Enlightenment of a SP Addict

[Thufir]

Caseus said:

Okay, now I just have to try Abysia. It'll give me a good excuse to try those bloodhunting scouts I've heard so much about.

The scout bloodhunting was nerfed w/ an earlier patch (2.12, I believe). Here's a thread w/ some analysis: thread. And here's a more recent thread on the subject: thread

With Abysia, I usually do my bloodhunting mostly with Warlock Apprentices and a few Demonbreds (both using SDRs). Its true that Demonbreds are cheaper in the long run, but the break even point is something like 80 turns, so I think it's more accurate to think of WAs as cheaper.

[Thufir]

Caseus said:
Time for some random thoughts.

I play Dominions 2 exclusively in single player mode. Reading this board makes me realize how much I’m missing in my approach to the game.

Exactly! So, does this mean that you're ready to step up to the plate and start playing MP?

[Boron]

Caseus said:
I thought Ghost Riders attacked a province. If so, a SC inside a castle or protected by a decent army is likely safe. Earth Attack avoids the army issue entirely.

I haven't seen a lot of commanders that can withstand multiple Earth Attacks. I saw one Pretender, may have been Ctis, with Ritual of Returning and some spell that turns him into a wight when he dies. I cast 6 earth attacks that turn, and he died on the 5th. All it takes is a couple of hits per elemental.


Caseus

Yeah ghost riders only attacks the province .
But if there is no castle in the province or the SC is sieging a castle of yours etc. he can only escape via magical movement on his own .

Your earth elemental kills of course Ai pretenders etc. but on a human SC you can cast a lot cause they have only an attack rating of 9 so they won't hit often and with trampling this works not very well against high def and against etheral SCs it is almost useless .
A Vq e.g. is even unequipped almost impossible to kill by the earth elemental .

Normally ghost riders do more damage and they are lifeless too .
And most important with most nations Death 5 casters are easier to get than Earth 4 casters for earth attack :
Just a demilich with a skull staff with the sidebenefit that the demilich is a formidable unit on it's own too


For ultimate SP fun try the following VQ : Air 2 , Water 2 , Fire 2 , Death 3 , Earth 3 .
You can cast then Invulnerability , quickness , mistform , cloud trapeze for magic travel , mirror image , soul vortex , fire shield , phönix pyre .
For the ai this VQ is very hard to kill .





What is a RP ? Rainbow pretender ?

[Caseus]

I have had abysmal success killing VQs with Earth Attack. My record is 0 kills for 20+ attempts. I've never seen so many experience stars on a Pretender before....

After checking the manual I will concede that Ghost Riders are pretty damn disgusting. 5 death gems gets you 33 longdead horseman and a FREAKING WRAITH LORD??? Who cares that they're not under your control. For 30 death gems you can have 198 horsemen and 6 wraith lords running amuck in some schmuck's home province.

That VQ sounds pretty terrifying. What's soul vortex?

RP is rainbow pretender. As Gandalf said, they work great on huge maps.

[Caseus]

Thufir said:
Exactly! So, does this mean that you're ready to step up to the plate and start playing MP?

Sure! But I'm a complete newbie. I can barely find the research screen. Can I play the first 10 turns by myself, and then everyone else can start on turn 11? Or better yet, let me design my own race!

*smiles innocently*

[Boron]

Caseus said:
I have had abysmal success killing VQs with Earth Attack. My record is 0 kills for 20+ attempts. I've never seen so many experience stars on a Pretender before....

After checking the manual I will concede that Ghost Riders are pretty damn disgusting. 5 death gems gets you 33 longdead horseman and a FREAKING WRAITH LORD??? Who cares that they're not under your control. For 30 death gems you can have 198 horsemen and 6 wraith lords running amuck in some schmuck's home province.

That VQ sounds pretty terrifying. What's soul vortex?

RP is rainbow pretender. As Gandalf said, they work great on huge maps.

Soul vortex is alteration 6 . Needs death 3 to cast . It is a drain life damage shield . Works very well with Wraith lords too .

Because VQ is etheral trample hits only in 1/4 th of the cases or in 1/8 if the VQ has luck too . VQ has regeneration and not too bad DEF so no wonder that you had no success with earth attack .


With ghost riders it is 2 edged . If the defender has a castle and nobody on patrolling then you only wipe out his PD , the ghost riders disappear and the province converts back to his owner .
Ghost riders is an excellent spell to kill single SCs or smaller armies which attack you . Ghost riders is a reason why you should castle important provinces .

[Caseus]

Oh you're kidding. Wraith Lords can cast a drain life damage shield? That's just disturbing.

My Wraith Lords typically run around with wraith swords, chainmail of displacement, spirit helm, boots of flying, amulet of antimagic and pendant of luck. Their mission is set to Attack Rear. Should I script it cast Soul Vortex, Attack Closest Enemy instead? I could probably eat a whole lot of regular troops that way.

[Vynd]

Soul vortex can drain life from any nearby units, including your own. So be careful how you use it.

Attack rear doesn't work all that well, except with flying units.

[Boron]

Caseus said:
Oh you're kidding. Wraith Lords can cast a drain life damage shield? That's just disturbing.

My Wraith Lords typically run around with wraith swords, chainmail of displacement, spirit helm, boots of flying, amulet of antimagic and pendant of luck. Their mission is set to Attack Rear. Should I script it cast Soul Vortex, Attack Closest Enemy instead? I could probably eat a whole lot of regular troops that way.

With scripting against the Ai i prefer attack archers .
Very often his mages are close his archers so the chances are not so bad to hit the mages too .

One of my favourite Wraith Lord loadouts is :
- Blood thorn
- Lucky coin shield
- Boots of flying
- Jade armor
- Amulet of Antimagic
- Starshine Skullcap ( for +2 MR )
- Either a 100% FR or 100% SR ring depending if you fight an Air or a Fire nation .

Script : Soul vortex , Attack enemy archers or rearmost .

Luckily a Wraith Lord is built in etheral so normal troops don't hit him very often and he is quite save from trampling with this too .
So normally if the enemy can't kill the Wraith Lord in 1 turn he heals himself to full health again via Soul vortex + 2 Blood thorn attacks .

Humans will of course use more unfair means like a Drain life or wither bones or Petrify casting mage brigade or they will attack you with both fire and air magic etc. etc. .
If you die then in friendly dominion you still lost your equipment .

The wraithlord is good in SP but not so good in MP there Banelords are more cost effective and later Tartarians are way better too .

[Taqwus]

Soul Vortex gives the caster a life-draining aura for the duration of the battle; every turn it tries to drain life from those in nearby randomly-chosen squares, including friendlies.

Ghost Riders is pretty brutal; it's a good argument for building castles to protect your temples. Conj 9 is strong for death nations, with both Ghost Riders and Tartarian Gate.

If you want to try an assassin pretender right out of the gate, try Mictlan's Lord of the Night. He also starts battles with a couple of Fiends of Darkness, which helps make things even more unfair.

Regarding searching, I suggest using the path-specific searching spells as soon as you can; it takes one mage turn instead of two (one to arrive, one to search) and can be easier than getting a level-four mage. For certain paths this is easier than others, e.g. Astral Probing, Dark Knowledge require only one level of astral or death respectively.

For something different, try R'lyeh. The Void Gate is like a wacky slot machine that can feeblemind or kill you, but also might give you Vastnesses, Greater Othernesses, and Things that Should Not Be. For observing the joy of Orb Lightning spamming, try Pythium with a large communion...