0. 2 Description 3 Credits

2 - HOW DO TAXES AFFECT UNREST ?

3 - HOW TO RAISE TAXES WHILE KEEPING UNREST BEARABLE ?

But the graph is linear (with 30 soldiers you have the same chance to catch 0, 10, 20 or 30 bandits). So, its much more random than if each patroller has 50% chance to succeed. See my tests hereunder (vertical y-axis = nr of bandits found) :

1 - I ordered a centaur and 40 harpies to patrol for 60 turns. The patrol caught 2,629 bandits, or 43.8/t on average. Minimum was 2, maximum was 81.

2 - I ordered 2 wolfriders Chiefs and 40 goblins (vaettir) to patrol for 60 turns. They caught 1,288 bandits, or 21.4/t on average. Minimum was 0, maximum was 42.

Two Chiefs + 40 goblins :

Some units have a bonus or a penalty :

- Forresters (Man) count as 5 units,

- Flyers count as 2 units. The "Call of the Wind" spell will give you hawks. Finding sites which give flyers (like raptors) can help also.

- Maenads and mindless units have a penalty I believe.

Johan Osterman wrote last year on the cdmag forum that "the score in blood magic affects both the chance of finding and the number found, the ratio is about 10%+(score in blood magic)*20% and a die (open ended) + (score in blood magic) will be the number found if search is successful. Dowsing rod will add both to the chance that you find slaves and to the number found. You will also have harder times finding blood slaves in depopulated provinces and it will be impossible in provinces above a certain unrest level. Most rolls in the Game are open ended (upwards)".

So we could probably say that the minimum chance to find slaves is 20 % (and not 10 % as seen on Usenet) + 20 % for each level of blood magic (a rod counts as 2 levels).

Every attempt causes some unrest however, about 3 points on average (but the spread is huge, thanks to the die roll system). I¿ve seen unrest going down by 7 points, or up to 27 points !

Fortunately, unrest moves between -2 and +10 about 90% of the times (other extreme changes are very rare).
Finally, every captured slave increases unrest by 1 more point.
This is a table for the unrest caused by the attempt (so not counting the captured slaves):
Conclusion: if you place 3 priests, each equipped with a rod, hunting in the same province, expect about 18 more unrest points every turn. Reduce taxes (but this drains your income) or patrol heavily (but this kills population).

An orderly dominion could make a difference too. Every order level automatically removes 3 unrest points / turn. So you could spread a horde of low-level mages and still see no unrest...

Other elements are not taken into account. Unrest above 50 seems to make slave hunt harder but not impossible. Slaves are still found above 100, but business is hampered indeed (about 40% less than normal).

It is hard to tell if population size has an important impact. In a province of 5,000 souls, hunters were slightly less successful too (about 20% less than normal). But my test was limited on this point.
6.12.4.4 Fountain of Blood

This pretender has a strong bonus when hunting slaves, something like +4 levels in blood magic (twice the SDR bonus). In a large province without unrest, a Blood-6 Fountain with a Rod can find about 15 slaves on average (d6 +12), for every hunt.

(Thanks to Francisco Muñoz for finding the function used by the game to evaluate the pillage strengh).

Calvary units get a +1 bonus, flyers get +2.

Barbarians count as two normal human infantrymen, ie. for 4 points each. Barbarian Chiefs and Lords count for 12 points each.

Finally, with an Implementor Axe (greater magic item), a commander gets a 50 points bonus.

6.14 Some comments about spells THAT'S NOT IN THE SPELL MANUAL

6.14.1 CONJURATION

* Acashic Record : unveils all magic sites, even holy or unholy sites.

6.14.2 ALTERATION

* Aim : gives + 5 precision.
* Arouse Hunger : you get 3 more undeads for every death level above 3. Like CoW, the spell is not anonymous.
* Baleful Star : makes about 30 unrest in the target province, and shifts local dominions 2 steps toward unluck (maxium seems +2 unluck). The spell is anonymous.
* Blight : makes about 15 unrest in the target province, and kills about 5 % of the population. The spell is anonymous.
* Drain Life : should target only enemy units. But evil mages sometimes drain the life of friendly commanders and kill them to regain some strength.
* Eagle Eye : gives + 5 precision.
* Earth Might : gives + 4 strength. It'll target the biggest friendly unit (more hp) within range (other weaker units in the same square are affected as well).
* Hurricane : makes about 20-25 unrest in the target province.
* Magic Duel : Before the 1.14 patch, the initiator of the duel was always the winner (bug).

With ver 1.14, each side gets to add his astral skill to an open ended d6 (initiator wins ties, probably). A +3 differential gives you about 1 to 10 odds.

