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Ability Regeneration

Regeneration is one of the many Unit Abilities available in Master of Magic. The Regeneration ability gives a unit several extremely useful advantages, and is often considered one of the best Unit Abilities in the game.

During combat, whenever the Regenerating unit is injured, it will regain exactly Icon Hits 1 Hit Point at the end of each turn. Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure units may even recover lost Icon Figure Figures as a result of this automatic healing. If the Regenerating unit survives a battle, it is then completely healed of all Icon Damage Damage. Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure units will also regain all lost Icon Figure Figures as a result.

In addition, if the Regenerating unit is destroyed during battle, but its army manages to win that battle, the unit is automatically restored to life - with full health as described above! Finally, the unit will completely ignore spells that would cause it direct Conventional Damage on the overland map.

Exactly 9 units in the game possess Regeneration by default. 6 of these are Normal Units from the Troll race, while the other 3 are Fantastic Units. However, it is possible to give Regeneration to any unit, by casting the Icon NatureRegeneration Unit Enchantment on it. Furthermore, Heroes may also be equipped with Magical Items possessing a Icon NatureRegeneration Item Power.

Description[]

For most of us, avoiding injuries is vital - a damaged or lost body part may never be restored, so any serious damage we take can be potentially life-threatening. Not so for a Regenerating unit, whose organs will actually grow back.

The Regenerating unit's wounds will rapidly close up and disappear, its lost limbs will literally re-sprout, and it is even capable of returning to life - if given enough time for its system to "reboot" once its body has been fully restored. The only way to truly kill off a Regenerating unit would be to hack it to little bits - or disintegrate it into component particles. Otherwise it will simply come back for more, again and again.

Effect[]

The Regeneration ability gives five benefits - each one more powerful than the last. They are all related to how the unit heals any Icon Damage Damage it sustains, both in- and outside of combat.

These five benefits are:

  • Mild healing at the end of each combat turn.
  • Full healing at the end of combat.
  • Possible resurrection of the unit if its side wins the battle.
  • Full healing at the end of each game turn.
  • Immunity to overland "conventional" Icon Damage Damage (a.k.a Physical Damage).

The extended survivability of the unit can grant it near-immortality. An army comprised entirely of powerful Regenerating units can be all but unstoppable.

Healing Per Turn[]

During combat, as long as a Regenerating unit is injured, it will automatically be healed of Icon Damage 1 at the end of every combat turn. This occurs at the very end of the turn - after all friendly units have moved or skipped their turn, and before the enemy units begin to move.

This can potentially restore the unit to full health, if it can go long enough without suffering any additional Icon Damage Damage.

Healing Multi-Figure Units[]

Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure units with Regeneration may regain lost Icon Figure Figures thanks to the per-turn healing described above. This occurs when the unit is still missing one or more of its Icon Figure Figures, but all live Icon Figure Figures are already at full health. The next Icon Hits Hit Point restored by Regeneration at the end of the turn will cause one lost Icon Figure Figure to come back to life, with Icon Hits 1 Hit Point.
This process repeats itself until all Icon Figure Figures have been restored to life, and all are at full health - at which point the unit is fully healed and will not Regenerate any further - until the next time it is injured.

Example[]

