Hidden in Snow

[Twan]

Hidden in Snow summon a tribe of "up to 25" unfrozen + a leader + up to 2 mages but it seems some "tribes" are really small : last time I had only the leader, 3 unfrozens + 3 unfrozen warriors and 0 mage, not a good deal for 55 gems.

I wonder if the effect is decreasing with use (it was my third hidden in snow in the same province in 3 turns, it may be logical if there are no unfrozen left to be raised), season based (spell casted in early winter) or 100% random ?

In all cases hidden in snow looks like a not very useful spell for the nations able to use it, except if you get an unfrozen mage with good earth magic (if you can cast hidden in snow, you already have water + death mages, and the units are inferior to the sea trolls you can have for the same price, especially when the number of trolls is guaranteed ; but hidden in snow remain a good spell to get mages having access to earth magic with a non earth nation).

[Meglobob]

Not cast this spell but does lvl of casting mage have anything to do with it? A lvl 7D mage, casting pale riders gets 33 pale riders, +13 more than normal. Anywhere in the manual you see a + sign means more effects for a higher lvl than needed to cast mage.

I bet casting it in winter is better than in summer (or possibly vice versa in this case), Illwinter seem to like influencing alot of effects by seasons.

Casting some spells with different scales/seasons can result in some unusual results now and again.

[LDiCesare]

I cast it twice. Once, I got 1 chieftain, 5 warriors and about 15 regular unfrozens, which I found pitiful. On the second casting (other game), I got a chieftain, 5 warriors and 7 regulars, 2 mages (E2D1 and E2W2D2 if I recall well). The last mage is good, but the spell's still overly expensive and random in my opinion.
I haven't made any attempt to reproduce casting by season/mage/number of spells. I somehow doubt the number of castings has an effect, since these aren't unique, but I may be wrong.

[Endoperez]

Only D1 is needed to cast Hidden in Snow, so the mages provide both Earth and Death.

There isn't a + in the description. It's rather strange, really, only reading as "up to 25" Unfrozen and "up to 2" Unfrozen Mages. It's also missing the number of Unfrozen Warriors, and their stats.

I can't really say what spells are affected by seasons and what aren't, but if the description and the manual doesn't mention anything, it should be asked about and something should be added either to the spell's description or to the manual.

[PDF]

I suspect the Cold scale and season could have an effect, but that's just intuition, it needs to be tested.

BTW, glad to find here so many Frenchies from Cyberstratege site !

[PhilD]

PDF said:
BTW, glad to find here so many Frenchies from Cyberstratege site !

Hey, since some of the regulars there are complaining that we're taking too much space, we have to find a refuge here

[PvK]

The results are not guaranteed, but it can be an extremely good deal. My two recent castings yielded:

Undead Commander, Mage (W1E3D2), Mage (W2E1D1), 25 unfrozen)

Undead Commander, Mage (W3E1D2), Mage (W1E2D3), 17 unfrozen)

This is a W3D1 spell (which one could easily boost up a W2D1 or even W1D1 caster too... e.g. a Spectral Mage which is D3, so e.g. anyone with D2 and a skull staff). So it gets you mages up to E3 and possibly from D1 to D3, and also combined into a single caster so you can get to spells like Streams From Hades, Catoblepas, Blight, Claymen, Ghost Ship, Leviathan, forge Jade Armor, etc...

The plain fighting ability is worthwhile, too. Mixed with a bunch of regular undead, the troops' cold aura alone could be a force that could be quite potent simply by freezing enemies.

In other words, it can open up lots of useful paths and combinations, and other good things, so it is worth it, just maybe not always.

PvK

[Nick_K]

I've never tried this spell, but the sea trolls people seem to be comparing it with are distinctly mediocre in battle. They have good hp, but low prot, high size and low def make them quite vulnerable, and high size & low attack makes them poor at dishing out damage too.

[Edi]

Unfrozen mages are automatically D1 and have 8 additional randoms each at 50%. The randoms are D, D, E, E, E, W, W, W, so if you got extraordinarily lucky, you could get a D3E3W3 mage out of it. The chance for that is 1/256, but even a lesser unfrozen mage can easily be good. If it has only one or two picks besides the first D, it's a pitiful one.

Edi

[Edi]

Oh, sea trolls. Don't get me started. The minimum they need is attack 10 or 11 and weapon 29 (claw) instead of fist. Then they would be useful something other than just taking hits.

Edi