combat

[Ballbarian]

I like it as it is, but if I could change anything about combat, it would be an extension of scriptable turns (ie 10,15 or 20 combat rounds) and the ability to 'turn off' certain spells from a given mages arsenal. In my games I avoid many research paths just so that my mages cannot cast a bunch of buffing spells after their scripts run out.

I realize that the effect becomes exponential in terms of system resources when dealing with large numbers of commanders, but...

While I am on the subject, being able to script independent mages in indy provinces as a part of map editing would be fantastic.

[DominionsFan]

Yeah, hopefully we gonna have more scriptable turns in Doms 3., this is a must have. Kristoffer or the playtersters can give us a hint about this maybe?

[NakedLunch]

Well, if it's any consolation I'll be writing rather in-depth about the combat in my impressions (which, coincidently, is going to be posted as an article at Tcancer) but I don't get what you mean by "scripting." Sorry if I sound n00bish but is that like choosing the orders you want and stuff like that or am I missing something?

[alexti]

What I would like to see in combat system is ability to have different scripts for different situation. I find Dom2 system flexible enough to achieve desired behaviour in particular battle. The problems start when you're about to storm enemy castle. Typically, you expect to be attacked by Ghost raiders, then by something like wrathful-skying sortee and finally you'll be storming the castle. Obviously, the battle plan in all 3 encounters is very different. Unfortunately, the one and only script will be applied. This makes the planning really nightmarish as you need to make sure that despite using the same plan you get different behaviour in different battles. This doesn't seem very logical. Army should be easily figure out whether it is storming the castle or dealing with sortee and apply corresponding battle plan.

[Ballbarian]

Well, if it's any consolation I'll be writing rather in-depth about the combat in my impressions (which, coincidently, is going to be posted as an article at Tcancer) but I don't get what you mean by "scripting." Sorry if I sound n00bish but is that like choosing the orders you want and stuff like that or am I missing something?

Applying combat orders for a commander:
Hold, Blade Wind x2, Attack Closest, etc...

(Looking forward to your article btw!)

[Archonsod]

alexti said:
What I would like to see in combat system is ability to have different scripts for different situation.

How about a less restrictive script system?

Rather than dictating a set script (hold, cast x, attack) you have a more flexible system. For example, keep the orders, but have 3 settings : Always, Sometimes and Never. You get the same orders, but rather than stating exactly what you want the unit to do, you tell it how often you want it to do something.
If you set a unit to Always attack cavalry, then if there are cavalry present they will attempt to attack them. If you set them to sometimes attack rearmost enemies and sometimes attack archers, then the unit has a 50% chance of attacking either unit if they are present (if the enemy had no archers, then this would revert to 100% chance of attacking rearmost). If you tell a unit to Never attack cavalry then they will never attempt to engage cavalry.
A similar system could be applied to spells. Rank spells from 0 to 10. A spell at rank 0 will never be cast by the mage under any circumstances. Rank 1 has a 10% chance of being cast if possible. A Rank 10 spell will always be cast if possible.
It would allow for more flexible strategies to be employed, without affecting the PBEM side of things. You could even tailor it to achieve the same as the current system if you wished to.

[Endoperez]

Scripting is giving the commanders and units orders for the battle. An Ulmish Master Smith's script can currently be:
[Earth Power][Blade Wind][Magma Bolts][Magma Bolts][Magma Bolts]

I think the 'improved scripting' is mainly for commanders and spells, so that they would be able to e.g. script some Astral 3 mage with Boots of the Messenger to:
[Power of the Spheres][Hold][Hold][Hold][Astral Healing][Astral Healing][Astral Healing]

Or have one mage continuously casting Relief, or spam other spells.