Ah, I didn't get that right away. No, I did not get any Living Units out of features (i.e. as reward for clearing a dungeon); that part works correctly as far as I can tell. The only time I could get them was by hiring them from an Inn. But I cannot remember on which Plane that was (elimination process says Prime Plane).
Heh, I just *love* coming up with little tidbits like this And I have a pretty huge mental library of ideas and references to draw from, I can find something for almost everything in there.
I have had the game corruption too. The freeze is in the same place. Sometimes loading another save first would allow it to progress, but sadly I then hit on the vanishing towns / armies bug and as I rotate 4 save games all are now corrupted due to a long session. Doomtrader, I'm happy to dig around in iExplorer (which does now work with iOS9), if you'd like some examples... but I'm not sure how helpful that is if you can't see what has been lost...
Methinks the philosophy and phenomenology of the undead IS fundamentally different from the philosophy of the living (no matter how monstrous the living be).
great! that would be very useful. this is where you can find the game's saves: send those saves to leszek.lisowski[at]wastelands-interactive.com
If you want a glimpse of that, I highly recommend the 2 Ravenloft books "I, Strahd" and "The War against Azalin". Strahd is Ravenloft's number one vampire, Azalin is a Lich. Both books give a good insight into how immortal undead go about "life". For a truly amoral character, the best read is still Karl Edward Wagner's Kane series. For amoral with a good helping of Evil(TM), the "War of the Spider Queen" series is written from the Drows' perspective, and deals with their machinations, with a Drow party as main heroes. Very refreshing read.
Thanks! And please allow me to counter-recommend this book (from a philosopher friend of mine). Edit: Here from the author's web site is a pdf file of the second edition of the book.
My opinion of philosophers is not exactly the best, to put it mildly and I prefer to read my stuff, not overthink it might take a look anyways, you got me interested enough for that. On an unrelated note: If I did my calculations right, I should have a good spell distribution for the Orcs down. Just dropping the numbers really quick, maybe I have time for a more detailed post later. For now, I leave it as an exercise for the interested reader Perks: Tyrant, Butcher, Ascetic. Mentor, Merchant, Lucky, Enchanter, Artificer, Alchemist. Magic: Earth 2, Life 2, Water 2. Augmentation 1, Biomancy 1, Mentalism 1, Protection 1. 1 point left to spend: either for Augment 2, or Fire 1. UPDATE: Another good option for the last point is Protection 2. My personal favorite would be Augment 2. Hint: Remember that the combined score of both schools the spell belongs to needs to meet the Tier number. E.g. the made up "White Linen" is a Tier 3 Life/Augmentation spell. So any combination of the two that arrives at a total value of 3 gives you access to the spell: Life 3, or Life 2 & Augment 1 would work. While only Life 2 would not.
Sorry everyone for the slight derail into philosophy... I read philosophy for a living so its allure and my desire to sing its praises catches me all-to-often unawares... Just to be clear here: "access to new spells" means inclusion in the set of 8 spells which are on offer to be researched right?
No worries Yes, access as in "you can research them". You need 9 points in a school AND the corresponding Mastery perk to get one Tier3 spell to start out with, that's not feasible. Almost all spells I have in mind will need to be researched. We only get a bunch of Tier1 spells at start.
You can get lvl2 or even lvl3 spells from the start if you have higher tiers (seventh for lvl2 and circle mastery for lvl3).
Could playing at the easier difficulties (settings) perhaps provide larger research pools? Eight seems very limited and, at least to this newbie player, doesn't seem to offer much perspective strategy wise. (And yes I've noted the arcane 'Wizard's Roulette'). Thanks! Edit: Likewise at the easiest difficulty setting you could leave skeletons just as they are...
@fun: About the Research Pool: The 8 spells you see there are just the ones you can research *right now*. When you complete one, a new one shows up. If you have absolutely nothing that you want to research in there, cast Wizard Roulette to reshuffle and get new ones. Skeletons: Even for easiest difficulty, I think they are a huge balance breaker. @Edwin: I know that you can get higher ones right from the start. But for what I have in mind, dropping 9 or 12 points into a single School doesn't work. I picked those schools and values carefully, will post my reasoning in a few days (or later today, if folks get impatient ).
