[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Zen:

My main point with the Air is the Communion effect with Orb Lightning.

The power of casting the spell (Yes a Level 1 Spell) in a communion increases the power of the spell (Suddenly casting 3, 4, 5 lightning bolts, with a higher precision) and reduced the fatigue (so they can cast more and don't kill slaves).

OK, got the synergy part . Still, I'm far from convinced that 1 Royal Navigator casting level-4 Orb Lightning with 4 Chartmaker slaves to support him is better than 1 level-2 OL + 4 level-1 OL. That's an extra round spent on communion, and 2 less bolts. Add 4 more slaves, and you have 5 bolts were you could have 9 - and it only gets worse as you add more slaves who could cast these OL themselves. OL has a relatively short range and air mages get precision bonus, so your shooting is unlikely to suffer much from inaccuracy. If that's surgical precision you want, better have an extra Navigator or Chartmaker cast Wind Guide. That spell should be on your "research ASAP" list anyway. And Last, OL is a low-fatigue spell, so fatigue isn't a good reason to use a communion to reduce fatigue by a few points.

Because you customarily go for something with normal Marginon doesn't mean you might not go for something else with another theme. That can be just as effective Instead of Enchantment 4 it might be another path.

Well, the crossbows are the same in both themes, and in both themes they're the best troops at your disposal for a fast early expansion. With Conquerors I could beeline for Wind Guide to good effect, for the same research cost as Flaming Arrows. Is it what I'll do with Conquerors? Almost certainly (unless I can imagine something better). Is it as effective as Flaming Arrows? Unfortunately, no. Not by a long shot.

Maybe I don't see it because its after your initial expansion and you don't initially get the spell it's usefulness is limited to only a few turns before it can be totally negated (Storm/SoS). Part of the reason I don't put all my eggs in the xbow basket.

Storm doesn't totally negate crossbow fire, it just make it very inaccurate. Flaming crossbows will still maim deep concentrations of troops to some extent. And by the time I'll see Staves of Storms, I'll have Wind Guide anyway, to partially counter Storms. Plus, only a couple nations can forge Staves of Storms as fast as Marignon can churn out crossbow armies, at least until midgame. And be assured I'll have a few other eggs in my basket at that point. That's more than enough to justify researching Enchantment 4 and recruiting crossbows.

Also you seem to be saying that the early money might be suddenly overpowering vs mercs, but I've found in my MP games, that unless you are a few select nations, you arn't going to get mercs (Ermor, Ulm for example) even if you alchemize 4 gems instead of 1. (That is for the most part, the people I play with bid on mercs and know their usefulness, they don't forget like others may)[/QB]

So what's your point? That in your games, Marignon never get mercs? Sorry, I'm a bit confused here. Mercs are great meatshields for the kind of Marignon I play, and I use them - although not only for that task.

This isn't saying it doesn't happen, but when I think "I'm alchemizing" it's not for mercs as much as it is for cash I'm going to use.

Ahem, you mean spending that gold on mercs isn't really "using" it? Strange. Anyway, remember I wrote something along the lines "I typically use this extra early on mercs", and I'm sure I wrote 'typically' - I can also find other uses for that extra gold, but early in the game mercs is the most common example.

Saying Drastically may be a bit much, getting quite a bit while only losing very little (Sacred units)

Hmmm, 'quite a bit' vs 'very little' still sounds too much like 'drastically' to me, but let's agree to disagree. I stick to my position that the themes are fairly equal in potential, and that the main theme has an easier early game.

[Edit: typos]

[ January 13, 2004, 23:04: Message edited by: Nagot Gick Fel ]