Counter to flaming arrows...

[earwicker7]

As the title says. I need one.

[kianduatha]

Storm, Mist, Rain, Arrow Fend, proper positioning of shielded troops to affect who the AI targets with the bows, flying troops with attack archers to tie up the archers, any battlefield-wide spell like Rain of Stones or Earthquake or even something like Foul Vapors.

[LDiCesare]

That and darkness and fire resistance spells, or Will of the Fates and the like. Army of gold should be quite good but it's pretty late game.
Depends on your nation and magic research. If you're in a hurry against a given opponent, you may want to provide specific details to see what can be used fastest, otherwise any of the above would help.

[Soyweiser]

Rain? how does rain stop arrows?

[Corinthian]

Rain should theoretically kill the caster because of the doubled fatigue. But in practice, you can never get more than 200 fatigue from your own casting so it is worthless.

Also, has anyone actually seen any effect from Mist? I could swear that the units still fired like normal at their normal range when I tried it.

[kianduatha]

I dunno, I wasn't thinking at the time. But at least it will keep the burning damage down I guess! And if someone is fielding Flaming Arrows they are probably also throwing other fiery things at you. Fire Fend is a really good idea though.

[rcook12a]

Mist and Storm reduce precision so lots more arrows miss thier targets. Storm cuts precision in half and I forget how much Mist reduces precision but it has a similar affect on archers.
They won't stop the flaming part but missing arrows are better than those that hit.

[Kobal2]

Mist and Storm reduce precision so lots more arrows miss thier targets. Storm cuts precision in half and I forget how much Mist reduces precision but it has a similar affect on archers.
They won't stop the flaming part but missing arrows are better than those that hit.

That only works if an arrow deviating wildly has no chance to hit anything. If you're fielding a big army, even with 10 squares of missage an arrow will hit something. Mist really only works in small skirmishes, or if your army is entirely made up of small, widely spaced clumps of powerful troops/mages.

[Soyweiser]

Well it does increase the chance of friendly fire. But I don't know if it does that enough to really matter.

[llamabeast]

Storm is a good counter because it not only halves the precision but also half the arrows actually disappear in the storm!

Mist halves precision too and is cumulative with Storm. Very low precision archers (maybe prec 2 or 3!) are pretty poor.

Rain will put out any of your troops who get set on fire. It's quite a marginal benefit.

[Baalz]

Surprised nobody mentioned mass flight (or haste) as an archery counter. ;) Even if you can't manage to close to the archers immediately, tack on the already mentioned precision dropping spells and there will be as much friendly fire as not...

[thejeff]

Even a handful of 1st turn fliers (imps or some such) can lead to a lot of friendly fire and buy your troops a round or two to close.

[Baalz]

Even a handful of 1st turn fliers (imps or some such) can lead to a lot of friendly fire and buy your troops a round or two to close.

Yes, though an important point to keep in mind (for any less experienced players reading) is that archers 'lock' onto their targets the first round they act, so if you want to summon imps or swarms to pull the arrows you need to be defending so you act first. Otherwise the archers will continue to try to attack whatever targets they initially selected until those targets route. Also, this won't work if your enemy is targeting large enemies or cavalry or archers.

[Soyweiser]

Sound like a job for, Call of the winds. Awesome spell.

[iRFNA]

Or a well timed salvo of flying monkeys. Not to take the mage, but to take the troop commanders when the mage and troops are going to be attacking one of your provs that turn...

[JonBrave]

Mist and Storm reduce precision so lots more arrows miss thier targets. Storm cuts precision in half and I forget how much Mist reduces precision but it has a similar affect on archers.
They won't stop the flaming part but missing arrows are better than those that hit.

Why won't they stop the flaming part?

[Soyweiser]

Why won't they stop the flaming part?
Because!

[thejeff]

Mist and Storm reduce precision so lots more arrows miss thier targets. Storm cuts precision in half and I forget how much Mist reduces precision but it has a similar affect on archers.
They won't stop the flaming part but missing arrows are better than those that hit.

Why won't they stop the flaming part?

The arrows that hit you will still be flaming, there will just be less of them.
The arrows that miss, will also still be flaming, but that's OK since they didn't hit you.

[JonBrave]

Yes, but given the normal level of detail in this game, doesn't the storm/mist put the flames out on the arrows?

[llamabeast]

The storm puts out the flames on the people set on fire by the arrows. But not on the arrows themselves, no.

[Peter Ebbesen]

Yes, but given the normal level of detail in this game, doesn't the storm/mist put the flames out on the arrows?
Given that storm/mist does not put out fire arrows in flight or make it impossible to use fire arrows in real life (just highly impractical just like it affects all archery), it would be truly strange if they did in Dominions 3 if one were thinking of real life fire arrows.

Moreover, real life fire arrows are not arrows set on fire, which is what the Flaming Arrows spell does ("burst into flames as they are fired")and neither are their flames magical, like the flames of the arrows enchanted with Flaming Arrows.

In short: the Flaming Arrows spell causes all projectiles fired to burst into magical flame that doesn't consume the projectiles in flight, is capable of damaging ethereal beings, and isn't put out by damp or windy weather - and there's really no reason based on "reality" arguments or "level of detail" for why they should be put out.

[brxbrx]

if you can cast mist, you should have enough pow to cast storm and arrowfend.

[JonBrave]

Yes, but given the normal level of detail in this game, doesn't the storm/mist put the flames out on the arrows?
Given that storm/mist does not put out fire arrows in flight or make it impossible to use fire arrows in real life (just highly impractical just like it affects all archery), it would be truly strange if they did in Dominions 3 if one were thinking of real life fire arrows.

Moreover, real life fire arrows are not arrows set on fire, which is what the Flaming Arrows spell does ("burst into flames as they are fired")and neither are their flames magical, like the flames of the arrows enchanted with Flaming Arrows.

In short: the Flaming Arrows spell causes all projectiles fired to burst into magical flame that doesn't consume the projectiles in flight, is capable of damaging ethereal beings, and isn't put out by damp or windy weather - and there's really no reason based on "reality" arguments or "level of detail" for why they should be put out.

Thank you, that is a consummate explanation. I had naively assumed that real-life flaming arrows would be put out, like a BBQ. But it is interesting to learn otherwise.