Casting "greyed" out spells

[Shmonk]

Question - in an SP game I had my Pretender enter the water to take a water province, and I thought I scripted him to cast Water Shield and 1 or 2 other buffs before going to attack closest. Now when the turn started, he cast no spells, just ran over and died after taking on 25+ ichtyids.

Now I thought if I had the ability to select a greyed out spell like Water Shield (I was on land at the time), it would still work as I moved to attack a water province. Is this not true?

It's possible I canceled the scripted orders somehow, but wanted to know in general if this was the case.

[quantum_mechani]

Shmonk said:
Question - in an SP game I had my Pretender enter the water to take a water province, and I thought I scripted him to cast Water Shield and 1 or 2 other buffs before going to attack closest. Now when the turn started, he cast no spells, just ran over and died after taking on 25+ ichtyids.

Now I thought if I had the ability to select a greyed out spell like Water Shield (I was on land at the time), it would still work as I moved to attack a water province. Is this not true?

It's possible I canceled the scripted orders somehow, but wanted to know in general if this was the case.

If you script a spell that is meant to be cast underwater, and he goes into battle underwater, he should cast it. The scripts are not evaluated until the battle starts.

[Shmonk]

Okay, thanks. I must have somehow canceled my scripted orders then. Darn, I hate losing a Pretender that way.

[En Forcer]

You may have also needed some water gems to cast it. No gems, no dice.

[Oversway]

You may have also needed some water gems to cast it. No gems, no dice.

Having made this mistake before, I find that the AI will usually cast some other spell (usually detrimental if not useless), not just skip the script altogether.

[Shmonk]

Yes, I've noticed this in other combats. I'll script the mage to cast Air Shield then 4 Fire Darts, then Cast Spells. But when I see the battle, they cast Air Shield, then Fire Shield, then some other buff, then the Fire Darts. And here I am attacking a province with maybe 10 other units, taking on a group of 40, and I want the fire darts to soften them up. But it didn't happen.

So I guess the AI modified my script to account for the "overwhelming" force of the AI? hehehe

It's good to hear that about the underwater attack. I do remember going back in to check his scripted orders, and I must have blanked them out by accident and forgot to redo them.

Now, I have to Call God with my 1 priest (as I recruit 2 or 3 more to help out). -sigh-