Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

Well of course! You can counter that, though, since Ermor's research lags unless they get to Const-4 for Skull Mentors [else Spectators are woefully inefficient: 12 gems for 5 RP in magic-1, vs 10 gems for 9 RP]. As a result, their early/mid game research is quite constrained, especially since they need to rely on death gems for most of it, and can't expand research growth with castles.

Summon Lammashtas takes only one battle turn and a death gem to use (you can then spam Dust to Dust afterwards). It's more effective for tying up the chaff before they reach you so you can have the time to spam those spells that you need. And if you can effectively stall the turn long enough (and they're attacking), you force them to autorout. So just having one mage spend a turn summoning lammashatas per battle can be very worthwhile. Basically when facing Ermor with magic, in my experience, the two things to keep in mind are 1) How can I most effectively, cheaply, and quickly kill the mounds of undead chaff they throw at me?, and 2) How do I keep the chaff tied up long enough for me to wipe them? At least in my experience.

Flambeaus (Holy Pyre: Fire Cloud which deals x3 damage to undead, combined with say boots of quickness) and larger AoE spells are much more powerful counters to Ermor. Also, communion'd holy priests if you have the option (Ulm for instance, can build up a communion of Iron priests and rain down things like H6 Banishment [permanently, too with a minor earth bless given 0 fatigue cost] with penetration items {which are overkill with H6, really]) just rip Ermor chaff apart (Ulm also has the option of Iron Blizzard spam). Cleansing water too, if you're a water nation. Blood nations can do the same with Sabbaths (and if necessary, can suicide diseased mages with massed Hellpower. An Earthquake or two is also incredibly useful against massed chaff: not sure about Bladewind against national Ermor undead, though it's effective against the unshielded chaff (these are all level 4-5 Evo; Hellpower is Blood 2). There's also Purgatory if you can put it up in time and are that hard pressed (Tham 7): wipes undead hordes off the map.

I'm personally more worried about Rl'yeh (since being a water nation naturally protects them). For that, I'm just going to be cheering Atlantis on, and getting high start dominion (since Mari starts next to a coast). And if I'm next to Rl'yeh, hey. I can try and go for a dom kill with blood sac :) .

Also, 4 yeses thus far. Need 2 more people to agree before we open it up to pretenders.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

the lizards of Ctis say go. we are ready, and the sacred serpents grow restless...

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

In my experience, they usually kill a necromancer first.

16 communion slaves? That`s a really big communion.

Tower shields.

If you`re communioned already - why not add "summon earthpower"? :)

Of course you are - after all, Marignon is a closest thing to a silver bullet against Ermor - H3 High Inquisitors, Harbringers, Holy Pyre...

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

Really? Everytime I use them, they go after the enemy.

And once their dead and routed, they come after me. Different experiences I guess.

8 actually. Power of the Spheres affects H as well. You can also use a prophetized S mage to reduce the number of necessary slaves down. You can also settle for an H5 or H4, if you're short on slaves. Really, the extra Hs give you more banishment AoEs and higher penetration. Every +1H gives +1 magic penetration against MR, and while Ermor has Protection of the Sepulchre for +4, I believe it's MR negates easily so it takes many castings to apply it to a large portion of their troops. At least, in my LA Ermor games. Having H6 just means +5 penetration, so the undead can make barely any checks (substitute for penetration items also).

Even with just a small communion, you can PotS and give the Iron Priest slaves H3, which is still fairly effective at clearing undead (and again 0 fatigue) (while the master is rolling H4-7 and still clearing swathes of undead per cast).


It's still alot of armor piercing missiles flying about (will get through the unshielded undead chaff which they have, and have a decent chance at taking down tower shielded ones: think of them as crossbow batteries). Not as effective as high level holy banishments, but it's still quite effective. Throw out enough missiles and eventually shields are only an inconvenience.

There we go! Now all your Iron priest slaves/matrixed mages re rolling E3-5 (5 with an E2 and Boots). Chain-casts of Earthquakes destroy large chaff armies, and army buff spells like Legion of Steel/Weapons of Sharpness help the staying power of even weak indy chaff into effective blockers against undead hordes.

Wasn't my first choice for a nation (you took it :p ), but yeah. Mari's almost never afraid of Ermor (esp. with blood sacrifice to push back Ermor dominion). And personal opinion, but Ulm should have the tools to fight back easily, provided you keep up dominion (Counts, your own army of chaff to block/buy time, communionable holy mages [which are just as/more effective than plain H3 mages, mind, since they're, you know, useful at something other than banishments and can be empowered to higher levels of H], and major access to earth/fire evocations [with a crystal matrix], plus death/blood/astral). And if push comes to shove...Hellpower an entire communion of Second Tiers, horror mark, and getting the hell [heh heh, pun] out of Dodge.

