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Unicorns
Summon Unicorns
Realm Icon LifeLife
Spell Properties
Spell Rarity Uncommon
Casting Cost Icon Mana 250
Upkeep Cost Icon Mana 5 per turn
Research Cost Icon Research 560
Unit Properties
# of Figures Icon MultiFigureUnit 4
Moves Icon Movement Ground2 *
Melee Attack per figure Icon Melee Normal 5
Defense per figure Icon Defense 3
Resistance Icon Resist 7
Hit Points per figure Icon Hits 6
Unit Abilities

Ability ToHit +20% To Hit

Ability Teleporting Teleporting

Ability PoisonImmunity Poison Immunity

Ability ResistanceToAll Resistance to All +2
Tactical Unicorns

Unicorns are a type of Fantastic Unit featured in Master of Magic. They belong to the Icon LifeLife Realm, and may be summoned using a Summoning Spell of the same name. The Unicorns' primary combat skill is their ability to Teleport across the battlefield at will, allowing them to make sudden attacks against the weakest points in the enemy lines, and withdraw as necessary. Their attack, while seemingly weak, is actually quite accurate and can be deadly to mid-tier units. Furthermore, the very presence of Unicorns in an army increases all friendly units' Resistance scores by Icon Resist +2, including that of the Unicorns themselves.

The Fantastic Unit

Physical Description

The Unicorn is a famous mythical creature - a white horse with a single, long, golden horn protruding from its forehead. Unicorns have a golden mane, a golden tuft of hair at the end of their tails, and a golden beard similar to a goat's.

Unicorns were first mentioned in Greek mythology. Over the centuries they received a reputation as majestic and benign creatures possessing powerful healing magics, who could only be tamed and ridden by virgins.

The Unicorns unit is a Icon MultiFigureUnit Multi-Figure Unit, containing up to 4 of these creatures.

Attack Properties

The Unicorns' possess a simple and straightforward Icon Melee Normal Melee Attack, though it can be very dangerous to low-tier creatures and some mid-tier ones.

Each live Unicorn in the unit makes a Melee Attack with a strength of Icon Melee Normal 5. The unit enjoys an inherent Icon ToHit +20% To Hit bonus. This means that each Unicorn delivers about Icon Damage 2.5 points of Damage with each attack, on average. This is quite high for a mid-tier unit, so opponents with low Defense scores can expect to take considerable damage.

Defensive Properties

Unicorns are rather light in terms of defensive properties, having a Defense score of only Icon Defense 3. This means that they block only Icon Damage 0.9 Damage from each incoming attack, and will therefore almost always receive some damage from any attack.

Fortunately, each individual Unicorn is sturdy, taking Icon Damage 6 points of Damage before it is killed off. This is significantly higher than the health of most Normal Units.

In short, powerful enemy attackers can easily cause damage to the Unicorns, but will take some time to kill the entire unit.

On the other hand, the Unicorns have a high Resistance score of Icon Resist 7 - which is raised immediately to Icon Resist 9 whenever combat occurs, thanks to the unit's own "Resistance to All +2" ability. This high Resistance score renders the unit very difficult to affect with Curses and other combat maledictions that require a Resistance roll. The only effects that can harm them reliably are those that incur a Resistance penalty.

Furthermore, Unicorns are completely Immune to Poison, which means that they cannot be hurt by Poison Damage - making them quite useful against several different Fantastic Creatures that use such an attack.

Other Properties

Unicorns possess a rather-quick Movement Allowance of Icon Movement Ground2. This allows them to cover ground relatively fast on the overland map.

In combat, however, Unicorns are significantly faster, thanks to their Teleporting ability. The Unicorns may spend 1 Movement Point to move to any tile on the battlefield up to 10 tiles from their current position - basically allowing them to maneuver effortlessly to wherever they need to be. This allows the Unicorns to strike and retreat freely, keeping the enemy off-guard.

Finally, whenever the Unicorns enter combat, they will immediately bestow a Icon Resist +2 bonus to the Resistance score of each and every friendly unit - including themselves. This makes the Unicorns' entire army significantly more resistant to enemy Curses and certain enemy Special Attacks. The bonus persists as long as at least one of the Unicorns is still alive, and disappears when combat ends (but will reappear in the next battle).

Tactics

Unicorns make terrific hit-and-run units. With their respectable Melee Attack and their Teleporting ability, Unicorns can simply move adjacently to the weakest or most exposed enemy units, decimate them, and retreat to a safe distance on the next turn.

Coupled with the unit's high survivability, the Unicorns can skirmish with the enemy line to keep units busy while other (stronger) units attack the enemy from the front. Alternatively, a horde of Unicorns can nibble at the edges of the enemy's line, destroying units one by one until the enemy is reduced to nothing.

