MP: Pointy Sticks MA started

[shatner]

Originally Posted by Mightypeon

OC: I only had one assassination succesfull on battlescreens, I also ended up with 2 captured thunder bows, in addition, I can certainly ascertain that my summoned guy is alive and well on the campaign map. Had he ran away he would be dead. Although I miscounted, Pythium killed two mages called Lobimag and Starwald, not one.

All in-character banter aside, this is worrisome because my turn-35 results seem very different from your results turn-35 results. I have attached a picture showing a sampling of what I've seen so we can try and reconcile this as either a misreading of events or an actual llamaserver, turn-out-of-sync error.

EDIT: larger version of image can be found here (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?t78874krwzp4cjs)

[RonD]

I would suspect that this is yet another manifestation of the bug where battle replays are incorrect. The replay is not part of the turn file, but is recreated on your computer based on data in the turn file (as I understand it, anyway). The definitive result is what shows up on the strategic map the next turn (so sometimes only the *real* winner actually can figure out what happened). Probably this is even more cryptic with assassinations. But Llamaserver has nothing to do with it, nor does it suggest that the main game file is corrupt.

Are your assassins still there in place this turn? I would guess that the answer is no. If it turns out that both the assassin and victim of any one attack are actually still alive (or showed up in a regular battle) - that would be weird.

I might also recall having read that the battle-display-not-matching-the-actual-results bug is more common in games using mods?

[shatner]

Originally Posted by RonD

Are your assassins still there in place this turn? I would guess that the answer is no. If it turns out that both the assassin and victim of any one attack are actually still alive (or showed up in a regular battle) - that would be weird.

I might also recall having read that the battle-display-not-matching-the-actual-results bug is more common in games using mods?

So I went back and checked and no, some of my assassins who "won" seem to be missing. This is... unsettling. I will certainly have to revise my turn when I get the chance this evening. I gotta admit, I preferred the version of reality where I won 5 out of 6 rather than 2 out of 6. That bug is a bitter pill, Dominions, and I don't appreciate being forced to swallow it.

[Mightypeon]

Did your assasins acutally tried to use their tunder bows in your battles?
In mine, Thunderbows are somehow abonomation banes, which is a mellee close combat things with bonus against magic things for Rose Ulms summons.
Not particularly suited to attacking mages that blast you... And of course totally unexpected for your own scripting I believe.
Your assassins did not fare well when trying to run up to my commanders while getting Iron Blizzarded (or spanked by the fairly tough thug).
May it be an issues of differing mod versions?
I remember their were some issues at the game start...
Can you check what your remaining guys with Thunderbows have as weapons?

[shatner]

In my now-debunked replays, yes the assassins used the thunder bows as bows... that shot lightning. Therefore they stood back and fired lightning at your commanders and over 80% of those commanders died. From lightning, not melee beat-downs. One such assassin is shown below. He is definitely holding a thunder bow and not an abonomation bane (which isn't even an item that can be forged).

[shatner]

CBM 1.92 has the following definition:

#selectitem "Thunder Bow"
#descr "When the string of the Thunder Bow is drawn, a lightning bolt will
appear where the arrow should have been, ready to be fired at the archer's
enemies. The further the string is drawn, the more powerful the lightning
bolt will be. The Thunder Bow can be a very formidable weapon in the hands
of a man with strong arms and a good eye."
#weapon 927
#end

#newweapon 927
#name "Thunder Bow"
#flyspr 210
#explspr 10241
#range 40
#ammo 24
#dmg 0
#magic
#armornegating
#shock
#aoe 1
#att 10
#sound 27
#end


Ulm Black Rose v0.282b MC edition has the following definition.
-Abomination Bane
#newweapon 947
#name "Abomination Bane"
#dmg 12
#att 5
#def 2
#len 3
#nratt 1
#twohanded
#magic
#dt_magic
#armorpiercing
#sound 8
#end

Mightypeon, are your definitions any different?

[Mightypeon]

On a side note, did you have two assassins with the same "Hermkesborn" name assassinating the same dude (Herrmann) of mine?
Or is it yet another bug?
In my version, 2 normal mage smiths, died.
It also appears that your assassins in fact used their bows, in my versions they tried to run up and got messily killed.

[Mightypeon]

Checking!
My version has an ID conflict indeed.

I would normally instantly blame myself since I am host, however, when I play a turn of Pointy Sticks it is loading the conflict free MC version (under Mods enabled) for me. If my computer was thinking it to be the non MC version (which I also have in my mod directory) it should load this one.
Perhaps something was not correctly cleared/loaded during our quirky game creation? Or during one of llamaservers shutdowns that happened early?

As a warning, there are ID conflicts with the Astral Serpent (929), the dusk dagger and the boots of long strides.

[shatner]

Here is the relevant info from the version of Black Rose of Ulm. Note that my version doesn't even use weaponId 927 yet seemingly yours does!?

#modname "Ulm Black Rose v0.282b MC edition"
#description "Re-envisions MA Ulm"
#icon "./Ulm_Black_Rose/UlmBlackRoseBanner.tga"
#version 0.282

--Version MC 0.282 beta
--Author: Squirrelloid
--Intended for use with CBM 1.84 or later, but should be useable without. Please see CBM 1.84 + Ulm Black Rose dm for combined mods.
--This is an MC version of the mod which makes it wholly separate from the MA Ulm nation. Not that you'd ever want to play regular MA Ulm when this was available. Shares unique heroes with MA Ulm.

--Uses
---NationID 84
---Sites 855-857
---WeaponID 710, 713, 715, 717, 726, 945-950
---ArmorID NONE
---UnitID 2840 (Locksmith, from WH), 3953-3979 (Ulm units copied to be modified), 3980-3998 (new units)

--MC Notes
---A lot of stuff from CBM is copied into here without change. Specifically a number of weapons, and unit 2840.
---Drain Magic has been slightly altered from CBM by reducing its fatigue cost, this should just create a new version of the spell. I have slightly modified the name of the spell herein by adding a space after the name.
---I just sort of guessed at something reasonable for Province Defense
---There doesn't seem to be any way to set tower weapons for sieges. Bother.

--Beta Notes
--Placeholder graphics: Inner Circle of the Black Rose pretender
--Undone in this version but intended: +3 nation specific pretenders: Reason Incarnate, Fallen Grandmaster of the Black Rose, Great Engineer. Possibly +1 spell: Malediction
--All spell placement and costs tentative

Here is the relevant info from the version of CBM 1.92

#modname "Conceptual Balance Complete 1.92"
#description "This is the Conceptual Balance mod for Dominions 3. The mod aims to increase the number of viable choices available to players. While the base game includes a huge amount of content, much of it would always be avoided by a seasoned player. In CBM, hopefully, almost all content may find a use, if only in a niche strategy. A small amount of new content is also added with balance in mind."
#version 1.92
#icon "CBM_Sprites/cbcomplete.tga"
#domversion 3.26


-- USES THE FOLLOWING MOD SLOTS

-- Monsters: 2795-2919, 3400-3444
-- Weapons: 710-728, 751-779, 808-809, 900-919, 927-931, 974-976
-- Armors: 237-239,244-274
-- Sites: 800-802, 858-879, 882-885

[Mightypeon]

By the way, props for the well thought out tactic, lightning bows on assassins with good precision (your assassins have a natural precision fo 13? Didnt know that) is an excellent idea! The only good chance of getting killed is a turn 1 nuking mage, or an actual thug, and most mages will spend a turn self buffing. Although I am not sure about the odds of hitting, its of course range dependent.