A question about magic

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
Ulm: I research enough construction to forge Earth Boots (level 4). Then I build Earth Boots, giving me level-3 Earth, and forge a Dwarven Hammer (forge bonus). Then I mass produce boots for the smiths.

If I'm playing Ulm with a rainbow great sage, then I usually research to Conjuration 3 first to get summon earth power. Blade winds are fatiguing, and I want my smith's to be able to cast as many spells as possible, so the reinvigoration 4 is invaluable. I build a master smith almost every single turn in order to keep my research ramping up quickly. I then go for evocation 4 to get blade wind. This can happen by around turn 9, which is just about in time to take on some of the tougher independents around your capital.

After this, depending on my situation, I'll either go for construction 5 and clockwork horrors and crushers, or thaumaturgy 2 to find every single earth site. From there on I adapt to what spells I need in the near future and hope for lots of independent mages, especially the enchantress with 3 elemental magics, and the metal order mages to get access to astral spells.

A single Blade Wind Smith is easily worth 100 archers... and that's BEFORE he gets Heroic Quickness / Endurance / Precision. And he will become heroic.

It's around 52 slightly inaccurate longbows I believe.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by johan osterman:
Paralysis from different sources is not identical. Have you actually seen the petrify paralysis effect Last indefinately.

As I said, my pretender was Petrify'ed in round #3 by that special independent Sorceress (the one with the unique +sorcery robe, the hoburgs and earth gnomes, and her little sister), and got paralyzed(3) as a result. He had just the time to cast Invulnerability and Soul Vortex, with a ring of regen on top of that the hoburg/earth gnome were unable to harm him. With their own regen the (mindless, thus unroutable) earth gnomes were barely affected by the Soul Vortex, and continued to fight my paralyzed pretender for ~50 rounds. At that point he autorouted but was unable to retreat (still paralyzed), and he was eventually autokilled. I'm positive the Sorceress didn't cast Petrify after her first attempt, she sticked with Mind Burn for the rest of the battle. And so did the junior Sorceress.

I have tested Petrify myself before and after this episode, and have never seen the paralysis counter go down. In the case the paralyzed unit(s) are unkillable by the petrifier/paralizer side, the battle always end with an autorout or autokill. I've noticed this with the spell Paralyze and Illithid mind bLasts as well.

[johan osterman]

Originally posted by Nagot Gick Fel:

I have tested Petrify myself before and after this episode, and have never seen the paralysis counter go down. In the case the paralyzed unit(s) are unkillable by the petrifier/paralizer side, the battle always end with an autorout or autokill. I've noticed this with the spell Paralyze and Illithid mind bLasts as well.

OK.

[Jasper]

Originally posted by johan osterman:
In case you haven't noticed you can click on the paralysis symbol on the unit to check the duration of the effect.

That number is supposed to be the duration?!

Honestly, Paralysis is buggy and should be fixed. I've seen things similar to what NGF has seen, and other such anecdotes on this forum as well.

Is it's MR penetration also supposed to be better than similar spells like Soul Slay? Or is that also an unexpected feature?

[johan osterman]

No it is not supposed to have better penetration than soulslay. There is a bug that applies to paralysis but that same bug also affects soulslay, mindburn, petrify and similar spells. So all those spells and similar are currently quite a bit better than they appear to be or where in dom 1.

[Jasper]

Interesting. Now that I think about it I guess most of my experience with Soul Slay and Mind Burn comes from Dom 1, and I'd just assumed they hadn't changed.

I'll be glad when these bits are sorted out! Many thanks for the fantastic job you guys do patching.