Late summons - Gift of Reason or extra Tarrasques?
 

Well thanks for all the help so far in my Thug & Umbral threads.

Unfortunately I have been unable to turn the tide and I am now disintegrating fast as other shortsighted neighbours are also grabbing bits of me and the Agarthan war machine rolls on regardless. I couldn’t fight his army at first and now that I could possibly give it a go I find he’s already conquered most of my nation :p

But before I go I have a last chance to strike against at least one of my attackers. I have managed to reach Summon 9 so I can try and summon a few of the best summons. I have never summoned any of these before – even in single player.

Sadly it looks like I will have to sell off my best magic items to afford any but that’s just the way it goes. Including the Chalice, just when it would start to be useful!

From my mage levels and gems the possibilities are really Abominations, Tartarians and Tarrasques. As these all use different gem types its not really an either / or but as and when I can afford any. Except for the Tarrasques. They use the same gems as Gift of Reason.

So my question is how important is making these late order summons Commanders? Empowerment is not really an option at this stage. I don’t have the gems and I simply won’t last long enough even if I did. But is making a Tartarian or an Abomination a commander better than having an extra Tarrasque?

Re: Late summons - Gift of Reason or extra Tarrasques?
 

Abominations don't need to be commanders. Tartarian are vastly better as commanders, provided you can make use of their magic and give them good equipment.

Re: Late summons - Gift of Reason or extra Tarrasques?
 

The Tartarian with Gift of Reason is one of the ultimate best commanders, hence why they are getting a much needed nerf next patch. Forget about the Tarrasque and Abomination and focus on pumping Tartarians. The best ones for "Gift of Reason" are the ones which have all the item slots.
DON'T sell the Chalice you'll need it for healing those Tartarians! Once healed these Tartarians have all types of magic paths as well.
One well equipped Tartarian with good magic paths will kill most armies. I had lots of blessed demons from Lanka which were kicked like soccer balls from one Tartarian.

Re: Late summons - Gift of Reason or extra Tarrasq
 

Tarrasques are mostly useful because of their poison (and lots of hit points too). Tartarians are worthwhile commanders if they are not feebleminded, and then it's better if you can equip them.
So if you face poison resistant troops, it's better to use tartarians. Long term, I'd also go Tartarians since you have the Chalice, but if you just want to deal massive damage to whoever attacked you, Tarrasques look great.

Re: Late summons - Gift of Reason or extra Tarrasq
 

All of these guys use different gem types, so why not summon them all? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Tartarian commanders > Abominations > Tarrasques > Tartarian non-commanders, imo.

Re: Late summons - Gift of Reason or extra Tarrasq
 

Since the OP is losing territories he'll need the power of a strong SC. The Abominations and Tarrasques would need to travel in groups of at least 3 or 4 to defend the remaining provinces, it's better to focus on pure Tartarian SC's at this moment.

And DON'T sell the Chalice !! Use this as a bargaining piece for the enemy sieging your capital... tell your sieging enemy if he doesn't get off your capital you'll give the chalice to (his next worst enemy).