Mage/Commander Numbering Questions

[JonBrave]

I believe each Mage/Commander has a number, and during battle rounds they act in increasing number order (hope that bit is right...)

When I plan in the army screen, are the leaders shown in that order, i.e. the order they will act each round?
If I do the 'Y' key for combined attacks, are they also shown there in action order?
Does every new leader born get an incrementing number, or is there any wrap-around?

[Anaconda]

every unit has an id nro, even non-commander troops. Otherwise it would not be possible to keep track on their unique stats, like afflictions.

[JonBrave]

I'm trying to understand if the order leaders are shown on map and in army screen is the same as their number/order they will act in battle.

[thejeff]

Yes. They are shown in order, even for combined attacks.

The numbers for new units are not strictly incremented. I believe dead units numbers are reused, except for those who can be brought back, like pretenders and Hall of Famers.

[Edi]

Originally Posted by thejeff

Yes. They are shown in order, even for combined attacks.

The numbers for new units are not strictly incremented. I believe dead units numbers are reused, except for those who can be brought back, like pretenders and Hall of Famers.

This is correct.

[JonBrave]

Originally Posted by thejeff

Yes. They are shown in order, even for combined attacks.

The numbers for new units are not strictly incremented. I believe dead units numbers are reused, except for those who can be brought back, like pretenders and Hall of Famers.

Great concise answer!

So, bear with me... I would like my Battlefield "Storm" spell to come as early as possible, so that subsequent mages can help themselves to "Storm Power" first round.

In practice, that tends to mean it works best with the "Storm"-casting mage being one of the very earliest guys I built. If I build a powerful mage later on, he's more likely to be stuck number-wise behind other built guys.

Is that about right?

[Starbelly Geek]

The auto-cast thing is the advantage for Crystal and Slave Matrix, and for the Crystal Shield, too. As with anything, it has to be balanced against the mage-turns and gem cost, but it's handy to have a communion kitted out in a way that doesn't require anyone to spend a round casting Communion Slave or Master, or Power of the Spheres. The banner that autocasts Light of the Northern Star can be similarly useful. Assuming a bunch of astral-earth mages, you can then go right into casting Gifts from Heaven and Master Enslave and whatnot.

Originally Posted by JonBrave

If I build a powerful mage later on, he's more likely to be stuck number-wise behind other built guys.

I haven't noticed that this is the case. Commander positioning seems to be tied more strongly to something other than time-since-built. Has anyone tested this out with, say, 20 to 30 commander builds? I guess it's complicated by the AI killing off commanders in the mean time, but that could be controlled for by setting up a multiplayer game with two players and playing both positions.

Non-commander units seem to end up pretty reliably in the order in which they were built, but commanders seem to go all over the place.

[Chazar]

I thought that throughout a battle, the ids are traversed either increasing or decreasing (but the order is kept throughout a specific battle).

At least I think there is a recommendation to have all Communion Masters shown close together in the middle and Communion Slaves in front and after the masters, so that at least half the slaves can still act for themselves (Communion Slaves only act if no Communion Master has acted yet in that Battle round).

If the order would always be increasing, then one would prefer Communion Masters always to be at the end or start (depending on whether it is desired to have the Communion Slaves acting on their own).

[Korwin]

In battle the order is always top to bottom.

[Amhazair]

Confirm that the order commanders act in battle is allways from top to bottom. (So for communions you can allways be completely certain who will still get to act and who doesn't.)

It is during ritual spellcasting that casting order can start either at the top or bottom, which might be where Chazar's confusion comes from? This is occasionally important if you want to nail (a) teleporting unit(s) with mind hunts or other remote attack spells.