If anything, I'll barely be building any High Inquisitors (a prophet, a few more to maintain dominion/go for potential domkills, and that's it). If I'm next to Ermor, I'll be Sabbathing/communioning Goethics, with a matrix to the prophet. HIs just aren't worth buying over Goethics and Mapmakers (name?), in anything more than small quantities. H3 is nice, but communion power is better (and they can still research/blood hunt/site search/forge in their spare time). Goethic communions will be doing most of my heavy lifting.

5 Yays. One more for us to kick it of.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

man, i thought this was a newbie game...

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

u boys aint newbies...

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

I'm good at theory crafting.

Absolutely horrible at implementation. :p

Plus, I haven't played Dominions in so long I might as well (played 5 MPs before that (and got slaughtered every time), so still one).

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

I am! I've not even completed one MP game. Though some of the strategy they're talking can easily be from single player games. Newbie is considered newbie to multiplayer, as far as I can tell.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

From what I can tell, non-newbie territory is after 10 MP games.

So I'm still a ways to go.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

I just read many guides. Played 4 times vs real opponents, lost 3 times, and my opponents weren`t any more experienced. Also,read some LPs.

Boots of Earth are not THAT cheap. Oh, and they require Construction-4. So, boots take time, they are not turn-10 solution to undead problem. :)

H3 Inquisitor is a pretty cool guy. Eh kills undead and doesnt afraid of anything.:)
Oh, and they are great at pushing back enemy dominion.
Also, his H3 is guaranteed - not just random pick, that you almost never get due to Murphy`s law. %)
Seriously, if I were Marignon who starts next to Ermor - I`d rush him with army of High Inquisitors and get easy 15D/turn.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

Course not. However, Earth 3 and 4 (4 with a Crystal Matrix on a E2) through crystal matrix on all slaves is still respectable and allows you to throw out the large earth evos/earthquakes rather easy. E5 is relatively easy to accomplish with 4 slaves and an Earthpower and Power of the Spheres (or a Crystal Shield).

They're good at pushing back dominion, but not for anything else. And communioned/sabbathed Goethics do everything they do in battle magic, but better. Dompush/kill is what they're for. ;)

a 5-man goethic communion/sabbath gets PotS, and thus guaranteed H3 on all slaves (and H5 on the master). Better than just bunches of High Inquisitors (who again aren't as flexible). But that's my take on things. Then there's Hellpower (+2 in all magic, including Holy), but that's a whole 'nother can of worms, and you definitely don't want to bring that out in a communion (unless you plan on summoning a horde of horrors [large enough and doom horrors pop out: man those things are scary]).

Yes, those death gems are delicious when you don't have to spend most of it buying research mages/mentors. That's like 2 tarts per turn! :angel

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

I am happy to start with just 11 on board ... the map should be fine.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

They are good out of the box, without any research. And Ermor is much easier to kill if you start the war turn 6-7. Later on it becomes much more of a problem, due to much larger number of freespawn.
Also, smite spam from 5+ priests is pretty cruel early on, so you won`t have a problem finding something to do for them.

...to waste a large number of gems really fast. :)

An astral pearl for every skirmish?

Goethics are only H1 in CBM. PotS gives them another +1. 1+1=2 :P
Remember, communion slaves get communion bonus only for spells that masters cast.
BTW, casting Sabbath immediately gives them 50 (49?) fatigue, so they`ll pass out faster (important when fighting against really big undead armies)

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

Wow. Pages and pages of discussion about how to kill poor, misunderstood Bone Daddy. I love it. He's going to try to live up to your high expectations and put on a good show, but he's still a newbie lich, so don't be too disappointed if he succumbs early to all the pitchforks pointed at him.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

As an act of kindness, the nation of R'yleth sends Bone Daddy a sympathy fish. Use it wisely.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

LA ctis will also subsidise bone daddy. we send you one undead chariot.(u have to supply the driver, but u can have the ostritch)

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

Thanks peeps.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

Ah, alright. Let's get this show on the road. Submit your pretenders now!

http://www.llamaserver.net/gameinfo....alorDeath_BSoD

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) (recruiting! 11/12)
 

Just a few early on. Can't let blood income or research lag too far behind.

Bah, meant just matrix any none S mage you want part of it. So give one to a E/F Priest for fire evos or a E/A Priest for Wind Guide (better precision helps everyone), etc.

There are worse uses of it. Crystal shields are also available.

Doh, been under the impression they were H2 this entire time. :doh:
Reinvigoration is the answer to that.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Upload Pretenders]
 

Random name generator just made my life painful. What kind of a name is "Pulu" anyway? Is it a name for a dog? No, dogs get better names. It is a name for some small pet insect. OK. I do understand the pain of being kicked by RNG. But it just won't stop.

Sent the pretender to server. I do not expect him survive for 3 years.

