assasination within castles

[tinkthank]

I cant figure it out: can my assassin assasinate commanders hiding in castles or only those patrolling?
If the latter, will he keep on killing the province defense types -- or die trying?

[quantum_mechani]

I am fairly sure you can assasinate commanders in castles, but maybe he goes through patrolling commamanders first.

EDIT: I don't think you can assasinate province defense commanders.

[ February 15, 2004, 02:12: Message edited by: quantum_mechani ]

[gibson]

Originally posted by quantum_mechani:
EDIT: I don't think you can assasinate province defense commanders.

You can indeed, and it is a fairly cost-effective way to conquer indy provinces for those nations with access to assasins.

EDIT: Probably misread. I read as "indy" commanders, not PD. I doubt you can kill PD commanders either, as it seems they'd just make a new one next turn, but I haven't tested it.

[ February 15, 2004, 02:58: Message edited by: gibson ]

[Taqwus]

Commanders in castles are vulnerable to assassination unless the castle is under siege, which makes sense as the gates are shut and there's no commerce in or out to provide cover. (Hm, does this make sense for ethereal assassins? Or those with illusion power?)

Province defense is not really 'units' per se, but a measure of organization of the provincial citizens. Since it does not manifest itself as units and commanders outside of battle, it is immune to assassination and farstriking spells such as Flames from the Sky; it also does not suffer from such niceties as Burden of Time. It is, however, generally not awe-inspiring and rather importantly the owner cannot set formations or orders.

[Zurai]

And with a few exceptions, province defense has HORRID morale. It's almost not worth buying as C'tis, for instance... sure, you get tons of militia, but their morale is like 8. Kill two (of 80) and they run for the hills (OK, slight exaggeration but it sure seems that way).

On topic: Yes, you can assassinate commanders in castles. You can also seduce/corrupt them with the appropriate units.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Zurai:
And with a few exceptions, province defense has HORRID morale.

Beware of Ashikaga, as their PD are samurai, who have excellent morale, and are quite tough as well.

Jotunheim has a mix of Jotun militia (morale 10) and Jotun Hurlers (12). But they are both giants and thus have 30+ HPs and 18+ strength, thus can take a fair beating.

R'lyeh PD commanders are illithids with mind bLasts. Of course, those 1-2 squids are not usually enough to make up for their crummy cheap slave fodder.

PD is not a panacea, but properly used, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your units, it can be very effective. For example, if you put just 1 L3 priest (for Sermon of Courage) in any province with PD that you fear will be attacked, it will go a very long ways towards enhancing their ability to continue fighting.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Pocus:
Never tried that... can a besieged assassin kill a besieging commander?

Why do you ask?

[Taqwus]

Originally posted by Pocus:
Never tried that... can a besieged assassin kill a besieging commander?

Yup. At least it worked Last I checked (pre-patch), and I doubt it changed.

[Pocus]

Originally posted by Nagot Gick Fel:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pocus:
Never tried that... can a besieged assassin kill a besieging commander?

Why do you ask?

---

for the reverse, an assassin outside assassinating a leader inside a non besieged castle, I had a strange result too. It doesnt seems to work each time, even if a leader is present.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Arryn:

Jotunheim has a mix of Jotun militia (morale 10) and Jotun Hurlers (12). But they are both giants and thus have 30+ HPs and 18+ strength, thus can take a fair beating.

R'lyeh PD commanders are illithids with mind bLasts. Of course, those 1-2 squids are not usually enough to make up for their crummy cheap slave fodder.

Jotun militia nonetheless has a great reputation for cowardice. Part of this is due to their 30 hitpoints, which means that even though hits they take don't kill them, they'll force morale checks that quickly lead to a rout, even when there have been very few or even no losses. It gives the Jotun militia a reputation for immense cowardice despite their seemingly average morale rating.

R'lyeh PD, on the other hand, consists of slavetroopers, which have relatively average morale, and lobo guards, which are totally unbreakable.

An Ermor PD will probably consist of a single Censor and whatever random crud happened to spawn this turn: It's usually weak, but morale is never a problem.