67 years old with questions

[blowingsand]

I bought LoMse in a big box when it came out and never played it... until now.

I've installed your GSZ mod and I have four questions.

I've never been very good at rts combat (even with pause-n-play), but why do the autocalc results make me feel like a moron?

Something that sucks the life out of me playing this - is it possible to speed up the AI turns?

I like to turtle, so I'm first playing an Order Mage; playing as defensively as possible. I just got my stronghold at turn 19. Are there any "tricks" to doing it sooner?

Were there any home-made maps that were ever generally considered better than the original?

[lemminkainen]

Welcome to the world of Lomse!

What's wrong with the autocalc? Use it if you like, or just don't if you don't like. I've never used it, since battle is part of the fun. AI turns should be decently quick if you have a good computer and the map is not too huge. You can certainly get your stronghold faster than 19 turns, even when playing without tricks but just winning fights and experiencing fast. If you want a trick, you can abuse AI trading behavior and get huge army by turn 8 or 9 by selling creatures and buildings and buying resources or better units. No home-made maps were ever more popular than Urak, because the editor was initially quite buggy and this game lacked a lot of online play in the beginning. However, throughout the years, tons of maps have been made, some very good.

A topic was summarizing maps released through the years here: impz.proboards.com/thread/2099/lomse-maps-discovered-updated-total

The links might be dead but Boaster and I can look for those maps of our computers if you want.

Have a nice gaming experience.

[blowingsand]

I always use autocalc because the results are so much BETTER than anything I can do manually. I was just wondering why.

I was playing on hard difficulty, but I started a new game on easy and freed the temple in 5 turns. Easy is much easier.

By tricks I meant strategies. Is playing non-aggressively (to build up my forces) a viable strategy?

From what you've said about maps, I'll be satisfied playing on this map.

Thanks for answering my questions, Lemminkainen!

[blowingsand]

Inspire spell doesn't appear to be working.

I cast it and the mouse icon turns into a closed book. Then I move the mouse over my capital and it becomes an open book. I left-click and the game freezes for a moment but nothing happens and no spell points are used. I can repeat this as many times as I want, but still nothing happens.

[lemminkainen]

For the spell, make sure that the spell-caster who is casting it is very close (or inside) the city. It should work then, or if there's a bug tell me and I will investigate.

For the autocalc, I think it's decently balanced for an old game. However, whenever I play I usually get better results by handling the fight myself. Main key strategies during battle are using "defend self" ability with melee units and "aim missiles" ability with ranged. Also, if you're playing order mage you have to use spells which buff your units. Finally, you can manually select a unit from a group of 3 by using Ctrl + left click. These should help you handle fights.

Playing defensively and building forces will work only if you liberate your great temple, or else you won't get followers to build your forces. Otherwise it is viable.

Feel free to ask more questions about the game.

[blowingsand]

Thanks for offering to answer more questions.

Here's two.

I'm still playing an Order Mage Lord. On turn 26 and I conquered the death/air village. If I build a death mage tower and research infest cave can I grind for resources and troop experience close to my stronghold with repeated use of this spell?

Also, will my hounds prevent marauders trying to take over my strategic locations?

(while I wait for your reply, I'll switch to Dragon Quest Origins game)

edit: Even though it says I can build lots of stuff in this village, the next message says I can't because I don't own an adjacent capital. So... if Air swears fealty to me, then can I build in this village?

[lemminkainen]

The spell infest could indeed work for this purpose, but you'll need to hire a death mage to cast it.

For the hounds questions I'm unsure, as I only play the hardest difficulty of the latest GS mod from Boaster. You, however, play the GSZ mod, which might be different. In my mod, the AI behavior is that it will tend to avoid unfavorable fights, but it won't be afraid to sometimes attack building with weaker forces inside. So hounds might not be enough to defend.

For your last question, indeed, you have to somehow conquer one of the two adjacent cities, either through fealty or conquest.

Enjoy your games! Once you've played the game a bit more, don't forget to send feed-backs and bug reports to Boaster, as he is constantly working on improving it.

[blowingsand]

how do you destroy other lord's barracks and thieves guild?

[lemminkainen]

You have to occupy it with any unit first. Once you occupy it, left click on it as if you were to be using the building to train units. In the displayed screen, their should be a button to destroy or demolish it (I don't remember the exact phrasing). A destroyed building can always be rebuilt though. If the building is already level 0 (= destroyed) you cannot do it, obviously. Have you found ? Have a nice day.

[blowingsand]

In single-player, knowing the map is much of the game. And the benefits from freeing temples far outweighs any other initial strategies.

At turn 30 I have 9 minions led by the Lord's of Order, Water, and Air on Death's border. I'm trying to see if I'm strong enough to take on Big Bad.

[lemminkainen]

Hehe curious to find out.