Yes I got that. Thanks. What I'm trying (perhaps unsuccessfully) to point out is that to a new player like myself the whole point (advantage) of doing research is not that evident. A 'compleat spellbook', larger research pools, cheaper 'Roulette' or even a Roulette where you pay more to freeze some spells while allowing others to roll would perhaps help the beginner (adept) develop a sense (or strategic view, prospect) of the why's and wherefore's of the research game. Yes please. Your 'orc' build description has shaken my earlier resolve to hold off buying the rest of the game until I've got at least the first bit 'under my belt'... you publishing an orc guide today or tomorrow means Wastelands Interactive earns €19,95 sooner rather than later.
@fun: oh oops... sorry, for me at least some of those "tricks" with spell synergies are quite obvious, but then I have a bit of experience to draw from Didn't occur to me that it's different for new players. Fully agree with you. For new players on easy difficulty having more spells right off the bat *might* help. It definitely would show what's possible, and how much the game has to offer. The only downside I see is that new players get overwhelmed when they have e.g. 50 spells available right from the start. An extra (part of the) tutorial that explains a few of the more interesting combinations and concepts/ideas would be good too (hint hint @Wastelands, then I don't have to write it ) And I translate the "yes please" to "post it earlier, not later". Will see if I can finish the writeup today.
2 Hero bugs Found what seems to be bugs with 2 Heroes: 1) Draylik the Druid is listed as Nature Mage, but casts Ice spells. 2) Sigfrida Blackwing is listed as Cleric, but comes with a Longsword that she supposedly cannot even use. When you unequip it, you cannot equip it again (which is correct, as per the Cleric class description). I've seen the same as for Sigfrida with other Heroes. Would be good if all Heroes started with a weapon they can actually use as per their class. Also, I noticed that twohanded Warhammers are missing from the crafting selection. Could you add one in the future?
This is something we would like to hear more about. Could you please elaborate it further. Something about the game settings, and the strength comparison between your and enemy armies. BTW: We are working on a simple system that will allow you to send us your save games.
How is damage calculated when the target is 'One Army'? When 'One Army' is the target of a strategic (over-world) spell such as Cold Pulse (Damage: 4d6 cold) how is that damage distributed? Does each 'unit' in the army receive that damage? Or is 4d6 spread over all the units? Thank you.
@doomtrader: that's good news about sending the savegames, thanks. re: improving the AI. That's one big thing to tackle. To do that properly, we'd need to analyse your AI decision trees as step 1. Quite the undertaking, and not something we can do in an afternoon If you can tell me the basic steps the AI does at the first 10 turns or so, I can see what ideas I have. Best to start with Grey Elves or Unhallowed, those I find easiest to analyze. Practical example from my current playthrough: Highest difficulty, large map, 3 Planes, all 3 resource sliders on lowest setting. On my homeplane, one enemy AI started out almost at the opposite end of the map, playing Grey Elves vs. my Orcs. When I first discovered him around turn 30 (I think, he had only 2 cities to my 4 or 5). Somewhere between turn 50 and 60 he even lost a city to the neutral AI, keeping only his capital. I had Insect Plague cast on both of his towns, but I didn't see any effort to dispel it. While all my towns where running with Prosperity Enchantment. I am taking my time and slowly make my way over there with my main army, cleaning dungeons on the way. Right from when I discovered him, I could have curbstomped him like it's going out of style. On top of having more towns, I had a way larger army, and composed of better-quality units to boot. E.g. I just built my first 2 Orcish Manslayers (highest-tier unit), and could have 8-10 if I hadn't chosen for a mixed army. While the AI is still futzing around with the occasional small group (2-5) of Elven Archers, sending them all over the map. These groups joined together would pose a very serious threat. Against well-played Elves, I expect to lose with the Orcs. Simply because their main unit, the Archers, only cost food upkeep and no gold. By the time I found him, he should have stormed my Capital with a full stack of Elven Archers and Druids (I'd go with 6 Druids and 10 Archers, maybe 4 and 12 if I am pressed for gold). Add a ranged/casting Hero or two to replace Archers, and you can make everything in early/midgame roll over and cry uncle If we can teach the AI some of the better than basic strategies and some creative spell use, that would go a long way already.
