Artifacts
 

I was reading the mauual and came across an artifact called Horror Harmonica.

It says it lets horrors loose on the battlefield and they kill eveything in sight (both sides).

Why would I want to invest in this item when I would lose it after using it one time.

Wouldn't Ghost riders ect be better use of gems?

Also, I have been reading on 2 other items.

Momolith armour and ring of sorcery.

I understand ring of sorcery and what ti can do for you but is it worth getting it over other valuable artifacts.

Monolith armour ( I come from the RPG background that says better armour longer life).

Would that Armour be good on a commander (say a Myrmidin) with boots of the messenger or would it need the amulet of resilance also because it s so heavy.

I don't think I have ever seen anyone use it before so I was wondering its actual value.

Thanks!!

Re: Artifacts
 

Horror Harmonica gives the commander holding it the ability to call horrors, which is a great ability if you are an astral nation that can cast astral geyser or horror mark to direct them. It means you don't have to go through the difficulty of using blood slaves on the battlefield, and it turns an otherwise useless indy commander into a useful part of your magic. It's still a very hefty investment though: 40 astral and 25 death gems, without a hammer, but honestly, it's worth it (if you get all the other good artifacts first, like the Sickle Whose Crop is Pain[great for death gem income if you have a quickened SC/thug] or the Chalice or the Aegis). Having an infinite, no blood slave, cast Call Horror is more useful then the 40 or so longdead horsemen you could get with 20 death gems.

I find the armor goes well with encum-0 commanders, like undead or elemental royalty etc, since they don't accumulate fatigue. It also gives a nice regen boost. If you're going to give it to a Myrm, then I suggest making sure the net encumberance is lower then the net reinvigoration, however much they are.

EDIT: Though the thing about horrors is that if the enemy army is completely killed and you still have horrors on the field, they'll start hitting you. Unless you horror mark the horrors, which I do believe leads to them attacking each other.

Also, according to the manual, the harmonica lowers morale by 2 (not sure whose though, the wielders methinks) and also automatically casts the wailing winds battlefield enchantment, a Fear+0 attack on all enemies. That makes it doubly useful.

And don't put a harmonica on an important commander/mage/prophet/god. It horror marks, and horror marks are bad. Badbadbadbadbad. Especially on your god.

Re: Artifacts
 

The Horror Harmonica is great for carrying around in itself, because it lets the battle take place under the "Wailing Winds" effect, which will make your enemy rout much faster.

Re: Artifacts
 

Rings of sorcery/wizardry are good if you want to cast/forge something specific but none of your mages have enough skill. They are too expensive for general battlefield use, I think. Ring of sorcery in particular can be useful to get started in death/nature/blood as it boosts these paths but does not require them in forging.

Monolith armour (and other heavy armours) also reduces battlefield movement speed (AP) of its user. Flight might be a good idea.
I would not give it to a Myrmidon. The regeneration it grants scales with the users hitpoints - around 2-3 hp/turn on a human is not worth much. And in Dominions there are many, many spells/attacks (frozen heart, various lightnings, etc) that bypass or pierce armour. A high hp and 0 enc unit would make better use of it.

In general, expensive/unique items are rarely useful on human commanders as their hitpoints are too low.

Re: Artifacts
 

GB, do you remember that battle we had in Momentum, when I destroyed your army with horrors. Well, they came from horror harmonica. A bane lord held it. He had the armor of virtue as well, so he couldn't get killed. And I sent one sorceress as well to spam horror mark on your troops.

Re: Artifacts
 

Yeah great item, especially combined with boots of quickness and oath rod of kurgi. Twin spear which calls horrors also workd pretty well on contrary to what other people say. With those two items I killed hundreds in one game, so don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Re: Artifacts
 

Another thing to remember about horrors (and other "nuetral" monsters) is that you dont have to stick around to find out how the battle resolves. So if you go into a battle, drop 5 horrors on your enemy, and then run away you will likely have inflicted very asymetric casualties on them.

Re: Artifacts
 

LOL, yes I DO remember losing that whole army to you Psycho.

Say I have Horror Harmaoica and put it on a mage (any mage) and cast Horrors but don't horror mark and then retreat.

What school is the spell Horror mark in?

If I cast Horrors and DON'T horror mark will it still attack the province and can I get out of there quick enough with cast and retreat?

ALSO, is it bad form to attack and retreat?

I thought I saw something about doing not doing that as a matter of honor.:confused:

Thanks guys....I am learning so much getting my A*** kicked that in about 30 more whoopins I should be about an average playr!!:D

Re: Artifacts
 

Horror mark is Thaumaturgy 1. It is not bad form to attack and retreat. You can attack, drop a horror or two and retreat.

But, bear in mind that horror harmonica horror marks the one carrying it, so he will be the first one to get attacked by horrors. That's why you want to bring a horror-marking mage along. It may be safe to use it on the first turn you equip it, before it horror marks the one carrying it.

And if you are not teleporting the one carrying it, it is better to put it on a regular commander and give him boots of quickness, so he'll cast two horrors per battle round. Even better to use a more durable commander like bane lord or firbolg. I've found out that a mage won't use horror harmonica after the third horror and will switch to casting spells.

Re: Artifacts
 

I thought no Cast&Retreat was mostly in regards to the MoD bug (that the phantoms keep spawning after the caster has died/left the battlefield).

I know Lammashtas & retreat is a commonly used death magic trick.

