Disclaimer:
-----------
This is a list of the bugs that I personally know about and/or
have been reported to me, either privately or through the
Oly mailing list. Please note that this list has NO official
standing whatsoever, and while I try to report what I hear as
accurately as I can, I make no promises that anything below
is in fact correct. Also, please be aware that there are several
known instances where Rich has fixed a bug without giving any
warning (e.g. the healing potion bug), so relying on the buggy
behavior is dangerous at best.
As always, please report any errors or additional information,
either to the G2 mailing list so that everyone can see it, or
else directly to me if you prefer to remain anonymous.
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====================================================================
Well, I've had a number of interesting new bugs reported since
last time, mostly anonymously. Perhaps the recent furor on the
g2-list convinced some people to part with their secret bugs (or
perhaps not).
====================================================================
====================================================================
Newly reported bugs:
====================
If a scroll is studied using "fast study" points, the scroll
is not consumed.
If you have no fast study days remaining, but issue a fast study
order anyway, you will fast-study zero-days of the skill (assuming
any other preconditions of the study are met). The skill may then
continue to be studied. (e.g. your noble is in a city that teaches
Stealth, and you issue a "study 630 1" order even though you have
no fast study days remaining. Your noble will pay 100 gold and
learn zero days of the Stealth skill. The noble may now leave
the city and "continue" its study of Stealth anywhere it wishes.)
This bug can be combined with the fast-study scroll bug above.
NPC control artifacts may be given to garrisons, and then retrieved
the following turn. The controlled unit melts on day 30, but is
re-created (with a new id) when the artifact is retrieved. When
control of the artifact is transferred in this way, no noble point
is exchanged. This supposedly also works by simply DROPping the
control artifact on the ground and then EXPLORE'ing for it the
next turn.
Nobles that go independent (e.g. their contract runs out), and
are killed and LR'd while still independent do not seem to always
return their NP's. This is an old bug that was supposedly fixed,
but it appears to have resurfaced in some guise. I have received
very little corroborating stories of this. One player stated that
they did receive their NP back, but that their feral noble was
disbanded via Eating of the Dead, rather than LR. I welcome any
reports relating to this so we can try to characterize the problem
as closely as possible.
A normal (not feral) noble was LR'd, and the turn report stated
the faction "received 0 noble points". This appears to be a brand
new bug (and my suspicion would be that it was introduced as part
of an attempt to fix some other NP related problem(s)).
Beasts that are in garrisons are not subject to the 1% chance
of death at the end of each turn.
A controlled unit does not count as a "noble" for purposes of the
movement penalty calculation unless that unit is owned by the
stack leader.
Units that die in open water (e.g. as a result of flying for
more than 15 days), but know Survive Fatal Wound, will wash
ashore alive at the nearest land province (as expected), but
their inventory remains intact.
Resurrections do not need to be performed in temples.
There is conflicting info regarding Forging enchanted
weapons/armor. Recently, one player was charged 1000gp to
do this. Another player says that they had done it some
time ago and were charged the correct 500gp amount. Possibly
both are correct and the behavior has changed recently.
.. more info in solicited from other artifact forgers.
The "Determine skills of character" skill reveals all magical
knowledge as well as mundane skills. It's not 100% clear that
this is a bug, but it seems as if it shouldn't work like that
(since otherwise "Reveal abilities of another mage [805]" is
basically useless).
The turn report states that the direction to get to Hades
from a graveyard is "underground". However, "move underground"
(and "move down") always fail.
There seems to be no way to make leather [80], which the rules
claim is required to construct a siege tower.
If Immunity from Vision [756] is used wrapping around a turn
boundary, then the [target] parameter must be specified.
(e.g. "use 756" when begun in one turn and finishing on
the next turn will fail.)
=================================================================
Bugs that are believed to have been fixed since the last posting.
If anyone can personally confirm that these are (or are not)
fixed, please let me know.:
Fixed:
The game permitted interactions (GIVE/GET/STACK) with a figure
that had begun moving the same morning. This allowed one to
circumvent the movement penalty (by having an unencumbered
noble begin moving, and then a heavily encumbered noble stack
with the already moving figure). Such interactions are no longer
permitted once a figure has begun moving.
Fixed:
The Survive Fatal Wounds skill was effective even if only partially
learned. You must now fully know the skill for it to work.
====================================================================
Other new info:
The Farcast spell has odd properties. Not all spells may be farcast.
For those that can be, if the spell *fails*, sometimes the farcast
effective location is "used up", and sometimes it remains in place.
