Can a Mage be Both Communion Slave *and* Master?

[Sombre]

That's pretty annoying.

I never really used communions much and stuff like that isn't encouraging me to.

[vfb]

It's not all bad ... it's sometimes possible to micro your casters so that depending on what you are doing, you can have the slaves just soak up fatigue, by having slaves last intentionally (Sauromatia Enarie communion for eternal skelly spam); or contribute to a communion for a boost, but also participate, by having slaves first intentionally (S2 Communion for an Antimagic and some Soul Slays, with the slaves casting Mind Burn or Paralyze).

Sometimes it's tough to get what you want because your communion units are non-homogeneous and you may prefer to have your slaves not casting. They'll usually behave themselves for the 1st to 5th turns at least if you script (Comm Slave, 4*Hold).

It's only when you do want your slaves to cast but they are after your masters (in battle order) that you are really out of luck.

[AlgaeNymph]

Jazzepi said:
If A is a master then B/D will be unable to cast spells, but C will be just fine. Masters never interfere with each other.

And if master C is also a slave?

[Endoperez]

C won't cast, because he is a slave, and a master has already casted a spell that turn.

[Gregstrom]

So basically, a master can also be a slave but the limitations of slave status still apply, often to the caster's detriment.

And the opponent's amusement.

[Agrajag]

Jazzepi said:
The problem with this is that if you have two armies that you want to merge in a large fight, both with communion masters/slaves in them, it's impossible to tell which order they'll act in. In that case, you can not rely on your communion slaves for combat casting as the order that they act in is unpredictable.

1) Switch to the province you are planning a combined attack on.
2) Click 'y'.
3) ???
4) Profit!

[capnq]

Agrajag said:

1) Switch to the province you are planning a combined attack on.
2) Click 'y'.

Behold the power of reading the manual!

I had to check the hotkeys list to find out what 'y' does. I had no idea that command was available.

[Jazzepi]

Agrajag said:

1) Switch to the province you are planning a combined attack on.
2) Click 'y'.
3) ???
4) Profit!

Nice, I never thought of that. It works well if you've got both armies moving into the same place. I don't think that Y accounts for teleported commanders though =\

Jazzepi

[vfb]

In some cases you can fake it by ordering all armies to move into a province that is not really the province you are attacking, use 'Y' to sort out battle scripts and commands, then give the orders for the real move (or teleport). If the armies are all coming together from all over the map, then you're out of luck.

[Yrkoon]

Jazzepi said:
If your combat order looks like this

SLAVE A
SLAVE B
MASTER C
SLAVE D

Then slave A/B will be able to freely cast spells each round. Master C will then cast a spell. And slave D will sit around soaking up fatigue and looking stupid.

If A and/or B cast spells in a turn, do they still count as communion slaves, i.e. are the paths of C boosted, and do A and B take fatigue from C casting spells ? Or are they out of the communion for that turn?