[Belcarl]

Vine Ogres - With an Ivy crown and 3N its easy to pump a lot of these these out at 1 nature gem each. They dont have that good hitting power but are solid "meat wall" for a lot of nations who rely on Missile/magic in battles. I use them quite a lot when playing R'lyeh and Man.

Revenants - For 9 death gems you get a researcher that doesnt cost upkeep more or less for free. And you can put that feverish amulet (sp?) on them for Fire gem hoarding.

Specter - Same as Revenant but cost 10 Death gems and requires 3D to cast, but are much better at researching.

Angelic Host- 50 Astral gems for 7 swift Blitzkrieg fliers that could wreak havoc behind enemy lines, and are nasty against undead AND are sacred. Then, they are not strong enough to fight large battles by themselves. Maybe not a game winner, but a PITA for your enemy, especially if he relies on mages in battles.

Then there is the Tarrasque(sp?) and Abominion at Conjuration 9. But I seldom get that far on the research tree unless its a big game.

I usually have problems with the wights chilling aura in Siege battles, since I tend to have a lot of other non-undead troops. If I'm playing a blood nation I would vote Devils as #1, otherwise I would say Abominions. A few of these could rout anything but the strongest defence, and 25 Astral is easy to Alchemize no matter what kind of magic sites you have found.

If possible I only use Trolls if I need a quick infantry boost against an enemy. One Sea Kings court is usually nice, but it cost too much gold to maintain to be a good summon strategy in my opinion. 3 or 4 turns of casting Sea Kings court and you will feel it on your upkeep.

[ May 16, 2004, 10:08: Message edited by: Belcarl ]