The AI Tactical combat was not very bright, so I was happy when Kyrub improved it.
Now the combat are much better, but something is not sound.

When I saw 4 Minotaurs going after my bowman, moving next to my cavalry headed to the enemy bowmen, without attacking my cavalry even if they could, I thought something needs to be fixed.

AI should check at the beginning of every turn, what (and IF) is the best spell to cast, then decide for every unit the best target to hit/pursue.

I.E. The minotaur next to my cavalry can decide to attack it, while another 2 squares away to my cavalry and 5 squares away from my bowman, can decide to pursue the bowman, knowing the cavalry cannot be reached, unless it moves voluntarily next to the M, while the bowman, if there are enough pursuers, can be reached and killed.

I think the parameters to be used to decide what unit attack are:
1. Invulnerability
2. Distance
3. Number of HP combined
4. Defense
5. Cost

1. Invulnerability
Heroes should skip this check. If the enemy is immune to one or all my attacks, do not use the attack(s) against it.

2. Distance
The closer the higher the chance it will be targeted. If I have to choose between an enemy I can hit vs another I have to move to hit, the first should be preferred most (all?) of the times.

3. Number of HP combined
If a unit is wounded it is easier to kill, if it has special skills that do not depends on its health (like fireball, increase allied resistance, etc.) could be better kill it immediately.

4. Defense
Less defense to the attack, means more damage inflicted. If the damage is presumed null, could be better to choose another target or do not attack at all.

5. Cost
Killing an expensive unit is more enemy wizard damaging, since it have to spend more if it want to build it again.


There are other factors (killing a low level hero, before it become too powerful; searching for an invisible enemy), but to start this could be enough.

A long time ago, it was between game 10 and 20, I saw a "deadly" stack of 7/8 halfling spearmen/swordmen of an enemy wizard headed to a sorcery node defended by 3 Sky Drakes and some Phantom Beasts.
Doomed to their dead, I supposed.
It was the very beginning of the game, I barely explored the neighborhood and I played usually normal games, so the enemy wizard should not be too powerful, not powerful enough to kill 3 SD, IMO.
Magic immune and flying the Sky Drakes should be able to dispatch the puny troops, I thought.
Maybe the wizard can kill same or all the PB, with the help of the troops, I thought.
I was wrong, the node was conquered with minimal or no deads in the troops.

Since then I never used Strategic Combat, but AI will use it for AI vs AI combats.

I never thought this can be fixed, until I recently "spoke" to Seravy.

Let's see if we can "improve" SC.

Quote:There are no "units" perticipating in Strategic combat, only armies. Then the total damage the army has taken is distributed between the units after the battle is done.

Game link

One of the best economic board games (to my taste) has finally been ported to mobile. Haven't yet looked at the implementation, but the screenshots look nice and there is network multiplayer, so what more could you want. The game itself is excellent, albeit there are a couple of finicky rules. The rules are easily available online in PDF.

In lieu of a short review: the game is themed around the industrialization of the Lancashire, the English North-West, which won some serious first-to bonuses in establishing coal-fuelled, mechanized mass production, primarily in textiles. The players are all-purpose industrialists, able to invest in the development of light industry ("Cotton Mills"), heavy industry ("Ironworks"), coal mining and transport (canal and rail links). The game takes place over about 18 turns, in each of which you take 2 actions, so the decision space is quite tight. Beyond simply building the stuff listed above, you must conduct R&D to gain access to more advanced industries and solicit the debt markets for loans, a Martin Wallace favourite, and an absolute gem in terms of a game mechanic. Players are limited not just by the number of actions, but by the space and transport infrastructure — Manchester is well-connected, but there is only so much space in it, but if a player decides to develop some industry in a more remote location, he might well have to build the transport links required to ship coal to it. The crux of the game, however, is economic — investing in the sector that is most scarce, even while everyone else is trying to do the same.

The game is slightly soured by its win condition being linked to very abstract "VP", with the more advanced buildings yielding more VP even as they yield less income, but one can understand the game-design need to separate the stuff players use to grow (money) from the stuff players use to win (VP).

LET SOUND THE DRUMS OF WAR!

Are there any folks that might be interested in playing a PBEM. I've noticed a few games starting with a higher skill cap. I was thinking about a PBEM for the guys that don't qualify for those.

Apart from that stipulation, I would like to play without any mods and minimal restrictions; possibly even allowing duplicates if that can be achieved without mods? That is merely an idea and if you would like to play otherwise, don't let it put you off.

Maybe maximum of 5 players. I would really prefer if the speed was 1 turn per day so I guess that means I prefer 4 or 5 players depending on timezones and people's availability and so on.

Turn Order:

Khan
Bobchillingworth
GE
Sian

Bob is Pacal.
Sian is Darius.
Khan is Asoka.
GE is Willem.

Difficulty: Emperor with Toroidal map
Barbarians: Off
Diplomacy: as limited as practically possible, and a caveat of no secret rebus diplomacy by city or unit naming. I assume this is basically AI diplomacy, you can offer trades ingame etc but no words or attempts at proper diplomacy.
Bans: default bans (War 'Phants, Espionage, etc) I assume this includes SoZ and Great Lighthouse. Please say so now if this is not amenable to you.
Starting Units: Standard
Map Size: Standard'ish ... some 8-12 cities per player
Mapmaker Guidelines: I would prefer the map not to be mirrored. I suppose, my vision is for you to randomly roll a few maps until you find out with some interesting geography then amend it to make sure the capitals and some surrounding land is suitable. If in doubt, make it more lush. More lush is more options which is good. I would suggest basing the map off Totestra, which was used in PBEM68 ... no mirroring and with naval units not being totally irrelevant.
Picks: Restricted. Inca banned.

Something that has never happened before happened today : My Spell Binding failed!
"Spell Binding unsuccessful" very much like failing a Disjunction roll.
I checked the code that there is a resistance roll for the spell.

However, wiki says the spell has no resistance roll and always works, and up till now it really did.

Anyone knows what is the official behavior? Always working, or resistance roll?
Although, even though there is a roll, this is the first time I've seen it fail, so it is probably a buggy one, I think it's best to just skip it.

Cause it's like the sequel to 57... and it shares a number... and it's a 21/22 jump street reference....

Is 4 games too much?

As you might be already aware, there is a bug that prevents Invulnerability from getting dispelled.
It's no question this is going to be fixed in Raid, but what about the CoM mod?
I see reasons for both.

Reasons for not fixing the bug :
-Spell will be reliable, if you cast it to protect a unit, it WILL be protected, no risks involved.
-Dispel and Disenchant are too universal and powerful, they negate almost half the spells in the game.
-There are other spells that cannot be dispelled (Possession and Creature Binding) and those cannot be fixed.
-It cannot be dispelled from items anyway so it doesn't matter for heroes that much.

Reasons for fixing the bug :
-Invulnerability is an extremely powerful spell that can win an 1 v 9 battle.
-Life realm is powerful enough
-Several new features encourage using unit buffs including Divine Order
-Heroes are overpowered and unremovable Invulnerability on them is too good
-Life realm can revive dead units so there is no absolute need to keep them alive

What do you think?