Good Assassin in Conjuration?

[Deathblob]

The order of assassination/casting is irrelevant. The point is, your enemy knows every single turn where the Harvester is, when the Harvester is in your enemy's lands.

Non-reaper assassins are fairly easy (if time-consuming) to counter as it is, but at least the only turn your enemy knows where it is, is when it actually assassinates. So if a Mind Hunt following an assassination attempt fails, your enemy wonders, is it still in the province? Or did it wander off? You can't "lay low" with a Harvester.

If you sneak your Harvester onto an army (and if you've got conj-7, he'll have mage support), the next turn:
- your enemy gets the "disease" message
- he gives patrol orders, and Mind Hunt if he is capable
- you give assassinate orders
The next next turn:
- maybe you get killed by mind hunt
- maybe you kill a commander
- the mage-supported army kills you

If you sneak your Harvester onto a forge/research center, the next turn:
- your enemy gets the "disease" message
- he gives his mages some gems & scripts them, and casts Mind Hunt if he is capable
- you give assassinate orders
The next next turn:
- maybe you get killed by mind hunt
- maybe you kill a mage, or maybe you get killed by elementals/sprites/skellyspam

[PriestyMan]

the difference with mind hunt is you have to expect at least +3 penetration, and many times +5. that makes it a lot more effective

[Scaramuccia]

S4 mind hunter - MR against 14 or die. Illithid 5s + cap + eye + spell focus + rune smasher - MR against 20 or die.

[Knai]

Originally Posted by Scaramuccia

S4 mind hunter - MR against 14 or die. Illithid 5s + cap + eye + spell focus + rune smasher - MR against 20 or die.

Illithid 5s is not even remotely plausible for a standard issue mind hunter. 2s + cap + coin + boosters, or 3s + cap + boosters is more along the lines of what one would expect to be fairly standard, with 4s being impressive.

[Scaramuccia]

Originally Posted by Knai

Illithid 5s is not even remotely plausible for a standard issue mind hunter. 2s + cap + coin + boosters, or 3s + cap + boosters is more along the lines of what one would expect to be fairly standard, with 4s being impressive.

Ok your cases:

2s + cap + coin = 14
2s + cap + coin + eye = 16
2s + cap + coin + eye + smasher = 18

add +1 if you have slots for spell focus (3s or 3 misc slots).

[TigerBlood]

Silly me. Assassination never works as a strategy because you'll always have a mage with the perfect load out waiting to mind hunt something. Other players are never limited by other concerns during a game and will always have the appropriate mage, army and gear to root out a harvester the moment they appear. And players only ever use one assassin at a time, never send them into domed provinces or use them in conjunction with more direct forms of warfare or other ploys.

I've been playing the game wrong. I realise that now.

[Scaramuccia]

The biggest problem with assassination - the reward is low. Ofc it could work, and as surprise tactic will work. But in many case it will be - you spent a lot of time and resources to kill 5 of 30 mystics in the army - omfg result, isn't it?

Powerful assassins are great thugs and assassination is just an additional option. Weak assassins in middle-late game couldn't kill anyone.

[brxbrx]

So people don't take risks in MP?

[Scaramuccia]

Assassination often is high risk/low reward strategy. And people prefer high risk/high reward.

[Knai]

Originally Posted by Scaramuccia

Assassination often is high risk/low reward strategy. And people prefer high risk/high reward.

Low risk/high reward is ideal. High risk/high reward and low risk/low reward are both acceptable, with high risk/low reward being an outright bad idea unless you are really desperate.

On domes: Mind hunt has been brought up as an effective assassination counter. Domes effectively nullify this, as trying to mind hunt into a dome is an outright bad idea. It's patrol that has a chance of nabbing an assassin, and in the case of the Harvester of Sorrows or similar, it might take a few rounds before patrol is a viable option. That said, the Harvester is expensive enough that buying a mage, loading it up with whatever it takes to kill the Harvester, and calling it a day should be efficient - sure, Mind Hunt doesn't work under a dome, but Soul Slay still does, as do Charm and Enslave Mind.