The insect's life is short.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Upload Pretenders]
 

Hmmm... Imprisoned pretender means that it is neither a supercombatant, nor a rainbow. This leaves you with choice from good scales or a high bless. There`s a word on the streets, that LA Atlantis has good sacreds... On the other hand, those sacreds are cap-only.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Upload Pretenders]
 

sent my pretender in, but i think i had a different sprites mod enabled. let my know if that didn't work, ill disable and recreate.

i am c'tis

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Upload Pretenders]
 

Better recreate now - if the game thinks you try to cheat, it will spawn your pretender as pathless archmage. Happened to one of us the very first time I was playing MP.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Upload Pretenders]
 

ok. so just recreate using only CBM 192, right?

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Upload Pretenders]
 

Yep. Just to be sure. :)

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Upload Pretenders]
 

Submitted my pretender, but Llamaserver seems to be having problems. Doesn't show that mine's been uploaded and people are talking in the llamaserver thread about it not taking turns either.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Upload Pretenders]
 

Llamaserver says:

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Upload Pretenders]
 

Bogarus will have their pretender up either tonight or tomorrow Morning. Sorry for Delay!

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Upload Pretenders]
 

Alright then! Everyone's submitted their pretenders. We're good to start.

:)

EDIT: Whoops! It seems there are VPs in this game (when there shouldn't be). :doh:

Restarted the game, because of that. Ignore the first turn file (use the second turn file!).

EDIT2: Ok, there still seems to be VPS on the map. However, I made sure before hand that VPs were disabled so that shouldn't be an issue. Must be part of this specialized map I'm using (with the 12 custom starts).

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

Could you fix my user name on in the first page of the article? Just easier if people are trying to PM me.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

So, how did you like the tournament? I, for one, think, that our new champion is doomed to die a horrible, horrible death due to being somewhat weak in Astral department.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

are you zeroing in on poor lazarus, phoenix?

i know it was dumb to put him in there, but i figured it was my one chance to win something in this game stacked with good players.

since lazarus is dead already, maybe i can use him to steam roll Ulm early...

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

What did you actually get for winning the Tournament? The more experienced players in this game probably know this already but in the few SP games I played so far, I never won the arena...

So maybe you (or one of the more experienced players) could enlighten me.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

you get a middle of the road magic item.

mine is pretty forgetable. i had never won either, so now i know.

can't recommend sending your pretender, but might be worth it for a thug.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

I think, Mark of the Champion is one of the best helmets out there, not because it`s uber-cool, but because there are only a couple useful helmets.

No, it`s just a prediction. Pretenders with low astral are very vulneurable to magic duel.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

i know you are right about astral. too bad i didn't read the astral thread before this game got going.

i know i am doomed here, but i kind of look at myself as a rabid dog. gonna die? yes. but that means i have very little to lose...

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

Why? Yes, your god is going to die at least once? but that`s the thing with combat pretenders - they tend to die from time to time.And Ctis seems to have other national strengths.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

I should've sent someone to the tournament scripted to horror mark. :p

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

yeah, shard, i guess you are right. there are a few other reasons i prob won't get far in this game. never really had any time to play C'tis b4 the game got going, and i've flubbed a bit.

but i'm still having fun. but you are prob right, the death of a pretender isn't the end of the world. although sometimes it feels like it

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

Try wyrm with no paths as a pretender. With 10 dominion (and awe that comes with it) he can start conquering the world from turn 1 (just keep away from those undead - your awe doesn`t impress them at all). And if he dies - no big deal, you just call him back and keep fighting.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

low tech-i love it!

but i am currently in two games, and will have to get killed to start a new one. don't wanna go AI too early and mess it up for everyone else.

who knows, maybe i'll make it to midgame in this one. maybe not. i'll learn either way.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

Here's hoping I can knock you out in your other game! Not sure though. You put together an impressive army on my doorstep.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

that war has just begun. ashdod worries me, which was part of the reason for the move.

much hinges on the next few turns...

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

And Koschei the Hero suddenly appeared...

I've never played Bogarus before. This Hero appeared and the write-up on this guy had me cracking up. Hide your daughters from this one!!

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

Only one hero? I've already picked up two. :p

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

Kill Joy :mad:

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!] Turn 1
 

Wait untill you see Baba Yaga.. :)

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!]
 

Ah... Russian folklore sure is funny.
Baba Yaga the Bone-Leg. And Koschei the Deathless. Funny thing is, they always were defeated by Ivan the Fool.

Do not fear the monsters. Fear the man with big sword and total lack of brains.

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!]
 

joke is on you shardphoenix-my pretender got killed by a few abysians who had absolutely no astral. in fact, they had no magic at all except a bit of that priestly stuff.

i knew i would be dangerous in this game...dangerous to myself, that is.

someone come finish me off!!

Re: BSoD (Newbie, LA, CBM 1.92) [Started!]
 

So... C'tis is mostly out now. Strange. It was my destiny to be the first to lose.
Also... Are my attempts in the diplomacy considered so feeble that other sides do not want to waste time answering me?