u/SelectionMain7036

>Disclaimer: Since r/dcss is the internet equivalent of North Sentinel Island, I will choose my words VERY carefully. PLEASE read them carefully as well. Yes, that means you, you who only read the title and already gave thumbs down.

It has the standard level 9 quirks of being rare and expensive in MP, slots, and XP. It's also deafening for obvious reasons.

But more importantly, it deals greatly reduced damage to flying, insubstantial, and amorphous (slime) enemies, of which there are many. Yes, it deals more damage to constructs, but that doesn't quite make up for it in my opinion.

As far as screen cleaners go, there are cheaper, more general-purpose options like ignition (or the poverty version of toxic radiance + Ignite Poison) and Ozzy's fridge.

Now, that being said, shatter is not a bad spell in the grand scheme of things.

It is single school, and many species have good earth magic. Earth also happens to be a really, REALLY good school that you almost certainly will put points into anyway, so I think Shatter is the easiest level 9 to learn in practice and less of an opportunity cost.

The wall destruction can be very useful and open a new strategy in e.g. Zot 5, so it can be worth getting just for that reason alone.

So, it is an okay spell in the grand scheme of things, but if you expect this to be "click and everything dies", you will be disappointed.

Bonus round:

I tried using it with orb of glass to spread vitrification, but it's hard to say how much that did in practice. It's funny at least.

What really helped me making Shatter better as an attack spell is Dith, since your shadow mimicking a level 9 Earth spell happens to be a high-damage single-target projectile, which is great. Shatter will clear chaff while the shard will kill the resistant threat that's left. It's also hilarious for shatter to be... Well, not exactly silent, but not earsplitting.

Have a good one.

Can you see the upkeep of a specific army somewhere (without having to count every unit's upkeep individually)?

I only know you can see total upkeep of all armies in the finance tab

Am I missing it? Would be nice to compare armies at a glance

I am sorry if this was answered before, but even after looking up multiple (years-old) videos and posts, I found nothing conclusive.

What campaign difficulty is the mod actually balanced around? On the official FB page, I saw that “Hard” is recommended for experienced players, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the mod was balanced around it. For example, if you were introducing a new faction, what campaign difficulty would you use to test and balance it?

What does higher campaign difficulty actually do in terms of diplomacy? Is the AI really “smarter” or more aggressive when it comes to targeting the human player, or is it just the result of some “-X” modifier to the player’s relations with other factions?

There seems to be a bit of a hole in the market when it comes to compelling games set in antiquity.

It doesn’t have to be another Total War mod or even a strategy game. CA seems to have the mix of strategic map + tactical combat pretty much held hostage, so I’m open to anything that scratches a similar itch.

I’d even give a hack’n’slash or something completely outside the genre a try, provided it’s at least somewhat historically grounded and has meaningful tactical or strategic decisions where you actually have to use your brain.

Maybe Imperator: Rome?

Anybody got any recommendations?

Could've sworn there used to be a small in-game cutscene similar to slave uprising or a noble dying...

I have both military governor and paragon maxed and attached him to a new general and after a few turns the general hasn't gotten any XP

E: Now with pretty pictures!

This is the governor I attached to the king/general. He should at the very least give +4 XP/turn (3 from military governor and 1 from paragon).

His Majesty! He has a wolf on his head and a nice beard as is tradition. Note he already gained 6 XP beforhand from dong his 9 to 5 desk job in the city, but that had nothing to do with the governor. I pulled him out of the city for now...

Several turns later, he's still at 6 XP. I tried re-attaching the governor but it didn't work.

Compare and contrast: I removed the governor from the king and attached our champion instead, who has similar skills...

...And after just 1 turn, he gets some XP from doing pull-ups with our champion (as you'd expect) and he reaches level 2.

Last seen clubbing in the wintry forests of Lugia. Missing ever since... Can't find him in barracks, temple, main building etc.

Please come back. Your brother Manirni Clubman misses you very much.

