question about black dragon's rain of fire ability

[echo]

Hi all, I had just tried to search for the answer to this question, but was unsuccessful but hoping someone here can help me if it's possible.

My question is, for the black dragon's rain of fire ability, is there a way to control the path of the dragon's flight hex by hex? instead of letting the computer choose the most direct route for you that is.

for example, sometimes i see enemies laid out like this

. . . . . x
. x . . x .
. . x . . .

where the . are blank spots and the "x" are enemies. I would like for my dragon to fly in that "v" pattern and hit all 4 targets, but so far I haven't figured out how to do that yet. Is this even possible?

Thanks in advance to any who can help!

[DGDobrev]

Well, I think (I'm not sure) the russians managed to make a mod that can help the player select the path for the black dragon's rain of fire. Otherwise, it is impossible with the way we have the game, which is kind of bad because the AI can do it... Why can't we?

[Metathron]

The AI can do it?

[DGDobrev]

You may have noticed that the AI sometimes makes a small turn and goes on its way rather than doing the rain of fire in a straight line or in a single 60-90 degree turn

I had it happen a few times. Not really a zig-zag RoF but it was aclue that the AI can force the dragons in a different direction.

[Metathron]

Wow, hadn't noticed that.

[Zechnophobe]

Sorry, DG, this is not accurate. The AI only flies along the closest path. However sometimes that path will involve a quasi zig-zag if you are up against the edge of the map (Some maps have weird edging right, like in Ultrax).

The best use I have found for this ability is to have a black dragon start its move up against the far right side of the map, either at the top or bottom, and then move either bottom to top, or top to bottom. You will blaze out a path that will 'hug' the far right side of the screen... normally where a lot of baddies are sitting. Not to hard to get 4 or 5 hits with this technique.

Also remember you can move without ending your turn in this game. So you don't always want to activate the ability starting from your original Hex. Move to the correct location, and then start blazing. It is a very strong ability.

[echo]

Ahhh ok. I was asking because I thought I had noticed something similar to what DG was describing. Good to know that I didn't miss anything though as I read through the manual top to bottom and couldn't find anything about this anywhere.

oh well, thanks for clearing this up! Have a good weekend everyone.

[JQueue]

Crossworld's will apparrently allow you to plot flight paths with the reign of fire, though I believe they've taken some countermeasures to prevent the overlapping of vertices and edges. (Thus enabling you to hit the same target multiple times). Can't wait for that thing to come out.

[1darklord]

It did, with Crossworlds you can now plot your course, after being frustrated by this in the original game, it's nice to be able to control them further!

Daniel.