Re: Some questions on LA Ermor
 

Man, I wish Skull Mentors were 5D, but they are 10D (so 7D with hammer).

Still, as much as it pains me to admit it, you are probably just better off with 2D, against a skilled opponent. This places you more on the defensive though, with less mages in total no matter what you do. On the other hand, you can afford a bit more magic on your pretender, opening up extra options.

Honestly I think Magic scale is your hardest build choice for LA Ermor. Consider that you won't always be fighting in your dominion, and it all gets so complicated.....

(You'll not thwart me again, THEJEFF! :shock:)

Re: Some questions on LA Ermor
 

ok I'll do it again then (tks I dont have dominion here, and I dont know all the item cost/effects yet :( )

a dusk elder is 6 base research isnt it ?

it cost 20 gems for dusk elder + 7 gems with hammer for skull mentor == 27 gems
magic3 (-120 pts) 8, with reseach skull 17 -> 1.58 gems / rp
magic1 (-40 pts) 7, with reseach skull 16 -> 1.68 gems / rp
magic0 (0 pts) 6, with reseach skull 15 -> 1.8 gems / rp
drain2 (+80 pts) 5, with reseach skull 14 -> 1.92 gems / rp
drain3 (+120 pts) 4, with reseach skull 13 -> 2.07 gems / rp


a spectator is 3 base research isnt it ?

it cost 12 gems for a spectator + 7 gems with hammer for skull mentor == 19 gems
magic3 (-120 pts) 5, with reseach skull 14 -> 1.35 gems / rp
magic1 (-40 pts) 4, with reseach skull 13 -> 1.46 gems / rp
magic0 (0 pts) 3, with reseach skull 12 -> 1.58 gems / rp
drain2 (+80 pts) 2, with reseach skull 11 -> 1.72 gems / rp
drain3 (+120 pts) 1, with reseach skull 10 -> 1.9 gems / rp



hmmm I think i'm gonna do an excel sheet for those calculations... do you know if quill and mentor skull effects do stack ?

Re: Some questions on LA Ermor
 

Yes, they do stack. Lightless Lanterns (Constr 6, F1) would also stack if you had mages with three misc slots.

Because your pretender isn't out searching, you don't have the gems to forge Dwarven Hammers and every Skull Mentor costs full 10 gems. This might change if you took Forge Lord pretender, but I don't know if La Ermor can take him.

I agree with JimMorrison, it is a really difficult choice.

Re: Some questions on LA Ermor
 

IIRC, magic scales don't actually lower MR. So you wouldn't be getting any negatives there.

And I don't like relying too much on skull mentors with LA Ermor because death gems are essentially your whole economy. To get any commanders worth anything you either need to get lucky finding sites.

Re: Some questions on LA Ermor
 

Only the first few Mentors will need to be forged without hammers. As soon as you find enough Earth sites, the pretender returns and make one. Hammers from then on.

Re: Some questions on LA Ermor
 

Lightless lantern as a downside effect (horror mark). and its Const6, long after the quill and the mentor skull.

@alansmithee : no ! mentor skull are vital to ermor because it decrease greatly the (death gem / rp) ratio, so a mage researching without a skull mentor is a waste.

@endoperez : youre correct ! in my test game I had no difficulty to get those early earth gems, but my pretender start searching very early... damn !! well if I am lucky I could get an E1 dusk elder and search with him, otherwise I guess I will have to change my plans and site search with my pretender anyway.

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/697...chgems2nd4.jpg

Re: Some questions on LA Ermor
 

In my experience, the downside on Lightless Lantern is negligible. In a recent game, I had about 40 of them and lost all of 2 mages to Horrors - a price well worth the paying.

Oh, and you get a better death gem/rp ratio with Lanterns than Mentors. Sure, mentors give a better total gem/rp ratio, but you have an awful lot of stuff you want to spend death gems on.

Btw, for pure efficiency in research, revenants are 3 gems cheaper than spectators and you might want to use them when you have them researched.

Re: Some questions on LA Ermor
 

Magic-1 is far and away the way to go, since early on is when it is most critical to maximize your RP. M-3 is a possibility, but I prefer to put the extra points into my pretender, and the MR for RP tradeoff isn't as neat when it's 1 for 1 instead of 1 for 2 (drain 2 to magic 1)

Re: Some questions on LA Ermor
 

But surely the benefit offered by magic 1 early on isn't actually that great, as you have a serious lack of mages?

Re: Some questions on LA Ermor
 

yes lantern are better, but they are Const6.

I've just performed a test game, Const4 can be reached on turn 14 with only 4 research turns from a rainbow pretender (he had 23rp). I dont want to loose more time in construction, dooing this I had Conj5 thau6 evo5 ench5 alt3 const4 (well I went all magic path because I simply dont know what to research) by turn 35 (+burden of time and foul air up). I dont know if this sounds good, yet it was enough to get rid of the mighty AIs (I set indep strength to 8 and it seems it was definitly too high for them ^^)