Teleportation works very well with the various Healing spells available to a Icon LifeLife mage, and allows them to remain in the fight for longer. This is important because the unit will suffer damage from enemy Counter Attacks, and the loss of each individual Unicorn weakens it. Healing the unit may restore some dead Unicorns to life. The same applies for Regeneration, which can allow a single unit of Unicorns to destroy an entire enemy army - slowly but surely.

Enemy Unicorns

Unicorns are rather rare, as are most Icon LifeLife creatures. They may occasionally appear in Ancient Temples or Towers of Wizardry. Unicorns are often encountered in groups of several units, possibly accompanied by a few Guardian Spirits or commanded by an Angel or Arch Angel.

Due to their Teleporting ability, Unicorns can be difficult to fight. They will surround your weakest units and kill them off first. Fortunately the AI is not very good at making tactical withdrawals, otherwise it might be significantly more difficult to chance and kill Unicorns.

Ranged Attacks are often useful against the Unicorns due to their low Defense scores. However, they will likely teleport in and attack your ranged units first.

Strong Melee Attackers can wipe out a group of Unicorns, though this may take some time. It is often better to use a unit with a very high Defense score to fight off Unicorns, as their attack is not too impressive against armor.

Curses and other spells are significantly less useful against these creatures, due to the Unicorns' high Resistance score. In fact, it may be very hard to cast Curses at any enemy unit while any Unicorns are still alive in the battle.

Ability Overview

Ability ToHit +20% To Hit

  • This unit has an extra Icon ToHit 20% chance to hit its target with every attack. This improves its statistical chance to inflict more Icon Damage Damage with each attack it makes.

Ability Teleporting Teleporting

  • During its turn, this unit may instantly move to any unoccupied tile on the battlefield, using up only 1 Movement Point (or 0.5, if it only has that many points left).
  • There is no limit to the number of times the unit may Teleport in a single turn - as long as it has any Movement Points remaining.

Ability PoisonImmunity Poison Immunity

  • This unit cannot be hurt by Poison Damage. It will automatically pass any Icon Resist Resistance roll to avert such damage.

Ability ResistanceToAll Resistance to All +2

  • During combat, this unit provides a Resistance bonus of Icon Resist +2 to every friendly unit - including itself.
  • This bonus persists as long as the unit remains alive during the battle. It disappears when the army returns to the overland map (if it survives the battle at all).
  • Resistance to All is not cumulative. If several units on the same side possess this ability, only one of these units will bestow the bonus on its friends (and itself).

The Summoning Spell

Usage

Unicorns may only be cast on the overland map, for the base Casting Cost of Icon Mana 250. Upon casting, the new Unicorns unit will appear in the town currently containing the caster's Summoning Circle.

The new unit is created with full Movement Points, and may move and/or attack immediately as necessary.

To keep the Unicorns in play, it is necessary to pay an Upkeep Cost of only Icon Mana 5 per turn. This is drawn automatically from the caster's Mana pool each turn. Failure to pay the required costs due to lack of Icon Mana Mana in the pool will lead to the Unicorns being immediately destroyed, along with any Unit Enchantments currently affecting them.

If the unit is destroyed in combat, then it is gone from the world entirely, and there is no further need to pay its Upkeep Costs.

You can also dismiss the Unicorns voluntarily. To do this, right-click the unit's icon and then press the red "Dismiss" button on the bottom right corner of the unit's details panel. A dismissed unit is gone forever, but of course you can always cast the Unicorns spell again to get a fresh new one. The primary reason to dismiss a Fantastic Creature would be to remove its Upkeep Cost (conserving Icon Mana Mana as a result).

Acquisition

As an Uncommon Icon LifeLife spell, Unicorns may become available to any Wizard who possesses at least one Icon LifeLife Spellbook. However, its availability during the game is almost never guaranteed.

Customized Wizards possessing Icon Life11 Spellbooks at creation time may choose this spell as one of their default spells before starting the game, in which case the spell will already be researched and available for casting immediately on the first turn.

Wizards who possess at least Icon Life8 Spellbooks, or Wizards with Icon Life11 Spellbooks who did not select Unicorns as a guaranteed spell, will be able to Research this spell at some point during their campaign. Wizards with fewer than Icon Life8 Spellbooks have a random chance of being able to Research it. The chance for this spell to appear increases with the number of Icon LifeLife Spellbooks the Wizard possesses or obtains during gameplay.

Unicorns has a base Research Cost of Icon Research 560.

With at least Icon Life1 Spellbook, the Unicorns spell may be acquired as a reward for winning encounters in creature Lairs, Towers, et cetera, or when conquering the Fortress of a rival wizard who has already researched this spell.

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