Beginner Questions - Page 2

Patriot · #11 October 20th, 2006, 11:28 AM

Thanks guys, although there was 5 commanders in the province, I managed to assassinate them all and I took the province.

I was turtling in a large random map with the maximum computers, but I think I'll play on a smaller map or be more aggressive next time because this was a pain in the butt. I'm surprised that a computer didn't take it before it got out of hand.

FAJ · #12 October 20th, 2006, 11:29 AM

plus, soul contract makes imps, not devils (at leats it did the last time i played dominions) I would send a bunch of priests to keep the imps off your back. Keep your commanders safe and barbarians are not really a big problem.

thejeff · #13 October 20th, 2006, 11:45 AM

Soul contract makes devils and did in Dom2. 1/Turn

Infernal Protection summons imps during combat.

Graeme Dice · #14 October 20th, 2006, 11:49 AM

Quote:

FAJ said:
plus, soul contract makes imps, not devils (at leats it did the last time i played dominions) I would send a bunch of priests to keep the imps off your back.

Soul contracts produce 1 devil per turn, and have a chance of horror marking the commander carrying them. Lifelong protection contracts produce two imps per combat round.

Buatha · #15 October 22nd, 2006, 12:35 AM

I have a few more questions about Pretenders.

I'm having a hard time creating my Pretender as I'm new to Dominions. It's like picking furniture for a house I haven't seen yet.

When you choose their Level of magic, say Astral 3, is that their max level? In the demo, your God was a Level 3 Astral mage, but you had to research Level 1 spells to use them. Can you go beyond Level 3? Does researching past Level 3 automatically get you to Level 4 using the example above?

Taqwus · #16 October 22nd, 2006, 04:01 AM

Research and paths are orthogonal.

Research is split along areas -- ex. Conjuration, Enchantment et al. Research dictates what magic incantations your nation 'knows'. Holy is special in that all prayers (holy spells, essentially) are automatically researched.

Paths, on the other hand, are per commander. Thus, each mage has level ratings in FAWESDNBH. To cast a spell, not only must your nation 'know' it, but the caster must (at the time of casting -- there are ways to temporarily increase magical power here) have sufficiently high prowess in one or two paths.

You don't increase magic paths by researching. You don't gain research by increasing magic paths. (Well... you do increase research speed for that commander.)

Archonsod · #17 October 22nd, 2006, 04:19 AM

You can increase their magic levels withing the game too. Either by crafting items which grant a bonus to one or more paths, or by empowering the commander/pretender (spending gems to increase their level). The maximum level available at creation is 10, though you can increase beyond that by using items (Since mages gain less fatigue for casting spells under their level, this can sometimes make sense. It's also handy for spells which have effects or number of effects depending on the caster's level in a certain path).
Research is independent of magic levels. You can research a field all the way up to level 10 regardless of your mage or pretender's levels.
In short, the only real permanent effect of the initial path choices of a pretender are the blessing effects. These will stay set at whatever they are at creation, regardless of whether you later increase (or decrease) the pretender's paths.

Taqwus · #18 October 22nd, 2006, 04:31 AM

Might also mention that other than pretenders, mages with greater than, hm, level 3 or so in a given path are actually fairly rare. There are national heroes and some summons that go up to level 5, but they're not that common.

If you're looking to cast some powerful global enchantment that needs level 8 or 9 in a path, it might be best to start with a pretender that can reach that level without too much additional cost.

Buatha · #19 October 22nd, 2006, 09:38 AM

Okay, I think I got it now. Now I understand the initial choices for Path levels. Archonsod hit what I was looking to know about Empowerment, but I didn't know that items could be crafted to raise the Paths. Cool!

Thank you for the responses. More than likely, I'll have more questions as I learn the game.

Frostmourne27 · #20 October 22nd, 2006, 02:52 PM

Re: Buatha
The chosen amount of magic isn't the max level. It can be increased in game by empowerment or by pathboosting items. However, your blessing, the effects of which can be seen at the bottom of the magic page, is based on what you started with.
I'm not sure I understand exaclty what you mean by the rest of your post, but I'll try to answer as best I can. If you have a god with astral three, he can cast ANY spell that requires astral 2, 3, or 4. However, he has to research those spells first. So, at the begining of the game, he can cast twist fate. If you research alteration 1, he can cast personal luck, an astral 1 spell. If you research alteration 9, he can cast any alteration spell that requires astral three or less: Twist Fate, Personal Luck, Body Ethereal, Luck, Baleful Star, Control, and Battle Fortune. His astral magic doesn't go up as you research more spells. If you want him to cast wish (alteration 9, requires nine astral) you would need to empower him, or give him astral boosting items.
Research works as follows: you need X points to get level one (starting settings can change what X is) once you put X points into that school of magic, you have all level one spells researched, for all mages. You then need to put a certain amount of research into that same school to get level two spells. (It allways cost more to research a level than it cost to research the previous level.) The manual, on pages 83 through 91, has a lot more detail about this.