Random questions

[Seravy]

Currently watching the part where you tested random items.
I see the problem but that can't be helped.
That item roll was for a super high budget (0-2 such items on a map I believe, anyway, they are rare and exceptional) and there is pretty much no way to spend that much budget without including Spell Charges. (or an item that has expensive, maxed stats and abilities in all 4 slots but that's not really "random" anymore)
The random generator isn't able to add Spell Charges to the item currently, and I believe we decided we don't want that functionality last time. So that's the main reason. Spending 3000+ budget without spell charges is very very difficulty. That's 750-1000 for every ability slot. Not many powers are that expensive. Only +6 defense, +3 to hit, -3 or -4 spell save, Haste, Invulnerability, Invisibility, Regeneration, Merging, Teleportation. That's everything. Not every items can have all of these and some of them are redundant so an item like this wouldn't be random at all. In case of an accessory for example the only options are the special abilities, so you'd get Haste+Invulnerability+Invisibility+Regeneration, or Merging/Teleportation instead of one of those 100% of the time.
Considering this only affects like 1% of the items found in a game (the highest budget tier), I think it's fine as is. Top tier items aren't supposed to be destroyed for mana crystals anyway, they are to be used.

[RodriguesCIA]

Been toying around with pure chaos recently (trying to get back in the game, better do so with only one element), and was wondering if the Beastmaster Soullink ability buffs Chaos Channeled units?

Other than that my experience with chaos dictates that, by itself, it is not the best at buffing units (chaos channel is not consistent most of the time, least the unit already have flying [excludes wings] or ranged [excludes fire breath], preferentially both [always demon skin]) alone, but I never got way too far into the game before losing interest. Maybe I should try other element, but I think Chaos would work really well together with life and maybe nature, giving both normal and fantastic bonus to good normal unit chassis.

[Sapher]

Yea, soullink ability buffs Chaos Channeled units. Beastmaster can buff himself and other heroes...

[graygoo]

Hi Seravy (and everyone), new player here.

Apologies if this has been asked before but I didn't find an answer or a post related to that: I can't find a way to access your website to download the mod and/or the 1.50 version. All I get is a "Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension which is required by WordPress." when I go to "http://seravy.x10.mx/Wordpress/ " and from the researches I did it's something only the owner of the site can fix? The direct download link provided in your other post leads to a "forbidden resource" dead end on my side...

Kinda new to all this so I was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction, I really want to try the mod...

[Seravy]

https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/show...#pid719447

[RodriguesCIA]

So I gave a shot to barbs with chaos. The berserkers and, most importantly, gladiators, get really impressive with flame blades, but as I am used to playing more infraestructure developed races (orcs, elves, high men, mostly), the absence of production boosting buildings hit really hard. Although, things are not too bad, I could just summon a shitload of hellhounds and make an 8 garrison on every city by no gold (or food!) cost at all, at the price of mana + opportunity cost (I make sure to down the potentially easy lairs long before I garrison everything the max). This allows me to crank taxes the hell up, getting away with making +100 gold on a very small empire, and would you look at that, I can instabuy gladiators for around 180, and zerkers for much less if I wanted to. Thing is, towns start getting bigger, and as barbs don't go much far on advanced buildings, it means my unrest reduction is lying entirely on the backs of the Shrine and Colosseum...

So with that little report out of the way, to the questions: how are barbarians meant to be played, really? What magic schools work best for a primary barbarian? Can they really benefit out of chaos (considering they don't get access to alchemists, so popping out a mithril vulcano won't do much)? And down to specifics, should I rush out to get gladiators or just pump out berserkers? And finally... is it even worthwhile to get spellseekers if I find another race to supply me with magicians? *And on rebels, at which point you guys start thinking you got too many? And do they contribute for things that aren't production/food and gold, like, say, Power with High Elves?

PS: A link for a good barbarian lp up to date would also be appreciated.

[Seravy]

Barbarians are a midgame race, you should pump out large forces of barserkers or gladiators and conquer as much as possible before 1410-1414 (depending on your difficulty level) then rely on whatever you conquered for the late game economy.
With life, berserkers work best. With Sorcery and Chaos, Gladiators are better. For these realms Barbarians act as a way to remove the weakness of a not-so-good early game - barbarians can do fine without relying on magic and ensure you get to the late game where sorcery or chaos dominates the field and conquer many cities of better economy races.
Nature probably isn't very good for playing barbarians. You have no use for web and they are good enough at lair hunting so sprites aren't that great either, and having a military focus you'll have less resources to spare for summoning which is what nature is really good at.
Death would mean a tactic where you use both your good early spells (werewolves, spells to kill enemies in combat) and your barbarian units for a very strong early and midgame. Don't remember if I ever tried it.

Spellserkers are good for having thrown and decent health with spellcasting power. They are a good option if magicians aren't expected to survive (for example enemy has flame strike or other direct damage spells).

Rebels do produce magic power but nothing else.

[RodriguesCIA]

Spellserkers are good for having thrown and decent health with spellcasting power. They are a good option if magicians aren't expected to survive (for example enemy has flame strike or other direct damage spells).

I didn't consider that use. I was having issues with frail magicians, mostly against AIs, as even the most basic offensive spells would probably down the entire stack. Maybe buffing them with experience and defensive enchantments would improve the odds of living trough, but Chaos, the best I can do is to try my luck with Chaos Channels and end up with a unit that'svulnerable to Life anti fantastic spells. My decision was to bit the bullet and, outside garrison duty, where magicians can do a lot of work with the defensive first turn advantage, was to use Fire Giants. They got OK defense and resistance, lots of hit points, a mediocre fireball (which is what I found myself casting the most with the magicians anyway), a few decent ranged attacks, and in the end, would still have a pretty decent melee unit. Paired very well with gargoyles working as melee tanks. The Giants, unlike magicians, would reliably survive not only the mage spell, but sometimes all the ranged attacks and spells of the first turn, living enough to blast my foes magicians or whatever glass cannon they may be carrying.

But the Spellserkers might actually be a good normal caster that survives long enough to at least put a spell out. Sure, I could also put a sacrifical opportunity target in the stack, but I lack the knowledge and interest to play the AI like this. So yeah, maybe not in a full Chaos run, but I sure could use them offensively in the future and leave regular magicians for garrison duty, and to clear up lairs and non high risk battles.

Now I just have to check the Barbarians unrest tables and see what economic races pair well with them and figure out the expansions and garrison plans. Nomads are the chillest Arcanum race I believe, and I seem to stumble upon them often enough. Still it's up to luck I suppose?

[firefly]

What is difference between Rock and Arrow types of ranged attacks?

I though rocks can hit targets with missile immunity, but they do not. So is there any difference?

[Seravy]

Yes, rocks can hit targets with missile immunity.
However slingers have a "bullett" type attack which has the same icon as rocks but work like arrows.