Arcane Nexus

[Sombre]

I seriously doubt toning Arcan Nexus down would spoil the fun for any SP gamers. For one thing they can just make a mod un-nerfing it - unlike MP gamers they don't have the difficulty of getting everyone to agree, they can just change what they like.

[Hadrian_II]

The problems with dispelling the AN are that you benefit from the dispel, even if you dont contribute pearls so people tend not to cooperate, to get the bigger gain out of it. its a classical Prisoner's Dilemma .
But as done in Radiance, if you dont dispel the Arcane Nexus but take it over and give everyone that paid interest, it's a way that works. (if people have gain from their investment, they will do it)

[Turin]

Actually it´s a public goods game, a prisoner´s dilemma usually only has 2 players. Additionally you are arguably still better off dispelling the global on your own even if your partners don´t help instead of doing nothing at all, which is not analogous to the prisoner`s dilemma.

As for arcane nexus, the only real issue is scaling, in a game with two players, the spell is not much better than a normal gem generating global.
A simply solution would be to tie the maximum amount of pearls you can get to the caster´s astral magic level. Something like (caster level*10) should be pretty well balanced.

[Loren]

How about a different approach:

I think the game needs a new spell. Boost Dispel. You can cast it with any gem type. It has no base cost. You select a global and cast it.

If nobody casts a dispel on the global that turn your spell never goes off and you get your gems back. If someone does cast a dispel, 1/2 of the gems you put into your spell are added to the dispel. Anyone who participated in the ritual sees how much everyone else put into it.

Note that you can boost your own dispel.

[jutetrea]

That would be very very cool... is it even possible via spell modding or would it need to be patched in?

[Archonsod]

Sombre said:
I seriously doubt toning Arcan Nexus down would spoil the fun for any SP gamers. For one thing they can just make a mod un-nerfing it - unlike MP gamers they don't have the difficulty of getting everyone to agree, they can just change what they like.

Yah, but on the other hand I don't see any sinlge players complaining about the spell in the first place. It's not like the AI regularly boosts it's globals, when it actually bothers to cast them. It's swings and roundabouts for multiplayer - you shouldn't have a problem (certainly if this thread is anything to go by) with agreeing to restrict it as long as you announce the fact prior to starting the game.

Of course, a spell similar to Fate of Oedipus to use against AN would be fun too. I'd suggest something which grants the AN caster one horror mark per gem recieved through the AN spell. Should scale nicely.