Tartarian factory
 

This is a thing I wanted to try for a long time (as soon as I got my retail Version a few months ago and read the TG spell description) but I never found the time to test it until recently.

Pick Arcoscephale, a PoD with 5 in death, and buy a good magic dominion - I tested with Order+3, Prod+3, Growth+1, Magic+1, the 40-admin castle and a dominion of 5. Enough to give a 230ish starting econ and recruit all the hypaspists and hoplites you can.

Research what you need to fuel your expansion - for me it was Conj 1, Alt 3, Evoc 2, Constr 6, Enchant 3, Thaum 4. Then switch to Conjuration until level 9. I reached it in turn 31 (could have been as soon as 29 if I hadn't unnecessarily dispatched mages to fight an angry AI neighbor), and at that time I had a gem income of +13 death and +19 nature (as well as a mage who could use the latter for Gift of Reason). Forge a Skull Staff and Skullface, and have the PoD chain cast TG while 5-6 priestesses heal troops in the same province. Cast GoR on the Tartarian summons who come without leader status.

The result is truly insane and beats Ice Devil summoning by a long shot. Not to mention Arco's magic versatility makes it the perfect choice to equip your Titans, Cyclops, Monstra and whatnot.

Who needs a Nataraja when you can summon one of these beasts each turn so soon?

Re: Tartarian factory
 

Here is a quick breakdown for you, of the different Tartarians, this is an exerpt from the SCQR.

Unit Name Sz HP Prt Mor MR Enc Str Att Def Pre Mv Ldr Upk


Tartarian Titan x1 (Female) 6 170 5 30 18 0 22 15 15 11 3/14 Na 0
SA: Poor Amph, Cause Fear (+0), 100 CR, Und, 100 PR, NNE, Random Affliction(s)
Path: 3 Random (Same Path), 2 Random (Same Path)
Wpn: Enchanted Spear Amr: None

Tartarian Titan x1 (Male) 6 180 4 30 18 0 24 12 12 9 3/14 Na 0
SA: Cause Fear (+5), 100 CR, Und, 100 PR, NNE, Random Affliction(s)
Path: 3 Random (Same Path), 2 Random (Same Path), 2 Random (Same Path)
Wpn: Enchanted Sickle Amr: None

Tartarian Monstrum x1 6 310 6 30 18 0 27 13 11 9 3/15 Na 0
SA: Cause Fear (+5), 100 CR, Und, 100 PR, NNE, Flying, Random Affliction(s)
Path: 2 Random (Same Path), 2 Random (Same Path)
Wpn: Stinger, Claw Amr: None

Tartarian Spirit x1 6 150 7 30 18 0 25 13 4 7 3/8 Na 0
SA: Regen, Poor Amph, Cause Fear (+0), 100 CR, Und, 100 PR, NNE, Mtn Srvl, Random Affliction(s)
Path: 2 Random (Same Path), 3 Random (Same Path)
Wpn: Tartarian Chains x2

Tartarian Cyclops x1 6 182 9 30 18 0 26 12 11 6 3/12 Na 0
SA: Cause Fear (+5), 100 CR, Und, 100 PR, NNE, Random Affliction(s)
Path: 2 Random (Same Path), 3 Random (Same Path)
Wpn: Thunder Fist, Lightning Amr: None

Tartarian Monstra x1 6 220 8 30 18 0 21 14 7 11 3/7 Na 0
SA: Cause Fear (+0), 100 CR, Und, 100 PR, NNE, Swmp Srvl, Random Affliction(s)
Path: 3 Random (Same Path), 2 Random (Same Path), 1 Random (Same Path)
Wpn: Fist x2 Amr: None

Tartarian Cyclops x1 (v2) 6 236 18 30 18 0 26 12 17 5 3/11 Na 0
SA: Cause Fear (+5), 100 CR, Und, 100 PR, NNE, Random Affliction(s)
Path: 4 Random (Same Path)
Wpn: Enchanted Sword Amr: Weightless Scale, Enchanted Shield

Edit: Yes I know it's ugly, but the forums don't format well http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[ February 12, 2004, 04:59: Message edited by: Zen ]

Re: Tartarian factory
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Could you please support my thread with your new strategy?: http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=001261

It's what I call Debate and Duel (D&D). You prove what you are saying by playing the game. This is perfect, please support it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Tartarian factory
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Why x1? Are they supposed to be unique? In my test I got up to 5 of the lightning Cyclops variety.

Re: Tartarian factory
 

Maybe he simply means you get one at a time.

PvK

Re: Tartarian factory
 

Oh, BTW...

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">One of mine had 5 earth/2 astral, the others were 3/2/2.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Got 4, always earth/death.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Got 5, always air/earth.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I got one with 4 water/2 death, the others were 3/2/1.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Got 3, always 4 earth.

Re: Tartarian factory
 

It was x1, because it was in my SCQR. So when you cast the spell you get one of one type.

The Magical Paths are hard to define exactly. I've made probably 100 titans and those are the clearest definitions I could.

If you notice, I split it by what commonly happens as I can't break it down any other way which makes sense. If I had the time and could do 1000 Titan tests for each I could do %'s but you really think I need to do that?, I think this is enough for my contribution.

So 3, 2, 2, can be 5, 2 or 3, 2, 2, but it will never be 7, or 1, 4, 2. It's possible any one of the paths to join with another.

I've never had any one of the tartarians ever be exactly the same for each one (this is probably 10 per type at least, had a problem with the Monstra (Naga) as I had a bad run of not being able to summon alot of them).

If you'd like to do tests where you can conclusively say that one type is one part, I'll change my notation to reflect that.

[ February 12, 2004, 06:17: Message edited by: Zen ]

Re: Tartarian factory
 

Aside from being level 9, the spell is insane. My first casting, I got one with 2 astral 3 death 2 fire, who was a leader! Sometimes you don't need GOR, it seems. But 10 death gems for a 7-magic level god-class leader is probably a bug; the rest were normal units.

Re: Tartarian factory
 

There is about a 20% chance that any particular summoned titan will be a Commander as opposed to a Unit.

The afflictions are random. But feeblemind and mute are fairly common. Gift of Health can usually heal their afflictions in 2 or 3 turns.

The spell is appropriately Level 9. Even having a semi-afflicted Unit that has the kinds of statsitics (especially HP) that the Titans have for 10 Death Gems can turn your armies into superpowered, hard to kill units with a powerful cavalry.

Re: Tartarian factory
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Hmmm, where the hell did I write I really think you need to do that? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Just wanted to point out an interesting fact: that some of my summons (both Titans, Monstra) had varied skills, while some had not. Eg, all my 5 lightning Cyclops had exactly air 2/earth 3. If it's really 2?/3? like you suggest, the probability for such a draw is less than 1%.

Quote:

If you'd like to do tests where you can conclusively say that one type is one part, I'll change my notation to reflect that.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well, I'll play a few more turns tonight just to see if I get, eg, a lightning Cyclops with different magic skills, but I'm not really interested in doing more.