I'm new to this game and what is insanity?

[Macciow]

I was having a nice game with the Baron conquerin something like 3/4 of Elysium and defeating all the AIs except 2 (9 at the beginning) then the Necromancer and I entered into war, I destroyed all his armies except his personal army, so with 40 knights, 150 infantries and 200 archers I thought it was safe to attack his army of only 70, then I noted that his army was composed by something like 50 longdeads/ghosts etc (easy enemies) and 3 monstrosities, 3 lords of something and him and other troops, well, my army of 300+ with Pyromancers, mages, monks, alchemists high lords etc got defeated and I only managed to defeat his inferior troops and only ONE monstrosity, and I checked the necromancer and I noted "Insanity 43" so what's insanity and what are the cons and the pros of having it high?

[AGiantPie]

As a necromancer, you gain insanity every time you cast the 'Raise Undead' ritual. This ritual reanimates corpses from the tile you are standing on as longdead or soulless. The only thing that insanity does is prevent your commander from taking actions on a turn. The insanity value, which is 43 in this case, is the percentage chance that the commander will be insane every turn. If your insanity is at 43, then the commander will not move half the time. However, if a commander with insanity is being controlled by a commander without insanity, then the insanity is ignored. As a side note, insanity can also be gained by being in the void.

tl;dr - Insanity comes from raising the dead or visiting the void. The only thing it does is prevent your commanders from taking actions and it is never a benefit to have.

[Macciow]

Great, thanks

[Falaris]

Originally posted by E R-MAC cio:

Great, thanks

The big pie is mostly right, but if a unit goes insane, it's taken out of the army it's in, even if it's led by a sane commander. Basically he spends the turn shouting at trees, regardless. It's just that if he leads an army, the army sits still too.

Necromancers can have some rather horrifying troops and spells, especially liches, and are painfully suited to fight normal human troops.

[Macciow]

Yep, I've noted that lmao

[AGiantPie]

Originally posted by Falaris:

The big pie is mostly right, but if a unit goes insane, it's taken out of the army it's in, even if it's led by a sane commander. Basically he spends the turn shouting at trees, regardless. It's just that if he leads an army, the army sits still too.

Necromancers can have some rather horrifying troops and spells, especially liches, and are painfully suited to fight normal human troops.

Not entirely correct. There is a battle affliction that troops can receive called "temporary insanity." This is different from the insanity value gained from raising troops or being in the void. Temporary insanity is, like I said above, a battle affliction. It is similar to Feeblemindedness or a Chest Wound or Losing an Eye. Troops can receive this battle affliction by taking damage in battle, and it causes them to be taken out of the army and sit still for a few turns, even if they were previously under the command of another commander. Commanders with normal insanity values are not left behind if they go insane on a given turn.

[Falaris]

Originally posted by AGiantPie:

Originally posted by Falaris:

The big pie is mostly right, but if a unit goes insane, it's taken out of the army it's in, even if it's led by a sane commander. Basically he spends the turn shouting at trees, regardless. It's just that if he leads an army, the army sits still too.

Necromancers can have some rather horrifying troops and spells, especially liches, and are painfully suited to fight normal human troops.

Not entirely correct. There is a battle affliction that troops can receive called "temporary insanity." This is different from the insanity value gained from raising troops or being in the void. Temporary insanity is, like I said above, a battle affliction. It is similar to Feeblemindedness or a Chest Wound or Losing an Eye. Troops can receive this battle affliction by taking damage in battle, and it causes them to be taken out of the army and sit still for a few turns, even if they were previously under the command of another commander. Commanders with normal insanity values are not left behind if they go insane on a given turn.

You sure about that? My apprentices tend to be scattered all over the landscape, and that's not from battlefield insantiy.

Edit: I just tested it, and the pie is right. Sorry about the misinformation.

Weird. I was quite sure it didn't work like that.

[AGiantPie]

Originally posted by Falaris:

You sure about that? My apprentices tend to be scattered all over the landscape, and that's not from battlefield insantiy.

Positive. Take a star spawn with some underling commanders through the void as proof, if need be. You won't lose any, despite all commanders in the army (Sans Starspawn) gaining insanity every turn.

[Orpheus]

Which is really handy if you need to move your crazy guys around. Just hire a captain as a 'nurse' for them. If you want them to actually DO stuff (ie, raise the dead or use other rituals) but not leave them in one place for too long, use two nurse-captains, moving together but not as a single army. Select the captain who is NOT currently responsible for the 'patient' in question. If it's possible to transfer the patient into their army, the patient is currently sane. In this case you can safely detach them from the army, use whatever rituals you need to, then put them back under a nurse-captain's control in the same turn. They will then be able to move next turn as part of the nurse's army, even if they personally are tripping that turn.