Re: Best summon?
 

Usefulness can't be measured by a head-on fight. A light infantryman, hell, even a militia, will probably kill a crossbowman in one-on-one combat, but that doesn't mean that he's more useful.

Bane Lords might be more useful against Ethereal units and such, but Ether Warriors are highly effective against magical beings and mundane soldiers.

Re: Best summon?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">They aren't as effective against regular soldiers as a bane lord with jade armor, wraith sword, and flying boots. If you are having a lot of trouble against magical troops, then you can give one a moonblade for 5 pearls, which is much less than the cost of a single ether warrior.

The stats on even a garden variety, non-commander wight are nearly as good as those on an ether warrior, which doesn't justify their extreme cost.

[ May 17, 2004, 03:42: Message edited by: Graeme Dice ]

Re: Best summon?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Eh? What am I missing here? A wight costs 5 gems, which is approximately the same as the cost of an ether warrior, isn't it?

Also, summoning EWs is much more efficient as you get 15 of them in one mage-turn, compared to just the one wight (or is there another spell for summoning wights in bulk?)

Re: Best summon?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">You are 100% correct.

But mr "normal troops have no use" does not do the math. He just flaps his lips, or rather just types without thinking.

Re: Best summon?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I'd prefer 60 wights. Or 20 wights plus Wraith Lord and use remaing 20 gems for Wraith Lord equipment.

The only reason I might prefer Ether Lord is if I need a strong astral mage to protect my weak astral mages for magic duel. Besides strong astral magic, Ether Lord isn't that easy to kill with remote spells and assasinations.

Re: Best summon?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">The spell "Legion of Wights" gives you 20 wights at 30 death gems. This is much cheaper than Ether Warriors, which demand a hefty 90S gem cost. From a cost-effectiveness perspective, most astral summons are greatly overpriced for their value, as compared to summons of comparable research level and power of other magic paths. This is undoubtedly because astral gems are considered to be cheaper than most other gems, perhaps in part due to clam usage. Many fire spells and summons exhibit a similar property, perhaps because of the Fire counterpart, the Fever Fetish.

Re: Best summon?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Ah, that's what I was missing. On the other hand (I just looked it up) LoW is a level 9 spell, while Ether Gate is only level 6. So you're going to be able to summon ether warriors much earlier than you can (cost-effectively) summon wights.

So I guess the answer is that you'll use wights if you have Cjn 9 but use ether warriors if you need the grunt now, but only have Cjn 6-8.

Re: Best summon?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I'm not sure what your problem is, but I suggest you lose the insults. I'm simply pointing out that you would be better off using those astral gems for just about any other possible use. If you really want to waste your astral pearls on ether warriors, be my guest. I merely pointed out that a single wraith lord is a more effective use of your gems than a single cast of ether warriors.

The question was originally whether a person would rather have a wraith lord and 15 wights, or an ether lord and 15 ether warriors. The wights are superior as they have the same stats and have 0 encumbrance. Ether gate requires 90 astral pearls, gives you a mage with the same skills you already had to summon it, and gives you 15 troops that are outmatched by a level 3 summon. You would almost certainly be better off by using those gems to forge any of the various astral items.

Re: Best summon?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Ah, that's what I was missing. On the other hand (I just looked it up) LoW is a level 9 spell, while Ether Gate is only level 6. So you're going to be able to summon ether warriors much earlier than you can (cost-effectively) summon wights.

So I guess the answer is that you'll use wights if you have Cjn 9 but use ether warriors if you need the grunt now, but only have Cjn 6-8. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">... And if you have 90 astral to spare, which doesn't normally happen early in the game (at least not to me). Wights have additional advantage, because you need only 30 death gems to cast them, so waiting until 90 gems is not necessary. Ghosts are another good summon, which is very cost efficient if you have skillful death mage (summonned demi-lich with few magic boosters does pretty well too).

Re: Best summon?
 

I like Reanimation as Jotun in the early game. Giant Skells! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif