Random questions

[JonBrave]

1. Lately many turns start with "Suddenly one of your leaders got struck (or similar) and he's wounded or dead or whatever. Is some naughty AI opponent casting against me? Is there anything I can do about it other than mourn?
2. When you cast (most) battlefield spells that enhance units, they can only affect the same unit once, right? You can't cast strength of giants et al over & over on the same unit, can you? And that extends to Sermon of Courage too?
3. In SP, I know you can go to screen where it tells you what your game settings are, but can you verify anywhere what level you set the AIs to?
4. Does building each 5 temples which raises your dominion equate to just the same thing as when you select your dominion level when starting a game? I could sacrifice starting dominion and compensate by building temples?
5. (If I ever get a computer again and can play Dom...) If I play next game as first ever Blood (and I don't want to read a guide like Baalz which will give me too much!), is the essential idea that I want to keep plundering virgins from opponents' lands and not my own?

[Kobal2]

Originally Posted by JonBrave

[list=1][*]Lately many turns start with "Suddenly one of your leaders got struck (or similar) and he's wounded or dead or whatever. Is some naughty AI opponent casting against me? Is there anything I can do about it other than mourn?

Yes. This sounds like someone's pelting you with Seeking Arrows. There are a few ways to deal with it:
- get better armour, Seeking Arrows are regular damage rather than AP/AN damage
- get a shield. Same reason.
- become ethereal somehow.
- magic domes to protect the province from any spell
- failing that, swarm the province in independent commanders to dilute the target pool.

[*]When you cast (most) battlefield spells that enhance units, they can only affect the same unit once, right? You can't cast strength of giants et al over & over on the same unit, can you? And that extends to Sermon of Courage too?

Yes. I think so, although for some reason I have the notion that SoC also "heals" damaged morale.

[*]Does building each 5 temples which raises your dominion equate to just the same thing as when you select your dominion level when starting a game? I could sacrifice starting dominion and compensate by building temples?

I should, but it doesn't. While it does raise the maximum dominion your provinces can have and the number of sacred units you can recruit, all your temple checks will still use your god's native dominion score.

[*](If I ever get a computer again and can play Dom...) If I play next game as first ever Blood (and I don't want to read a guide like Baalz which will give me too much!), is the essential idea that I want to keep plundering virgins from opponents' lands and not my own?

Err, not really ? Not sure what gave you that idea. Or what you consider your opponents' lands, since you can only Blood Hunt in provinces you own

[Doo]

1) yes. In provinces with laboratories you can cast domes of warding as protection with the fire version retaliating. Other than that strike first before they strike you.

2) They don't stack.

3) Not sure.

4) You can do that. Be aware that having too low a dominion and being reliant on temples will have its own issues, probably not a huge issue in SP.

5) No, you need to own the province to find girls in it and you want a province away from the front lines where your blood industry wont be disrupted by silly things like wars.

No time for more detailed answers

[Corinthian]

1. It is the spell "Seeking Arrow". The most common ways of protecting yourself involve the status effects "Luck" and "Air Shield". Or simply recruiting chaff commanders so that the enemy hits the wrong guy.

2. Yes, only once from the same spell. Different spells with similar effects sometimes stack. But usually not.

3. Not that I know of.

4. In most things yes. I have heard that the chance of a temple check succeeding might not increase. But I have not verified that by myself.

5. No. Bloodhunters are expensive and fragile and the enemy will try to kill them. Place them so that the enemy will have a hard time doing so.

[Corinthian]

Originally Posted by Kobal2

- get better armour, Seeking Arrows are regular damage rather than AP/AN damage
- get a shield. Same reason.
- become ethereal somehow.
- magic domes to protect the province from any spell
- failing that, swarm the province in independent commanders to dilute the target pool.

Ehh, this is not actually true. A Seeking arrow will do 8 points of magical, armor negating damage. Neither armor, nor shield nor etheralness will help against it. The last two just might though.

[Kobal2]

Originally Posted by Corinthian

Ehh, this is not actually true. A Seeking arrow will do 8 points of magical, armor negating damage. Neither armor, nor shield nor etheralness will help against it. The last two just might though.

Gah ! You're absolutely correct. I was reading off the "things that will NOT protect against seeking arrows" list on the wiki

So scratch shields, armours and etherealness ; replace with Luck and Air Shield (Air bless + Shroud of the Battle Saint, Robe of Missile Protection).

[Knai]

Originally Posted by Corinthian

Ehh, this is not actually true. A Seeking arrow will do 8 points of magical, armor negating damage. Neither armor, nor shield nor etheralness will help against it. The last two just might though.

The domes will effectively defend a few provinces, but it gets a little too expensive otherwise. That said, odds are its your more stationary casters who need defending, so only a few provinces are going to need domes.

However, because single player is what is being played in this case, there is another option that wouldn't work for multiplayer. Gift of Health alone will vastly reduce the killing potential of seeking arrow, particularly in more central locations.

[Soyweiser]

Also domes stack in very odd ways. I still want to test that, and apparently Calahan also did some testing. The results where surprising.

[llamabeast]

To protect a unit against Seeking Arrow Air shield is definitely the best bet. Or to kill the caster put up the Dome of Flaming Death or the Water equivalent.

Do shields definitely not work? Shields sometimes protect against missile weapons in surprising ways.

[BlanketThief]

From what I recall, some guy tested and found that air shield from a shroud doesn't work. I can't recall if the guy tested for shields parrying as well.