Vastness in combat?

[von_Schmidt]

So I got myself a Vastness; the unit with the coolest description and graphic in the game (IMHO).

Throw in combat after GOR; and the V decides to use his (un-)amazing level 3 Astral spells instead of his much more effective sounding natural weapons. Both when set to orders NONE and CAST SPELLS.

So I decide to set it to FIRE WEAPONS - no go.
Attack rearmost - no go.

My question: how can I get the Vastness to use his 4x, 100 range, 100 accuracy, deadly sounding (not seen it yet tho!) personal weapons (forgot the description of those...)?

Right now it is acting like a 180g wimpy mage instead of a 100 gem Ultimate Street Fighting, *ss Kicking, B*ll-breaking Summons.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by von_Schmidt:
Throw in combat after GOR; and the V decides to use his (un-)amazing level 3 Astral spells instead of his much more effective sounding natural weapons. Both when set to orders NONE and CAST SPELLS.

This surprises you? You told him to cast spells, and you're surprised he does it?

The "no orders" option defaults to "Stay behind troops" for commanders, which tends to mean "cast spells".

So I decide to set it to FIRE WEAPONS - no go.
Attack rearmost - no go.

He didn't shoot? My Vastnesses always shoot when set on fire weapons. That's not normal behavior.

My question: how can I get the Vastness to use his 4x, 100 range, 100 accuracy, deadly sounding (not seen it yet tho!) personal weapons (forgot the description of those...)?

If you want him to mindbLast, he should be set to "Fire". MindbLasting is a little underwhelming as of late, though, as with the paralyze bug fix, it was found that mindbLasts have a really craptastic duration.

[ April 16, 2004, 18:41: Message edited by: Norfleet ]

[AhhhFresh]

Don't discount that Astral!

Personal Luck is an absolute necessity for it to cast before mixing it up...

Blood Vengeance (which is the main reason that the Vastness is so beloved) works when units try to hit the Vastness... so it's obviously best to be attacked and not get get hit!

This is especially fun with large amounts of javelin throwers/archers as they explode in a puff of blood halfway across the battlefield...

I also like to cast Astral Shield and Resist Magic before heading in... but you don't want too much fatigue before he heads in to fight. (I found this out recently in an MP game )

[Karacan]

Also, don't forget there's no missile animation for the vastness' ranged attacks.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by AhhhFresh:
Blood Vengeance (which is the main reason that the Vastness is so beloved) works when units try to hit the Vastness... so it's obviously best to be attacked and not get get hit!

I thought Blood Vengeance came Last: Units attempt to hit you: If they successfully hit you and cause damage, they must make an MR check or take the damage themselves, instead.

So casting personal luck would actually reduce the occurence of blood vengeances.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
I thought Blood Vengeance came Last: Units attempt to hit you: If they successfully hit you and cause damage, they must make an MR check or take the damage themselves, instead.

I believe that this is correct.

So casting personal luck would actually reduce the occurence of blood vengeances.

But vastly improve the survivability of the vastness, as it has no protection and is quite vulnerable to attacks by high MR troops like trolls.