What's wrong with this battle?

[Alneyan]

Well, he's going to forge some nice weapons (Magebane + Summit is awesome): that's more defence with some mean fighting power.

I have heard that area attacks completely bypass defence, so you might wish to make sure there aren't any such item in the game before going too high on defence. I think a couple artifacts have this effect, but I could be wrong (I have seen more of them in CB 5.2 or so). I haven't had the opportunity of checking that, though, but I know my 52 defence would have very much disliked that sort of trick.

[shovah]

demon whip is a cheap AoE weapon, some artifacts such as ember and sword of many colours are more potent (you could always get a nataraja with 4 demon whips, quckness, luck and astral weapon since the fire should also help vrs the devils)

[Oversway]

Whips don't add strength and they descrease defense, I believe... you usually want to do more damage than 40 a turn against 2 ID.

[shovah]

you could get a bunch of banelords or something with 2 whips and boots of quickness or something (or a bunch of guys with gatecleavers, boots of flying, burning pearls and rings of the warrior

[NTJedi]

OG_Gleep said:
I assume your not using CB because Bloodthorns got nerfed.

For both SP and MP I use both CB and Patch_only.


My comment was I recall reading that life draining weapons have been made less effective.

[Graeme Dice]

Endoperez said:
Natarajas aren't cold-blooded, but they are affected by cold dominion more than other pretenders because they make more attacks. The normal slight increase for extreme cold affects every attack IIRC.

It doesn't. It affects every attack action, of which the Nataraja gets one per turn, like every other unit.

[Graeme Dice]

magnate said:I knew fatigue lowered DEF, but I didn't know it lowered ATT as well - is it the same mechanic? -1 per 10 fatigue or something?

It's -1 per 20 fatigue, so your Nataraja had an attack of less than 20 versus a defense of more than 25. That kind of attack/defense disadvantage is extremely hard to hit through. I wouldn't have expected very many hits given only two rounds of combat.

The combination of AW not working on IDs and ATT reducing after fatigue from buffs makes an SC pretty unlikely to work.

This is how faulty information and rumours get started. Nobody has said anything that even suggests that there's evidence that astral weapon doesn't effect Ice Devils, and you're already posting it like it's a fact.

Which is ridiculous, since the IDs are nowhere near the most expensive summons, so why should they be the best SCs?

They aren't. Arch devils are certainly better given that they can cast phoenix pyre.

[Graeme Dice]

magnate said:
Mirror Image potentially absorbs up to 4 hits, though I'm unconvinced by this - anyone want to argue in its favour?

Mirror image potentially absorbs dozens of hits, since they only dissappear when the real unit is hit, and you can have 10 or more images with a high enough air magic.

(Would you use it over Quickness, Personal Luck, Ironskin, Astral Weapon or Cold Resistance?)

I'd defintely use it instead of cold resistance. Breath of winter isn't going to cause you significant damage with reasonable protection.

Astral Shield is defeated by an MR check, so is pointless against SCs with MR in the 20s.

It's still going to succeed 1/20 times for MR 18, and 1/100 times for MR in the 20's. That's about one paralysis per battle.

[Saber Cherry]

They aren't. Arch devils are certainly better given that they can cast phoenix pyre.

I think they're better, though it depends on the map and nation. Self-casting Quickness, the ability to go underwater, higher base protection, bonus protection in cold provinces, and no weakness to fire (versus 50% weakness to cold, for Arch Devils) make them extremely potent. Not so great for Abysia, though. Also, some people might prefer Fire Shield, but Breath of Winter can be used similarly, against non-undeads.

Neither of them are really as good as Tartarians, though, at 10D+20N each; the differences in HP, encumbrance, size (for trample), and magic skills are pretty major. Immortals such as Wraith Lords and Vampire Lords, and non-standard choices like Vastnessess can all be more effective in many situations, too.

[shovah]

a bunch of un-equiped vampire lords ar e amazing at harrasing the enemy as he trie to reinforce his main invasion (aslong as you stay in friendly dominions)