[Boron]

Originally posted by Truper:
The only words I uttered in the quotation posted below that was attributed entirely to me were "Good points".

Your strategy may aim at becoming the magic superhouse - but if so, having 1/3 the income and therefore 1/3 the mages that most nations have is the wrong way to go about it.

I didn't totaly agree with anything you said - I agreed that Thufir made some good points regarding S&A in general, and specifically in regard to whether adding gems to its capital is a good way to go about improving the theme.

but you didn't listen to my arguments .
i said you only have 1/3 income but you can compensate by ignoring national troops + luck 3 events in early - midgame .

ulm e.g. may have triple income but a big part of that goes on national units like black knights . furthermore you have watch tower or mausoleum . so you save 150 gold for each castle compared to ulm which most likely choses the 40 admin 450 gold castle.
3rd you don't need to invest in pd .
4th : you most likely get your first +500 or +1000 gold event in the first 5 turns .

with a vq + really few archers + 1 or 2 celestial masters using fire flies and the like you still can expand 2 provinces / turn .
once you have 10 provinces you have enough income to save a bit for castling + build 1 sage + 1 celestial master per turn .
before you still can build 1 celestial master or 1 master of the elements each turn after turn 5 and from turn 1-5 if you are unlucky with lucky gold events you buy a master of the dead .
you need 1-2 of them anyways for the dispossed spirits .

so again why is the bad economy really so bad ?

and the additional troops your enemies can build in early game with the more money you normally can counter by your vq .

after early game you counter your low income by your superior gem income .

if you don't have very special tactics to enchance your national troops in midgame they become less and less important and late game they are almost worthless expect as fodder .

a few "tricks" like weapons of sharpness can extend the usefulness of national troops but these spells are even more useful on summons .
and given the few nations which have good access to these special spells and how expensive they are the success is doubtable .

the only spells which make national troops still useful in lategame are really :
weapons of sharpness and wind guide / flaming arrows .

but they are not useful on national troops only : weapons of sharpness cast on summons is much scarier than used on national troops .

a exemption to this is of course jotunheim but they are special .
and there are no rules without exemptions .