What to do with astral gems?

[Huzurdaddi]

So there was a thread a little while ago about effective summons and I offered Ether Warriors, but some diagreed.

The thing is what the heck do people do with their astral gems, especially in the early game ( before turn 30 or so ).

I mean I just don't see much use other than ether warriors. There are a few items that are sort of nice: Pendant of Luck, Amulet of Antimagic, Spell Focus ( if you are into that kind of thing ), Banner of the Norther Star ( if you are into that kind of thing ), Starshine Cap, Lucky Coin, Herald Lance ( hmm never made one they look ok ... don't really know though ).

I mean what the heck are you supposed to spend these things on?

[Huzurdaddi]

Oh and I just thought about globals. There are many astral globals that are darn good, but they are all high on the tech chart.

[Norfleet]

Well, the best real use of Astrals early-to-midgame I've found is Acashic Records. The alternative being to save them for late game: All astral rituals of note tend to be fairly expensive, generally to the point of gross inefficiency compared to other gems: This can be partially understandable if the underlying assumption is that astrals (and fires) are the most readily available gem type for certain reasons popularly considered controversial.

[Huzurdaddi]

Well, the best real use of Astrals early-to-midgame I've found is Acashic Records.

really? I've always found that spell so wasteful! I mean 25 gems... yokies.

[PvK]

Well, but 25 astral pearls gets you the search-power of about 20 specific gems (2 of each), all packed into one immediate result for one turn by one astral mage. Otherwise, you could waste 10-20 or more mage-turns having various mages cast or physically move to and search the province, and it would require a great variety of magic powers to do so, rather than just one path, and you still might not find all the sites, and maybe not get around to it for a long time. Not only is that a big savings in mage-time and skill requirements, but the earlier you find a site, the sooner you can use it, and put its uses into effect, which can beget other effects, etc.

Of course, especially with a lowish site frequency, you could also blow 25 pearls and find nothing you want.

As for the "what do do with astrals" question... give them to me!

Astrals are the gem type with the most uses - if you don't have anything in mind to do with them immediately, then either save them for later (like when you get a really good reason to cast a strong Dispel spell), and/or alchemize some of them into gems you don't have yet, and/or gold you need.

PvK

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Huzurdaddi:
really? I've always found that spell so wasteful! I mean 25 gems... yokies.

Yeah, but consider the cost of general probing: 16 assorted gems, plus you haven't searched holy/unholy.

Given that most nations do not HAVE assorted gems, they will probably have to alchemize, which drives up costs. Furthermore, no remote searches for holy and unholy sites exist.

Yes, AR is hardly efficient, especially on already well-searched provinces, but it's definitely a nice clean-sweep spell.

It may be wasteful, but it also bears mentioning that astral pearls are currently the most easily available gem type, via conVersion from the otherwise limited in utility water gems through clams.