About Champion Skull

Herode · #1 July 14th, 2007, 04:02 PM

Do you guys know what's this artifact for ? The notice says something like "it makes you a seasonned warrior in no time" but I can't figure what this exactly means : more attack ? More defense ? More XP ? How much ? What's the amount of time required ? I tried the Champion Skull in a solo game and I've been unable to guess what it does...

lch · #2 July 14th, 2007, 04:05 PM

gives +3 exp per turn

Herode · #3 July 14th, 2007, 04:28 PM

Wow. Let's say 17 turns to get the first "star" with its bonusses. That's why I didn't notice the effect : it is almost microscopic. And sounds very expensive for a 10 death gems artifact, no ?

Kristoffer O · #4 July 14th, 2007, 04:30 PM

It only takes 10 xp to get your first star. But you are right. It might seem a bit slow to get higher xp levels for 10 gems.

Jazzepi · #5 July 14th, 2007, 05:33 PM

Actually, since you can pass it around your researchers it's not that bad. Think of it this way. You build one skull, give it to one researcher. 4 turns later, he has +1 research permanently.

Actually, this is pretty useless =\ For 10 death gems you can build a skull researcher which gives +9 research. See the below comparison between the XP skull and the research skull. The totals are the total amount of extra research attained by spending the gems.

I think if you raised the amount of XP the skull gave to +5 instead of +3, it'd be much more useful.

Turn / Skull Researcher / XP skull
1/9/0
2/18/0
3/27/0
4/36/0
5/45/1
6/54/2
7/63/3
8/72/4
9/81/8
10/90/10
11/99/12

Fixed my math. I'm taking Calculus you know, multiplication is below me XD

Jazzepi

lch · #6 July 14th, 2007, 06:23 PM

so, what's ten times nine??

jutetrea · #7 July 14th, 2007, 06:48 PM

no no, 6x9

Wahnsinniger · #8 July 14th, 2007, 07:27 PM

Elementary School Math errors aside...

It really doesn't seem worth it. How about instead the Champion Skull gives +1 Star while equipped. (i.e. When removed you lose the star)

Meglobob · #9 July 14th, 2007, 07:33 PM

The only time I have used champion skull is when I have got one as a random event. I give it someone until they get 1* then pass it on. Had 2 in a 109 turn game recently.

All in all I would describe the effect of the 2 skulls as microscopic over the course of that long game.

I'd never forge one, spend your 10D gems on something far more useful like a skull mentor or 2xBane Blades or Horror Helmet or a Bane.

If you want your units to get stars, have them accompany a army on a few successful and easy battles. Like say the barbarian invasion random events you get with misfortune 3 etc...

Lazy_Perfectionist · #10 July 14th, 2007, 09:23 PM

I often use it to season my assassins.

On a related note, experience can bring precision and morale boosts. Precision is twice as effective over 10, and not all nations have any access to eyes of aiming.

On indie priests, to, it can result in 50% more leadership, if you've got nothing better to hand it off to. I haven't seen it affect magic or undead leadership, though. Though it migth on inborn (not path dependent, say Mound King), undead leaders. On my Angakok, experience takes me from 80->100 leadership. I'm not really sure how it functions.

Exp 1 star...
+1 Attack, +1 Defense, +1 Precision, +leadership (mundane), +1 morale,
no affect on hitpoints, strength, protection, magic resistance, encumberance.

There are probably other effects of experience (including research) but that's all I see off the top of my head.

Nothing spectacular, but not bad for an item whose effects last even after you've taken it away from your high risk unit.