Populous: The Spells


The spells in Populous are varied and do varying amounts, and types, of damage. They can only be cast by the Shaman. This is the reason the Shaman holds as much importance as she does. The spells are shown at the right. The blue dots under the spells are the number of spells that are currently charged up. Your mana is used to charge your spells. The mana and time needed to charge the spells usually goes up as you go up the spells. The more spells you have charging at one time the slower they will go. The spells with a blue/yellow line under them are spells that are currently charging. The blue line shows how close you are to having another one of those spells. The spell with no line under it(the lightning in this case) is a spell that the player has stopped charging to let the other spells charge faster. To stop charging a spell you simply right click on it. To use a spell you left click on it and then click where you want your Shaman to cast it.
The spells are:
The top two left to right: Left column, top to bottom: Middle column, top to bottom: Right column, top to bottom:

Here are more details on each spell individually.

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Convert

The convert spell is mainly used right at the beginning of the level. This is when wildmen are plentiful. You cast the convert spell on the wildmen and it will convert them into braves for your tribe. The convert spell charges pretty fast and it is a good way to get a lot of people to start constructing buildings for you.













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Blast

The blast spell is the simplest and easiest offensive spell you have. It charges quickly and it is simply a little fireball that will be shot where you cast the spell.












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Swarm

The swarm spell can be very effective to protect your people from being attacked. It causes a swarm of bees to chase the people of other tribes. It causes the enemies to run around and lose health in the process. While this is happening you will be able to send in reinforcements to finish them off.
















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Invisibility

The invisibility spell is used to make group of your followers become invisible. Each spell only works on five of your followers though. To you, they will appear semi-transparent, but the other tribes won't be able to see them at all. This is very useful for sneak attacks.





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Shield

The shield spell is used to put a protective shield around a group of your followers. It only works on five of your followers, and it only protects against spells from an enemy shaman and fire warrior blasts. Your followers will still be vulnerable to hand to hand combat hits. Also, this does nothing to protect against enemy preachers.





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Lightning

The lightning spell is used to cast a bolt of lightning in the place you cast the spell. It is very deadly and will kill people if they are hit with it. It can be used on balloons and boats too. If hit, all the occupants will be killed. The most difficult thing to do is hit a moving target. You can't just click on the person and have it hit the person that has moved. You have to aim ahead of where the moving target is, so the lightning will come down exactly when they reach that spot. It will takes some practice to master this.













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Land Bridge

The land bridge spell is used to connect two pieces of land that have water in between them. This isn't the only use though. You can also just make a ramp up to a higher or down to a lower piece of land. The ramp will start at the point where the shaman is standing and will end where you click to cast the spell. In the picture at the left I am using the spell to create a land bridge across some water.






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Hypnotise

The hypnotise spell is very fun in my opinion. You cast it on an enemy tribe member and it will hynotise them and they will temporarily think that they belong to your tribe. It also creates a yellow swirly thing above their head while they are hynotise so you can distinguish them from your own people.They will act exactly as if they were part of your tribe, you can even control them as if they were yours. One thing you can do is hynotise someone and then send them into a training hut. When they come out they will be a permanent member of your tribe. Just make sure that when they change back to their own color that they aren't in a vulnerable part of your base that they can attack. I like to send them to someone else's base just before they turn back.



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Tornado

The tornado spell is used to create a tornado. Wow, I bet you would have never guessed that one. The tornado spell can lift up people and throw them. The fall probably won't kill the people, but they will be severely weakened. The tornado will also destroy, or partially destroy, buildings if it comes across one.


















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Swamp

The swamp spell creates a deadly swamp. When people walk into it they are instantly killed. Each swamp will kill ten people and then disappear. Swamps kill indiscriminately, it doesn't matter if they are your people or the enemy's. You can remove one of your own swamps by holding shift and right-clicking. This comes in handy if a swamp you created is in your way because the only other way to get rid of it is to sacrifice 10 of your people.









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Flatten

The flatten spell causes the land around the point where you cast the spell to be flattened to the level of the point you clicked on.














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Earthquake

The earthquake spell causes an earthquake to be created at the point you click on. The earthquake will cause the land to sink in a line where the earthquake is. There is no way to determine if the line will be north and south or east and west. The earthquake will cause minor damage to surrounding buildings, but will completely destroy buildings on the line of the earthquake.










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Erode

The erode spell causes the land to sink where you click the erode spell. The land doesn't sink evenly. If you sink the land too far it will be under water. It's hard to tell what is happening in the picture, but the land was as high as the grassy land on either side of the low land and it was sunk down to where it is now.










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Fire Rain

The fire rain spell causes fire balls to rain down around the area you cast the spell. The fire will catch buildings on fire and will kill people if they are hit. The only person it doesn't affect is the shaman that cast the spell. Everyone else is vulnerable.













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Angel of Death

The angel of death spell causes an angel of death to appear that is the color of your tribe. It seeks out enemy tribe members and eats them. The only defense there is against an angel of death is another angel of death or massive amounts of fire warriors. It takes fire warriors a long time to kill an angel of death though.













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Volcano

The volcano is simply that, a volcano. A volcano will rise and lava will spread out pretty far. Any people caught in the lava will die except the shaman that cast the spell. The lava will also cause the buildings to catch on fire.

















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