[MaxWilson]

RE: Master Enslave. 16 slaves teleporting around burns a lot of pearls, 48 per turn. Seems wasteful. Why not spend a few gems to empower your S5 to S6 or give him a couple of booster items (Starshine Skullcap, Ring of Sorcery, Ring of Wizardry) that also boost penetration? (I.e. to reduce the number of slaves you need to bring.)

On the other hand, with 16 slaves you can, as you've previously pointed out, bring along TWO S5s for multiple Master Enslaves.

Don't forget that Pythium communicants take less fatigue than regular Communion Slaves when casting spells. Hmmm, I wonder... if you arrange a trade with Pythium to get communicants using Enslave Mind instead of Charm (so they're not commanders), do the communicants still participate in communion? Then you could carry them around as part of your Astral Travel army.

One final idea: it's hard to move commanders around but easy to move items. Build 16 Slave Matrixes (cost: 112 earth gems, 112 pearls with a dwarven hammer) and shuffle those around between labs, with cheap indy mages or something to wear them. Obviously pointless if you're an astral nation already.

-Max