Curse of Stones

[LumenPlacidum]

I'm curious about the alteration spell Curse of Stones. How useful do people think the spell is and does it affect people with high encumbrance more drastically than people with low encumbrance?

[Baalz]

Its a niche spell, but it can be pretty darn useful under the right circumstances. It doesn't explicitly affect people with higher encumbrance more, though they are more likely to be suffering from fatigue problems so indirectly yes.

It really shines I find against good non-elite heavy infantry/cavalry (which are very common...say you're fighting Abysia or Pythium or EA Ermor or Man or Ulm or etc.). Cast it opening round with two mages equipped with a void eye - very doable early on. What happens is 2/3rds of that big army of bad *** heavy hitters take a point of fatigue every step so they're more than half passed out by the time they get to. The point of the spell is not to try to make the enemy pass out though, it's to make them enter round one of melee with 50+ fatigue. 50+ fatigue for them gives them -5 attack/defense which is the equivalent of level 10 fire/water blessing for your guys (the high chance of a critical hit due to fatigue is arguably similar to having flaming weapons against heavy armor). If combat drags on (which is what heavy infantry excels at) they *do* pass out. Then, the extra tasty icing on the cake is when they route they keep passing out every other step so even if you've got slow heavy infantry yourself you can kill every one if them (that was affected by the spell at least).

Niche spell, but I've never seen anyone other than myself cast it so I think it's under appreciated because it can be very effective given it's research level and ease to cast.

[Alpine Joe]

I heard it affected your own troops as well. Is this true?

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by Baalz

50+ fatigue for them gives them -5 attack/defense which is the equivalent of level 10 fire/water blessing for your guys (the high chance of a critical hit due to fatigue is arguably similar to having flaming weapons against heavy armor).

Are you sure about that? I thought (based on the manual formulas and observational experience) that it was -1 to defense per 10 fatigue, and -1 to attack per 20 fatigue. Thus you're getting +5 to attack and +2 to defense, plus the crit effect, making it more of an F10W4 equivalent than F10W10.

I would use it more frequently if it weren't MR-easy or if it cost only 1 earth gem. I do like your suggestion of casting it with multiple mages--you might get worthwhile coverage that way. Fatiguing 1/6 of the enemy army is less worthwhile than Earthquake or Strength of Giants, but if you could get it up to 1/2 the army it would be worth doing.

-Max

[Hoplosternum]

I cast it once against Machaka and it seemed to affect a lot of my troops as well. At least there were a load of stone icons on my troops. I suppose it is possible Machaka acst it too, but I am not sure it is a spell he can easily cast.

So while it looks good per the manual I am not sure I would dare cast it again....

[Baalz]

Originally Posted by Hoplosternum

I cast it once against Machaka and it seemed to affect a lot of my troops as well. At least there were a load of stone icons on my troops. I suppose it is possible Machaka acst it too, but I am not sure it is a spell he can easily cast.

So while it looks good per the manual I am not sure I would dare cast it again....

Dunno, maybe it was bugged at some point? Definitely doesn't now.

[Hoplosternum]

Originally Posted by Baalz

Dunno, maybe it was bugged at some point? Definitely doesn't now.

Well I'll try it again at some point. Because it certainly seems a very useful spell from the description. And it was possible machaka also cast it as it was a mp game. I certainly saw the icons.

Even if it does affect your own troops it might still be worth casting if you have a decent MR advantage. Maybe after casting anti magic which is another fairly early battlefield wide spell?

[Zeldor]

Yeah, pretty sure it affects friendly troops too. It has it's uses in late-game rather, but not as a single spell.

[Baalz]

No way, it doesn't affect your own troops, that would be pretty crappy. Maybe that's why nobody uses it if that's the perception. The description even says enemy troops, and it's easy to verify as there's a special icon that appears on the character sheet when it takes effect. It is a +4 to the MR save though so I find it useful to cast it a couple times with cheap penetration boosters to get a good coverage. It also rapidly loses its effectiveness the later in combat you cast it, thus the suggestion to cast it with a few mages turn one.

[Baalz]

Oh, also it's a die roll each step, not 1 fatigue. As I implied, I find combined with "hold and attack" from your back row the enemy is roughly at 50-60 fatigue when you start fighting while your troops are fresh.