Fear of your own Mages

Darryl · #1 March 18th, 2004, 07:49 PM

There's a couple of things about mages that I've been wondering about as far as the design of the game goes and if this effect is intentional. I'm currently playing a game as Arco and just took Pythium's capital. Pythium has a small (20 man) force that may try to move on one of my provinces with a temple. Since I'm greedy, I decided to move some of my forces to that province (I have a fortress right next to it). As I looked thru the commanders the only one with decent leadership was an Astrologer with 1W. I started to script his spells to move him to the province and noticed the "Water spells" and thought "NOOOO!!! he's useless. He'll just Breath of Winter and kill his own bodyguards!" Then I noticed he doesn't have the power and thought "Whew!!". Is this intentional? Is it by design that I'm supposed to be "afraid" to use water mages because of Breath of Winter"? I mean it doesn't matter what you script. If it's a battle over 5 rounds, they WILL cast Breath of Winter if they have the skill.

Also, I'm curious about Astral magic. I've been casting "Tartarian Gate", and all of the ones with Astral Magic are immediately barred from combat (Astral Duel). I'm assuming this was done on purpose, but I'm curious as to why? As it stands, Astral = no combat, no exceptions UNLESS you are the "Astral King". I even remember reading an old post where someone suggested taking a pretender who came with 1 Astral and killing him intentionally to get rid of the Astral! Was this what the devs wanted?

Darryl

fahdiz · #2 March 18th, 2004, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Darryl:
There's a couple of things about mages that I've been wondering about as far as the design of the game goes and if this effect is intentional. I'm currently playing a game as Arco and just took Pythium's capital. Pythium has a small (20 man) force that may try to move on one of my provinces with a temple. Since I'm greedy, I decided to move some of my forces to that province (I have a fortress right next to it). As I looked thru the commanders the only one with decent leadership was an Astrologer with 1W. I started to script his spells to move him to the province and noticed the "Water spells" and thought "NOOOO!!! he's useless. He'll just Breath of Winter and kill his own bodyguards!" Then I noticed he doesn't have the power and thought "Whew!!". Is this intentional? Is it by design that I'm supposed to be "afraid" to use water mages because of Breath of Winter"? I mean it doesn't matter what you script. If it's a battle over 5 rounds, they WILL cast Breath of Winter if they have the skill.

Just make sure your bodyguards have cold resistance or make sure your mage has no bodyguards and is far enough away from your other troops, and you won't have anything to worry about with Breath of Winter.

[ March 18, 2004, 17:57: Message edited by: fahdiz ]

Sindai · #3 March 18th, 2004, 08:32 PM

EDIT: Nevermind, misread your post.

[ March 18, 2004, 18:34: Message edited by: Sindai ]

Taqwus · #4 March 18th, 2004, 08:37 PM

If you don't like Magic Duel, there's an official mod for it that makes it cost a gem (thus reducing the chance it'll be used), and you could block the spell entirely by making it unavailable. You could do the same to Breath of Winter, albeit that one can be used with no risk by some mages when combined with the right troops.
But yes, water mages can be dangerous; even if they start away from everyone else, there's no guarantee that they won't move closer to the rest of yours.

Norfleet · #5 March 18th, 2004, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Taqwus:
But yes, water mages can be dangerous; even if they start away from everyone else, there's no guarantee that they won't move closer to the rest of yours.

Water Mages, with Breath of Winter researched, are a health hazard to the rest of your forces that are too close, and probably should not be brought into combat.

However, they're so useful out of combat that "useless" is far from an apt description: Give him a water bracelet, have him get his lazy *** to work forging clams for you. You'll quickly learn to value him in no time.

fahdiz · #6 March 18th, 2004, 08:53 PM

Of course, there are some Water mages who you specifically want to cast Breath of Winter. SC pretenders with Water and Ice Devils quickly come to mind...since often they'll be soloing indie provinces.

Having said that, Water mages are a tad dangerous and generally best used out of combat, or for bringing landlubbers with them for taking sea provinces - or hopefully they only have Water 1 so they can cast Quickness and stay out of trouble.