AI infinite casting points?

[MrFrengLitch]

I just did a 1v1 battle. Both units on the same kind of HP/strenght. All we had was our spells to make a difference. Anyway, I noticed the AI seemed to have an infinite amount of casting points. I barely had enough CP to outlast the enemy.

Does anyone know if the AI has infinite casting points in battles?

[Rainnd]

From my observation, they run out eventualy, but they have a lot.

[MetalHev]

Wizard Kings have a LOT more casting points than normal rulers, so that might be it. Reaches the 250+ later on.

[Astasia]

In some of the campaign missions they start with significantly advanced research and cities which gives them much more casting points. Otherwise, any faction with some astral or mystic culture is probably going to outcast you, there are also some things that grant extra CP on death, which basically means unlimited CP in terms of smaller spells.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Originally posted by MetalHev:

Wizard Kings have a LOT more casting points than normal rulers, so that might be it. Reaches the 250+ later on.

This and there are several ways to get more during battle using culture traits.

[Twitch.tv/KAEN_SG]

Turn 130+ and have almost 300 Casting points. The AI seems to spam a lot of the "low level" spells so if they have around the same CP they can probably spam spells for a LONG time...

[[TAG]Alblaka]

Also don't forget the one mystic affinity perk that can reduce casting costs to almost nothing (-25% for 2 turns per spell cast) if combined with other spell cost reductions like the Culture Trait or a Root.

Heck, towards mid and late game you can probably spam 30 turns of first level spells even WITHOUT any cost reduction modifiers.

[=(FGR)=Sentinel]

To elaborate on what people are saying here, Astral-aligned Wizard Kings can have a particularly large amount of Casting points due to gaining five per ruler level and, if they have the Tome of Amplification, five per Resonance Field special province improvement. This can be a double-edged sword, though, since unless the AI sets their cities up to have high mana production they can burn through their mana reserves much faster. To give an idea, if the AI burns 100 mana on world map spells and 250 on combat spells in a single turn, they'd need at least 350 mana income per turn to break even. If you're going up against a Wizard King, especially Astral-aligned ones, it's best to either try to destroy their Pylons (especially Resonance Fields) to reduce their mana income or bait them into burning through their mana in multiple battles, if possible.

[Klutch]

Man, I need to do astral my next playthrough that sounds really cool

[GrandMajora]

Try playing on an Unlimited Power map, with somebody who has the Astral perk that lets you cast spells on the first turn.

There is a very high likelihood the enemy will just bombard you with spell after spell after spell, destroying your army before you even get a chance to move.

[camelotcrusade]

Does the AI only cast spells in combat at higher difficulties? I've watched a lot of auto-combat replays and I've never seen them use my spells once.

[Astasia]

Originally posted by camelotcrusade:

Does the AI only cast spells in combat at higher difficulties? I've watched a lot of auto-combat replays and I've never seen them use my spells once.

I think something is broken with spell use in auto resolve. Sometimes very early game I will see autoresolve use a spell, and then it basically never happens again for the rest of the playthrough even though the toggle is on allowing it. I imagine there is some check happening to determine whether using a spell is "necessary" or not, and then not casting any spells if it's regarded as not necessary, even if casting spells would have resulted in fewer casualties and you have 10k mana sitting unused.

[~ Fabulous ~]

are you fighting an AI with mystic culture which focus on astral and with powerful evoker trait?

As it seems I never fully use my casting point when I play as them

[camelotcrusade]

Originally posted by Astasia:

Originally posted by camelotcrusade:

Does the AI only cast spells in combat at higher difficulties? I've watched a lot of auto-combat replays and I've never seen them use my spells once.

I think something is broken with spell use in auto resolve. Sometimes very early game I will see autoresolve use a spell, and then it basically never happens again for the rest of the playthrough even though the toggle is on allowing it. I imagine there is some check happening to determine whether using a spell is "necessary" or not, and then not casting any spells if it's regarded as not necessary, even if casting spells would have resulted in fewer casualties and you have 10k mana sitting unused.

Interesting theory! In that case, I wish the toggle was for them *to* use spells and instead of not use them. I do have a lot of mana and think the battles would go better if they cast some spells.

[Fuinril]

With a wizzard lord I can cast as much spell as I want per battle turn past one. I'm only limited by casting points and mana (which is ... well... quite limited).

Seems like a bug, and as AI cheating give it infinite mana it could become a mess quite quickly