Re: Do people underuse mages?
 

There are plenty of cheap yet effective spells. My favorite tree for the first forty research points is always Thaumaturgy.

-As already mentioned (thanks Nikelaos), death one mages can immediately spam frighten against normal foes and dust to dust against the undead. That covers ~90% of most early game battles quite effectively.

-Communions can be had at this level as well. That doesn't sound useful, but a lot of astral factions have astral priests. Priests spells are free and effective in the early game. Don't have 3H priests? Now you do. If you're MA Ermor this becomes ridiculously effective, especially since you want your mages out in battles to reanimate afterwords anyhow.

-Horror mark, curse, and seven year fever won't immediately kill an awake SC pretender, but it will surely make them sorry.

-If you are one of the rare nations able to cast the spell, far strike is actually a really good non-evocation evocation spell. Compare it to any early game elemental damage spell and you'll see that it wins every time. It does more damage, with greater accuracy, with greater base range, can't be blocked by shields or air shield, and can't be ignored with any form of resistance. Also, you can cast it all day long as it costs only 5 fatigue.

Re: Do people underuse mages?
 

not to mention the infamous skelly spam, thats 25 more undead on the battlefeild per mage.

other things to think about are stuff like slime for you water mages out there which has the niche usage of slowing tramplers and hideously early for it's effectiveness though perhaps a little later to get than others mentioned here is Legions of steel, the extra protection makes all the diference my friend.

Re: Do people underuse mages?
 

I am not sure about the not blocked by shield part. In CBM, far strike is range 50 and 100 accuracy. Yet casted on Abysia light infantry, who has only 9 armor, it more often than not does no damage. It destroys most unshielded units just fine.

Re: Do people underuse mages?
 

Interesting. I must test this some time.

Re: Do people underuse mages?
 

If you like to play with battle mages, try the mod "Gem Valley". It is replete with battle mages with high path but unpredicatable wild magic. :poke:

Re: Do people underuse mages?
 

I played LA Atlantis in a recent SP game, and I loved my mages. :D

For the early game, my supercooled heavy infantry dominated the battlefield. I always brought along at least one Angakok and a posse of Tungaliks, but they were mainly there to watch the infantry fight & die. However, I quickly learned that Frighten spam is shockingly effective against indies (as Nikelaos mentioned), so all of those Angakoks and Tungaliks started working for a living.

But then I researched Alteration 6....

New script: Frozen Heart *5, Cast Spells. I added a few more Tungaliks (recruitable at any fortress!) to each army, and the bad guys started dying more quickly. This spell was particularly effective against the heavy cavalry and knights that were so annoying. My infantry could breathe a little easier now.

And then I researched Evocation 5....

Another new script (for Angakoks only): Falling Frost *5, Cast Spells. Angakoks with a random pick in Air magic had the first Falling Frost replaced with Aim. Woohoo! More bad guys died before they could ever reach my infantry, and my troops rarely suffered any casualties worse than the occasional "social disease" from fraternizing with the locals.

And then I researched Evocation 7....

Forging Time! Each Tungalik paused to forge a Water Bracelet, which now made them Water 2 mages. Another new script: Ice Strike *5, Cast Spells. I also added a handful more Tungaliks to each army. At this point, the bad guys died before my infantry could even engage them. By the time my troops started to swing their icy weapons, the battle was already a rout.

Battle magic rocks. It's a little harder to use than the venerable "build heavy infantry and hit people with it" strategy, but it can be exceedingly effective. And I didn't even do anything very fancy! Just pick a decent spell, spam it all over the battlefield, and watch the carnage. :)

Re: Do people underuse mages?
 

Are you sure you're not thinking of the CBM version? The vanilla Farstrike has only Prec 5 IIRC, and I think only Prec 100 spells ignore shields.

-Max

Re: Do people underuse mages?
 

This is one reason why I love LA Agartha and MA Ashdod. I love seeing huge AI formations of elite troops evaporate as 8 or 10 mages spam Banefire/Magma Eruption/Cloud of Death/Falling Fires/Gifts from the Heavens/Nether Darts at them. (Ashdod can do all of these! There is no such thing as a Zamzummite who isn't an arty mage, even unboosted.) You still need some cheap troops as cavalry blockers, even if your mages can skelly spam, but it costs zero gems and it's a lot of fun to watch.

Arty mages also synergize well with PD. Main army or SC takes territory, moderate PD + 1-2 mages holds it.

-Max

Re: Do people underuse mages?
 

The AI builds "huge" "formations of elite troops"? I don't see that even while playing on Impossible with mods designed to encourage the AI to be more selective with its troop recruitment :)

Re: Do people underuse mages?
 

And, yet another reason that Hinnom/Ashdod needs a nerf.