Caster of Magic Release thread : latest version 6.06!

[Drax]

I have started a new run to try out CoM 3.24 kind of a slack run on hard.
just killed an enemy stack with a hero that had an item on him. I killed the hero through Pertify spell(my Druid hero) but did not receive the item after the battle. Item was quite decent-ring of invulnerability.
Is this a bug or am I missing something? Is it because of the spell?  I thought Pertify is not exactly a vanishing spell.

[Seravy]

I have started a new run to try out CoM 3.24 kind of a slack run on hard.
just killed an enemy stack with a hero that had an item on him. I killed the hero through Pertify spell(my Druid hero) but did not receive the item after the battle. Item was quite decent-ring of invulnerability.
Is this a bug or am I missing something? Is it because of the spell?  I thought Pertify is not exactly a vanishing spell.

Petrify does irrecoverable damage so the item disappears. Same is true for Banish, Annihilate, Crack's Call, Wave of Despair and a few other spells.

[Catwalk]

Would you consider easing up on item destruction? I assume you're doing this mainly for flavour, and I think most players will find it to be a very bitter flavour. It doesn't make anyone's game experience better IMO. There are interesting challenges that have you hitting your head against the keyboard, and then there are aspects that you just loathe and wish weren't in the game. This is a minor one, but people have great fondness of heroes and items.

[Nelphine]

The other issue with item destruction is that it never happens in strategic combat, so AI vs AI fights will never result in a lost item. The winner always gets them.

[Drax]

Would you consider easing up on item destruction? 

Well my post above was just to point out the fact and to ask if this was intended. I did know that Crack Call and some others would destroy the items but didn't expect it form Pertify. It doesn't bother me as long as the effect is known. I did replay the fight to get the item as I have no way of creating my own invulnerability one. Overall I don't mind the logic of losing items. It makes the game better.

Also as I have stated in the very time it was introduced Aether Master of 8 is way too overpowered. Got it with my first hero and [Heroism] and +32SP/t from about turn 30.... my total power base was <20 at that time. I did not spend any SP until I got to 70SP and could easily outcast my opponents just because of that.

Also found an interesting exploit of AetherFlux.... enchant the most expensive items at half price flux ended but price stays the same. Half the casting and half the mana. Not sure if it is intended or side effect.

[Domon]

i've got a better use of aether flux: non-stop drain power until it ends.

[Nelphine]

Yup I see no reason for aether master to be higher than sage master. Sure, spell casting skill isn't linear, but its also far far more important than spell research. Similarly, I don't see a reason for sage master to be 50% better than raw power (from ritual master). Research is still important enough that in the majority of situations you don't set it to 0, at least not when heroes are relevant.

I'd personally do sage master and aether master both as +5 per level, and ritual master at +4 per level.

[Seravy]

About item destruction :
Every single spell that causes irrecoverable damage is designed to have a way to counter it. Losing the items is the price the players who don't know how to do it pay.

Resist or die (banish type effects) are countered by resistance, obviously. Crack's Call by Wraith Form, Wave of Despair by Inner Fire items, Confusion by resistance and...I think that's all? Oh, there is Call Chaos, well if that confuses your hero, you have to pray the combat doesn't end and you get to dispel it. But that's a very rare spell of the realm that's the most effective at killing heroes so....I think this much is acceptable. 

It isn't rocket science - if you use a hero with expensive items, you
-make sure they have high resistance
-make sure they have Wraith Form items if fighting against a wizard with Crack's Call
-make sure they either have Inner Fire, or you have a large enough army to diminish the damage against wizards with Wave of Despair.

As long as you pay attention to these three, you won't lose items, ever.

(and you aren't forced to use these spells on enemy heroes - if you want their items, use something else.)

Also found an interesting exploit of AetherFlux.... enchant the most expensive items at half price flux ended but price stays the same. Half the casting and half the mana. Not sure if it is intended or side effect.

Yep, you can do that. It's intended. You'll only get one item done after it ends anyway.

I'd personally do sage master and aether master both as +5 per level, and ritual master at +4 per level.

I considered doing this before but decided against it, I don't remember why though. I prefer not to think about it again until we reach a final decision on Heroism (which will take a while I think).

[Nelphine]

Fair - although I'm specifically ignoring heroism for the purposes of this discussion. It makes even ritual master ludicrously good (+12 power per turn for a cost of 1 per turn, and for my average 4-5 life book game, 35ish up front? Heroism literally pays for itself in 3 turns. On a hero with 2 power productions, maybe a super one? Heroism doesn't bear thinking about.)

[GermanJoey]

Yup I see no reason for aether master to be higher than sage master. Sure, spell casting skill isn't linear, but its also far far more important than spell research. Similarly, I don't see a reason for sage master to be 50% better than raw power (from ritual master). Research is still important enough that in the majority of situations you don't set it to 0, at least not when heroes are relevant.

I'd personally do sage master and aether master both as +5 per level, and ritual master at +4 per level.

I don't see why they even need to have per-levels. I mean, Noble isn't 20g per-level. Why do Ritual Master, Sage Master, and Aether Master need to scale so much? Removing stuff like this would fix most of the problem with Heroism by itself.