>AI tries to be senaky and sets ambush in plain sight
>You send/deploy spy where the army disappeared
>nothing happens

-.-

Gens Julia - Reserved
Gens Junia - Feared
Gens Cornelia - Disdained

Hannonid Dynasty - Beloved
Magonid Dynasty - Feared
Barcid Dynasty - Feared (This is afaik Hannibal's grandpa, also named Hannibal)

Antigonidai - Disdained
Seleukidai - Selfish
Baktria - Selfish
Epeiros - Feared
Ptolemaioi - Disdained

Maurya Samrajya - Disdained

Scordisci - Disdained
Boii - Disdained
Nervii - Selfish
Koinon Galaton - Engaged
Arverni - Disdained

Iceni - Disdained
Kaledonoi - Disdained
Iweriu - Disdained

Edetani - Disdained
Arevaci - Feared
Lusotannan - Engaged

Saka Rauka - Feared
Rauxsa-alanna - Disdained
Basileioi Skythai - Selfish

Sparta - Reserved
Rhodos - Disdained
Pergamon - Disdained
Athenai - Selfish

Mamlakatin Saba - Disdained
Mamlakhta Nabata - Selfish

Getae - Disdained
Ardiaei - Disdained
Basileion Odryson - Selfish

Masaesyli - Reserved
Medewi - Disdained

Massalia - Disdained
Kolkhis - Feared
Syrakousai - Disdained
Arche Bosphorus - Selfish

Kartli - Selfish
Parthia - Engaged
Hayk - Disdained
Atropatkan - Beloved
Pontos - Beloved

Lugii - Selfish
Suebi - Disdained
Cimbri - Feared

Have you ever noticed with the (cheap, low-unit count) elephants and chariots that losing a few of them can cause them to waver or even shatter very quickly? Now granted they are quite frail (especially the chariots which will completely disintegrate at the slightest micro mistake) and they don't have the best morale, but they are so extremely shaky... Something feels off.

I have long suspected it has something to do with their low unit count and the game wrongly calculating their remaining unit strenght. Like after 1-2 casualties the game thinks they are way below half strenght or something. But I've been unable to proof it. Am I on to something?

This is based on "vibes" (as the kids say) and on my foggy memory of a 10+ years old post on the official TW forum so, maybe I'm just delusional.

I don't use the mod myself, and tbh I think it has gone well beyond its initial scope (although from what I understand, that's optional), but the fact that someone found a solution to something that was previously thought to be technically impossible is remarkable. The idea clearly has merit.

It's also my understanding that the population-AI solution may break some other things in the mod, which begs the question: why not work together to iron out those kinks?

If the AI can't handle being bound by population in exactly the same way as the player, there are surely levers that could be adjusted to compensate. For example, you could increase its population growth by 30% or whatever is necessary, rather than having it effectively ignore the system altogether as it does now.

Why not at least try to find a middle ground instead of allowing an already very niche community to fragment further? From the outside, it seems like a pretty significant missed opportunity.

Or the far future, perhaps... I unfortunately don't remember much... There was a strange new "northern" campaign with a focus on Gaul, Germania and the Baltics but the map was also largely expanded and there were other venues of war with a new playable faction in central Africa which somehow was all related.

Sry it's just been so long I have felt any excitement for anything gaming related my brain tried to fill the void

Any campaign that's a bit more chill and not constant crisis mode from the get-go?

(Scandinavian Spearmen and Scandinavian Skirmishers. They're AOR units from Cimrbi home town.)

Mostly for convenience. Two reasons:

1. It would be consistent with the other Scandinavian AOR units who also have guerilla deployment, even the cav has it.
2. If you have access to these guys, chances are high you are playing a Germanic faction where ALL your units have guerilla deployment, which makes using these units (especially the spears) akward and not worth bringing as they compete directly with your roster options.

Many British/Celtic/Germanic factions have them. I don't mean the ones with 2-handed lances, though.
Rough definition:
-200 Men
-Short lance and big shield
-Shieldwall abilty
-E. g. Averni roster: Early Gallic Shieldwall Spearmen

Is this type of unit any good? I have only used swords or "regular" spear lines as mainline infantry so far so I wouldn't know. Anyone got experience with them?