Luck and randomness are connected. Is there luck in Populous? This question was asked long ago, and the players have both opinions.

Luck have a minimal impact on this game, but a single event of luck can actually change the outcome of a game! What are the luck events in Populous? The earthquake randomness destruction, the preacher preaching time, the Angel of Death picking real units even if ghost army is nearby, the tornado flying time and landing place, the luck of a direct lightning hitting, and others.

 

Luck/Random Events:

 

Earthquake Randomness Destruction - the camera angle does not affect the outcome of an earthquake (read about the EARTHQUAKE RANDOMNESS STUDY, by Alex). This means that, if an earthquake is cast in the exactly same spot over and over again (using save and load clean states), it will have different outcomes. So, we can't exactly predict the outcome of this spell, so we can consider its destruction lucky/badlucky. 

 

The Preacher Preaching Time - some units take only little seconds to get converted by preachers - others take minutes. Using clean save/load states of the same units, this timer would differ. Meaning we can consider this a random event, we have no control over it, and it's lucky/unlucky.

 

The Angel of Death - we have no control over this spell, and he might pick high priority targets even when there are many low priority target nearby, so this can be considered a random event aswel (luck/unluck).

 

The Tornado Randomness - There are three lucky/unlucky stages of the tornado: firstly, we can't control the direction it will take after a while, so, instead of destroying 1 building, it could target extra buildings and/or units. Secondly, as a unit is catch by a tornado, it will fly - for little seconds (1-3s) or sometimes many seconds (10+), meaning it's also random. Finally, as the unit is flying, the landing point is also random: the tornado will knock that unit into one random direction. This means the unit could land on land, or on water, therefore the luck/unluck in this spell.

 

The Direct Lightning - some think it's about luck, some think it's about dodging, some think it's about timing. Maybe all of that.

 

There are other luck/unluck events. As an example, imagine a player having a large settlement and wanting to select a random brave that is near a hut. He notices he can not select him, so he right click mouse on it and finds out it was an enemy spy that was preparing for an attack. The player had luck because he had no clue there was an enemy spy there, and his intention was solely to select a brave.

 

Other luck events exist in Populous, but they will not change the outcome of a game in most times - but sometimes they will. Imagine a lategame pressure point where both tribes have small defense but a good settlement. Both shamans are caught in the same tornado. One is sent to water and dies, and the other is sent to land and survives. That shaman will now be able to cast all his spells on the enemy settlement. Both shamans had the same chance of dying or surviving, yet one survived and one died, randomly. This small-huge luck event made one of the playeres win the game.

Yes, things like this are rare to happen, but once in a while they do!