Caster of Magic Release thread : latest version 6.06!

[prokolyo]

Yeah, there's that...

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[massone]

Confusion spell states that it does its thing in the beginning of each turn. But if it rolls to move randomly then it does not do that. It only does it if I click it.

The confusion spell assigns the state of the unit as being one of Enemy, Friendly, or Friendly But Move Randomly at the beginning of the turn. When it's assigned to move randomly, it's still considered a Friendly unit for the purposes of targeting, so it only does the actual move once you try to select it. It's consistent behavior for the other two states. You don't have to select and move the Confused unit first in the turn, you can move something else before it.

New autosave files should not overwrite the old ones. Detect having Save1001.GAM and Save with different name instead.

You know most games don't do that for autosaves, right? In fact, most games don't provided autosaves for every turn, they typically start overwriting after a few autosaves. MoM is pretty generous about save files already.

Choosing 6, 7, 8 books of a realm allow available rare spell to choose. But choosing 9 or 10 books does not offer this. How to interpret this?

The Rare spell is a "guaranteed" spell that appears in your spellbook among the limited random set you are assigned at beginning of the game. The 9th and 10th books unlock all 10 Rare tier spells of that Realm, so there is no need to guarantee any specific one.

I underestimated my ranged damage. They perform much better than formula. Also Fire Bolt. Can you explain formula for let’s say a group of Ghouls in Darkness (4 figures, 5 ranged damage each, 30% to Hit) shooting Nagas (3 figures, 30% Defense, 4 armor)?

Each figure of Ghouls will make 5 Attack rolls with a 30% chance to hit per roll on the front figure of Nagas. The front Naga figure makes 4 Defense rolls at 30% to defend. This means 1 figure of Ghoul has a simple average damage of 1.5 which is reduced by an average blocked damage of 1.2. So the average net damage is 0.3 per Ghoul figure, for a total of 1.2. The actual damage on multiple attacks will be a bit higher than the average because when the defending unit blocks more damage than is rolled by the attacker, it doesn't apply negative damage, it's just zero. For example, when a unit has exactly the same attack as the defender has defense, the average damage is 0, but it will actually inflict a small amount of damage half the time. The true average calculation is much more complicated and requires a simulation to calculate.

But note that Ghouls have +1 to Hit like all fantastic creature, so it should really be 40% to Hit. They also have Poison 1, which against Nagas' 7 Resistance, deals 1 damage per own figure at 40%.

Putting all this together, 4 figures of Ghouls should deal an average of (5*40% to Hit - 1.2 blocked) * 4 = 3.2 Ranged Magical, in addition to 1 * 40% * 4 = 1.6 Poison, for a total of >4.8 damage per round of full unit attack.

Apparently skeleton on patrol can see 1 tile further in beginning of next turn (Scouting I). But Chaos Spawn with Scouting III does not receive partol bonus. What is the exact rule on partol scouting bonus?

Are you saying that skeletons when on "Patrol" status can see 3 tiles instead of 2? That doesn't seem right. The Patrol function isn't supposed to add any scouting bonus, as far as I know.

Wild Monsters attacked me. I killed 2 water elementals, each with >50% with Ghouls. But one of them did not rise as undead. I guess it is due to last hit was made by my own water elemental that hit too much making them into deep negative. So overall damage is calculated that was rolled and not just to bring down enemy to 0HP. Correct?

Yes.

[WhiteMage]

Thanks for the quick answers. Much appreciated. You seem to know a lot about this.

“The confusion spell assigns the state of the unit as being one of Enemy, Friendly, or Friendly But Move Randomly at the beginning of the turn. When it's assigned to move randomly, it's still considered a Friendly unit for the purposes of targeting, so it only does the actual move once you try to select it. It's consistent behavior for the other two states. You don't have to select and move the Confused unit first in the turn, you can move something else before it.”
I know that. But I just suggested to clarify it further to the users. Currently Confusion is confusing (to the players). I understand that there is not enough space for text though.

“You know most games don't do that for autosaves, right? In fact, most games don't provided autosaves for every turn, they typically start overwriting after a few autosaves. MoM is pretty generous about save files already.”
Yes I know that and I agree. But again, there is an even better way to do it, so I recommended it. For example, in the games I develop with my team autosave is done every turn; in addition, if the option is chosen then we do not overwrite old saves so there is a full game saved turn by turn. Next game gets its own folder. This has numerous advantages and only small disadvantage of taking more space. In current CoM, I need to save my my files to a different folder not to lose them.

“The 9th and 10th books unlock all 10 Rare tier spells of that Realm, so there is no need to guarantee any specific one.”
Ok. Then add text somewhere to explain this briefly. Ideally when it is chosen first. It would also be nice to state how many rare spells we get for 8 books. From 1 to 10 rare spells would be a big jump for just 1 book.

“Each figure of Ghouls will make 5 Attack rolls with a 30% chance to hit per roll on the front figure of Nagas. The front Naga figure makes 4 Defense rolls at 30% to defend. This means 1 figure of Ghoul has a simple average damage of 1.5 which is reduced by an average blocked damage of 1.2. So the average net damage is 0.3 per Ghoul figure, for a total of 1.2. The actual damage on multiple attacks will be a bit higher than the average because when the defending unit blocks more damage than is rolled by the attacker, it doesn't apply negative damage, it's just zero. For example, when a unit has exactly the same attack as the defender has defense, the average damage is 0, but it will actually inflict a small amount of damage half the time. The true average calculation is much more complicated and requires a simulation to calculate."
Thanks a lot. I will plug this in and compare to the data.

“But note that Ghouls have +1 to Hit like all fantastic creature, so it should really be 40% to Hit.”
Then display +1 to Hit on Ghouls like it is displayed on Nagas, Skeletons, Zombies, etc. Currently not displayed.

