Spell Magic Shackles doesn't work

[hippo]

This spell doesn't work on undead creature?

[Metathron]

Why did you delete your post? Were you mistaken about the spell not working?

I've only tried it against the undead so far (those pesky skeleton/s. archer stacks), and it doesn't work against them. Have they changed this intentionally or is it a bug?

[camelotcrusade]

It seems that persistence of mind (undead version) is once again blocking this spell. In WoTN I reported it as a bug that necromancers couldn't be shackled by witch hunters (which still strikes me as odd) and I haven't tested it in a while to see if that had changed. It probably hasn't if magic shackle isn't working on undead in general.

They ought to update the description to mention it's a mind spell with the corresponding immunities. Apparently it just makes you think you can't use your powers rather than blocking them more directly. A shame, really, as the spell is already hard to use. It certainly has crossed my to mind to stop an annoying skeleton from sowing his bones into the ranks of my archers. Too bad.

[hippo]

So it is a bug and we must wait 6 months when they repair it?

[SlickDragon]

Unfortunately it seems that for some unknown reason Magic Shackles was changed from how it functioned back in KB The Legend and KB Armored Princess/Crossworld.

It used to be able to effect any type of unit without Magic Immunity. Then in regular Warriors of the North it still effected Undead, except the biggest threat Necromancer, who had a special Persistence of Mind. I remember manually changing his file to allow Shackles to work properly, since what is the point of it otherwise??

Sadly in Ice and Fire it seems to have been DELIBERATELY changed to not work on the undead. You can try for your self, not even a single lonely skeleton warrior can be effected.

The source of the change can be found under the file King's Bounty - Warriors of the North\sessions\ice_and_fire\ses.kfs\ . Onced open find a file titled spells.txt. Magic Shackles goes by the name Magic Bondage. Here is the IMPORTANT line-

nfeatures=magic_immunitet,pawn,boss,mind_immunitet ,undead,plant,golem,mech

These are the unit types that aren't affected by it. Out of NOWHERE every UNDEAD unit became immune to it.

This has a significant impact on its playability, rendering one of the best spells ever nearly worthless, since most enemies are Undead in the game. It also makes the troublesome Necromancer with his Mass Plagues and other tricks even more annoying. Multiple huge skeleton stacks are also a threat due to bone gate and its randomness, potentially disrupting your ranks with an unwelcome visitor.

Perhaps this was a balance move by the Developers, thinking that Shackles was too simple a solution to the undead army? Either way it makes things much trickier. The alternative catch all solution to prevent Mass Plague Shenanigans, Bone Gating, and Poison Arrows is the spell Target.

[BB Shockwave]

I think it also worked on droids and plants too before.

Originally Posted by SlickDragon

Unfortunately it seems that for some unknown reason Magic Shackles was changed from how it functioned back in KB The Legend and KB Armored Princess/Crossworld.

By changed, I think we can rather say that "re-invented", since it's by now obvious the new developers simply took the spell/unit descriptions and reprogrammed everything from scratch. Otherwise how can we explain that spells and abilities that worked in the previous games suddenly do not work? I dunno why they could not get access to their own source code...