Destruction destroys any armor which does not come from a forged magic item. There is no "magic armor" tag that makes an armor immune to Destruction/Iron Bane/etc.

I have no real idea about Crusherknack. It's probably x3 damage to lifeless beings or something.

-Max

[Wrana]

1. Probably no - there is no actual "magical" quality for armor, as it is for weapons. Magical items which are armor get most of their qualities from being magic items, not as armor stats. Modding manual lists what stats you can actually include for armor - they are also ones any unit with this armor gets. This also means that if you want a unit you mod to have, say, Fire Resistance from Fire Plate, you must both give it Fire Plate AND write Fire Resistance among its stats...
2. According to Database, it gives 20 armor-negating damage.

[Epaminondas]

Originally Posted by MaxWilson

Destruction destroys any armor which does not come from a forged magic item. There is no "magic armor" tag that makes an armor immune to Destruction/Iron Bane/etc.

-Max

I see. So I suppose the only thing I will gain by modding in Fire Plate for Myrmidons is that their encumbrance will go down from a ridiculous 9 to 7. Not bad.

[Epaminondas]

Originally Posted by Wrana

2. According to Database, it gives 20 armor-negating damage.

Ah, thanks! It's fairly powerful in that case...

[Epaminondas]

Originally Posted by Epaminondas

Ah, thanks! It's fairly powerful in that case...

In the game screen, the description says that Smasher is particularly effective against mechanical constructs and undead beings. Perhaps the "Crusherknack" only applies against the said units then?

[Wrana]

As far as I see, description there states "extra damage to lifeless". Such quality is listed only for "Crusherknack", so I don't know for sure. Mod manual states:
#dt_constructonly -
The weapon only affects lifeless beings. All other
creatures are immune.
No other construct-specific qualities.
So you may be right. In which case database description probably needs slight clarification for this weapon type.

[Edi]

All the constructs are lifeless. In addition to them, it would afect things like the Sphinx, Oracle, Monolith and all lifeless undead like Lich, master lich and mummies. Crusherknack causes 20 AN damage in addition to the normal damage of the weapon it is attached to, but the secondary damage only affects things that are lifeless.

As far as magical weapons/armor, I would not be so quick to make blanket statements. Weapons and presumably also armor have various hidden fx flags, such as fx_iron and fx_wood. So for example Rust Mist would leave iron weapons and armor corroded and useless (hello, MA Ulm), but would not affect such things as quarterstaffs and leather hauberks.

Unfortunately those effects are hidden and short of access to the source code, it is unlikely that they would be found out. This also explains what the extra columns in the DB are that are not used.

[Epaminondas]

Can lifeless units never be cured of their afflictions? I have put them in provinces with laboratories, as well as trying to "heal" them with Arco priests. But neither works. Any solutions? Or are they simply designed to not be able to overcome afflictions?

[thejeff]

Labs won't cure afflictions on anyone.
Healers only work on living units.

I'd assume that both the Chalice and Gift of Health would work.