Enemy wizards giving up vs. casting Spell of Return

[Tiltowait]

When I take an enemy fortress, the computer has a choice between giving up (all cities revert to neutral and keep their garrisons, all units in the field are eliminated) and casting the Spell of Return. Obviously, I prefer the first outcome.

How does the computer figure this? I've seen wizards start casting Return when they only have one other 4-pop city on a tiny island somewhere, and in my last game one wizard gave up despite having 6+ large cities (it was a relief not having to take them all tediously, one by one, and then ship troops from the home continent to garrison them to prevent counterattacks).

[FrancoK]

If the wizard has no mana he resigns, otherwise he casts SoR.

[Asfex]

Duplicate thread.

[Tiltowait]

No mana? As in zero? If a wizard has one mana, does he start casting SoR? How do you get more mana while banished?

And "duplicate thread" isn't very helpful. What was the other thread, and what did it discuss? How about a link?

[Jtm]

Wizard must have mana for casting the Spell of Return OR be defeated. Unfortunately, there is also a known bug where wizard with too much mana (maxed at 30000) may be defeated instead of banished.

[Tiltowait]

So, you must have the full casting cost for SoR in your mana pool at the time your fortress falls? How much does it cost, anyway?

I'm just trying to figure out strategies to take an enemy wizard's tower and defeat him immediately. I hate having to take every little city to beat him. It takes too long and leaves me vulnerable unless I tediously ship in garrison troops. I could just raze the cities, but that has negative effects on your fame.

[Anthony]

I've seen wizards with something like a hundred mana in their pool decide to cast SoR, and I'm pretty sure it costs more than that, so it may have something to do with income, as you can use alchemy to get the mana you need.

[FrancoK]

No mana? As in zero? If a wizard has one mana, does he start casting SoR? How do you get more mana while banished?

That's written in the manuals, can't remember where unfortunately.

And "duplicate thread" isn't very helpful. What was the other thread, and what did it discuss? How about a link?

Asfex is right, usually before asking users has to search if the question was already asked. My fault, since I'm new to the forum I did not knew it was already answered.

Wizard must have mana for casting the Spell of Return OR be defeated. Unfortunately, there is also a known bug where wizard with too much mana (maxed at 30000) may be defeated instead of banished.

Almost right, but the problem is that too many mana (more than 16384 probably) is seen as a negative number, so below 0, meaning no SoR can be cast.

[I like Serena]

Almost right, but the problem is that too many mana (more than 16384 probably) is seen as a negative number, so below 0, meaning no SoR can be cast.

The bug only manifests if the particular wizard had a fight at his fortress, while having over 16384 mana.
When he casts a chargeable spell, he ends up with -32878 mana, which does not change anymore.
He won't be able to cast SoR at that stage.

[FrancoK]

The bug only manifests if the particular wizard had a fight at his fortress, ...

... and that's common when the wizard is banished.

Thanks for detailed explanation.

The point is when a wizard is banished and he has 0 mana (or less) he did not cast SoR, otherwise he does.