Guide: Guide to communions

[Baalz]

No, the slaves gain the communion bonus for all paths, including the ones they don't have at all - solely for the purpose of calculating fatigue absorbed through the communion. So that gives them 0+3 in this case, plenty to cast phoenix power.

[thejeff]

OK, I've figured out what I was missing in the basic fatigue calculations: Drain.

The real calculation is:
given fatigue for the spell time (1 + .1*Drain scale) times 1/(1+(magic skill - minimum skill)) plus spell casting encumbrance.
The battle I was examining took place in Drain 2, so for Body Ethereal, 30 * 1.2 = 36 +3encumbrance = 39
or 36/2 = 18+3 encumbrance = 21.

Communion fatigue makes some more sense now:
PotS becomes 120 fatigue/8 = 15
which is 15/4 = 3.75 ~= 4 for slaves with 1S(+3)
15/5 = 3 for slaves with 2S(+3)
Which is right
The master got 6, which isn't clear. 1S+3 +encumbrance should have been 7.
Encumbrance only applies to the master, but is also reduced somehow? Which makes sense, since I'm pretty sure some of the later spells only gave 1 or 2 fatigue.

[LDiCesare]

I wonder, if slaves' level is boosted for soaking fatigue only, what about the reverse communion?
You have a master and, say 8 slaves. The master leaves or stops casting. Do the slaves get the fatigue level boost for casting their own spells?

[Baalz]

No, the point of the reverse communion is that a bunch of level 1 mages get the benefit of power of the spheres and phoenix/earth/air power (and whatever other self buffs the masters cast). They gain no benefit implicitly from the communion as when they're casting spells they're doing so outside the communion.

So, a 1S 1F slave gets +1 F from the master casting phoenix power, and +1 from another one casting power of the spheres - this bonus (after it is in effect that is) is not tied to the communion. The slave acting on his own is now a level 3 fire mage and can cast falling fires. The master can leave the battlefield, or if he acts after the slaves can still cast spells without mucking things up.

[DrPraetorious]

One thing not mentioned in this article is the benefit of armored communions.

Communion masters generally carry valuable gems, possibly penetration boosting items, and seldom have to worry much about fatigue, obviously. So it's generally a good idea to protect your investment (vs. stray arrows, for example) by putting them in some armor.

This also goes to the question of how to protect a valuable communion if you are very communion dependent (for example, as Pythium or Ermor or Bogarus).

* Rune Smashers, Eyes of the Void and Spell Foci are all great for masters casting Shadow Blast or groovy stuff like master enslave.
* Masters spamming elemental attack spells want boosters, not for fatigue reduction, but for increased damage and/or area of effect. This is obviously true for most of them (note all the +s in the spell description) - what most people don't know is that the fatigue inflicted by the secondary wave (which is area 9!) from thunderstrike is also air-magic-dependant, so if you can push your air magic up higher it becomes much more devastating.
* A communion matrix is often a good investment even for a communion master who has astral. +1 turn of spell casting is a huge advantage, and for a big-spell communion, it is not expensive.
* 50% resistance to fire and cold more or less assure that you won't go down to a murdering winter or flames from the sky. Various combinations of armor and misc items grant this, but fire plate and a ring of ice is probably the cheapest way to go.

In the late game, murdering winter/flames from the sky are a virtual surety. If you have the Forge, absolutely forge fire plate and a ring of frost for each and every slave.

[Baalz]

Good points DrP, I updated the original post to include this info.

[Agema]

I've got a query.

In a game I set up three masters (two S3E1, one S1W1E1F1) and at least four slaves (S1-2; E0-1; W0-1). I set the S3 masters to earthpower, then blade wind, the other master to cast acid rain. They were placed about mid-way in the set-up area. Instead of doing what I ordered, they cast other buffs and then stuff like mind burn.

I thought I might have been out of range as my enemy was set up at the back of the battlefield, so I put my mages very close to the front. Then, same situation second battle, they just cast buffs and troop buffs.

Is a 25-30 range spell still unable to reach the back of the battlefield from the front of my setup area, or is there another problem?

[Drake49]

I THINK that each player has a 20 square long field with 10 squares between them. I think the field gets wider with huge numbers of undead and such.

[triqui]

Baalz said:So, a 1S 1F slave gets +1 F from the master casting phoenix power, and +1 from another one casting power of the spheres - this bonus (after it is in effect that is) is not tied to the communion. The slave acting on his own is now a level 3 fire mage and can cast falling fires. The master can leave the battlefield, or if he acts after the slaves can still cast spells without mucking things up.

Does the last sentence means that if the master cast a spell before the slave does, slave cant cast spells on his own?

[Shovah32]

Yes. If any master has cast a spell, no slaves may cast for that round of battle.