[Smauler]

Originally posted by Arryn:

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Originally posted by Smauler:
I generally just produce Jotun Godes as commanders (Priest level 3, leadership 25),

For short games, I'd recommend Jarls. Godes are too expensive unless your strategy is dominion spread (very hard in short games) or blessing sacred troops (not recommended to use with Smauler's pretender magic picks).

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Jarls are 34 resources though, as opposed to 18, so if you're resource as opposed to gold limited, they may not be the best option. If you're short of gold though, they are cheaper. I realise blessing's pretty useless with those magic picks (ps. I saw a list of bless effects, but can't seem to find it now, do you know where it is?).

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Jotun Axemen or Jotun woodsmen as troops.

I recommend Jotun Spearmen (or the spear-carrying Hirdmen) over Axemen. The longer length of the spear is very effective for repels, which means your troops tend to get fewer wounds and live longer. Axes do more damage, but I prefer every edge in favor of troop defense.

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I'll probably give them a try next turn, sound good. I just went for axemen before because of their higher damage.

Woodsmen are a poor choice in bang-for-the-buck, unless you are playing a bless strategy. They are quite fragile, compared to other choices, and expensive.

Yes, I realise this. I only use them if I find resources to be a problem. In my Last game, I could recruit 6 woodsmen and two axemen in one turn, as opposed to just four axemen. But if gold is a problem at all, they're not really worth it.

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:

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Originally posted by Smauler:
If you can't (you need 2 death), give one or two of them empowerment up to 2 death. Revive a Bane, then repeatedly revive wights (shift-M). You could also research to level 4, empower to 3 death, and summon shade beasts too, but it's not necessary.

You would probably be be much better off to forge skull staffs, at a cost of only 10 death gems, rather than empowering at a much larger cost.

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I haven't got into forging yet (I haven't been playing too long), but I can't see the skull staves in the forging menu. Is there something I'm missing, or does the demo just not have them?

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quote:Also, empower your Skratti(s) to water 2 if you don't have one, and cast summon ice drake repeatedly with them.

Skratti come with water 2 already, so they don't need any enhancement for ice drakes.

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Oh yeah, missed that. I thought for some reason they only came with 1, but got a random to two.

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quote:When you have enough Nature gems empower a Skratti up to 3 (or you have a lucky Skratti with 3 nature already), and repeatedly summon pride of lions.

A Gygja with nature 2 would be a far better choice, since she can forge a thistle mace to bring herself to nature 3.

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Oops, yes I meant Gygia, typo. I can't see the mace in the forging menu either though, perhaps it is just a demo limitation.

Anyway, thanks for all the points and suggestions. I'll take them into account when playing my next Jotunhelm, though I'm going to try some other races a bit more first, while waiting for my full game to arrive (ordered monday morning, but I'm in England, and chose cheapest postage, only $4 as opposed to $15+ for the others. I can but hope it'll come tomorrow for the weekend ).

I know I've screwed up the boldness in this post, but it's still obvious who's post is whos, if not, I'll edit.