Question: Facing a Monster Manticore

[Gurthang]

Hi everybody,

I am playing Helheim in my current game (turn 13) and I just underwent a shattering defeat in my attempt to storm the fortress of Ermor.

After my troops vanquished all remaining opposition they were met by Ermor’s pretender god, a manticore A7 E6 S5 with 775 hit points (supposedly due to its dominion). Furthermore, it was ethereal and practically invulnerable to infantry weapons even when fatigued (fat. 99). My soldiers kept hacking ineffectually at it until they finally routed.

Is there any way I can think of conquering the beast, perhaps with help of more magical research? Practicable paths are blood, earth, air and death.

All help appreciated!

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Heh... if you beat his army and stormed his capital as soon as turn 13, he probably needs our help more than you do... :-^

OK, you probably didn't research much at this point. First thing I'd try is to at least spirit curse the bugger (Conj 1, D1). That won't kill him by itself, but it'll improve your chances to cause him a crippling affliction (hope for feeblemind)

Did you research some construction yet? If you have a nature mage (indy shaman or druid or something), have one forge a couple vine whips and berserk pelts and give them to your flying commanders. Improving their attack rating would also help here, if you can. That way they'll tie the manticore down for the whole battle until it autorouts... which it can't do since it's entangled... which usually means automatic death after the turn limit. Very dirty (and quite unfair) trick, but it often worked for me. (Edit: hmmm, now I remember that vine whips require N2 to forge and most indy nature mages are only N1, so probably not very helpful in your case.)

[BlanketThief]

Originally Posted by Nagot Gick Fel

Heh... if you beat his army and stormed his capital as soon as turn 13, he probably needs our help more than you do... :-^

OK, you probably didn't research much at this point. First thing I'd try is to at least spirit curse the bugger (Conj 1, D1). That won't kill him by itself, but it'll improve your chances to cause him a crippling affliction (hope for feeblemind)

Did you research some construction yet? If you have a nature mage (indy shaman or druid or something), have one forge a couple vine whips and berserk pelts and give them to your flying commanders. Improving their attack rating would also help here, if you can. That way they'll tie the manticore down for the whole battle until it autorouts... which it can't do since it's entangled... which usually means automatic death after the turn limit. Very dirty (and quite unfair) trick, but it often worked for me.

One thing to keep in mind if you're trying the old vinewhip + Berserking unit trick is that berserking gives 2 fatigue per round (regardless of action/encumbrance) and that if the units fatigue goes above 100 he'll lose his berserking status.

[Gurthang]

Thanks for your feedback guys, I am waiting for more output.

On second thought, how is it possible that the manticore, having a base 155 hit points, reached the gargantuan level of 775?!?



Dominion in the province was just 2 candles on its behalf. Heck, how could the damn thing multiply its hps by a multiple of five???

Might a bug be involved?

[Fantomen]

If you move from a high dom province to a low dom province you don't lose the HP bonus right away. If the manticore stays in low dominions a few turns it should have lower HP.

With those paths I guess this is the AI you're facing, so it won't kit the manticore properly. Since you managed to get it to 99 fatigue you should be able to work that angle, and add in some better damage dealers to kill it.

[Ragnarok-X]

In Dom 10, its +200 % health and it always counts LAST TURNS dominion score for the current turns health.
Other factor could be epic traits that increase the HP or Gift of Health.

[BlanketThief]

Originally Posted by Ragnarok-X

In Dom 10, its +200 % health and it always counts LAST TURNS dominion score for the current turns health.
Other factor could be epic traits that increase the HP or Gift of Health.

Pretenders are unable to acquire heroic abilities as far as I know.

[Fantomen]

Could also be some kind of life draining effect in work.