Routing bug?
 

I've encountered some strange behaviour in my current MP game. After taking some heavy casualties the enemy routed. It didn't seem to have much effect though. The enemy lich stayed on the field with his bodyguards and happily continued casting spells until he was killed three turns later. Is this a know bug?

Re: Routing bug?
 

I believe Gods don't route in their own dominion...or perhaps it was Immortal Gods don't route in their own dominion.

Re: Routing bug?
 

Then it seems like units set to guard commander on immortal gods doesn't rout either. I wonder if that's true for all units under his command.

Re: Routing bug?
 

Hmm, that lich seems buggy in a lot of ways. Now he's back and cast two spells each turn. Well sometimes he just casts one but the text still claims he casts two.

Re: Routing bug?
 

Immortals are never supposed to rout in their dominion. They will rout due to total hp however, so it is possible to make them rout.

(If they get killed because they have nowhere to rout to, they also don't come back - which is also a bug).

Basically, there are a lot of bugs having to do with immortals and routing, but not routing is what they're supposed to do. (They're immortal, why should they care?)

Re: Routing bug?
 

Just because your arm grows back doesn't necessarily mean you don't care about losing it....

Re: Routing bug?
 

Yes, my Lich (or any other) Immortal unit will never retreat as long as there is a white candle on the province because it cannot die. The only way to rout an immortal is to (a) be defending and (b) reach the 50 turn limit.

The "army routs" message may display multiple times for any of a number of reasons during the battle, but no immortal units will retreat. Immortal, non-commanders such as Vampires and Fey Boars will retreat if they have no commander, I believe.

I have never seen an immortal unit retreat before it dies including to this "total hp" retreat indicated above.

One thing about Immortals is that they do collect a significant number of afflictions. Your best bet for dealing with them is to try to keep a nasty affliction on it such as "Blind" or "Feeblemind" both of which can be induced by magic weapons. The phoenix, who can die multiple times in each battle in CBM with it's automatic Phoenix Pyre I have seen collect as many as 7 afflictions in a single battle all of which, of course, were healed by my lovely Arcoscephalean priestesses ^_^. Immortals also have automatic Rejuvenation effect even if it doesn't show up--they will randomly heal afflictions each turn.

This won't work well, of course, if you're up against healers such as Arcoscephale or EA Ermor or if your opponent has Gift of Health or the Chalice.

Also note, that my lich is a Master Lich which is the weakest immortal chassis--it's a rainbow. The regular Lich is significantly more powerful and can be used as a thug or SC, but generally lacks the wide variety of paths the Master Lich has. SCing a Lich requires at least one wish for "Power", but requires only minimal equipment depending on your choice of paths. Minimal gear is always best for Immortals because you don't want to be afraid of kamikaze. I usually like Death/Astral minimum often with a touch of Air and or Earth for the big Lich.

(I'm an Immortal pretender freak btw).

Re: Routing bug?
 

Why would you bother healing an immortal pretender?

Re: Routing bug?
 

To get them back to a useful state quicker.

Some afflictions won't matter much, but you'd want to heal a Mute/Feeblemind as soon as possible.

Re: Routing bug?
 

It takes a longer time to recuperate afflictions than to heal them in Arcoscephale. I'm not sure what the default recuperation rate is, but if you're playing Arco, and you're not healing, you're missing out on one of their best features. With other healers, you want to get rid of Feeblemind/Mute/Blind/Lost One Eye/Chest Wound as soon as possible because those significantly impair your pretender's ability to kill things (Chest Wounds don't matter to Liches of course).


I have usually 1 to 3 priestesses set on heal permanently in my capitol and largest staging point cities at all times so that any visiting army is automatically healed. I also bring them along with traveling armies and they heal the army while they siege castles. Arcoscephalean Priestesses have a 100-score Heal rate. Their pathetic 3RP, IMO, is not worth as much as their ability to remove afflictions from units. This also easily cleans up any nasty Death magic or after-effects of starving your army (after you're back in supply surplus, of course. The priestesses also like to heal and bless units in combat.

I don't generally use Ermor's priests for healing, though I do hire a lot of them. I prefer to use them as a ranged attack force--Smiters. I use them for healing only when I have a significant problem (like disease spells, starvation effects, or repairing an SC).

Re: Routing bug?
 

The ants in my yard do some brilliant routing. Are those the kind of bugs you mean?

Re: Routing bug?
 

Immortals will rout due to total hp while in dominion. I've seen it multiple times, and it happens so routinely that I haven't even bothered to save a game turn.

This is especially egregious during an assassination attempt, because its the only reason why they'd rout (30% of their own hp = 30% army hp), and i've had multiple immortals rout during assassinations. Which of course actually kills them, despite being in dominion.

Re: Routing bug?
 

Speaking of routing, although not related to immortals, I have long wondered why I will apparently win in the battle reply, routing all enemies units on the field (apparently before round 50, though I don't keep track), and yet lose in the actual battle results. I know for close battles this sometimes happens, but it sometimes leaves you feeling robbed. :)

Re: Routing bug?
 

Have anyone encountered the other bugs I mentioned? Casters (a non-quickened lich in this case) casting multiple spells each turn. And the text not agreeing with the actual spells cast.

Maybe your army routed too and managed to leave the field before the enemy?

Re: Routing bug?
 

This probably the long-known bug that occasionally the reply has nothing to do with the actual battle.

The thing is the game doesn't actually store the battle results, but only the random seed that generated it.

Re: Routing bug?
 

Not that I can recall. Would be nice if you've found a way to get spellcasters to cast multiple spells per round. So you say the displayed text says more than one spell per round but only one actual spell effect was seen per round or was it vice-versa?

I don't recall seeing any other routing message except for the enemy and the few enemy troops remaining were at the edge of the enemies territory (getting ready to disappear from the screen) when I left the replay/the replay ended. The large amount of undead I had raised on the field (with their high morale) seemed to keep my army from routing even though most of my regular troops (with the exception of most of my spellcasters) had routed.

May well be.

Re: Routing bug?
 

Yes, I reported this about a year ago. Specifically in my case it was casting hellpower/summon imps, sequentially. I have also seen it say it was casting blessing and cast summon imp.

It was reproducible - every battle that caster fought he did it.