RNG for Empire battle wizard?

[Rhaeem]

I got the light wizard guy... I wanted the fire one (I usually don't invest in magic, but the fire guy is somewhat useful). Any point in reloading the save game or do I have to restart the campaign?

[Oswald]

Whats so bad about the light one?
He gets snare after all.

[cernodan]

It's more fun to go with the one you get. This way you can learn to use the different lores better and how to better integrate them with an army.

[Teh_Diplomat]

Light owns for trapping Vamp Lords and shooting them before their regen pool starts.

[KTVindicare]

A Wizard's a Wizard harry. Good opportunity for you to try out another lore of Magic, lore of Light is great.

If you don't like which Wizard you get, just use him as a scout, diplomat, or research rate booster.

[galhalatine]

To answer your question you can reload the auto save and it should be new RNG. In the past you would have to quick save before hitting end turn to change the RNG seed but it seems to do it on its own now. Also, perhaps try investing heavily in magic, its one the empires strengths so learning to use it helps out a lot.

[Rhaeem]

Thanks for the answers.

The flame wizard is useful in siege (against the AI obviously), because the AI forces its troops to stay close to the wall and it has a lot of area spells.

As for using mages in armies:
- Spells never hit or don't hit for enough damage.
- Randomly moving spells.
- The fact that the enemy has a ridiculous amount of time to disperse his troops if I use something like cassadora's comet.
- Not to mention the mana is random, so you can very well enter a battle and only be able to cast one or two spells.

All of the above made me abandon spellcasters since the first game. After years it is the first time that I am using a mage in an army (not counting the lords obviously, love Baltazar, even if I don't care much for his spells). I just feel another steam tank or hellstorm rocket battery are a better option and won't miss as much.

All that being said, I'll test some mages in skirmish battles, see if can give them another chance. Not the light guy though, he is never setting foot in any army, no matter the faction.

[Fryskar]

Originally posted by Rhaeem:

Thanks for the answers.

The flame wizard is useful in siege (against the AI obviously), because the AI forces its troops to stay close to the wall and it has a lot of area spells.

As for using mages in armies:
- Spells never hit or don't hit for enough damage.
- Randomly moving spells.
- The fact that the enemy has a ridiculous amount of time to disperse his troops if I use something like cassadora's comet.
- Not to mention the mana is random, so you can very well enter a battle and only be able to cast one or two spells.

All of the above made me abandon spellcasters since the first game. After years it is the first time that I am using a mage in an army (not counting the lords obviously, love Baltazar, even if I don't care much for his spells). I just feel another steam tank or hellstorm rocket battery are a better option and won't miss as much.

All that being said, I'll test some mages in skirmish battles, see if can give them another chance. Not the light guy though, he is never setting foot in any army, no matter the faction.

Not using a mage is considered a pretty major mistake, even for SP.

If you can't manage to hit enemies, you could resort to buffing/debuffing.
Some spells, like the comet you mention are very easy to use after the lines have met.

Wind is sort of random, but only in terms of how much of your pool is instantly at hand, if you have the full 100 (some get more), it will fill fairly quick.

[Rhaeem]

Originally posted by Fryskar:

Not using a mage is considered a pretty major mistake, even for SP.

If you can't manage to hit enemies, you could resort to buffing/debuffing.
Some spells, like the comet you mention are very easy to use after the lines have met.

Wind is sort of random, but only in terms of how much of your pool is instantly at hand, if you have the full 100 (some get more), it will fill fairly quick.

Like I said, I really don't see them being more useful than a steam tank, or a group of demigryph knights. I did finish some campaigns in I and II without using mages (Empire, High Elves and Vampire Coast). Once in III using only the flame wizard in Franz' army.

Is buffing/debuffing actually worth it? The numbers seem to irrelevant, +5 here, -5 there. It makes no visible difference to me. Unless it is healing, which is still pretty limited due to the duration of the spell.

Winds I agree that they are the least important argument I have. Because the mages do have some passives that improve that.

[dulany67]

Originally posted by Rhaeem:

Thanks for the answers.

The flame wizard is useful in siege (against the AI obviously), because the AI forces its troops to stay close to the wall and it has a lot of area spells.

As for using mages in armies:
- Spells never hit or don't hit for enough damage.
- Randomly moving spells.
- The fact that the enemy has a ridiculous amount of time to disperse his troops if I use something like cassadora's comet.
- Not to mention the mana is random, so you can very well enter a battle and only be able to cast one or two spells.

All of the above made me abandon spellcasters since the first game. After years it is the first time that I am using a mage in an army (not counting the lords obviously, love Baltazar, even if I don't care much for his spells). I just feel another steam tank or hellstorm rocket battery are a better option and won't miss as much.

All that being said, I'll test some mages in skirmish battles, see if can give them another chance. Not the light guy though, he is never setting foot in any army, no matter the faction.

Your list shows a misunderstanding of magic mechanics and use.

[Rhaeem]

Originally posted by dulany67:

Your list shows a misunderstanding of magic mechanics and use.

Feel free to explain.

[Fryskar]

Originally posted by Rhaeem:

Originally posted by Fryskar:

Not using a mage is considered a pretty major mistake, even for SP.

If you can't manage to hit enemies, you could resort to buffing/debuffing.
Some spells, like the comet you mention are very easy to use after the lines have met.

Wind is sort of random, but only in terms of how much of your pool is instantly at hand, if you have the full 100 (some get more), it will fill fairly quick.

