[Baalz]

Communion is a PITA, but it can also be very powerful. Aside from casting the big spells that are otherwise very difficult, and spreading buffs (as mentioned earlier in this thread) it can also be a *very* effective way to lay out mid level evocation carnage (falling fires, magma eruption, gifts from heaven, etc.) in an essentially never ending cascade of damage. The thing is, you have to realize what a communion is and what it is not. Here's some things that seem to be common mistakes when using communions.

1) You need way more communion slaves than you think. The actual ratio is going to vary a lot depending on your mages and the size of the communion, but to really see the benefits you generally need to be thinking in the realm of double digit numbers of slaves.

2) Dumping the cheapest astral mage you can scrounge up into the slave role will often yield budget-rate results. Obviously there are plenty of situations where doing this makes sense, but also consider putting some decent mages as slaves - it makes a significant difference. It'll often make more sense to put your cheaper mage as the master because he'll still be effective, but much less likely to kill the slave.

3) Because of the extreme expense (particularly in castle-recruiting turns), communions are really most appropriate for large, critical battles, not for your more typical skirmishes. Don't get me wrong, you can certainly wrangle some good use out of 6 person communions, but to really appreciate them you need to see a 30 Mystic Arcoscephale communion drop a dozen gifts from heaven/falling fires/astral fires for 10 turns straight. Trust me, you're used to seeing that type of carnage in the first few rounds but it's quite noticeable when the enemy mages pass out after a couple turns but the onslaught from your side just...doesn't...end!