Quote:
MaxWilson said:
You're going to have to do SOMETHING in response to Master Enslave...
|
I agree... but then, doesnt everyone?
Quote:
MaxWilson said:
...if using immune armies and casting counterspells doesn't work for you I'm not sure what you were looking for.
|
Counterspells? The only spells mentioned either rely on a preemptive strike or are can be too late to do much..
Quote:
MaxWilson said:Proactively killing off enemy mages before they can cast is ALWAYS the best defense against any spell.
|
Which is why I dont like that answer, actually
Quote:
MaxWilson said:You've dismissed the notion of using armies that aren't vulnerable to Master Enslave, and aren't happy with the idea of counterspells, so what does that leave?
|
I didnt dismiss the notion of armies that are invulnerable to the spell.. I just pointed out that such armies arent always easy to come by and typically have their own doom spell (such as undead mastery).
The counterspells, assuming we are talking about preemptive strike spells and antimagic/army of lead, are either a ubiquitous answer to the problem (kills the mages before they even get into combat) or potentially too late to matter. Were there other counterspells mentioned?
Quote:
MaxWilson said:
Edit:Mage commanders will usually not be Master Enslaved, by the way. Most mages have MR 15-17, so they'll be resisting at 19-21 which is something like a 3-5% failure rate.
-Max
|
3-5% assuming no extra levels in the appropriate path and no penetration items (although the opposing mage might have enough astral path to get a bonus as well). A ring of wizardry and sorcery along with a rune smasher and maybe even a crystal shield arent all that hard, a few communion buddies can top it off nicely.. I actually had a game recently where I cast master enslave with a total penetration of +10. Get lucky and enslave the enemy enslaver, grab a few of their communion buddies so that if they do manage to pull off one it has a lesser chance of success (especially after your newly larger army just got antimagic/army of lead), and possibly even have their own former troops kill them (or force the AI to decide casting some other spell is better at the moment, like astral shield
).
It gets more complicated when magic items on the defenders are taken into account though. They might have defensive items to help (such as antimagic amulet) but that typically means that they are missing offensive items to power their own spells.
It is an incredibly potent option. It isnt that I am discounting all options for countering it, I am merely saying that it is so potent that if you are unable to do the proactive measures then an opponent making the most of this option could force you to change your entire playing strategy... just from the 'threat' of it being cast. That is power!