Ether Gate
 

Is it just me or does this spell seem too good to be true?

It's only conjuration 6, has pretty low casting requirements ( 4 astral, 1 death), however it costs a good amount of gems.

For the above price you get an army which just whoops up on almost anything during the middle portion of the game. Heck they do good at almost any time.

I addicted to these guys! Now they do eat a lot so make sure to give 'em a bag of wine (and a scout with an extra).

The Ether Lord himself is worth a good 30-40 gems (IMO). The troops are fantastic, it's almost funny watching other summoned troops ( I'm talking to you summer lions! ) go against them with their moonblades. And for some reason they are almost impossible for normal troops to stop as well, it's not uncommon for them to kill a good 100+ troop army without breaking a sweat ( is this due to the etherial? Is it due to the 17 protection, maybe the 13 defence, maybe the 22 hitpoints, or the insane 27 damage attack? I don't really know).

I would guess that in the end game horrors are probably better. And GoR'ed abombs may be able to take them ( I say GoR'ed since I hear, but have not tested, that Abombs do not use their awesome death gaze much unless they are GoR'ed).

Anyway anyone else know of a summons so close to the start of the game that comes close? I mean these guys ... freaking scarry!

And ... uhm ... what do you guys think is the best method of getting a real serious astral gem income? I got to figure it is clams. So what race is best making the dang things? Do I *have* to play an underwater race? Bleech!

Re: Ether Gate
 

Oh and Tartarian gate is also probably better on a cost basis. Oh who am I kidding on a gem cost basis Tartarian gate beats down Ether gate. BUT look at the requirements 7 death, and level 9 conjuration. It's going to take a while to get that kind of research.

Oh and it only creates 1 titan. He's not going to do too well against 15 ether warriors!

Now if you set yourself up with 7 dudes who can all cast Tartarian gate well then you are going to whoop. But that's a lot to ask!

Re: Ether Gate
 

I wondered if these guys were worth their cost, looks like yes ! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif
As for getting them, I suppose Pythium with a pretender having some Death (you can also just wait for luck with the ArchTheurgs..) is the obvious choice http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Ether Gate
 

Hehe, iroincally, I was just asking someone about this Last night. Only, my question was more..."What the heck do they do that makes them worth 90 gems ?!?" =)

- Kel

Re: Ether Gate
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Anybody who told you that must have had their Abominations set to attack, instead of fire, or possibly had them in a squad with other non-missile units.

Re: Ether Gate
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well the ONE problem with them is the high number of gems. The requirements for casting the spell is quite low.

I'm not sure that Pythium is the best race for these guys. IMO you need water, and lots of it. Lots. To make as many clams as you can get your hands on. And a few more for good measure.

So my new favorite race is atlantis! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Heck once you have the astral income required, you can just empower the crud out of some poor mage if you don't like putting astral on your pretender (mage duel is a pain, but IMO it's good, astral is such a good path everyone would take it).

Hmmm ... now when I am thinking Pythium can get 90 gems by around turn 15 or so (alchemy, baby). Or earlier if they find some good sites. Just one of these armies could do wonders at that stage of the game. Hmm maybe my atlantis thing is not the best afterall.

Re: Ether Gate
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well then ... that makes them pretty uber now doesn't it! A squad of 2 or 3 would do quite a number on someone. Probably one of the better summons around then. As they should be considering that they are conjuration 9!

Re: Ether Gate
 

Well, if you're willing to research Construction 6 to get the Water Bracelet (needs 5 water gems, +1 water), then any water-1 mage can forge a bracelet and then start making clams. Best combined with access to an Earth-3 (well, earth-2 + earth boots, say) to make dwarven hammers.

Arco has good elemental access, although the Golden Era theme will have problems getting enough astral/death unless it empowers. Base Arco should be better. Tien Chi has very good access to water magic for a land nation, but will have trouble getting Astral-4 (well, astral-3 plus starshine, or astral-2 plus starshine plus crystal coin) and death on the same caster.

Lamia queens have a good chance to get astral/death, for a pure-nature summons, but will need significant boosting to get to 4S/1D.

As for Ether Gate, they're spiffy although the Lord could use some armor (if you're favoring Earth for dwarven hammers for more efficient clams, pause to build something like Boots of Stone for nil-encumberance protection) and the troops do eat, unlike assorted other summons. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Ether Gate
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">One of the Tien Chi heroes gets Death 2 and Astral 2.

[ March 28, 2004, 22:37: Message edited by: ywl ]