Area of Effect = 1?
 

In the spell description for both Iron Warriors and Iron Will, (as well as several other buff spells) the manual says that the area of effect is 1. Does this really mean that the caster buffs a single unit each time he casts these spells? If so, doesn't that make those AoE 1 buff spells pretty useless? Or is there some trick to using them that I'm not aware of?

Also, what spells *are* good for buffing a large army? I'm trying out Pangaea, and I'm trying to figure out *some* use for those hordes of Maenads that I get for free. With 0 protection and only 10 hit points, they never Last for long, and they usually don't do much damage before they die. Should I stick high protection units (such as war minotaurs) out in front of the Maenad horde, or are the wild women pretty much a lost cause?

Re: Area of Effect = 1?
 

An area = 1 can "contain" 6 size 1 units IIRC.

Or better I see 3 human sized (size 2) units in a hexe (I call hexe the area) or 2 knight sized (size 3)units.

Re: Area of Effect = 1?
 

Personally, I'd stick the low-prot cheap unskilled chaff in front to absorb the lances of the enemy (knights' lances can only be used once per battle) as well as arrows and spells, then let the higher-prot mailed fist deal with a slightly attrited/ammo-expended enemy.
There are some nasty things you can do with Haunted Forest, however, involving chaff. In addition, even a Maenad will be somewhat tough to kill if Army of Lead etc has been cast. Mass Flight + Maenad swarm + Haunted Forest could be harsh as well, although after the first time if not before your opponent will presumably counter with a Staff of Storms.

Re: Area of Effect = 1?
 

Oh, and cheaper than Army of Lead are spells like Marble Warriors, Mass Protection (but beware fire if you use this!). Antimagic and Battle Fortune are also quite nice, but not exactly easy for Pangaea being Astral.

Re: Area of Effect = 1?
 

As Taqwus said - stick the Maenads out in front of the real troops. Sure, they die fast - but in doing so, they act as a damage sink that soaks up arrows and lances from the opposing side.

In addition, the enemy accrues some fatigue (and possibly even some wounds) while butchering the maenads. That fatigue increases the chances of them missing your units, of your units hitting them, and of your troops hitting chinks in their armor.

In effect, you have to decide whether to get troops killed off that take gold and resources to build, or whether to allow free units that generate automatically to do the dying. Easy decision for me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Area of Effect = 1?
 

Notice that the Maenads have more morale than many of your other units. Mix some satyrs in with them. They also make cheap patrollers.

Re: Area of Effect = 1?
 

Maenads are the best. Very good morale, berserkers. Just get a couple Pans together and build up 50 or so every couple turns, cast Mass Protection on them, and you have yourself a free army.

Re: Area of Effect = 1?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Oh... so when the Area of Effect says "25" for example, it doesn't mean 25 units... it means 25 squares. So "25" would actually affect something like 150 (25 * 6) maenads? Ah... that makes a lot more sense.

Thanks for the help

Re: Area of Effect = 1?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Slightly off on the maeneds. It would affect up to 75 maeneds (Size 2). It could though, affect 150 hoburgs if they were bunched together in one pack.

Re: Area of Effect = 1?
 

AoE, or Area of Effect, affects one area (surprise!). "Area" is a term meaning one square/hex of the battlefield, you can see them if you either fight with the backround off (press 'w') or the grid on ('g').

Ene "area" can contain up to six size-units of monsters of the same side. So one area can have six size-one units like hoburgs, 3 size-two units like normal infantries, 2 size-three units like most cavalries, and only one creature of sizes 4, 5 or 6. Creaturess of multiple sizes can, however, fit to one area, so you giant (size 4) can have two vaettis (size 1) in the same area with him (4 + 2*1=6).


Well, did I make (m)any mistakes?