There is no saving throw. Mages without astral magic are unaffected. Communions or Sabbaths do not improve the astral level of the duellists.
* Marble Warriors : base prot is 15, like Stoneskin.
* Mind Hunt : the caster is feebleminded if there is any astral mage in the target province (and the spell fails !). There is no saving throw.
* Mother Oak : gives you 10 more nature gems each turn.
* Transformation : the caster keeps his experience and magic/holy power (but not his holyness). Unusable items in the new form are lost.
* Wind Guide : gives +5 precision to all friendly units, not only for shooting but also for the mages and priests (improving low precision spells, like Dust to Dust, Fireball or even Banishment).
* Phantasmal Attack : you get 5 more warriors for every air level above 4. The spell is anonymous - drawback : you don't control the target province after the battle. This is a ritual, not a battle spell, so the caster has no fatigue (the manual is wrong on this point).
* Wish : a few keywords are acceptable for the computer. Click HERE to see a (uncomplete) list.
* Wolven Winter : makes the target province colder (temporary shift +3 toward cold), but does not make any unrest. Income is still affected by the cold if the 'natural' dominion is not cold +3. This spell is anonymous.

6.14.3 EVOCATION

* Astral Projection : the caster is feebleminded if there is any astral mage in the target province. There is no saving throw.
* Earthquake : there is some kind of saving throw, based on the defense skill.
* Flames from the Sky : does not depend on temperature. About 50% of the troops in the province are always "safe" and unaffected even if several FFTS are cast on the same province.
* Maestrom : gives +15 water gems / turn.
* Murdering Winter : does not affect more units in colder climes, but makes more damage. About 50% of the troops in the province are always "safe" and unaffected even if several MW are cast on the same province.
* Nether darts / bolts : MR negates even the physical damage.
* Perpetual Storm : units that can fly in the battlefield storm are unable to fly for movement during a Perpetual Storm, all normal movement is based on ground movement (you'd think that those could fly during a storm in battle should be able to fly during a storm out of battle too). About 75% of all Seeking Arrows will be blown off course.

The storms reduce the incomes between 20% (for very large provinces) and 50% (for small provinces).

6.14.4 CONSTRUCTION

* Construct Mandragora : you get 2 more mandragoras for every nature level above 2.
* Forge of the Ancients : gives a 50% forge bonus and every mage gets one more magic level when forging items ... even if his level is zero (yes a Fire-1 Initiate can forge a Fever Fetish or a Rainbow Armor !).
* Legion of steel : gives +3 prot.

6.14.5 ENCHANTMENT

* Antimagic : gives +4 MR.
* Arrow Fend : does not let your arrows fly in storms.
* Awaken Treelord : possibly the worst gem/cost effective summoned mage. Treelords summon 2 extra Vine Men/Ogre. They have 250 hp but weak attacks and cant move at all (unless they cast Faery Trod).
* Behemoth : doesn't hamper the summoner who casts the ritual. The behemoth package includes a revenant (driver) and yes, this one can't cast spells.
* Carrion Reanimation : you get 3 more undeads (soulesses) for every death level above 1.
* Cloud Trapeze : can target a water province if the caster has a water-breathing item.
* Domes : prevent troops from teleporting in the province, even your own soldiers BTW (they can gate away safely). And this rule also applies to "Gateway", "Faery Trod", "Cloud Trapeze", etc. On the other hand, automatic return effects like the rebirth of an immortal creature or the "Returning" spell in the protected province are still possible.

All domes are cumulative (you can place several domes in the same province). If the caster dies, they shatter, but they stay if the province is lost to another player and the caster survives. Once the dome is up, the caster can move away without cancelling it.

Frost Dome, Dome of Arcane Warding and Dome of Flaming Death : each additional gem will make them last one more turn. Without additional gems, the dome stays one turn.
* Flaming Arrows : protection vs fire does not negate the damage ! (possible bug).
* Flight : will target the closest non-flying, friendly unit (if there are no non-flying units within spell range, the mage targets himself).
* Friendly Current : gives +4 AP to all units. I have seen no effect on fatigue or encumbrance however.
* Gift of Health : gives additional hp to all your units, depending of the strength of your local dominion (+10 % for each white candles), and a small chance to remove permanent afflictions.
* Pale Riders : you get 3 more riders for every death level above 3.
* Relief : reduces the fatigue of all friendly units on the battlefield by 20 to 50 points.
* Riches from Beneath : gives +20% resources per white dominion candle in the province.
* Rigor Mortis : affects about 1/3 of the units every round of battle. Those men get a random number of additionnal fatigue, usually between 1 and 10, but sometime up to 20.
* Seeking Arrow : makes 5-15 damage and a chest wound. Anti-missile items or etherealness do protect the target (but not at 100 %). The spell is anonymous. You can not target an underwater province and you can not hit a sneaking leader.
* Strength of Giants : gives +3 STR.
* Thunder Ward : sometimes the battle AI would ignore the scripted order to cast Thunder Ward (but would obey the command to cast Wrathful Skies for example, with unpleasant consequences). The solution is to make Thunder Ward the first spell scripted in the chain of spells (instead of Quickness probably).
* Undead Horde : you get a mixed bag of 24 longdeads and soullesses, +2 undeads for every death level above 4 (and not 12+ as written in the manual).