Lets take a unit of Elven Lords, enchanted with Icon NatureRegeneration. When fully-healed, Elven Lords should have Icon MultiFigureUnit 4 figures with Icon Hits 3 Hit Points each, for a total of Icon Hits 12.
For our example, imagine that the unit just took Icon Damage 8 points of Icon Damage Damage from some attack. This is enough to kill off 2 Elven Lords and severely injure a third one. The unit now has only Icon MultiFigureUnit 2 figures left alive, with one of them at full health (Icon Hits 3) and one severely injured (Icon Hits 1), for a total of Icon Hits 4.
The unit now does the sensible thing and withdraws, keeping some distance from its enemies, in order to let Regeneration run its course. Over the next 8 rounds, the ability will try to restore the unit back to full health, by healing it Icon Hits 1 Hit Point each turn.
Turns
Elapsed
What happens Current Situation
# of Live
Icon Figure Figures
Health of
last Icon Figure Figure
Total Unit
Icon Hits Health
0 Immediately after taking damage, the unit only has Icon Figure 2 figures left, with one at full health (Icon Hits 3) and another severely injured (Icon Hits 1). Icon Figure 2 Icon Hits 1 Icon Hits 4
Regeneration begins...
1 The injured Elven Lord is healed by Icon Hits 1. Icon Figure 2 Icon Hits 2 Icon Hits 5
2 The injured Elven Lord is healed by another Icon Hits 1 and is now fully healed. Icon Figure 2 Icon Hits 3 (full) Icon Hits 6
3 One of the missing Elven Lords is brought back to life with Icon Hits 1. Icon Figure 3 Icon Hits 1 Icon Hits 7
4 The new Elven Lord is healed by Icon Hits 1. Icon Figure 3 Icon Hits 2 Icon Hits 8
5 The new Elven Lord is healed by another Icon Hits 1 and is now fully healed. Icon Figure 3 Icon Hits 3 (full) Icon Hits 9
6 The final missing Elven Lord is brought back to life with Icon Hits 1. Icon Figure 4 (full) Icon Hits 1 Icon Hits 10
7 The final Elven Lord is healed by Icon Hits 1. Icon Figure 4 (full) Icon Hits 2 Icon Hits 11
8 The final Elven Lord is healed by another Icon Hits 1 and is now fully healed. Icon Figure 4 (full) Icon Hits 3 (full) Icon Hits 12 (full)
The entire unit is at full health - Regeneration is complete.

Full Healing After Combat[]

Whenever a unit possessing Regeneration survives a battle, it is immediately returned to full health once the battle ends. Naturally, this can only occur if the unit was on the winning side, or if it successfully retreated from the battle. Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure units will also have all lost Icon Figure Figures restored, each at full health. Thus, a Regenerating unit can go from battle to battle virtually unhindered. However much Icon Damage Damage it took during the battle, that Icon Damage Damage disappears instantly as soon as combat is over.

Automatic Resurrection[]

Even if the Regenerating unit falls in battle, it can be automatically returned to life and full health at the end of the battle - but only if its army won that battle. Winning, in this case, includes the enemy fleeing partway through and, for a defending army, a draw (the battle ending as a result of its 50-turn limit). It does not include cases where the Regenerating unit's own army has fled the engagement, successfully or otherwise, or timed out battles if the unit is on the attacking side.

This is one of the reasons why an entire army of Regenerating units is so difficult to defeat. As long as one unit manages to stay alive to the end (and win the battle), all other units are restored to life - with full health - and can immediately proceed to the next battle as though nothing had happened!

Overland Conventional Damage Immunity[]

Regenerating units completely ignore any Conventional Damage resulting from spells that would affect them on the overland map. This includes both Instant Spells, Town Curses, and Global Enchantments. However, they may still be hurt by magic that deals Special Damage. In fact, should they suffer casualties as a result of a Icon Resist Resistance-based spell affecting individual Icon Figure Figures (i.e. Icon DeathBlack Wind), those will only be restored to life by regular healing, or surviving a battle. Somewhat counter-intuitively, Regeneration does not actually grant any overland healing. This may be an oversight on the developer's part though, considering that under most circumstances, a Regenerating unit can not have recorded Damage Points overland.

Regenerating the Undead[]

Icon DeathDeath creatures, including the UnitEnchantment Undead Undead, may not normally be healed by any healing spells, and do not heal naturally each overland turn as other units do. This somewhat balances out their overall strength and abundance. Nonetheless, such units still benefit from Regeneration just like any other Regenerating unit.

Regeneration, therefore, is one of the best ways to keep Icon DeathDeath units alive without the need to constantly replace them. A Icon DeathDeath-based army with access to the Icon NatureRegeneration spell is extremely dangerous.

Units with Default Regeneration[]

There are 9 different units in the game that possess Regeneration by default. 3 of these are Fantastic Units, and no less than 6 are Normal Units from the Troll race, which has Regeneration as a racial advantage.

