Caster of Magic Release thread : latest version 6.06!

[Seravy]

You MUST set the CPU cycles on Dosbox higher. The default amount is simply too slow to be playable. The recommended settings should be in the document that comes with the mod, use Core=Dynamic and Cycles 100k or higher up to whatever amount your computer can handle without problems.

Do note that with 4 enemy players planning and executing their moves and possibly resolving a dozen battles a turn, 30-90 seconds per turn can be normal when the game already has near the max unit cap of units, which is 2000. However this doesn't normally happen until the late game, even then only on high difficulty when there aren't enough wars to kill the produced units.

[Nelphine]

What triggers a Peaceful Theurgist (with 50% more army strength than me, and no alliances with the other AI) to declare war? I didn't banish any wizards in the last year, and I didn't attack any of their units or cities and I didn't case any overland spells against them (since I'm mono life, this isn't surprising), and I only have 14 cities (on fair land size).

I had hoped to stay at peace with them, so I'm just curious what I missed.

[Tiltowait]

If CoM requires non-default DOSbox settings to run properly, I think there should be a readme-dosbox.txt in the distribution, and/or an appropriately configured dosbox.conf file. It's just going to keep tripping people up, they will not know to do this unless they are one of the heavy forum users here.

How about cycles=max? I seem to remember that after a certain number, DOSbox won't actually put more CPU power in. Max just tells DOSbox to allocate the maximum and go on.

[Seravy]

Cycles=Max did not work for me.
Adding a conf file is a good idea although if the players don't set it up to actually USE that conf file, it's of no use.
The problem with that, I think I had people report the game not running for an unknown reason when I did include my conf file. It has plenty of settings so it might not be compatible with every computer. I'll add a readme file, maybe there is a better chance for people to notice it that way.

[Seravy]

What triggers a Peaceful Theurgist (with 50% more army strength than me, and no alliances with the other AI) to declare war? I didn't banish any wizards in the last year, and I didn't attack any of their units or cities and I didn't case any overland spells against them (since I'm mono life, this isn't surprising), and I only have 14 cities (on fair land size).

I had hoped to stay at peace with them, so I'm just curious what I missed.

Which war declaration message? Considering your description, it probably was a "low relation" war or "repeated warnings" war. Warnings seems unlikely with that few cities, so it's very likely the low relation. Are they playing max Chaos/Death books or something?

[Nelphine]

They're chaos nature, I'm life death sorcery. We've known each other for about 5 years? I don't remember the message offhand though.. I guess if relation was going down like 0-1 per turn then yeah that makes sense.

Also I use cyclys = max, while my friends computer can't handle that. They tried max and 100k and they both were way too high, made the whole thing almost lag out. Tried speed equals 3300 instead and that worked like a charm.

[Tiltowait]

The problem with that, I think I had people report the game not running for an unknown reason when I did include my conf file. It has plenty of settings so it might not be compatible with every computer.

I think instead of using your own custom conf file, a DOSbox default conf file should be included, with only Core=Dynamic and cycles changed.

What do other games do when they require a custom conf file to work?  Find out what they do and copy them.  Perhaps a .BAT file that launches DOSbox with the -conf flag?

[Seravy]

My "custom" file is exactly that - the file that comes with MoM itself with the cycles changed, at least I thought so but it still didn't work for someone and we never found out why. It was too long ago to remember.

[Seravy]

Something most definitely is wrong in my dosbox config file that came with MoM itself.
After a recent change which should have nothing to do with this, the game now crashes on loading 100% of the time, unless I start Dosbox with a clear config file. I wonder which setting is responsible, guess I have to do trial and error...

Edit : It seems to be the "output=overlay" line... I wonder if that's how it actually came or one of the changes recommended to improve dosbox perfomance I tried to get rid of some lag?

[Seravy]

New version!

5.15
WARNING : Save files from previous versions are not compatible!
-There are now 9 towers on each map instead of 6.
-Minimal distance of towers is now 3 instead of 4.
-The number of strong lairs is now 6+(5*land size) instead of 8+(6*land size) to make room for the additional towers.
-The AI will no longer use Planar Travel and Astral Gate. While I'm generally against limiting the AI like this, it's a fact that another wizard throwing units and curses at a human player with them having no means of retaliation, is not just unfun, but goes against the princile of strategy games and it completely unfair. Unless towers are opened, the AI on the other plane should have nothing to do with the human. To a lesser extend, this change is also needed because the AI is too dumb to plane shift well - it'll move units it needs on one plane to another, or lose units by shifting them alone. In exhange, the larger amount of towers should make it easier for the AI to get through and fight the human in a fair and intended way.
-Uranus' Blessing now has its own background instead of using Flying Fortress's - it's still blue but a slitghly differnt color so you can more easily tell apart the spells.
-AI trade priority of Planar Travel lowered to represent it being unusable by the AI.
-Removed spell : Astral Gate.
-New spell : Altar of Peace. Life Uncommon, cost 120 mana, upkeep 4, effect : Enchanted city produces research (RP) equal to 12+0.3*(average relation with other contacted wizards), but no less than zero and no more than 24.
-AI research priority of Planar Travel lowered to represent it being unusable by the AI.
-AI trade and research priority of Altar of Peace is equal to what Astral Gate used to have, as it fills the same purpose (early boost)
-AI starting uncommon picks updated for Life realm.
-Reduced Multigaze value in unit attack rating from 1200 to 900
-Raised Death Gaze value in unit attack rating from 300 to 700
-Raised Doom and Illusion multiplier in unit attack rating from 2 to 3
-Capped the additional health on a unit at +90, to prevent overflow by using too much Life Drain/Exaltation in a combat.
-On Easy difficulty, the AI cannot be Maniacal or Ruthless.
-When calculating unit attack or defense ratings, +To Hit and To Def above 7 has no effect, as chance above 100% has no further effect on damage.
-Fixed bug : Outpost display a Cursed Lands/Uranus' Blessing background instead of a normal one. (unfortunately, outposts will still not display the background corresponding to spells cast on them.)
-Raised Tower monster budget by 250 to 2300-4700.