Strange casting order
 

In my current game I scripted two mages to teleport to the enemy province.
One had to cast undead mastery and another one - vortex of returning. However, the second mage acted first and both mages successfully teleported home. Vortex caster was (and now he is) second in commander view (so I thought he had to act second). In my tests everything worked fine.
Can anyone suppose what could it be?

Re: Strange casting order
 

I could be wrong yet I believe the casting order is determined by the game ID of the mage/commander. Hence if you buy a mage/commander on turn_1 his ID number is *usually* earlier than a mage/commander bought on turn_50.

I say *usually* because sometimes other mage/commanders die during the game and so that game ID becomes available for the next mage/commander which comes into existent.


I could be wrong as this is only a theory.

Re: Strange casting order
 

Normally commanders in commander screen are ordered by their id - that's what I meant. So I expected that the mage with lower id will move first.
I opened the turn file under -ddd options and saw nothing special in logs. Mages were "deployed" in correct order, but the astral caster just received his turn earlier.
I wonder if this is a bug or I misunderstand something. I always thought that the order in commander screen determines the casting order in battle. How can I plan battles if it is not always so?)

Re: Strange casting order
 

AFAIK, the order of ritual spells is supposed to be inverted about half the time. I haven't heard that it should also be like that for battles, but that could have caused this.

Re: Strange casting order
 

AFAIK, rituals are cast in random order, aren't they?
Manual says:

Re: Strange casting order
 

But then niether undead mastery or vortex of returning is a ritual.

Re: Strange casting order
 

Folket is correct.
This has nothing to do with rituals

Re: Strange casting order
 

It is obvious. Endo just suggested that the cause may be the same in both cases.

Re: Strange casting order
 

This is weird, and it worries me. I have never seen it happen. Usually mages
act in the order they appears in the commander list. Is it possible that the
last patch changed this?

Re: Strange casting order
 

Not likely. But I don't have a clue.

Re: Strange casting order
 

Actually I may send a save to you. I don't want to put it here as the game is currently active.

Re: Strange casting order
 

Ano, Undead Mastery requires 7D and causes 700! fatigue to the caster (if I'm wrong, please correct me). I think your starspawn wasn't able to cast it below 200 fatigue and he just hold a turn. Then the other one casted VoR as planned.

I'd really like to see UM in action. Are you going to try again next turn? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Strange casting order
 

I watched the logs. My spawn just didn't receive his turn.
700 fatigue is automatically converted to 200 so there's no problem in casting it.

We'll see what happens the next turn;-)

Re: Strange casting order
 

Yeah. 200+ fatigue just gives you 200 fatigue as long as you can meet the path requirement to cast the spell.

Re: Strange casting order
 

Oh well, I thought a mage would never cast a spell that causes more than 200 fatigue.
Thanks for clarification. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Re: Strange casting order
 

Did your Starspawn have Death 7 in paths? If not, maybe he was not allowed to use the 7 gems required to cast the spell.

Hmm, I'm also wondering about if 200 fatigue is the maximum allowed.

Re: Strange casting order
 

It's controversial. Some posters say they've tested and verified that a caster will never cast a spell that takes him above 200 fatigue. I've never had a problem with it. I don't know what to make of the discrepancy.

-Max

Re: Strange casting order
 

I tested it more than once.
Moreover, in a testbed game in the same situation and same scripting Starspawn DID cast that UM and everything went fine.
That's the point I still do not understand)

Re: Strange casting order
 

Do you still have a copy of that old saved game? The one where he didn't cast UM? What happens if you re-run the battle (i.e. View Battle) and re-randomize by inserting a random Archer or something with Shift+U when the battle first starts? What I want to know if it was a random-number-generation thing or something strategic.

-Max

Re: Strange casting order
 

I think there's some strategic reason that we just don't know. Obviously I don't have that old testbed game but it is quite easy to reproduce with debug mod.
Unfortunately I don't have time for it now. Btw, the next turn after the one I wrote this post I repeated the orders and situation was the same: UM was not cast.
One of the spell that definitely causes more than 200 fatigue and is cast always is Fire Storm. It is fatigue 500 and requires F5. ArchDevil without boosters scripted to "Phoenix Power, Fire Storm" never fails.

Re: Strange casting order
 

I just had a battle where an Amazon Sorceress (A1S1) was scripted to cast Wind Guide and didn't. No reason given or anything. I had 2 air gems on her, one for the spell and one to boost the path. It was in a big battle so there was definitely a use for it. She just didn't wanna.

It's pretty hard to script for big battles when half the time, your mages don't cast what they're told to, and when they do, they often burn up more gems than KO says they're supposed to be able to.

I AM THY GOD, MAGE! CAST THE DAMN SPELL LIKE I TOLD YOU! AND DON'T USE MORE THAN 1 GEM FOR FATIGUE/PATH BOOST PURPOSES! OR I SWEAR, I'M COMING DOWN THERE!

Re: Strange casting order
 

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

What did the debug output from the game say?

Re: Strange casting order
 

Eh, it was a couple turns ago. She still casted spells, just not the very important one I wanted her to!

Re: Strange casting order
 

She's A1, so she can't use two gems.

-Max

Re: Strange casting order
 

Exactly. Amount of gems that can be used == your level in the path in question.

Power of the Spheres, wait few turns until fatigue drops below 100, Wind Guide would have worked.

Re: Strange casting order
 

I could swear that they have been casting it other than that one incident.

Re: Strange casting order
 

If so, it's a bug that only manifests under special conditions. Or you used communion or Storm Power or something else.