Firbolg
 

This is my favorite summons.
These guys do it all for the small price of 12 nature gems.
Can lead a huge amount of troops. Decent thug. and the summons requirement is reasonable at 4N.

My current game I am using them to ferry around my huge Devil armies. EA pangea using soul contracts. I have about 20 soul contracts up and running and the only way i can keep up is using Firbolgs because Pangea doesnt really get good commanders to move all those units. In past games I have used them as snipers, thugs and on rare occasions SC's (usually with the heroic abilities that give hit points)

So, let's hear it for the Firbolg!

Re: Firbolg
 

Yep, they're great.

(Don't you need a magic item to get them to lead devils?)

Re: Firbolg
 

Thats the sleeper dude? If I remember, he leads everything.

I like giving him the Thunder Bow. He has fair accuracy and it makes sense to give the bow that accepts strength benefits to a giant. Add in some other items for boosting aim and strength.

Re: Firbolg
 

Yes, definitively Awaken Sleeper rocks!

In previous games I equipped him with a Black Bow Of Botulf (range 40/Attack +5), and despite his very nice precision I found that he didn't score hits as much as he should on paper... Did I get unlucky on the battlefield?

Re: Firbolg
 

Love these guys as well. In the SP game I recently won as EA R'Leyh, I had a couple of these guys leading large numbers of troops and the standard ability they have is very nice for this purpose. I was able to give them a fair amount of magic items as well, making them even better.

Re: Firbolg
 

May not want to brag too much about finding a good deal... I recall in Dominions_2 where I was bragging about how the Machaka witches were an excellent price. The next patch resulted in them having their gold cost increased. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/fear.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/Injured.gif

Re: Firbolg
 

Someone should do lots of bragging about Tartarians... they cost less than Fir Bolg and are often better than a Pretender...

Re: Firbolg
 

Only because of the Gift of Health/Gift of Reason combo. If you just take the basic Tartarian, you've got something like a 10% chance of him being both a commander AND not feebleminded. Sure, they've got loads of hit points, but without the ability to wear armor and/or cast spells they're significantly less durable than a Wraith Lord.

I agree that they're quite nice if you Gift of Reason and heal them, though.

-Max

Re: Firbolg
 

The Fir Bolg (name updated for next patch) isn't likely to get nerfed. It's a good leader, always has been, but that has been by design. As well, leading is all it does really. The Machakan Sorceress issue had more attached implications, such as overefficient research compared to price, which has serious long term strategic implications and balance issues. By the time you get Awaken Sleeper, if the leadership values of the Firbolg are of major strategic significance for you, you probably have other more pressing problems anyway.

Re: Firbolg
 

A Wraith Lord may be better than a Tartarian non-commander unit for some things (or not - undead Manticore for 10 death gems, anyone?), but a Wraith Lord costs much more than a Tartarian.

(Sleepers are good thugs as well as good leaders.)

Re: Firbolg
 

I think a Firbolg makes a great early-mid thug for human nations, especially if you give it a Pendant of Luck and have some S1N1 casters around. They just LOVE casting Healing Light on Firbolgs. I had good results (in a battle not a war http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif using a couple Firbolg thugs with Marverni.

Also I think Firbolgs could put any ranged magic item, eg Wand of Wild Fire, to good use (I didn't try this, but wished I'd been able to).

Re: Firbolg
 

While a wraithlord costs the same as 4 summonings of tartarian titans, it will also easily defeat all four in combat if they aren't commanders.

Re: Firbolg
 

But nature gems are always in the need. Gift of reason costs 20 gems, ivy kings cost a bunch of gems and if you are clamming costs nature too. You also may need regenerating rings or just vine ogres.
Death gems burnout quickly too, too many uses to them.
On the other hand, Air gems don't have too many uses.

Re: Firbolg
 

With the Formorian nation coming out there may be changes to everything firbolg.

Re: Firbolg
 

I thought the Firbolg were opposed to the Fomorians and not part of their nation? Atleast, I hope they are.

Re: Firbolg
 

Thats probably not always going to be right.

Re: Firbolg
 

Quite a few of the tartarians have magic weapons as standard, so I imagine they could seriously challenge the wraith lord. The wraith lord's price probably includes a hefty cost for the immortality though

Re: Firbolg
 

Seems like the 4 Tartarian units will tend to be stronger, to me, except for the immortality part.

Re: Firbolg
 

Yes. But if the wraithlord used some anti-undead death magic their extra punch in combat might not help.