(If you use a spell that may not be farcast while you have an effective
farcast location in place, the farcast is not lost.)
I have only sketchy information about this, but there was enough
interest that I will start a table of known results, and request
additional information for anyone willing to provide it. I have
not personally verified any of this information
spell farcastable? farcast used up on failure?
----------------------------------------------------------
Aura Blast yes yes
Summon Rain yes no
Summon Wind yes no
Summon Fog yes no
Seize storm yes yes
Heal yes ???
Tap health no --
Detect Gates no --
Jump gate no --
Create Barrier yes yes
Curse loyalty no --
Raise undead no --
Summon demon no --
====================================================================
Previously Known Bugs
---------------------------------------
Healing potions only cure disease. The rules state that: "The
character may also receive a random increase in their health rating."
It appears that this increase is always zero.
(source: lindahl@pbm.com)
A noble that has paid NP(s) to begin study of a skill, but is
killed before fully learning that skill, does not return the NP(s)
for the partially learned skill when the body dissolves or is
Laid to Rest.
(source: bpenright@mindspring.com)
The "Fierce Winds" spell always fails with the message:
Storm XXXX is not a rain storm.
(source: apenney@lpr.com.au)
EXECUTE does not give the body to the executor as stated in
the rules; the body in fact appears in the province.
(source: anonymous)
Ship landings and [dis]embarking are visible in Fog.
(source: MrWayne@mindspring.com)
Various critters identified as "beasts" in the rules cannot
be bred with the "Breed Beasts" skill. For example, the
command "breed 81 81" always fails.
(source: bron-oly2@bronze.corp.sgi.com)
BREED takes one day less when you are a journeyman or better,
while the supposedly equivalent "USE 654" takes one day less
when you are an adept or better.
(source: bron-oly2@bronze.corp.sgi.com)
Resurrections do not cost the priest a NP. Instead, an attempt is made
to charge the priest 1000 gold per noble point that is invested in the
body. However, if the priest is *not* holding enough gold, the
resurrection proceeds anyway at no charge, while if the priest *is*
holding enough gold, then the resurrection is aborted.
(source: jdgbobr@piglet.cc.utexas.edu, lindahl@pbm.com, et. al.)
There are conflicting reports surrounding the expiration of trade
goods from markets. There definitely were changes made in this
area part way into the game, and goods that existed before the changes
appear to have different behavior than ones created at this time.
There are no substantiated reports of bugs for *recently* created trade
goods, although the behavior of the trade route is non-intuitive; see
"Clarifications" below.
Clarifications:
---------------
Trade:
(These clarifications apply to newly created trade goods. As mentioned
above, pre-existing trade goods may behave differently.)
When a trade good expires, the selling city will sell one final lot of
the good, and the buying city will purchase one final lot of the good.
This final transaction will remain "on the books" indefinitely in those
cities until it is satisfied. However, this final outstanding transaction
of the expired trade good does *not* count against the 2 good limit in
either city.
(source: ralek@mail.telenet.pt)
The lore sheet for Find Market for Tradegood [733] states:
"For a given tradegood, there is a 50%
chance that a city will purchase it."
This does *not* mean that there is a 50% chance with *each* use of 733.
The skill always "succeeds" in the sense that you always find out for
sure if the city will purchase the given trade good or not (50% chance).
If the city did not purchase the good on the first try, it never will,
regardless of how many times 733 is used.
(source: skrenta@pbm.com)
Fast Study:
There is no requirement that Fast Study be done in multiples of 7
days. Fast Study does not "revert" to normal study if less than 7
days are specified. Fast Study takes zero time and results in the
character learning the specified number of days of the given skill
(e.g. "study 733 1" takes zero time and studies 1 day of skill 733).
Characters must have the gold and/or NP's required to begin study of
a new skill even if that skill is begun using Fast Study points.
Fast Study does not count against the 14day per month study limit.
Control Artifacts:
If you receive an artifact that controls a Savage/Undead/Skeleton/Orc
from another player, then 1 NP is transferred (just as if the controlled
unit was e.g. a bribed contract noble). It does NOT cost a NP to initially
find the artifact via a QUEST. If the controlled unit dies, you do NOT
get a NP back, even if it cost you one to obtain via a transfer as above.
Controlled units inherently know both Fight to the Death and Use Beasts
in Battle.
-- Please use bron-oly2@bronze.corp.sgi.com for Oly2 correspondence. Use bron@sgi.com only if you require fast response. These statements are my own, not those of Silicon Graphics.