paralyzation spell - a rant

dire · #1 March 13th, 2004, 10:20 AM

I'd like to have a whine about paralyzation. I'm currently in a multiplayer game and faced someone with approx 10 level 2 astral mages.
Playing as Machaka, all of my giant spiders and my pretender were paralyzed for the entire battle. The spell seems to me as being overpowered. Why?

1) it has an enormous range (100).
2) seemingly incredible penetration (in two battles my pretender with MR of 20 got done first time each time).
3) paralyzed units never recover during the battle! They sit there for the *entire* battle totally unable to do anything. I have heard rumors that this is a bug.
4) there's no spell to my knowledge that can heal paralyzation or reduce its duration.
5) Due to its extremely long range the mage casting it is able to target your best units. Putting your best units at the back of the battle wont help (I tried). So it guarantees that your best units are always out of the battle.
6) it is such a low level spell (4 thaumatology) and only requires a 2-astral power level. At the stage of the game it becomes useable to an astral nation there's little at all a non-astral nation can do about it.

I cant think of an equivalent spell that matches the power of this particular spell at equal or lower magic level.

One of a number of things could make it more balanced - most obvious is reduce the duration of paralysis (make duration dependent on MR of recipient and make the max around 20 turns). Other suggestions are make it so units resist more often, increase the research requirements, increase the fatigue, offer a counter-spell or increase the astral power level required to cast.

Any comments? I'm welcome to any suggestions about how to avoid having my big units paralyzed!

Endoperez · #2 March 13th, 2004, 10:31 AM

There was a bug that increased the penetration of Paralyze, re you sure you have the latest patch? The duration is a bug, though. Paralyze shouldn't be that bad, because it's supposed to be Soul Slay -lite. The problem with it is that it works just as good as long as you win the battle, and paralyze is so potent that it helps immensively in winning that that battle.

Arryn · #3 March 13th, 2004, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dire:
2) seemingly incredible penetration (in two battles my pretender with MR of 20 got done first time each time).

What Version are you playing with (2.06 or 2.08)? There is a bug in v2.06 that causes the spell to be cast *twice* (while the caster only pays for one casting), which dramatically increases the odds of it working.