[Tuidjy]

> Overall, Air compares better than Water because:

Only true above water. We were talking underwater, last time I checked.

> A. In combat, you are far more likely to encounter cold-resistant or
> cold-immune troops than lightning immune troops. Both are essentially
> single target attack suites, but Air wins handily on this point.

Water strike is not cold based, scales nicely with higher levels, and the damage
is not negligible. I've killed Nycafor in a Cold 3 province with massed
Water strikes. Furthermore, trampling Ice elementals do not care about
cold resistance either. They are lethally brutal against units that do not have
it, and still damn effective otherwise.

> B. Higher level Air battlefield spells win battles. Fog Warriors and Mists of
> Deception have no equal in Water magic.

Fog warriors is not much use against SCs, or cold auras. It is a nice spell to
protect your army, but all you need is to cast it once. And it doesn't do a
thing against the Wolven Winter / Grip of Winter combo.

Mists of Deception is basically cheating in my book. Once it is cast, all you
have to do is retreat the caster to win the battle. Using it in a tactics
argument smacks of desperation.

> C. Most battle magic for Water requires Cold to be truly effective, so you
> need to burn heavy amounts of Water gems for Wolven Winters or just get
> lucky with a Cold opponent. If you have a Heat opponent, it's a bad day
> for you.

Don't know about you, but I usually make my own cold underwater. Many water
using nations (Seraphs, Giants, LA Atlantis) do not mind cold much. And Wolven
Winter is quite cheap.

And for some reason (would it be because cold does not hurt income underwater?)
many water nations choose Cold 3 for their scales.

> D. Low level Air magic makes good SCs as well. Mist Form and Mirror Image
> can't be replicated by items, so casters who do Air instead of Water have
> the best of both worlds since the good Water magic can be gained by items.

I far prefer the Rainbow/Hydra Armours and the Boots of the messenger underwater
than the Rime haulberk and the boots of Quickness (undeads are the exception, and
there are other tricks against them). I also know that the 25% of my
Jarls who have Air magic do not bother with it underwater, because I've found
that water and death buffs are more important. Above water, it's a different
story, but once again, no one argues about that.

And anyway, the tactics I have used in all three games, and worked well enough
to win twice and have my opponents prematurely talking about surrendering in the
third is quad-immune SCs fighting under Grip of Winter and Foul Vapors. Above
water, there will also be a lighting storm going on, but hey, no one said I used
only Water magic.


===================

> Your SC is deliberately immune to most low-level Air magic. That heavily
> skews any comparison, so we can't even pretend it's fair.

He is _completely_ immune to both shock and illusion, except for the MoD cheat.
You cannot pull that trick with most Cold Immune SCs, because underwater, Water
magic has tramplers, ice encasing, and physical damage spells.

Yes, a size 6 Tartarian with Air, Earth and Astral magic will be a problem, but
you know, those usually are.