6.14.6 THAUMATURGY

* Black Death : kills exactly 50% of the population, and makes about 9 unrest points. It is anonymous. Military units are not affected at all (the manual was not clear on this point).
* Communion Master : all magic paths are improved, even holy and unholy. Only the spell cost is redirected to the slaves, not the fatigue from encumbrance. The blood Sabbath ritual is cross-compatible with the astral Communion.
* Communion Slave : you need at least 2 slaves or both the slave and the master will get the fatigue. The power of the slaves does not matter in any way. The fatigue is equally divided among all slaves, but each slave also gets his own encumbrance for every spell of the Master. A commander without magic skills can not be used as a slave if given a slave matrix (not even a priest).
* Control the Dead : also works on 'neutral' undeads, like horrors and lammashtas, but you cannot keep them in your army, they vanish after the battle.
* Curse : often targets the biggest enemy unit (more hp). The caster never misses, and the curse cannot be removed.
* Horror Mark : often targets the biggest enemy unit (more hp). The caster never misses, and the mark cannot be removed. The victim will attrack horrors and ashen angels (Manifestation).
* Plague : poison resistance negates. If a diseased enemy enters close combat with your own troops, your soldiers could be diseased too and die right after the battle.
* Raging Hearts : makes about 60 unrest in the target province, but no shift toward turmoil. It is anonymous.
* Leprosy : does affect only 50% of the troops in the province. The remaining make magic resistance checks or get diseased. Those that make their checks get one random affliction anyway. The average result is 50% untouched, 25% diseased, 25% one random affliction. Spell penetration items make it harder for targets to make their spell checks. Extra Leprosy castings have diminishing returns because many targets are already diseased.

6.14.7 BLOOD

* Astral Corruption : every mage has between 33 and 50% chance of having some kind of Horror. For multi-path rituals and items, each non-Blood path is checked independently and could lead to a separate attack. The attack occurs after the forged item is dropped in the inventory, so if it is a disposable mage, you may not care... but if it is a ritual, it may not stay up for very long. The number of gems used -including gems for boosting a ritual- appears to affect both the probability of attack and the size of the horror that appears.
* Bind Heliophagus : they can create one Fiend of Darkness / turn.
* Bind Arch Devil : they can create one Devil / turn.
* Bind Pazuzu : they can create one Storm Demon / turn.
* Blood Rite : you get 1 more vampire for every blood level above 2.
* Cross Breeding : is not a summon spell, so you have no discount when the spell is cast in a site with a summoning bonus.
* Hell Power : also increases Holy/Unholy powers.
* Rain of Toads : makes about 40 unrest in the target province and shift the local dominion toward unluck.
* Reinvigoration : can be used by a Communion/Sabbath Master to remove fatigue from the slaves.
* Sabbath Master and Sabbath Slave : they are cross-compatible with the astral Communion ritual.
* Send (lesser) Horror : the Horror fights like an independent unit and arrives separately, i.e. not with wolves or hawks summonned with a Call of the Wild/Wind in the same turn. If you send several horrors, they fight in the same battle however (and do not fight each other).

6.14.8 Man war songs

* Song of Bravery (Nature 1, Area 5+, Fatigue 5-, cannot be cast under water). "This spell song increases the morale of nearby friends".
* Soothing Song (Nature 1, Area 5+, Fatigue 5-, cannot be cast under water). "This spell song reinvigorates the caster and nearby friends" (reinvigoration is random, between 0 and 20).
* Healing Song (Nature 1, Area 5+, Fatigue 5-, cannot be cast under water). "This spell song heals the caster and nearby friends".

6.14.9 Pangaea tunes

* Tune of Growth (Nature 1, Area 10, Fatigue 5-, cannot be cast under water). "This tune makes roots and vines grow from the ground, entangling nearby enemies."
* Tune of Fear (Nature 1, Area 5+, Fatigue 5-, cannot be cast under water). "This sinister tune frightens nearby enemies".
* Tune of Dancing Death (Nature 1, Area 10, Fatigue 5-, damage 31+ stun, magic resistance negates, cannot be cast under water). "Nearby enemies starts to jerk and move in an uncontrolled manner. They will become exhausted and will eventually fall unconscious, unless the musician stops playing".

7. Dominions III wiki