[fahdiz]

Originally posted by Reverend Zombie:
Based on the comments here, the number of Pretenders that are optimally effective in melee in the early going seem fairly limited: dragons, Natarajas, VQ, maybe Phoenix, White Bull and Shedu?

Don't forget about the Earth Mother. Some of the Titan-style pretenders are reasonably effective in the early game as well, depending on forging and research.

How about using Pretenders as magical artillery? Is this more or less common than using them as SC, and is it more or less effective, or about the same?

I am sure there are people who do this - I tend to usually either build for supercombatants or site-searchers/forgers. But a site-searcher could certainly be used as artillery, given the right paths and the right research. The trouble with this is that you won't really get much out of them in the early game, because your research won't be high enough for some of the really effective artillery spells.