“They also have Poison 1, which against Nagas' 7 Resistance, deals 1 damage per own figure at 40%.”

“Putting all this together, 4 figures of Ghouls should deal an average of (5*40% to Hit - 1.2 blocked) * 4 = 3.2 Ranged Magical, in addition to 1 * 40% * 4 = 1.6 Poison, for a total of >4.8 damage per round of full unit attack.”
Thanks. Does it make a difference if a Naga figure dies from a high roll of a Ghoul figure in terms of calculations?
Also, Fire Bolt says shoots at one figure. But I often see damaging multiple figures.

“Are you saying that skeletons when on "Patrol" status can see 3 tiles instead of 2? That doesn't seem right. The Patrol function isn't supposed to add any scouting bonus, as far as I know.”
No. Skeletons usually see 1 tile like almost every other unit. When on patrol by next turn they see 2 tiles. If I move the unit and come back to exact same tile they no longer see the same unit 2 tiles away.

[Seravy]

Patrol does add a +1 scouting range. I don't plan to keep this feature for CoM II though.
Separate autosaves would be very hard for CoM I becuase there is no source code. It's not worth the time. For CoM II it migtht be but the save files of CoM II are much larger so space is a problem. Rather than more autosave files, I should implement some sort of compression feature to make them smaller.
I think Ghouls don't have +1 to hit anymore. The displayed to hit is always correct.

[massone]

Then display +1 to Hit on Ghouls like it is displayed on Nagas, Skeletons, Zombies, etc. Currently not displayed.

That's my mistake then. Whatever the UI displays is the correct one. This means the unit does 1.2 Ranged Magical and 1.6 Poison, for >2.8 per round.

Thanks. Does it make a difference if a Naga figure dies from a high roll of a Ghoul figure in terms of calculations?
Also, Fire Bolt says shoots at one figure. But I often see damaging multiple figures.

When an attack rolls excess damage above the front figure's remaining health, the excess damage is applied to the next figure which becomes the front figure. However, the new front figure gets to make its own defense rolls to block that damage. Fire Bolt is the same. It makes 24 attack rolls at 30% to Hit. In general, this means that when dealing with multi-figure units, the extra set of defense rolls upon killing the front figure reduces the average damage over time compared to single-figure units.

An example: Suppose Fire Bolt is used on 3-figure Nagas with full health and 4 defense at base 30% to Defend. Fire Bolt rolls 24 times at 30% to Hit, for average 7.2 damage. On a given attack, let's say it rolled 8 successful attack damage, and the front Naga figure rolled 1 blocked damage. This would apply 7 damage to the front figure. But it only has 5 health, so there's 2 excess attack damage. The second Naga steps up and makes 4 defense rolls at 30% again. If it makes 2 or more successful defense rolls, then it receives no damage.

[WhiteMage]

Patrol does add a +1 scouting range. I don't plan to keep this feature for CoM II though.

You mean it goes from no scouting to scouting +1? But if the unit already has scouting of any level then patrol does nothing?
I would keep it. It is a good strategic feature to put scouts on the corners on an island.

[Seravy]

You can press the patrol button, see the additional area, then unpatrol the unit and keep moving. This isn't obvious in CoM I because you need to actually do something that refreshes visibility, like move another unit, to have an effect but in theory it should work.
Setting patrol status has no cost or consequences and can be undone instantly so it shouldn't be granting any bonus.

[WhiteMage]

“When an attack rolls excess damage above the front figure's remaining health, the excess damage is applied to the next figure which becomes the front figure. However, the new front figure gets to make its own defense rolls to block that damage. Fire Bolt is the same. It makes 24 attack rolls at 30% to Hit. In general, this means that when dealing with multi-figure units, the extra set of defense rolls upon killing the front figure reduces the average damage over time compared to single-figure units. 

An example: Suppose Fire Bolt is used on 3-figure Nagas with full health and 4 defense at base 30% to Defend. Fire Bolt rolls 24 times at 30% to Hit, for average 7.2 damage. On a given attack, let's say it rolled 8 successful attack damage, and the front Naga figure rolled 1 blocked damage. This would apply 7 damage to the front figure. But it only has 5 health, so there's 2 excess attack damage. The second Naga steps up and makes 4 defense rolls at 30% again. If it makes 2 or more successful defense rolls, then it receives no damage.”
Awesome. So multiple figures are expected to get less damage than single figure from Fire Bolt all things being equal and having at least 1 armor. 

How about this?
Ghouls 4 figures, 4 ranged damage each, 30% to Hit shooting skeletons (so poison does not apply) with 7 figures, 3 armor, 1 HP each? 

And say Ghouls rolled, 2,3,2,3. Do those get added up first? Or figure attacks front figure only in a series?

[WhiteMage]

You can press the patrol button, see the additional area, then unpatrol the unit and keep moving. This isn't obvious in CoM I because you need to actually do something that refreshes visibility, like move another unit, to have an effect but in theory it should work.
Setting patrol status has no cost or consequences and can be undone instantly so it shouldn't be granting any bonus.

This is a heavy exploit that I even call a bug. Can you change it to only work by beginning of next turn? If you can't then second best option is to disable Done button completely and make Patrol end the turn for that unit.

[massone]

How about this?
Ghouls 4 figures, 4 ranged damage each, 30% to Hit shooting skeletons (so poison does not apply) with 7 figures, 3 armor, 1 HP each? 

And say Ghouls rolled, 2,3,2,3. Do those get added up first? Or figure attacks front figure only in a series?

Each figure attacks the front figure separately in a sequence, and each attack causes the defending figure to do a new set of defense rolls.