Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Thank you thank you. That old fart did quite well. In his last fight against the Devourer, he really did want to fight on, but his advisers would have none of it, and the palanquin bearers took him away from the battle in spite of his protests. So he wasn't cowardly or anything. Nope not chicken at all. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

And thanks potatoman for running this. I'm sure we'll be seeing lifelong protection and phoenix pyre being used more often in MP games after this http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

I have always had alot of faith in Phoenix pyre for scs, its like insurance against the ineveitable unlucky shots.

Anybody else notice that when the cyclops lost his only eye he recived two affliction hearts. Never noticed that before.

I thought the mechanical man was super ballzie, kudos! I think that proves that for one on ones its not the chasssies hp, its the magic items and empowerment that wins the game.

I had fun with my eater, too bad he was enslaved, low mr really hurt this round.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

no, just run it a 100 times and then put up the charts

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

The Emperor Impressed me personally. Imp spam with Gifts from heaven. I was sure he would die in the first round and he kept on winning. This is one of the most educational things I have ever seen for Dominions, I learned so much! :O

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

I'm glad that poison golems, phoenix pyre, and lifelong protections got a good showing - I'm rather fond of them all.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

please let a few people run this 10 times eacht with different player numbers for the combatants (to change for starts etc?)

then all post stats

or something

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

I chose the mechanical man because...
1>Complete immunity against all elements (QM's lightning spam which won him the first arena competition, phoenix pyre explosions, cold auras, poisons, etc);
2>Mindless protecting him from enslave & cowardice both of which were very lethal in the first competition. Also protects against soulslay, charm and others.

Recall the battle with Potoman's Void Lord, particularly the point with the Void Lord standing right in front of my SC. If I had chosen a Master Lich or Crone I suspect my SC would have either prematurely fled (like Rytek's SC did in the first competition against Cor's Unfettered) or possibly have been killed by an enemy Phoenix Pyre.

3>Not as crucial, but lifeless protected him from life drain, soul vortex, etc. A mechanical man instead of a master lich means I give up 2Death and 1 misc slot for all these immunities I mentioned above... I saw that as a good deal. Your mileage may vary.

So why not the Siege Golem or Poison Golem or another?
1st, all other options meant I lost immunities and/or slots in exchange for more hitpoints. There were too many ways to kill contestants in 1 round *regardless of hitpoints*, as we've seen. Therefore, hitpoints didn't seem more valuable than immunities and/or slots for a caster IMO. Gifts from Heaven hit for 150, which is lethal to any mindless unit. Some enemy SCs were scripted to attack largest some killing high life enemies instantly, such as Micah's attack largest blitz with magic weapons. The Siege Golem loses both hand slots which also would have weakened my caster's powers further. That aside, I was tempted to go with a different unit who had more life despite the loss of immunities, but decided against it because of reason#2 below.

Reason#2... raise skeletons & the wraith crown sometimes generate skeletons with 15 life. The mechancial man has 8 (tied with imps) so he could sometimes be effectively hidden against the "Attack Largest" SCs and numerous spells that target the units with highest hitpoints. Why be the target of an enemy disintegrate or petrify or another spell if I didn't need to be? I didn't see painting a big bullseye on my caster as a good idea. The first 3 fights I was up against "Attack Largest" SCs.

That aside, I didn't expect for my SC to cast "Drain Life" so often which eventually did raise his life later above 20 at one point. I spent the death gems faster than expected and Potatoman's Robusta kept coming back from the night of the living dead so often I was doomed to fight Baalz's Poison Golem gemless. By the time I fought that Poison Golem I really needed 20 ancestors to delay that imp wave so I could get eventually get a disintegrate through, I only needed 1 disintegrate to work on his Poison Golem to win it all... but ran out of time. *Perhaps* a Siege Golem may have lasted long enough until Baalz fled, but would the same Siege Golem have won against the other 3 earlier fights with a weaker magic (more fatigue per spell, less penetration) and a big bullseye on him?

Finally, the 1st WitherBones was not only for anti-spamming, but I also saw it as my best shot to kill any 5-15hp lich in the 1st round due to the large AoE... before ultimately losing the imp/summon wars to them as my disintegrates would never find him due to his low life.

On another note, I think Taqwus had the worst luck... both times his SCs were killed before they could even do anything.

Wraithlord's Touch of Madness didn't work because that spell requires 3N and he had no nature gems.

I was impressed with many of the builds but this post is long enough so I won't elaborate. And since I did steal Baalz's double lifelong protection idea for this build I'm ok with losing to him... this time. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Raise dead raises the 15 health soulless, not raise skeletons.

I don't think phoenix pyre is fire damage, either.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Wow, thank you! At last a touch of reason in this madness.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

When is the next one?

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

True, regardless you can see I have 3 15 health soulless from the wraith crown when I faced the Void Lord. Once the Void Lord casted Phoenix Pyre those 15 health soulless were far from my caster and the 8 health imps were out so I was safe from an "Attack Largest" assault.

At the time I wasn't certain & there were other fire/element dangers. Phoenix Pyre is probably just physical, but I doubt it's AN. The mechanical man was only hit for 2damage thanks to the 18protection... compare that 18protection with the protection of a lich, crone or divine emperor and ask who would have survived that and of those who survived who would not have fled before/after.

The fact the mechanical man was also strange, amusing and considered ballzy is just frosting on the cake. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

This would be interesting for both arena competitions.

A rematch could very well humble the imperious leader (mechanical man), particularly if he was the attacker facing some of the clever builds here. It might also give my djinn a better showing with his gifts from heaven.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Yes you were very lucky(as usual) to always be the defender for battles. Lots of bad luck variables resulted in my SC going down in the second battle. First I was the attacker, second I was facing a non buffing SC, third the first round of combat the non buffing SC was lucky enough to find my SC hiding amongst the skelletons.
If any one of those variables would have been different it would have provided my SC with one round... which is all he needs for his mass imp spamming.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

For the first battle, being the defender was flip-a-coin lucky (50%) since I unfortunately had no decoys until the imps were out. Hadrian's Tartarian with an immediate attack also fought the crone earlier who had one 15life decoy, but the decoy was in the same square as the 13life crone. That square for the "attack largest" Tartarian was a giant bullseye among 5hp units.

For the mechanical man's second battle, I doubt being the attacker would have changed anything. The mechanical man gave me the edge that the divine emperor lacked against the soul devourer earlier.

For the third battle, the mechanical man killed the void lord so he didn't win because of the 50turn rule. Against that 5fear SC who was eating imps for life/vigor I would rather be an attacking mechanical man vulnerable to the 50turn rule than a defending lich, divine emperor or crone vulnerable to phoenix pyre and cowardice several times well before 50turns.

The last battle I lost and being the defender only made the AI cast a useless terror spell before his death.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Touch of Madness is an N3 spell with 30 Fatigue. So, no gems required.

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Luck doth matter -- a lot.

A Devourer of Souls build, for instance, is all about luck. If he hits the right target fast, he wins... but that's far from guaranteed, and the lack of slots hurts his long-term life expectancy. Gifts from Heaven is similar... *if* it hits, it hurts.

Incidentally, if Phoenix Pyre actually worked well for multi-shape units, I would have considered going with a Phoenix Pyre'd Daughter of Typhon, just for amusement value. But some testing suggests that the reappearance is lost once you lose a form. :p

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Maybe he only had N2?

Re: Build Your SC Arena Competition!
 

Doh! You are right. Please ignore my post. http://koti.welho.com/ehalttun/Image...s/banghead.gif