And there I was, thinking that this was going to be a thread about the consequences of playing the Beta.

It really sounds ridiculous that you can get curses (and be cursed) and no way to break them.

I'm actually fond of Dominions, slow-death afflicitons/curses/spells and all, but I agree that generals, family members and champions need to be less fragile in Elemental.

Irremovable curses? Definately not until the VERY end game, hopefully not even then (at least in terms of gameplay: irremovable cureses in the BACKSTORY sound like a good way to slip in ability penalties and "gamey" restrictions.)

 

Who would want to be a god that spends eternity fighting horrors until you die, return to life and do it all again....

 

I like the idea of non-permanent curses and afflictions.

I agree with permanent curses, actually. The frequency that they arose in Dominions though was rediculous... and it wasn't as if they differentiated between lesser, curable curses and powerful, incurable ones.

I'm not in favor of the reverse, though. Having super powerful magic only inflict 30 second debuffs and not the bone-mangling life wrenching shish kebab magicks they should be is just weak.

In terms of Dominions though... the cruel afflictions I think are a counter to near invincible super-combatants. My big problem, as I said, is that they were way too common.

 

They mark your soul *Cue creepy music*

 

All curses should be reversable, but the stronger the curse the harder to remove. Or make all curses unremovable, but all time limited, with the stronger curses lasting many turns. Or combine the two; all curses removable and time limited. Energy required to place the curse is dependant on the strength of the curse (eg does it make you clumsy or mega clumsy?), the duration of the curse and any protection against curses the target has (eg an amulet makes curses cost 1.5 times the energy). The energy required to remove the curse is directly proportional, excluding the protection multiplier.

The Ozar guy is not giving you people the whole story.

The developers of Dominions have never come out and given any attitude that would suggest NO, YOU WILL PLAY THE GAME OUR WAY AND NO WE WILL NOT REMOVE THEM QUIT ASKING.

The truth is very few Dominions players complain about horror marks, curses and especially insanity, so they didn't change it because the majority of players wanted it left in. They are up to version 3.23 of the game and all the changes are bug fixes, new content or changes suggested by the player base. So it is a bit unfair to call them "morons" because you got one side of the story.

Curses are permanent, but it is not the end of the world. In Dominions a curse makes you twice as likely to get an affliction than before. In my experience, investing in a level 1 magic item called "The Bark Skin Amulet" negates the curse, or at least lessens it. Using this level 1 magic item, I have avoided afflictions on my Pretender the entire game. BTW, you don't play as a god in Dominions, you play as a Pretender trying to rise to the level of god through persuasion (dominion) and conquest.

Horror Marks in Dominions meant that horrors would attack you as a special combat that happened more frequently as you received more horror marks. You were never "overwhelmed" by horrors since only one can attack you at a time, period. Many of the pretenders could be built by mid game to kill any horrors that attacked them, in essence making the horror attacks basically bonus exp. There is a mod that puts a spell into the game that removes horror marks btw.

Insanity. This is the most trivial of the three afflictions. You can only gain this affliction by using 1 cursed item that is unique, as an inherit ability on one of the most powerful units in the game or by fighting 1 nation out of the 60+ that spread insanity through their dominion. In most multiplayer games that nation is banned now because of the population killing dominion that it spreads in addition to the insanity, but before it was, often it was pretty easy to punch straight to their capital with certain nations such as Mictlan and Atlantis. In one MP game I was able to defeat them with only having two commanders get the insanity affliction 25% and 50%. Many of my troops received the affliction, but it has absolutely 0 effect on the game when a common troop receives it.

It's not bad design, it's just another end to your units besides death. By your reasoning, death in a game is a bad design decision. No unit is so important in Dominions that it cannot be replaced except for the Pretender, and I imagine the same will hold true for the sovereign in Elemental. 

Be careful not to dumb our game down too much with your complaining. The people who don't mind such things may not be as vocal, but we are probably as numerous as you and we deserve a game with at least a little bit of challenge, surely a balance can be struck between both camps.

Thanks.

Doesnt' change the fact that I don't like curses and the like that are unbreakable. And if such unbreakable things are important to the overall balance... uf.

 

Not with such a hostile tone, but they DO come right out and say it in the FAQ!

A large number of players wanted normal save games, but the developers have no intention of adding them, either.

No. There is no "but." It's an untreatable affliction. That alone makes it odious to me. In a game where you wield world shaking powers and craft god-killing artifacts, there is a certain expectation of control over that world on top of what you normally expect out of a strategy game. When you take away that control, you are weakening the game.

When you have to make house rules like this it suggests a lot about the game balance.

Except the Pretender can suffer all of these things without a way of mending them either, EXCEPT for death. What manner of being can transcend death but not a Level 1 Curse? It's absurd.

Oh, and as for death in general, two words: Raise Dead. In Age of Wonders for example, you could resurrect heroes.

Hey, if you want some hardcore mode, that's your business, I just want to make sure the rest of us aren't stuck playing your idea of the game to the exclusion of any other.

Ya, in most fantasy games, death isn't permanent. Actually, for those of you who played ME2, its also not permanent in sci-fi either apparently. And TBH, i always assume that any game that only has ironman saves is a game too hardcore for me seeing as i am flesh and blood, not a cylon . I can see an optional ironman mode being included, but no should be forced to play that way.

I'm suprised you even picked up curses and horror marks being a big problem. Mid-way into the Dominions game I'm into right now the big problem is all my researchers are dying of old age. Diseases are a lot more serious than any of those other status afflictions, there isn't a lot you can do with a sick and dying hombre. And you know... I'm cool with that.

I've been cursed a few times. But no horror marks so far.

I think you're exaggerating the impact that curses and horror marks have on the game. As I said, they complicate the use of a unit... they don't make them less effective. If they're a pretender most likely they can kill the horror. If they're soldiers I isolate them and seperate them from the rest of the army. If they're anything else they can be replaced.

This is a legitimate concern. I must admit though, games like Linley's Dungeon Crawl would simply not be the same with a save/load feature. I'm quite glad I play Dominions in "Iron-man mode". In a game of permanent consequences, I'd be too tempted to reload the game to save myself from  losing a leg or whatever.

http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Category:Unit

 

Who did the data entry for all that?

Speaking as someone who beat xcom apoc on hardest difficulty by saving every second in order to save-load my way to victory(no joke, litterally every single frame, i saved) and as someone who had litterally 2000+ saves in oblivion/mass effect(oblivion starts breaking around 600+ saves in the save folder), i think saving should be left to the player. If you want to play in ironman mode, more power to you. I wimp out at the very thought of ironman mode.

So please, leave me my save anytime and let it re-seed every load.