Omni’s point wasn’t that its useless, just that its useless if you arrive behind a bunch of other players and all that’s left for you to forge is the Robe of Calius. Making the decision to go from Con 6 involves some strategic calculation assuming graphs are on. Some of the items to consider:
1. where are you on research graph and what paths have you already taken care of? If you have a strong lead and have enough combat spells to get by for a while, then going for Con 8 is likely an excellent choice for the reasons stated above.
2. if you are in 2nd/3rd place, you still might go for it. Try and think about what the leaders may have researched – have they cast a global? are they blood nations that probably started down the blood path? have your scouts seen them cast high level combat spells in non-Construction schools? Also, how far behind are you and what paths do you think they have? They might hit Con 8 before you but if they don’t have an N/S caster then the Chalice might not be feasible for them? Or if you are just behind them they may still be trying to get the gems to grab all the artifacts so there might be some good stuff left.
3. if you are way behind, then chances are you are better served going down another path. If you have the paths for royalty and the gems, I’d think about Conj 8 and try and grab the elementals, in particular the Air Queens. Or research Thaum to enslave and charm the Tarts that will soon be at your doorstep.
