Re: communion mechanics
 

IIRC the range is 8 squares not including the square the Blood mage is standing in.

(all coordinates are for attacker as I remember those better than defender ones)

Notes

- The square the Slave itself is in is what matters, not the square the commander the Slave is equipped to. (ie. Slaves surround the commander like guards do. They don't and can't all stand in the same square when there are more than 3, or 2 and the commander)

- Range doesn't change when Slave and BMage are in a different column AND row.


Practical Example

If there is a Slave in 14,15 (the default commander position) then...

1 - a BMage in 6,15 (far left centre) can use the Slave
2 - a BMage in 6,7 (top left corner) can use the Slave as 15-7 = 8
3 - a BMage in 6,24 (bottom left corner) can not use the Slave as 24-15 = >8


All the above is purely from memory as I can't access my Dom notes right now, and even though I do have a good memory, I could be misremembering slightly. Plus this is very easy to test, which everyone who really wants to know the answer to this should do. Because...

A - it gets you the answer.
B - it's good for you.
C - you don't wear out the goodwill of knowledgeable folk who are really needed when the genuinely tough questions come up.

I would retest myself, but really don't see why I should when I don't need the answer myself right now. (and I trust my memory)

Re: communion mechanics
 

It also has advantages, in that if you run out of slaves while in the field you can teleport in another mage and have those slaves used immediately rather than needing a turn to redistribute them as you would with gems.

Re: communion mechanics
 

On the other hand, there are some huge disadvantages. Battlefield evocations can't just drain gem pools, but slaves can be slaughtered wholesale. That's a pretty major downside.

With that said, there is also some general screwing around you can do in single player that more than makes up for it. Blood Slave thugs are completely and utterly absurd (and generally worthless), and as such oddly entertaining.

Re: communion mechanics
 

all this makes my head hurt.

i just plan on getting killed by midgame...

Re: communion mechanics
 

Nah, just drop a rain of stones, or a couple of earthquakes...

Gets rid of the slaves it does...

:D

Re: communion mechanics
 

For those of us who are not very good at all of this :re: it's bad news. I have gotten the hang of letting those who can't spend gems carry around for those who can, so that I can ration. I had been doing same in current game with slaves. I thought I'd noticed that slaves carried by non-BMs were getting used on battlefield... I now know I need to physically separate the carriers from the BMs!

Re: communion mechanics
 

Let scouts carry the slaves. Keep them hidden and out of the fights.
It's best for gems too. It means they don't get killed off by a luck shot.

Re: communion mechanics
 

Yeah, if you don't have armies of scouts supporting your armies around the map (at least one of which should always be in the same province as the army it's feeding, and preferably a minimum of two should be supporting a given army just in case you go to move and have your movement blocked), you're probably not going to be able to survive the middle game, much less the late game. And scouts are much, much superior to the job than visible commanders are. I am personally willing to summon shadow servants just to put on gem-carrying duty if for some reason my scout population is excessively constrained.

Re: communion mechanics
 

Because scouts show up all the tiume when you click "n" through your units, I try to avoid building many! But I understand what you guys are saying, thanks.