Caster of Magic Release thread : latest version 6.06!

[letsdance]

[quote pid='610956' dateline='1475666863']

not being able to conquer that sorcery node because dwarves have no unit that can attack an air elemental (and it won't attack me) is disappointing. it would be good if there was some way to solve this.

There is. You are supposed to say "Hey, dwarves have no way to attack an air elemental, so I'm going to lose there. I'm not attacking that node with them!". Would you attack any other node you know you can't conquer? If not, why this one?
The other option you have is to trick the Air Elemental. Bring weak forces. Then they'll attack them and you can use direct damage when they are close enough to be visible. It's not a convenient solution but hey, monsters are out there to make life harder for you, not easier.

(why not need 6 or 7 sorcery books for haste? maybe make it cheaper in return)

The best Artificier build in the game is Life+Sorcery. Assuming you take Artificier, you have at most 5 books of each realm (maybe 6 from one of them but definitely not both) and that requires not taking other realms or retorts which is already quite restricting. In general I want it to be possible to get the best powers from any two realms at the same time without having to find new books, using the initial 12 picks, even if one is spent on Artificier.
That said I plan to raise the cost of a few things : Lion Heart and Diving Protection will both cost 5 Life books. They are far the best defensive powers in the game. I'm not 100% sure they are good enough to cost this much though.
[/quote]

no i would not attack a node that i can't conquer. i would wait until i am powerful enough and then do it. but dwarves and air elementals is not an issue of power. the problem is that even the best dwarf units cannot do it, and that sucks. given enough time, all races and trait combinations should be able to clear all neutral sites. i wouldn't mind if i needed a full stack of hammerhands to kill one air elemental, as long as it's doable somehow. as it is, my only chance was to get a flying hero.

concerning books: yes the idea of my suggestion was exactly that you can NOT have access to all powers of multiple realms. of course its your mod, if you enjoy it better this way, leave it, it's not a gamebreaking issue anyways. by the way, you seem to consider itemmaking only an option if you have artificer. which i agree, especially with the current costs, but i think it should also be an option without. with artificer it should be great compared to nice. to achieve that, maybe it would be even better to cut the item costs alot more (like to 50%) and reduce the artificer bonus to 66% (instead of 50% now).

[Nelphine]

That's not a dwarf issue. Air elemental are fast enough that combines with invisibility if they run almost no race can find them. Dwarves happen to have strong ground units making it more likely the elemental will run. But, if you get true sight or illusions immunity (many realms can) bring steam cannons, or any other ranged unit . You can kill the air elemental with any race.

[Seravy]

I agree on item costs but I think I already replied to that not too long ago, I'm worried if it was more available, it would unbalance the game. A hero with 3 player created good artifacts is pretty much unstoppable, heck, even with only 2, or 1 depending on what you find in treasure. While the AI is better at fighting against heroes, there aren't all that many options in the game that work against a noncorporeal, illusion immune, 30 armor hero that can be raised from dead multiple times - or we might as well say there aren't any. Heroes are the ultimate, unstoppable forces in the game, if you could create those at will at an affordable cost that would be better than anything else in the game.
So yes, I agree a cheaper cost would be better but unless I see the AI can stop my heroes reasonably often, I won't risk doing that. Until then, at best low end items can be cheaper and I already reduced the cost on those. (tho obviously a 300+ cost item is not cheap in the early game, but that's how casting skill works. You can always make an item with only +1 stats which cost like 50-100 each until you can afford something with +2 and 3s.)

On the air elemental issue, I wasn't suggesting you to lose battles, and it makes no sense to talk about power because air elementals have low stats, they're just tricky. I meant you can attack with only one or two hammerhand, the elementals attack it and die (or you nuke them), and the leftover enemies you can easily kill. Unless the AI rates your army 5 times as good as their own (or 2? 3? not sure anymore) they will keep attacking, but that's the whole army, not only the air elementals so take advantage of that.

[Nelphine]

I never thought about this but.. is there a maximum number of books you can have (through finding them in lairs)? I know you can't have more than 6 retorts.

On a completed unrelated note, a wizard just asked me for a Wizard's pact, I rejected it, and he asked if I would reconsider if he gave me an incentive of 0 gold.

[namad]

When you made this mod didn't you originally say you didn't want personality to be based on books? Because it would end up making it so no one could ever make alliances with red/black and could do so too easily with life wizards?

Also, I think focus magic+ghouls is an intentionally combo. I'd rather it not be nerfed, I'd rather the combo just do more. Although it's already great with slingers and decent for sprites. I'd like to see even more interactions.

[GermanJoey]

I agree on item costs but I think I already replied to that not too long ago, I'm worried if it was more available, it would unbalance the game. A hero with 3 player created good artifacts is pretty much unstoppable, heck, even with only 2, or 1 depending on what you find in treasure. While the AI is better at fighting against heroes, there aren't all that many options in the game that work against a noncorporeal, illusion immune, 30 armor hero that can be raised from dead multiple times - or we might as well say there aren't any. Heroes are the ultimate, unstoppable forces in the game, if you could create those at will at an affordable cost that would be better than anything else in the game.
So yes, I agree a cheaper cost would be better but unless I see the AI can stop my heroes reasonably often, I won't risk doing that. Until then, at best low end items can be cheaper and I already reduced the cost on those. (tho obviously a 300+ cost item is not cheap in the early game, but that's how casting skill works. You can always make an item with only +1 stats which cost like 50-100 each until you can afford something with +2 and 3s.)

