[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Arryn:
The king alone will then give me 1W gem/turn thereafter. Then the king can, with his own gem income, summon another troll every turn. This adds up nicely. I find this a must when I play as R'leyh, but I tend to also do it for other nations with my water gems and casters. The king can also make Quick boots as needed.

Sea King is certainly one method of investment, but his rate of return is rather awful, since you're going to take 30 turns to see a return on that investment. (I'm deducting 15 water gems from the base sea king cost of 45 for the 15 trolls that accompany him, worth 15 gems on their own - The trolls, however, are NOT an investment).

Clams, on the other hand, assuming you didn't want Astrals at all, and only wanted water-to-water, would be a 20 turn investment, assuming you did nothing except build the clams, equip it, and alchemize the astrals produced into water gems at 2 for 1. If your primary concern is the water gems produced by the SK, the ROI on clams is better, and better still if you actually want those Astrals...and it looks like you do, as 3/turn is rather anemic. It gets better if those Astrals are then immediately used to search for more sites via Acashic, which will surely expand your gem income on all sides.

As for the other uses of the Sea King, such as forging those boots of quickness, a Skratti can do that also. You needed the Skratti to summon the Sea King anyway. I personally think you're better off cranking out as many clams as income permits, rather than saving for the Sea King now. If you can summon a Sea King, you can start summoning trolls with your own Skrattis anyway. The Sea King can wait until the gems start pouring in.

[ February 12, 2004, 19:23: Message edited by: Norfleet ]