Normal Units[]

Tactical Settlers Troll Settlers
Tactical TrollSpearmen Troll Spearmen
Tactical TrollSwordsmen Troll Swordsmen
Tactical TrollHalberdiers Troll Halberdiers
Tactical TrollShamans Troll Shamans
Tactical WarTrolls War Trolls

Fantastic Units[]

Tactical Hydra Icon ChaosHydra
Tactical ShadowDemons Icon DeathShadow Demons
Tactical Werewolves Icon DeathWerewolves

Both Icon DeathShadow Demons and Icon DeathWerewolves are Icon DeathDeath creatures, which do not heal normally and cannot be targeted by healing spells - this makes Regeneration particularly valuable for them. It may also be worth noting that War Mammoths, despite belonging to the Troll race, do not possess Regeneration.

Acquiring Regeneration[]

The Regeneration ability can be added artificially to a unit by one of three means:

All three methods give the unit the Regeneration ability as described in this article.

Regeneration Unit Enchantment[]

Icon NatureRegeneration is a Very Rare Unit Enchantment from the Icon NatureNature Realm. When cast on any unit, it will add the Regeneration ability to that unit. The ability remains while the spell is in effect.

When cast on the overland map, Icon NatureRegeneration has a basic Casting Cost of Icon Mana 300. It has a lingering effect, so that the targeted unit will keep its Regeneration ability so long as the spell continues to exist. This requires a hefty Upkeep Cost of Icon Mana 10 to be paid at the start of each turn.

Alternatively, it is possible to cast Icon NatureRegeneration during combat as an impromptu Unit Enchantment. In this case the spell's basic Casting Cost is a much lower Icon Mana 60, but its effects will only last until the end of the battle. Since neither the spell nor the effect will carry over to the overland map, there is no associated Upkeep Cost with this version of the spell. However, Regeneration cast in battle does still provide its end-of-combat effects before fading away, but only for the victorious army (i.e. a fleeing unit will not be healed as it would be with the natural ability).

Regeneration Item Power[]

A permanent version of the Icon NatureRegeneration spell exists as an Item Power avaiable only on Jewelry type Magical Items. Equipping such an Accessory on a Hero grants them a transient ItemPower Regenerate Regeneration ability, which will remain active until the item is removed.

Unfortunately there are only 2 items with this trait among the game's pre-defined Magical Item database, which makes them rather rare in terms of acquisition through either Treasure or wandering Merchants. Crafting an Accessory with this ability requires Icon Nature6 Nature Spellbooks, and can only be accomplished via the Icon ArcaneCreate Artifact spell. On the other hand, knowledge of the actual spell is not a pre-requisite for imbuing this Item Power.

Lycanthropy and Werewolves[]

This is not a true method of adding Regeneration to an existing unit, but should be mentioned nonetheless. Icon DeathLycanthropy is an Uncommon Spell, that is a unique mix of a Summoning Spell and an Instant Spell. When cast on a friendly Normal Unit on the overland map, it will permanently turn that unit into Icon DeathWerewolves.

After transformation, the Icon DeathWerewolves are essentially an entirely different unit - which possesses Regeneration among its many other abilities. Therefore, instead of actually adding Regeneration to a Normal Unit, it replaces the unit entirely with Icon DeathWerewolves - who always possess Regeneration.

Known Bugs[]

In games played without the Unofficial Patch 1.50, combat healing effects, including Regeneration, are prone to a bug that can occasionally grant extra temporary maximum Icon Hits Hit Points to a unit. This occurs whenever a Icon Figure Figure in a unit is revived with at least as much health missing as the unit's maximum Icon Figure Figure count. Naturally, this only affects Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure units, and only those that have a higher Icon Hits Hit Point per Icon Figure Figure amount than maximum Icon Figure Figures, such as the Icon ChaosHydra, for example.

In addition to the transient increase of maximum Icon Figure Figure health, the bug will typically also cause the affected unit to regain more Icon Hits Hit Points in total than intended. For a more detailed description of how this happens, see the Known Bugs section of the Icon LifeHealing spell article.

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