What's the deal with Dominions 3?

[gameleaper]

Q:

When you set a mage to "Search For Magic Sites" in a province, doesn't he automatically do so?  There isn't a success roll to see if it worked, is there?

Because I've been seeing some orders not happening during turn resolution, in my AI game.  I'm pretty sure there's been one or two times my recruitment didn't dump any of my purchased troops into my home province, too.   ???   

At first I thought my Site Searches were being interrupted by AI attacks on the same location, and that perhaps the battle interrupted my search.  But I just saw one place I had definitely set a mage to Site Search in, and the thing was never attacked - yet still wasn't searched that turn either.  The mage came back up on the 'Defend' default order the next turn as if he had (or it didn't work for some reason?).  :'(

Maybe you were disturbed by a hidden army or scout, I find Dom3 has reasons, even if its not to clear, but Im still a noob, so forgive noob answers

[Huw the Poo]

The nations overview is an excellent tool to search for magic sites.  It will show, at a glance, which searches have already been performed and which mages are present in those provinces now.  The coloured numbers with filled backgrounds show the level of search per school you've already done; the ones without the filled backgrounds show what's available.

The same info is also available per-province on the info bar at the top when you have that province selected.

[gameleaper]

a good walkthrough

http://lparchive.org/Dominions-3/

[LongBlade]

Well I went and bought it anyway...cause that's what I do...buy games that I may never play.

Ha! No doubt. I can't count the numbers of games I've bought just in case...

[Boggit]

@Nefaro :)
I found some good mods and revamped (excuse the pun ::) ;D) artwork through these links...
http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Main_Page

[Nefaro]

I dont know Im still noob, but I think the magic level of the Mage has to be higher than what has already been searched, and Main Fortress I think is already searched pre game start. I know Im not much help, but Im learning, so If your more experienced please forgive my noob answers :)

Yeah, it was a fresh province and hadn't been searched at all. 

I read somewhere that some scales may give you a failure rate on your searches..?  Not really sure, but Misfortune or Drain may give you a fail chance.  There's so much stuff rolled up & hidden in each zone's scales.. I don't have them memorized.  I hope this is what was happening, and there weren't bugs in that game.

[gameleaper]

@Nefaro :)
I found some good mods and revamped (excuse the pun ::) ;D) artwork through these links...
http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Main_Page

thats a great info site.

[jomni]

a good walkthrough

http://lparchive.org/Dominions-3/

This AAR makes me want to buy the game.

[Nefaro]

@Nefaro :)
I found some good mods and revamped (excuse the pun ::) ;D) artwork through these links...
http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Main_Page

thats a great info site.

That's the wiki I've been using.  Good resource.

It still needs some things filled out, like some unit traits/abilities (for ex.), but it's the best wiki I've seen on it.

There's also 'The Thread' that has tips on each Nation's strengths here:
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=38122

[gameleaper]

@Nefaro :)
I found some good mods and revamped (excuse the pun ::) ;D) artwork through these links...
http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Main_Page

thats a great info site.

That's the wiki I've been using.  Good resource.

It still needs some things filled out, like some unit traits/abilities (for ex.), but it's the best wiki I've seen on it.

There's also 'The Thread' that has tips on each Nation's strengths here:
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=38122

thanks Ive added it to my fav links.

[airboy]

Q:

When you set a mage to "Search For Magic Sites" in a province, doesn't he automatically do so?  There isn't a success roll to see if it worked, is there?

Because I've been seeing some orders not happening during turn resolution, in my AI game.  I'm pretty sure there's been one or two times my recruitment didn't dump any of my purchased troops into my home province, too.   ???   

At first I thought my Site Searches were being interrupted by AI attacks on the same location, and that perhaps the battle interrupted my search.  But I just saw one place I had definitely set a mage to Site Search in, and the thing was never attacked - yet still wasn't searched that turn either.  The mage came back up on the 'Defend' default order the next turn as if he had (or it didn't work for some reason?).  :'(

Nefaro:
If you set a mage to search for sites they do so unless attacked prior to the search.  This is very unlikely early in the game.