A hero with 3 player-made super artifacts will indeed be unstoppable, but for that same cost in mana and skill you can get a 9-stack of Sky Drakes and win just as easily. 

I feel like the cost of artifacts is mostly about right in terms of mana, but are to expensive in terms of casting skill. Is there any way you can have artificer give extra virtual skill at the end of turn if you're in the middle of casting an artifact spell? That would help a lot I think. 

It being even easier to create super artifacts feels like a separate problem to me... maybe you could limit what's possible to create in the Enchant Item and Create Artifact menus? Like, for example, maybe EI only allows stuff up to +2 instead of +3, while CA limits at +4 instead of +6. Plus prevent either spell from applying the really ridiculous enchantments, like Haste, etc. This way you wouldn't need to worry about buffing the capabilities of Artificier.

[Seravy]

I never thought about this but.. is there a maximum number of books you can have (through finding them in lairs)? I know you can't have more than 6 retorts.

On a completed unrelated note, a wizard just asked me for a Wizard's pact, I rejected it, and he asked if I would reconsider if he gave me an incentive of 0 gold.

19. Wow that wizard is completely broke if he did that. If I remember well they offer 25% of what they have... wonder how that happened

When you made this mod didn't you originally say you didn't want personality to be based on books? Because it would end up making it so no one could ever make alliances with red/black and could do so too easily with life wizards?

No, that was starting relation. Personality is fine to some extent but the effects were clearly too much so this last update adjusted it. If testing shows it still proves harmful for some AI realms I might get rid of the system but I think the new numbers should work. It's ok as long as the AI avoids personalities that work poorly with a realm instead of preferring them

but for that same cost in mana and skill you can get a 9-stack of Sky Drakes and win just as easily.

There is a big difference. Sky Drake is something you research on turn 200 while Create Artifact is something you can start casting on turn 1. Also, the 9 stack of sky drakes will still have losses (ok not always but against stronger AI stacks) you need to replace and will need to heal after battles and it can only move 4 tiles, but the hero moves 12, regenerates after battle or doesn't take damage at all, and you never have any losses, once it's done it's free. Which reminds me, the items have no maintenance either while 9 Sky Drakes cost like 100+ a turn.

Is there any way you can have artificer give extra virtual skill at the end of turn if you're in the middle of casting an artifact spell? That would help a lot I think.

Interesting idea, but my main worry is artifacts being overpowered if you can make them too quickly. They are a very rare tier strategy that disregard research and you start the game with the spell.

While it's clearly not doable in the mod, artifacts would work better if they had their own research progress, unlocking new abilities and higher stats for each RP spent,  and their own casting progress, like in Planar Conquest, where you can cast a spell and forge an artifact at the same time (not sure how that works with casting skill there but I assume you use your full skill for both?)

[zitro1987]

Focus Magic + Ghouls is one of the best early spell combos, but I find:
_Focus Magic + Naga nearly as good (same realm)
_Focus Magic + Wyvern
_Focus Magic + Cockatrice nearly unstoppable (sometimes I wonder if focus magic should no longer add magical shots given these kinds of units)

[Nelphine]

The wizard who offered 0 had 3600 gold the next turn. I'm not sure if he conquered a whole bunch of things, or has very high income, or converted a lot of mana; or if there was a bug when he offered the incentive.

Additional oddities (for me, but I don't know the diplomacy ins and outs well) in this game: a wizard who was not at war with me, but was randomly attacking my units (including taking out one of my tower garrisons, so it didn't appear to be all accidental), and was tense with me, only had 5 books in common with me (and then i had a pile of chaos and death books that he didn't), offered me an alliance; the wizard is a chaotic pragmatist, but has not broken the alliance in the following... oh.. 25 turns or so.

Wizards are demanding I remove spells like Eternal Night and Meteor Storm, but not following through on the threats - not even attacks on node garrisons of 1 or 2 units.

Every single wizard cast Just Cause! (not actually an oddity, I just thought it was neat.)

Tried to offer an alliance to Merlin, and his response was 'Your None makes it almost impossible for me to deal with you. Dispel your enchantment and we can talk.' Immediately after I tried the same with Sss'ra and he said 'Your Meteor Storm makes it almost impossible for me to deal with you. Dispel your enchantment and we can talk.' Now, half a dozen turns before this, Merlin was complaining about my Eternal Night spell for, oh, 5 or 6 turns - then Lo Pan disjunctioned it. Maybe Merlin was still mad about the Eternal Night? (Or my Doom Mastery, Aether Binding, or Just Cause?)

[Seravy]

Chaotic wizards can offer random alliances. Unless they later randomly declare war, the Alliance made this way works as any other Alliance and is subject to the same chances of breaking it etc.

When a wizard is making a threat it does not mean they turn hostile. However every repeated warning has a higher and higher chance of immediate war declaration. Unless the wizard is on very good terms with you and they roll a "I don't care about this" outcome, the warnings will be repeated every turn and they'll declare war usually in less than a year.

Maybe Merlin was still mad about the Eternal Night?

Most likely, I have no idea why the spell code got forgotten.