Random questions

[JonBrave]

Thanks to all, very interesting.

For the Blood Hunting, sorry for non-sensical question, since I have never BHed, I had (evidently) assumed that I would want/need/be able to grab other peoples' maidens, not my own. I've gone off the idea completely...

[Doo]

The idea behind Blood is that you are killing innocents to summon demons. So it would to be said you god has an evil streak, thus why not kill your own virgins?

Although LA Marigon is a bit funny, they are supposed to be about smiting evil yet I'm sure they get Blood access.... A case of the preacher standing at the pulpit preaching against sin and conjuring demons in their own time?

Read some guides about Blood hunting, don't worry about getting it perfect the first time, just go out there are find a few virgins, sacrifice them and open the gates of hell. Its quite fun.

[Kobal2]

Originally Posted by Doo

Although LA Marigon is a bit funny, they are supposed to be about smiting evil yet I'm sure they get Blood access.... A case of the preacher standing at the pulpit preaching against sin and conjuring demons in their own time?

I imagine it more as a "lesser evil" sort of thing, coupled with "fight fire with fire".
"The other guys are summoning devils and it's the worst sin imaginable ! Buuut they're kind of kicking our butts with them so um... look, we'll do it too just this once, all right ? Just to prevent these evil demonmongers from taking over the world and turning it all heretical and stuff. We'll stop once they're all dead. We can stop any time we want. What's the worst that could happen ?"

[LDiCesare]

Regarding dominion strength, temples with a dom of 1 are mostly worthless. You can more or less compensate low dominion if you pick 5, but not really below. A dominion of 5 + 25 temples will still fail to spread dom half the time, so it's about as efficient as dom 10 + 13 temples. (VERY gross figures - just to give an idea)

As for blood slaves, you want to hunt in provinces with enough population, but that causes unrest so you want to lower taxes and/or patrol. But patrolling kills population too. So the usual strategy is to put some blood hunters in provinces with about 5k+ pop that don't bring much money, and lower taxes and/or patrol.

[Stavis_L]

Originally Posted by Kobal2

I imagine it more as a "lesser evil" sort of thing, coupled with "fight fire with fire".
"The other guys are summoning devils and it's the worst sin imaginable ! Buuut they're kind of kicking our butts with them so um... look, we'll do it too just this once, all right ? Just to prevent these evil demonmongers from taking over the world and turning it all heretical and stuff. We'll stop once they're all dead. We can stop any time we want. What's the worst that could happen ?"

Marignon is about smiting undead, not evil in general. Thematically, they're a reaction to the undead menace of Ermor (there are some timeline issues with that, but whatever.) Also - think of the Spanish Inquisition from the perspective of the Spanish Moors or Cathars. Take those two themes together, and you get Marignon.

[thejeff]

Originally Posted by Kobal2

I imagine it more as a "lesser evil" sort of thing, coupled with "fight fire with fire".
"The other guys are summoning devils and it's the worst sin imaginable ! Buuut they're kind of kicking our butts with them so um... look, we'll do it too just this once, all right ? Just to prevent these evil demonmongers from taking over the world and turning it all heretical and stuff. We'll stop once they're all dead. We can stop any time we want. What's the worst that could happen ?"

In Dominions history it's all a reaction to the fall of Ermor. In the Late Age, Marignon turned in desperation to demon-worship to hold off the swarms of undead from Ermor.
More of the "lesser evil", less of the "fight fire with fire". I picture devils (or devil-worshippers) whispering in Marignon's ear "we can help you. We just need a few virgins so we can come through. And they would just die anyway when the Ashen Empire destroys you. We can save you."

In Dominions mythology, death magic is the big evil threat. Blood magic not so much.

[Corinthian]

I think its more along the line that in MA Marignion was the enemy of both demons and the undead. The reason for this was because of the dangers they presented to the nation. However, in LA they have discovered that the demons can be bribed with virgin sacrifice and are thus not only not a threat, but could even be considered a boon. As they can be bribed in to fighting the undead, that are now more dangerous than ever.

[Samhain]

On the subject of blood hunting, the classic strategy to deal with resulting population loss is to select Growth scales when designing your pretender. As Growth also helps with gold production and makes you a less annoying neighbor, it is an easy choice for most blood hunting nations.

And, not only does blood hunting cause unrest, but that unrest will make the blood hunting much less successful. I forget the math, but with one or two blood hunters I typically can keep unrest at or close to 0 by lowering taxes to 50 or even 0. More than that, I always use patrollers. And, for this task, the cheaper the better. Black Hawks summoned with the Call of the Wind spell are a good example for a nation with good air resources. You get quite a few for 5 air gems, they don't cost upkeep and, as they fly, are very efficient patrollers.

[JonBrave]

So (as a consequence of these blasted arrows) my Prophet has "lost his one & only eye", and has Att/Def/Prec=0. OK, I'm beginning to understand this game, I build "Eye Of The Void" --- that replaces an eye, so it must be right. Lo & behold... I'm still blind --- wtf

[sansanjuan]

Originally Posted by JonBrave

So (as a consequence of these blasted arrows) my Prophet has "lost his one & only eye", and has Att/Def/Prec=0. OK, I'm beginning to understand this game, I build "Eye Of The Void" --- that replaces an eye, so it must be right. Lo & behold... I'm still blind --- wtf

The eye of the void will always make an eye blind but gives the commander pen+2. Often a fine tradeoff as precision 100 spells always hit even when cast from a blind mage (they may be resisited though depending on MR..will help Smites cast by prophet) Was your prophet single eyed because of an earlier injury? You can heal units in the game in a number of ways that will cure blindness, etc. However the eye of the void is cursed and can't be removed.
-ssj