In a regular scenario normally I don't worry about this sort of thing, but when playing a contest map getting the timing of blessings exactly right can be critical. On this point I haven't kept careful notes of repeated trials, but my recollection is that there was some variation. It would be interesting to hear other players' experiences on this point. This is an intriguiging idea.

Donaldus

I've known for a long time that (at least most of the time) blessings for a god first occur only in a certain month. I thought that this was well-known, but (now that I think about it) I don't remember reading it anywhere. On a typical mission I don't worry about it, but on a "contest" map where certain blessings may be crucial, one of the first tests I run is placing a few houses and the appropriate temples near the entry point to find out when those blessings can occur. (From comments I vaguely remember reading, I think that some other players do the same thing.)

I suspect that the month is fairly random, perhaps a function based on the entire map (change anything about the map and the month can change), but that is only a guess.

Once you get a blessing for a god, the second blessing works the same way--(at least most of the time) you'll get it in a certain month (but only after the god becomes unhappy and then exalted again).

I thought that I had seen a blessing that (on a replay) occurred in a different month, which is the reason for the "(at least most of the time)"s in my previous message. I almost mentioned it explicitly, but decided that I didn't trust my memory.

Also it may be possible to have a different schedule if you start from a CCK file (a .map file) rather than a standard save file. I haven't tested that with blessings, but found that's the way it works with requests. The designer can set the year a request comes, but the actual month is determined upon loading of the .map file. Different loads may give different schedules, but if you save directly after loading the .map file, and replay from the .sav file, the schedule is fixed and fully reproducible. My guess is it works the same with the blessings, but as I said, I haven't tested it yet.

Rather than trying to get a blessing from a god in a certain month, the best thing seems to be to get him or her displeased (or indifferent), then exalted again, and keep the god exalted. The blessing will come when its due. If you really need a blessing in a certain month, you should find out in what year that's possible.

(Modified entry about multiple blessings in one year)

[This message has been edited by joshofet (edited 04-22-2002 @ 09:36 AM).]

Maybe we can assume that as there are 12 months and only 5 gods each one has 2 or 3 months they can recieve the blessing.
Since no one knows any more about this maybe someone who cna read the game files can look and see for us what the story is. it is very fustrating and interesting part of the game that usually only matters ib the first 2 years but in some scenarios it continues to matter.

I have edited my above post a bit to make one point a bit more clear. I think our observations agree.

In the second part of your post you actually raise a different issue, namely whether it is possible to find the answers to these questions at a different level, for instance that of the game files, or even better, at software level. Maybe we should start a new thread on that, rather that highjacking this one. Lets see how it develops.

For me part of the fun is trying to find out the programmers' design at the game level, by running some tests. Indeed most of the material on this and other sites is gathered that way. It can be a frustrating bussiness, especially if the events seem random at first, to find out the pattern. And if the pattern in the end appears to be random, like the merging of 1x1 houses in 2x2, that is extra frustrating.

Still I see your point, and for C3 I do miss the extensive data files that e.g. Pharaoh has, but if I could just look at the game files, or the code itself, wouldn't that be a form of cheating?

[This message has been edited by joshofet (edited 04-22-2002 @ 09:37 AM).]