There is a order in which actions take place in the game.  Look at the manual because there are a bunch of things which can happen.

Just because you searched does not mean that there is a magic site present or that the site could be discovered by your mage.  If you have a level 1 nature mage search and the site is a level 3 site - then your mage would not discover the site even though they searched.

You can tell if a search occured, and the level of the search, by clicking on the province.  At the bottom of the province information you should see a bunch of different colors with a number in each color bar.  This represents the type of search which took place (color coded) and the level of search (the number inside the color coded bar).

I've never had a problem searching sites when playing against the AI.  But you do need to set the unit to search every time.  It is not automatic and must be ordered.

[Nefaro]

Q:

When you set a mage to "Search For Magic Sites" in a province, doesn't he automatically do so?  There isn't a success roll to see if it worked, is there?

Because I've been seeing some orders not happening during turn resolution, in my AI game.  I'm pretty sure there's been one or two times my recruitment didn't dump any of my purchased troops into my home province, too.   ???   

At first I thought my Site Searches were being interrupted by AI attacks on the same location, and that perhaps the battle interrupted my search.  But I just saw one place I had definitely set a mage to Site Search in, and the thing was never attacked - yet still wasn't searched that turn either.  The mage came back up on the 'Defend' default order the next turn as if he had (or it didn't work for some reason?).  :'(

Nefaro:
If you set a mage to search for sites they do so unless attacked prior to the search.  This is very unlikely early in the game.

There is a order in which actions take place in the game.  Look at the manual because there are a bunch of things which can happen.

Just because you searched does not mean that there is a magic site present or that the site could be discovered by your mage.  If you have a level 1 nature mage search and the site is a level 3 site - then your mage would not discover the site even though they searched.

You can tell if a search occured, and the level of the search, by clicking on the province.  At the bottom of the province information you should see a bunch of different colors with a number in each color bar.  This represents the type of search which took place (color coded) and the level of search (the number inside the color coded bar).

I've never had a problem searching sites when playing against the AI.  But you do need to set the unit to search every time.  It is not automatic and must be ordered.

Yeah...  I knew all this stuff.  I suspect I was attacked (random indie army?) and just didn't notice the crossed swords symbol there.  It certainly didn't have the colored-in box & number of having been searched so something must've interrupted me.

Also.. from what I've read .. you only need rank 4 in a type of magic to find all sites in that location for that specific one.  For example, searching a location with a Fire-4 mage will reveal all Fire locations there (you don't need 9 in it).  This is what I read on a guide or wiki recently.  Can anyone confirm?? 

Admittedly.. a commander with level 4 in magic is pretty rare until later in the game with high-level summons, boosters, etc (except your Pretender of course).

[airboy]

I don't know if there are sites higher than level 4.  There are a number of nations with recruitable L4 mages in a single area.  Ermor and Abysia immediately come to mind.

Most of the time I'm finding that searches are done by either L1 or L2 mage paths or by remote searching by ritual spell which is always a level 9 search.

[JasonPratt]

Incidentally, Undercovergeek has begun reporting on our first local Groghead multiplayer game in a while, here:

http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=5134.0

He's lagging his AAR about 6 turns behind where we actually are, to help protect himself from our scouting him, but he writes good reports so it's a great way to get an introduction to the game while also being able to ask questions in progress. (The rest of us players are allowed to comment on his thread, too.)


Btw, the only thing worse than the graphics in this game are the sfx. Heh. Unique if limited musical soundtrack, though. (Traditional Christian (and maybe also pagan) Scandanavian hymns.)

[Huw the Poo]

Btw, the only thing worse than the graphics in this game are the sfx. Heh. Unique if limited musical soundtrack, though. (Traditional Christian (and maybe also pagan) Scandanavian hymns.)

Yeah, I like the soundtrack but it's very repetitive.  I wonder if there's a way to replace it.