Like I said, I really don't see them being more useful than a steam tank, or a group of demigryph knights. I did finish some campaigns in I and II without using mages (Empire, High Elves and Vampire Coast). Once in III using only the flame wizard in Franz' army.

Is buffing/debuffing actually worth it? The numbers seem to irrelevant, +5 here, -5 there. It makes no visible difference to me. Unless it is healing, which is still pretty limited due to the duration of the spell.

Winds I agree that they are the least important argument I have. Because the mages do have some passives that improve that.

Buffing/debuffing is never as flashy as vortexes, but it can do a lot.
As ex, the flaming sword of rhuin is an aoe buff for 30% base WS, 25% base missile and changing to magical fire attacks affecting all units in a 30m area.
The dmg buffs itself is nice, magical dmg can be pretty handy against some factions like chaos (daemons). Fire dmg isn't too often a benefit, but you got vampires next to you, their regen gives them a 25% fire weakness. Ontoo of that, fire magic has a passive that triggers on all enemies for another 20%.

Its nowhere near as satisfing as throwing a burning skulk into their lines and just wiping hundreds of unarmored infantry but won't harm your own units and can perform well against other targets.

Barly any unit gets remotly close to what the first mage per army can do, if used right.

[Constantin Valdor]

Originally posted by Rhaeem:

Thanks for the answers.

The flame wizard is useful in siege (against the AI obviously), because the AI forces its troops to stay close to the wall and it has a lot of area spells.

As for using mages in armies:
- Spells never hit or don't hit for enough damage.
- Randomly moving spells.
- The fact that the enemy has a ridiculous amount of time to disperse his troops if I use something like cassadora's comet.
- Not to mention the mana is random, so you can very well enter a battle and only be able to cast one or two spells.

All of the above made me abandon spellcasters since the first game. After years it is the first time that I am using a mage in an army (not counting the lords obviously, love Baltazar, even if I don't care much for his spells). I just feel another steam tank or hellstorm rocket battery are a better option and won't miss as much.

All that being said, I'll test some mages in skirmish battles, see if can give them another chance. Not the light guy though, he is never setting foot in any army, no matter the faction.

Mages are the strongest units in the game, both per damage, kill counts and usefulness with buff/debuffs. It seems that you are using them really wrong.

- Spells can be directioned (Wind Spells) and a single spell can do even 30K of damage and decimate entire units.
- Some spells move at random but they do quite the damage if used against blob of units. Wind spells and static spells are better thought.
- Casandora's comet overcasted can wipe out units with ease. You have to use it when the army lines collide, same for wind spells.
- Starting mana is random, but you gain a fixed amount per second, boosted by abilities/troops (like the exalted pink horrors).

[SomeGuy1]

Originally posted by Rhaeem:

Originally posted by Fryskar:

Not using a mage is considered a pretty major mistake, even for SP.

If you can't manage to hit enemies, you could resort to buffing/debuffing.
Some spells, like the comet you mention are very easy to use after the lines have met.

Wind is sort of random, but only in terms of how much of your pool is instantly at hand, if you have the full 100 (some get more), it will fill fairly quick.

Like I said, I really don't see them being more useful than a steam tank, or a group of demigryph knights. I did finish some campaigns in I and II without using mages (Empire, High Elves and Vampire Coast). Once in III using only the flame wizard in Franz' army.

Is buffing/debuffing actually worth it? The numbers seem to irrelevant, +5 here, -5 there. It makes no visible difference to me. Unless it is healing, which is still pretty limited due to the duration of the spell.

Winds I agree that they are the least important argument I have. Because the mages do have some passives that improve that.

So, I can only find two buff/debuff spells that have a number even close to the ones you cite... and it isn't all they do, and that number is to +8 or -8 to leadership which is a binary difference between fighting and routing (Aspect of the Dread Knight also adds magical attacks and causes fear and terror, while Dark Subjugation also gives the standard Mdef penalty). The standard buff and debuff sizes are 24 MAT and MDEF, 25% WS, and 30 Armor... and yes, those are quite large. The MAT buffs especially are valuable, extra accuracy is the largest damage increase your melee units will get with how the calculations work. Melee units hit chance is 35% + (Attacker MAT - Defender MDEF, minimum 0). Most units of the same tier have MAT and MDEF in similar ranges, so an increase of 24 is going from 40% or so to hit to 65%--over a 50% increase in damage done. That's a LOT.

[dulany67]

Originally posted by Rhaeem:

As for using mages in armies:
- Spells never hit or don't hit for enough damage.
- Randomly moving spells.
- The fact that the enemy has a ridiculous amount of time to disperse his troops if I use something like cassadora's comet.
- Not to mention the mana is random, so you can very well enter a battle and only be able to cast one or two spells.

Spells hit and do plenty of damage. They generally do not erase enemies. Trying to cast on enemies advancing on an empty field is a waste. However, if you use chaff to tarpit the enemy line and then cast spells there is no moving out of the way. Also, when your units are not the quality of the enemy, buff and debuff can make the difference- but you have to know when the right time is. You should be entering every battle with max mana fairly early in the campaign.

[Rhaeem]

Originally posted by Fryskar:

Barly any unit gets remotly close to what the first mage per army can do, if used right.

I probably don't know how to use them right then. I did manage to conquer Sylvania, partially, thanks to the fire mage in the siege battles, but that was it. Usually he performs just like any other unit and my artillery normally kills more than the guy in open field battles.