Re: Iron Dragons=Uber Unit ??
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Too many. A bunch of ghosts or vampires will do. They're ethereal and have high defense, so that they're less likely to be trampled. Their attacks are armor piercing. And they're cheaper in term of gems and accessible at lower level.

Even a Firblog with a good armor-negating weapon may be able to finish one off - not sure on this, somebody has to test.

Re: Iron Dragons=Uber Unit ??
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Go for it=) Just post the stats for an Iron Dragon (in the correct format) in the Battle Sim thread, and I'll add it to the simulator=) Or feel free to add it yourself, and learn the results in secret http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif The data files are all easily-edited text files.

Re: Iron Dragons=Uber Unit ??
 

[quote]Originally posted by ywl:

Quote:

Originally posted by Vger: Even a Firblog with a good armor-negating weapon may be able to finish one off - not sure on this, somebody has to test.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">.. the ID isn't lighting-resistant, right?
The combo will work on lots of others "biggest monsters", too, though ...


Thunder Bow
(10 air gems; STR armor negating damage)
Girdle of Might
( 3 earth gems; +3 STR, +3 Reinv.)

Those quite low-level and easy to forge items will result in:

DAM 20 (lighting, armor-negating)
range 30
prec 18

I went for girdle of might because the Firbolg is rather heavy encumbered, and I found them rel. often with fat. >10, which will incure them a -1 penalty, when they ran around to get the nicest target in range ...
Maybe a total prec of 18 is too low, so you might want to add a Eye of Aiming, and maybe a Bear Claw while you're at it, for another 5 damage http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

A.

Re: Iron Dragons=Uber Unit ??
 

>.. the ID isn't lighting-resistant, right?

It's 100% resistant to all elements and poison.

Sending in troops versus ID's is just a good way to lose troops. Magic that requires a MR check is their real weakness.

Re: Iron Dragons=Uber Unit ??
 

Are they vulnerable to Elf Bane, too?

Re: Iron Dragons=Uber Unit ??
 

Elf bane would probably work... but unless the character holding it is BEEFY you don't want to lose a magic weapon if the dragon tramples over him/her first.

Re: Iron Dragons=Uber Unit ??
 

Can one repel a Trample attack? If yes, what is it's length? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
Maybe spears, or pikes, (length 3-5) though I could see it being only length 0 too...

Oops, forgot the main idea: If the "length of trample" ( http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ) is zero, then you would have one chance to repel with elf bane. Well, it would be something...

[ December 24, 2003, 19:05: Message edited by: Endoperez ]

Re: Iron Dragons=Uber Unit ??
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I think it checks against your "defense" value. So, lightly armored units have the advantage (make sense, right? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif . So do ethereal units though I don't know what's the bonus is. Worse for the trampler is: even if he has some very good melee weapon, he'll still trample by default even facing high-defense units. That's why I mentioned ghost, which has a decent defense and ethereal.

Trampling damage is armor negating and related to the trampler's size - somebody else could probably give you a precise formula.

Iron Dragons are powerful, especially since they're so mobile. But it's not the end of the world.

Re: Iron Dragons=Uber Unit ??
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">.. so switch Thunder Bow for Ethereal Crossbow plus Boots of Quickness ...

A.

Re: Iron Dragons=Uber Unit ??
 

>.. so switch Thunder Bow for Ethereal Crossbow plus Boots of Quickness ...

Might as well cast soul slay which will happen twice as often and always "hits".

I like ethereal cbows, but as a way to augment an already prepared army. I wouldn't suggest them as a main defense versus ID's. I understand the allure of stacking up items on characters as an attempt to replace mages. In practice I have found that it doesn't work very well.