Counters

The game has a 72 hour memory of attack history. Particularly attacks of the last 24 hours are important when you want to counter an attack. Within that timeframe, the game helps mages take revenge for an attack by countering: such attacks on self-proclaimed enemies are less limited than attacks on innocent new targets. Benefits for countering mages are: (1) mages can attack regardless of net power differences (i.e. the attack limitation does not apply); and (2) mages can attack regardless of protection status.

For each defended attack (land loss or not), a mage is granted the opportunity to take at least one retaliating attack with the counter-benefits. Counter benefits apply until an even amount of damage has been dealt as was suffered originally. Counters inevitably time out in exactly 24 hours. After that, attacking a mage in retaliation of an earlier attack is technically not a counter: It becomes an attack with normal attack limitations. Most counter attacks result from earlier attacks, but there are other circumstances that can grant counters. These are related to offensive use of items and spells (i.e. ‘you receive a wink from the Goddess of Revenge’ message). A hallucinated attack does not give a counter.

The battles related to your kingdom that appear in the Chronicle of Terra may give you some reminders of which counters still are to be expected, and which still to take. Note that a counter attack is an attack on its own, just like any other attack, and therefore returns similar counter benefits to the attacked mage (in other words, countering may lead to counter-counter and counter-counter-counter attacks).