Re: The Vine Ogre
 

Aren't there situations where any of you prefer vine men to ogres? I know the HP is a big difference, but it seems like the smaller size (more per square) could be a crucial advantage. Like when facing a thug with really high defence, having more hands attacking in a round, or a low prot opponent where more low HP attacks would be better, or defensively when facing a SC with a huge attack that will kill either an ogre or man in 1 mash, so having more targets takes more time to get through? Does nobody ever use vine men at all after ogres are available, except due to lack of able casters?

Not having to pay for boosters or more research time to get conj up to ogres could result in a lot more then a 3:2 man:ogre numeric advantage too -- 2:1 or more.

Sill

Re: The Vine Ogre
 

I sometimes have N1-2 mages make vinemen even after I have other N3 mages who can make ogres. They're both cheap. Vine men will have more attacks, but they're also clutzy (attacks at 7) while the ogres attack at 11. If the enemy has something that can kill a vine ogre as easily as a vine man, but only targets one at a time... then maybe, but I can't think what that would be. I think it's very rare that there might be such a situation, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't still consider having low-power mages adding a few vine men. I might if they were x2 (or x3) per casting instead of +1 compared to vine ogres.

PvK

Re: The Vine Ogre
 

I used to use vine men, until I noticed their abysmal performance in the combat sim, and I examined ogres more closely. Their stats are just way better, especially attack. 8 attack versus 12 attack makes it hard for vine men to hit anything. A much higher attack and much higher strength together are a very potent combination for roughly the same price. Even though small size does offset the attack disadvantage, it makes vine men vulnerable to trample and area effect spells, and overall I think it's more of a weakness than a strength. The fact that they are more numerous but weaker means more commanders are needed to lead them. And quite simply, vine creatures are often wanted just as meat shields, and ogres get you way more HP per gem than vine men, cover more area per gem than vine men, and thus are more useful in this capacity.

I don't summon vine men anymore, even before I have researched ogres.