Dom3 Questions thread

Lazy_Perfectionist · #1 July 25th, 2007, 03:56 PM

Have a simple question, that doesn't need a thread of its own, but haven't been able to find an answer elsewhere in the forum? Ask here, please.

I'll start off by asking what are the mechanics of earthquake?
The manual lists 'def' as one of its characteristics, along with mundane. Does this spell do a roll against a unit's defense to determine if it hits? What kind of attack roll does it make? Does it get effectively more accurate as fatigue climbs?

If I have say, plenty of earth readers, some golem crafters, and a few Oracles of the Ancients (who cast 1, 2, 4, or 8 earthquakes), who'll survive? MA Agarthan LI has a good defense, though EA agarthans don't. And the mages don't have any armor at all...

Meglobob · #2 July 25th, 2007, 04:48 PM

Well I am not really certain of the exact mechanics of earthquake, I have had considerable success with 3 Troll kings casting 3 earthquakes leading armies of trolls or sea trolls. I have done this many times, resulting in no casualties for myself and destroying 1,000+ strong armies in 3 or less combat rounds. So protection, regeneration and high hps are good with earthquake. I have had similar success with MA Agartha/EA Atlantis using the massed earthquake tactic.

Earthquake is extremely effective at destroying massed mages as well, I have often taken out communions with earthquake.

Lazy_Perfectionist · #3 July 26th, 2007, 02:19 AM

Thanks for that answer, Meglobob. I may get the opportunity to see Earthquake in action soon, myself.

lch · #4 July 26th, 2007, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Lazy_Perfectionist said:
Does this spell do a roll against a unit's defense to determine if it hits? What kind of attack roll does it make?

Yes. I guess it makes a standard roll like in MR checks against 10. So with a defense of 20 or above you should be relatively fine.

Quote:

Lazy_Perfectionist said:
Does it get effectively more accurate as fatigue climbs?

I guess the standard mechanics regarding fatigue and defense come into effect. High fatigued units catch criticals and therefore afflictions more easily, and unconscious units can't defend at all.

Lazy_Perfectionist · #5 July 29th, 2007, 06:21 PM

What's the deal with the Master Alchemist?

I can't seem to figure out what the flavor text actually does for me. I don't see any bonus alchemizing gems, though I only know how to do them one at a time. Is there a way to alchemize more than one at a time?

Also, how does the Alchemist's Stone work?

Jazzepi · #6 July 29th, 2007, 06:26 PM

I think it might be for turning gems into gold, not gems into other gems.

Jazzepi

Kristoffer O · #7 July 29th, 2007, 06:29 PM

Yep, double gold for each gem.

HoneyBadger · #8 July 29th, 2007, 08:06 PM

So, on this line of thought, what was the thinking behind allowing alchemization of earth and fire gems, but not the others?

I'm assuming fire gems represent garnets, earth topaz, air diamond, water sapphire, nature emerald, death opal, and astral pearls.

If I had an opinion that anyone wanted, I'd make it so you could alchemize fire, earth, air, water, nature, death, and astral gems, with elemental gems given preference over nature and death, and nature and death preferred over astral (say 15 for elemental gems, 10 for nature/death, and 5 for astral) with a bonus of 1 gold for every level in that path your Pretender has.

That gives a little bonus for the elemental paths, which are weaker in the long term than death/nature, and a bonus for death/nature, because they'd be rarer than astral gems, since the astral gems (logically) would be more common than any other gem.

This would give *all* the other magic paths a little boost, compared to blood, which wouldn't hurt a thing.

I get that the explanation is apparently (al)chemistry functions in such a way, in the Dominions universe, that fire gems and earth gems are the only ones that can be extracted for gold, but that doesn't really answer the question in a thematically interesting or satisfying way.

Kristoffer O · #9 July 29th, 2007, 08:18 PM

Gold has the alchemichal prperties of the Sun, and the sun is made out of fire. Thus you can give any base metal the properties of the sun if enough fire magic are used in the process.

Earth magic can be used to transmute one form of metal into another, in other words lead into gold.

---

Also, as a side note, gems are just a conventional way of saying 'condensed magic' (vis, in ars magica terms). They are not supposed to be sold. If you don't want to loose the RPG feeling you can say that magical gems are small enough to not be worth anything to a non-mage.

Edit: Early on in Dom-ppp development, only fire gems were usable.

Lazy_Perfectionist · #10 July 29th, 2007, 08:25 PM

Thank you for clearing that up, that has been puzzling me for a while.