Re: Artifacts
 

Oh, and one more thing. Horror harmonica also has the fear-inspiring wailing winds effect as noted above. Horrors themselves have a high fear score. And if you attack a starving army, like yours was in Momentum, there's a decent probability of routing it. Cut the retreats and the army is gone.

MoD bug was fixed some time ago.

Re: Artifacts
 

The Horror Harmonica can get you into trouble if you're not careful.

In one MP game I had a sneaking unit of mine discovered in a castle province being patrolled by a large enemy army. An enemy commander was wielding the Horror Harmonica and was scripted to cast. My scout got killed on the first turn of the battle by a Bag of Winds, but the enemy army then proceeded to fight the Horrors that continued to be spawned by the harmonica commander. There were quite a few mages blasting away with area-damage spells, and they even fired off a few BEs. Total chaos, and very funny to watch the enemy army mostly self-destruct, all because they discovered my sneaking unit.

The Oath Rod of Kurgi is horrible. It feebleminds any friendly commanders in the same province as the wielder. If you have one unit wielding but the Rod and Harmonica, but are spending turns casting Horror Mark instead of Send Horror, you can get killed before your first Horror gets summoned.

I like the Twin Spear, but I have had problems when I wear Boots of Quickness and fire off more than one Lesser Horror per battle turn. It's best just to cast a couple then retreat, if you're using it for raiding, and don't bother wielding anything else just in case you die.

Re: Artifacts
 

Yes, if you aren't horror mark when you end your turn you will not be horror marked by it before a battle. So all you strictly need a is a big enough supply of alternative carriers, though some horror making is nice too of course.

Re: Artifacts
 

I use it a lot, and it only got me feebleminded once, used in on dozens of occasions.
Something I especially like to use, when available, eg. with sorceresses or whatever.
Take 2, Cast Ritual of Returning, give boots of quickness of course, twin spear and oath rod.
Script, mistform, horror mark X...
mistform, send horror X...
And give them a bottle of living water just in case.
Mistform is if the horror comes back to you eventually or the enemy somehow get to you, but that doesn't happen since they all keep following the horrors back and forth around the map.
Never lost a single mage, killed hundreds.

Re: Artifacts
 

I wonder if the Oath Rod has an MR check. Before I knew how it worked, I put it on an assassin (slayer?) to sit on an enemy's capitol. Of course, it only affects friendlies, so that was a waste. But I did lug it through some water provinces on the way, where I had single commanders patrolling. And every single (MR8 or 10 or 11) commander of mine got feebleminded when I brought the rod through the province.

That's a good plan with Mistform and Ritual of Returning. But I think with just the twin spear you would have had equivalent results. And if you're talking about the A2S2 sorceresses, why bother with the Oath Rod? Just script the mage to cast Horror Mark.

Re: Artifacts
 

Beeeeecause I like to complicate things???
Well it never really crossed my mind... DAMN YOU KURGI!

Re: Artifacts
 

When I send an indy Commander in with the Horror Harmonica what do I set it on?

Attack, retreat (I will have boots of quickness)?

I would think that hold would not allow the harmonica to work.

And I want to drop 2 horrors and split.

I have 2 astral mahes firing Horror mark and retreating so I just need to know how to set my commander?

Re: Artifacts
 

"Cast Spells"

All items with built in spells either autofire them on turn 0 or add them into the commanders spellbook. So in this case you will want the commander to Cast Spells (if he is a mage then Cast Specific->the added spell at the top of list).

Re: Artifacts
 

With only 1 available spell, you can also do Cast or Hold Position twice, and then Retreat.

Re: Artifacts
 

I keep hearing if you use Boots of quickness you will get the mage casting Twice in one turn so you would get 2 Horrors and then you could retreat safely on turn 2.

I thought boots of Quickness did NOT work with spells.

Is it because HH is an artifact and is nOT considered a 'spell' that it can cast twice in 1 turn.

Also, while we are on that subject.

If you are Horror marked by having the HH then why would you take the chance of staying 2 turns and casting Horrors as you might well lose your Mage AND the HH.:confused:

Re: Artifacts
 

Yes, but the Harmonica isn't cursed like some other items (i.e. you can remove it), and it's just a chance of horror marking, not a definite mark. So if your commander picks up a horror mark, slap it onto another and repeat.

Also: why use a mage? An indy scout or commander will do.

Re: Artifacts
 

Item spells work with quickness. At least the ones that appear in the "cast spesific spell" list (Staff of Corrosion, Ice Pebble Staff, Flambeau etc), and possibly items that cast spells on their own like Nethgul and Spirit Helmet.

Re: Artifacts
 

Which artifacts cannot be forged BTW?
- the stuff of Solaris
- the stuff of Bogus&Co
- the Shortsword

any others?

Re: Artifacts
 

Robe of the Sorceress (like Ring of Sorcery)
Crown of P'tah (call mummy or something)
Crown of Kataphagus (death +1 control undead)
Hammer of the Cyclops (forge bonus)
The Admiral's Sword (Admiral Torgrins Sword)
Vial of Frozen Tears (Water Magic +1 Death Magic +1)

I think that's all.

Re: Artifacts
 

Well, they can't be forged *normally*. Someone reported that if you have enough research to go from Const-8 to Const-12 in one turn (IIRC 17,000 RP/turn or something) you will have the ability to forge those unique items. Not that it will ever happen in a real game.

-Max