Random questions

[Fringe]

Pardon me for a moment but I'm so frustrated, I want to share (read: whine). I hate the spell Possession so so much!

I'm playing a game on expert as Trolls with chaos and nature and a maniacal death wizard has it out for me. I guess it is mid-game with a few Armorers Guilds and Wizard towers built but lots of garrison consisting of swordsmen and halberdiers. This wizard just got to the point of being able to cast Possession twice in a battle. Without sorcery and Resist Magic, it feels hopeless. He attacks with 2-6 units, possesses a strong melee fighter and suddenly I'm down at least two units - all the time. And now it is happening twice a battle. It's maddening and I am totally save scumming through this game.

I don't know how I'd change the spell if I could, although at this moment I'd delete it permanently! Remove the -save modifier? Make a resistance roll every turn to break it? Possessed unit can't act for a round? I don't know but it feels incredibly unfair to suddenly have in my midst a murderous halberdier slaughtering my magicians and steam cannons instead of them positioned behind their meat shields. It tilts the field too strongly with no counter.

What I do know -- well, what I am reminded of -- is why I almost always play with a few sorcery books. This spell essentially demands that I do.

Maybe this is a learning moment... how do you counter it without Resist Magic?

[prokolyo]

I do hear your whine My last game I was against two maniacal, one chaotic and one aggressive at the same time (broke the towers early in an attempt to save my ass). Three of them death, two of them chaos Hated their guts. Had to do A LOT of bribing to keep (most) of them at bay. Especially that I relied on transmute (raise volcano) and nomads (drought)...
Isn't it a big gamble to play a low resistance race on expert without resist magic or bless anyway?

[drake178]

Prayermaster, Chaos Channels, and Shatter are the first things that come to my mind. Except, the first is probably not enough, the second you need to cast on every vulnerable unit, and for the third, it may be too late by the time you get to cast it. Still, it's probably not hopeless.

[Anskiy]

Possession is honestly balanced for what it does. If a Death wizard is using it too much, summons should be available to counter it. Or you can just spam more halberdiers, or get stacks of higher resist units. Generally speaking if you are using low resist races, you should try to fix it when against a Death wizard.. or use summons.

[Fringe]

Thanks for listening and responding.

I was wrong, the wizard is Chaotic, not Maniacal. Is it worth bribing those? I thought not because they're so random.

I was trying expert because I'd won a few advanced games and thought I'd step it up but also try something other than my usual life-sorcery or chaos-sorcery. Still stinks to "need" to have either life or sorcery because of one spell, even on lower difficulties.

I don't see how Chaos Channels would help against Possession, it adds flight, fire breath or armor. A prayermaster hero would be lovely but I have just the two beginning archers. Even then, that would help only one group while multiple cities are being attacked.

Two nature books, six chaos, I have weak summons. Maybe a bad build (i don't know). The frustration isn't with the death toolkit, it's that one spell, taking out at least two units, dictating race or spell school.

[Anskiy]

The trick with Possession is that it doesn't work against fantastic creatures. When you buff a unit with Chaos Channels, they count as a "creature", stopping Possession from working on them entirely.

Bribing works okay if the wizard isn't outright hostile to you(attacking your armies, casting curses on your lands/cities, attacking your cities and such). If they are, then usually bribing will do fairly little, and the money is best spent improving your military or economy to better defend against them.

[Fringe]

The trick with Possession is that it doesn't work against fantastic creatures. When you buff a unit with Chaos Channels, they count as a "creature", stopping Possession from working on them entirely.

This had not occurred to me!   Thanks, this will surely help a lot. Time to buff my navy!

[prokolyo]

The trick with Possession is that it doesn't work against fantastic creatures. When you buff a unit with Chaos Channels, they count as a "creature", stopping Possession from working on them entirely.

This is smart!

Bribing works okay if the wizard isn't outright hostile to you(attacking your armies, casting curses on your lands/cities, attacking your cities and such). If they are, then usually bribing will do fairly little, and the money is best spent improving your military or economy to better defend against them.

Bribing rerolls the hostility as far as I know. Either way, it has worked for me even for outright hostile opponents.

[RodriguesCIA]

Have Lycanthropy been changed on the latest version of COM2 (or For Windows)? I clearly remember on the older versions the target still being considered a normal unit for enchantment purposes, allowing for very interesting combos. Was... quite the surprise in my L4D4C1N1S1 Omniscient Halfling game when I found out that my converted swordsmen would get to keep only the most generic of the enchantments they had.

[Anskiy]

Yes, Werewolves now count as purely fantastic units, and don't get to keep many regular unit only buffs. They don't get boosted by special weapon ores either.