FAQ: FAQ Discussion & Submissions

[Jazzepi]

Just a note, I think if you're going to have an entry in the FAQ, it should actually answer the question, not point to somewhere else.

Case in point.

Q: What are the bless effects?
See the manual section on blessings.

I think this should either be removed, or modified to provide some actual information.

Also, hostility again.


Q: Why can’t I build enemy national units from castles I’ve conquered from him?
Because the developers did not want that in the game and to keep all nations unique. You can only recruit your own troops and the native population type independent units in castles. *Before you ask, no, this is never going to be changed.*

The part in stars should be removed. I don't think I need to even state the reason!

Jazzepi

[Edi]

The reason why the bless effects refers to the manual is that I really cannot be bothered to explain every single, most basic mechanic of the game in the FAQ. It is supposed to answer those questions that most often crop up due to having inadequate, unclear or hard to find explanations in the manual. If someone needs to ask what the bless effects are, they probably did not read the manual or they do not even have one. There's only so far I will go with the handholding. If somebody provides me with a ready list of effects that I won't have to type up for that one, it's a different matter, but am I going to type that up? Be a cold day in hell when I do.

Also, I have a hard time seeing what is hostile about the recruiting enemy unit types question. The answer preempts the next question that is asked 90% of the time and does not do it in a particularly rude manner. I suppose if it really offends a lot of people, I'll chop the "Before you ask, no," out of it.

[Sandman]

A weak air bless varies from 20% to 40% in effect, depending on how much air you actually have. If you have shieldless sacred units, even 20% and 30% air bless will have a marked effect on how badly they get mauled by archers, but if you're going for some otehr magic as the main bless, you are likely not going to be able to get A9, in which case the weak blessing is useful. Doesn't cost too much, still offers a benefit and you have points for something else (scales, dominion, whatever).

That's still pretty weak. 130-odd points for a very situational bless that's only applicable to a few nations. Unless you need the air for forging or an SC strategy, it's surely better to take stronger scales and field larger armies.

I also agree that the hostility should be removed. One entry for curse only, no patronising 'follow-on' questions.

[Edi]

I'll leave the blessing bit for a while yet and see about that later, Sandman. I don't disagree with you as such, it is expensive. A rather weak bless in any case as weak blesses go.

For the rest, done. I also tweaked a couple of other answers to make them seems more matter of fact and less chatty.

[Sombre]

I think we all agree it should be as friendly and helpful as possible,.. although it's easy to get annoyed at questions that are asked hundreds of times and seem (to us at least) to have obvious answers.

Let's focus on stuff that's missing from the manual, isn't made clear or is hard to find.

I'd chip in with some more mod focused suggestions, but beyond where to find the docs, where to download mods and how to enable them,.. I think it would just confuse newcomers. Maybe I can contribute to a modding faq in the future.

[Edi]

Modding and mapmaking both need separate focused FAQs on those subjects and should be placed in the subforum. If you want to write a modding FAQ, be my guest. There's so much stuff related to that scattered around that having it all in one place as a reference would be a good thing. The community could certainly use one.

[Jazzepi]

Edi said:
The reason why the bless effects refers to the manual is that I really cannot be bothered to explain every single, most basic mechanic of the game in the FAQ. It is supposed to answer those questions that most often crop up due to having inadequate, unclear or hard to find explanations in the manual. If someone needs to ask what the bless effects are, they probably did not read the manual or they do not even have one. There's only so far I will go with the handholding. If somebody provides me with a ready list of effects that I won't have to type up for that one, it's a different matter, but am I going to type that up? Be a cold day in hell when I do.

Also, I have a hard time seeing what is hostile about the recruiting enemy unit types question. The answer preempts the next question that is asked 90% of the time and does not do it in a particularly rude manner. I suppose if it really offends a lot of people, I'll chop the "Before you ask, no," out of it.

Please don't take offense to this, but just from casual observation you come off as extremely terse and hostile. Like a strict school room teacher or some such. While I understand not brooking ignorance, I think if you're going to write an FAQ for newbies, like the above poster said, it should be done so in the spirit of as much friendliness as possible.

I would still remove the "this is never going to change" because quite honestly, you don't know that! FAQs shouldn't predict the future versions of Dominions, or what new patches will bring.

I also typed up the bless effects.

*submission*

Each bless effect is granted to blessed sacred units dependent upon your pretender's original score in any given magic path. The following format is "score #" ("effect granted").

Air - 4 (Air Shield 20%) 5 (Air Shield 30%) 6 (Air Shield 40%) 7 (Air Shield 50%) 8 (Air Shield 60%) 9 (Air Shield 70%) 10 (Air Shield 90%, shock resistance 70%)

Astral - 4 (+1 MR, max 18) 6 (+2 MR, max 18) 8 (+3 MR, max 18) 9 (+3 MR, max 18 and Twist Fate) 10 (+4 MR, max 18 and Twist Fate)

Blood - 4 (+2 Strength) 6 (+3 Strength) 8 (+4 Strength) 9 (+4 Strength, Death Curse) 10 (+5 Strength, Death Curse)

Death - 4 (Affliction Chance +100%) 5 (Affliction Chance +150%) 6 (Affliction Chance +200%) 7 (Affliction Chance +250%) 8 (Affliction Chance +300%) 9 (Affliction Chance +350%, Death Weapons) 10 (Affliction Chance +400%, Death Weapons)

Earth - 4 (Reinvigoration +2) 6 (Reinvigoration +3) 8 (Reinvigoration +4) 9 (Reinvigoration +4, Protection +4) 10 (Reinvigoration +5, Protection +4)

Fire - 4 (+2 Attack) 6 (+3 Attack) 8 (+4 Attack) 9 (+4 Attack, Flaming Weapons) 10 (+5 Attack, Flaming Weapons)

Nature - 4 (Regen +5%) 6 (Regen +10%) 8 (Regen +15%) 9 (Regen +15%, +2 Berserk) 10 (Regen +20%, +2 Berserk)

Water - 4 (+2 Defense) 6 (+3 Defense) 8 (+4 Defense) 9 (+4 Defense, Quickness) 10 (+5 Defense, Quickness)

[Jazzepi]

The most effective bless differs from nation to nation and according to your particular play style, but the above categorization >us< generally the accepted view of the majority of Dom3 veterans active on the Shrapnel Games forums.

Us should be is.

Spelling error in the bless section.

Jazzepi

[Wikd Thots]

Reference to veterans seems to bring up another question:
Who are the Veterans?
Are they Dom2 players?
or People who post the most?
Or the blitz crowd from the IRC channel who seem to have played the MOST games.
The people ranking highest on the challenge ladder being the ones who have WON the most games?
The beta testers who played dom3 for (a year?) longer than the rest of us? (and just who are the beta testers? How about a list of logins that go with that list of names in the manual).

The old Dom forum had a way for you to rank threads, and rank posters. Having veteran on your login meant something then.

[Teraswaerto]

Wikd Thots said:
Reference to veterans seems to bring up another question:
Who are the Veterans?

Are they Dom2 players?

Or the blitz crowd from the IRC channel who seem to have played the MOST games.

I think a combination of those two is what typically makes someone be considered a "veteran".