How to get gems quickly
 

Ok, I've played a few games and I'm curious what the most efficient ways of getting gems are. Rainbow searcher? Casting the individual casting spells? Aschaic Record? Something else?

I'm curious about gems of any/all types.

Darryl

Re: How to get gems quickly
 

The fastest, most efficient way to ramp up early gem income is to use a rainbow pretender. For pure speed, Acashic Record wins, though at the price one could argue it is one of the least efficient methods, and it takes a bit of research before it's available anyway. If you only need one gem type, it's associated spell (Auspex, Haruspex, etc.) is arguably both the quickest and most efficient manner to uncover it since your researchers can search your entire realm in a few turns for a few tens of gems.

I'm also a big fan of looking at Sunray_be's site to quickly determine what I need to find certain types of sites. That can make a rainbow even MORE efficient. And don't forget to run your poor little holy searchers around either...

~Aldin

Re: How to get gems quickly
 

Fastest way of getting gems is to make a rainbow mage pretender and put it one full search duty. With so many points invested in magic, yet with no bless effects, you might take a moment to think about what gems you really don't need for your strategy. Personally I go for Earth, Nature, Fire and Water since those gems see a lot of use in my games.

Edit: Sigh... Double posting. The price of an active forum.

[ February 24, 2004, 22:00: Message edited by: Wauthan ]

Re: How to get gems quickly
 

Two other exceptional ways of boosting mid- and end-game gem income is to forge clam of pearls (WW, 10 water gems) to provide one astral gem per turn, or a fever fetish (FN, 5 fire and nature gems) to produce one fire gem per turn (though you need to put it on an undead leader not to suffer negative side effects). If you have the magic skills for it and no pressing need for those particular gems in the early game (perhaps not having progressed that far in research), the sooner you begin the better.

It takes a few rounds before it pays off, but in the long run it pays off exceptionally well... And you can use the astral gems to power your Acasric Record or other nice astral spells, which is often more useful than other uses of water magic. There is nothing quite like earning 20, 30, 40, or 50 astral gems per round from items you have forged in the mid-game.

Re: How to get gems quickly
 

In my AAR, I'm on turn #28 and getting 7 pearls per month via clams ... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Only reason I don't have more is my water gem income. I'm cranking out a new clam every other month.

Re: How to get gems quickly
 

Another nice way to get serious gem income is to find a spell that gives you monthly gem income, then research with all your might towards that spell and cast it ASAP. Some of them are very nice, giving you like 30 gems a turn.

Re: How to get gems quickly
 

For magic items, I also like Blood Stones (Construction 4, 3BE). Provides +1 earth magic in addition to one earth gem per turn. Also, like fire, earth gems can be sold efficiently thru alchemy.

Aikamun

[ February 24, 2004, 23:51: Message edited by: Aikamun ]