Gem usage

[Flop]

Hi everybody.

I've been playing the game for a little while now, and I'm still trying to figure out what exactly is going on. One thing that I'm still not quite sure about, is how exactly gems are used during combat.

The manual says that a mage can only use one gem to get an increase in the corresponding path. Does this increase last one turn, or the rest of the battle? If it's the entire battle, does the mage take a turn to use the gem, or can he cast spells in the same turn?

I've been avoiding giving my mages gems, since I'm afraid they'll gobble them up, instead of using them for the spells that I script. Will the AI use gems to buff paths when it isn't strictly necessary for casting a given spell?

I'd also be interested in hearing how other people equip their mages gem-wise. Do you give gems to all your mages, or none of them, or maybe just a few select ones?

Thanks in advance.

[Micah]

The gems are used as part of spell-casting, and only work for the single spell they're consumed to cast. Generally you only want to give gems to mages to cast spells that require them (ones that naturally cost gems or a vital spell you need to cast that you need a path boost for) as the AI is really bad about wasting them if you just hand them out with no specific spell scripted to take advantage of the gems.

The AI will sometimes not use any gems if the battle is lopsided enough though, so watch out for that if they're disobeying your script (annoyingly they will sometimes STILL use the gems later in the battle to reduce their fatigue when it gets near 100.) Otherwise the AI is usually pretty good about following scripts if it can. (enemies being out of range is usually the biggest culprit in broken scripts.)

Hope that helps.

[Maerlande]

Hi Flop,

I only give mages just enough gems to cast the specific spells I scripted. I carry extra gems on a scout sneaking with the army to load up for the next battle. Like Micah says, the AI does really dumb things with extra gems.

The scout trick saves a trip back to the lab so an army can keep going.

[Flop]

Thanks a lot for the replies guys, it helps a lot. I guess that means I'll have to assign gems before each battle. I'm fighting Helheim at the moment, so that kind of sucks, since I never really know what I'll be up against. Oh, well.

The scout trick is nice, and something I'll definitely consider doing. Do you use a scout because he's stealthy? Does that mean he has a better chance of surviving if the army is beaten?

[Quitti]

Yep, being stealthy is the key. Even if the army gets routed, the scout should be safe (considering that it doesn't participate in the combat). This can though backfire in the way that if your army routs, and you need the gems for the routed forces next turn for something, they are still in the province you were moving to. Also, if your army gets attacked for some reason in the province they were in, the scout moves on but the army might not. You can also store magic gems (not blood slaves though) on another mage/commander in the battlefield that doesn't have the magic skill associated with the gems - they won't use them as far as I know, since they effectively can't cast anything from the path.

But generally, about gem usage. It can be used to great effect. Gems can be used by mages to:
1 gem -> boost path by one
x gems -> pay the spellcost

let's have an example: Shadow Blast consumes one magic death gem to cast it. You give the d2 mage 2 gems and script it to cast Shadow Blast x2. The mage gets all "YAY GEMS" in battle, and uses the first gem to boost it's death path temporarily to 3 for the first shadow blast spell to reduce the fatigue and then consumes the second gem for the spell itself. The mage then proceeds to it's next order, which would be shadow blast again, but it has no gems left, because it burned it off to the first spell, so it probably goes and promptly summons a few skeletons and goes unconscious from the fatigue, or something as useful as that. What I'm trying to say is to usually give either few extra gems to the mage for the fight if you can afford it, or simply use very few gem consuming spells per scripting.

[Illuminated One]

Yeah, when I want a mage to cast a second gem costing spell I usually give him enough gems so that he can waste all he can and still has enough for the second.

Originally Posted by Quitti

This can though backfire in the way that if your army routs, and you need the gems for the routed forces next turn for something, they are still in the province you were moving to. Also, if your army gets attacked for some reason in the province they were in, the scout moves on but the army might not.

Simple solution. Each army has two scouts following.
One moving to the same territory the army is on into the province where the army is now (although when routing your stuff often ends up in 3 provinces and you have to regroup in any case).

[Quitti]

All true Illuminated one, but there are situations where I try to optimize gem usage enough (saving for a global spell, or simply not having a big income and/or have other uses for the gems). Of course when using Shadow Blast still as an example - just give one gem to the mages, they won't use more, but incidentally getting them to cast a second spell might very well require 3 gems per mage instead of 1/spell. That's suddenly 50% increase in gem usage, when we're talking about 10-20 mages that will be noticeable. Still, what most matters with (big) aoe spells is the humongous 'alpha' strike that decimates the opponent, but if the first wave of spells is not enough to do the damage you want, you wouldn't want to spend extra gems to fire up a second volley which could very well be used for better purposes.

[LoloMo]

Does anyone have an idea on what fatigue level the AI is going for when it uses extra gems for fatigue reduction? Let's say a D6 mage is scripted to cast shadow blast. Is it likely to use up all 6 gems on its first cast?

[Quitti]

No, it can't use 6 gems, only 2 (+1 to boost it, 1 for the spell). And that'd make it cast a d2 spell at level d7 - it wouldn't make really much difference compared to d6, though at very high (95+) fatigue levels it might as well burn the extra gem, but I doubt it. I think at d6 shadow blast should do around 7 fatigue + any base spellcasting fatigue, so it isn't much of an issue. AI seems to favor being able to cast a new spell straight away (as in keeping the fatigue below 100), which is quite understandable. I don't have any numbers to back this up though, so take my word with a grain of salt.

[Micah]

It CAN use 6 gems, though I've no idea if it will.