Summons: Your thoughts.....

[sum1lost]

Blood summons are incredible. However, national troops can often take most enemies, with the right mage support. (Think massive buffs and battlefield wide enchantments)

Most other summons are only really good for SC/Thug chassis and magical diversification

[HJFudge]

Ive read some of Sombres thoughts on summons. I like the direction he is taking some of them

[Sir_Dr_D]

NTJedi said:
Some summons are NOT a good for the gem investment... such as the Ziz, Behemoth and Eater of the Dead. Avoid these even in SP games unless you're totally winning and looking to splurge.

I'll let someone else list the good summons.

I disagree about the Behemoth. They have their niche use, especially if you can buff them up with body ethereal and
protection spells. One use, since they are size 6, they can act as decoys to protect your prentender. If I have a size five god, and am afraid of being the target of spells because of the size, I feel safer with a couple of the size 6 behemoths around. And if you are facing a squad of elephants a few behomeths could hold off some of the elephants for a bit and break them up, so your troops can deal with fewer of them at a time.

But generally building a bunch of them, and expecting to use them as tramplers does not work.


[Edit: I should add what I mentioned was theories. I haven't had a chance to try them out.]

[AdmiralZhao]

Going after the Jaguar Toads was a low blow. They might not be the best player on team Mictlan, but they've got heart. And except for the little toads, just about everything else Mictlan gets is worth summoning. Even the mass animal summon is good when you combine it with a double or triple bless. I would also defend the spectral infantry, as they were quite useful to me when playing as Lanka. You can send them out as a first wave, to exhaust the enemy heavy infantry or to hold the enemy in place while your archers do their work.

Still, my data set is somewhat more limited than yours. I'm sure there are plenty of shoddy summons I have not seen. Let me revise my statement to say:
"National summons, especially the holy summons, are usually worthwhile."

[Folket]

In general I only use the mass summon spells. Legion of wights, demonic forces and nice uniques that work as thugs.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

I like Host of Ganas, its kinda a lowelevel cross between Spirit Mastery and Phantasmal army, but more durable. They are also fast enough to keep up, and have a decent 12 MR. They last a long time against heavy infantry. Suffer a quarter loss if the numbers are even. They are, unfortunately, massacred by simple slingers. Don't be fooled by the shield, its useless with 1 parry. I wonder why they bothered. While there are some spells in the alteration path that would help, they are way too far down the line. Thankfully, however, its not difficult for you to research or cast Mist, which should help.

I'm thinking of mixing them in with Raksharaja thugs scripted to mirror image and mistform. They're fast enough to keep up strategically and tactically, acting as a screen. As an odd little note, these are not mindless.

[Sombre]

AdmiralZhao said:
And except for the little toads, just about everything else Mictlan gets is worth summoning.

Monster Toads? Granted they aren't a garbage summon, but they ain't great. Mictlan does have some of the best national spells though and most of its summons being sacred when Mictlan itself is a bless nation is obviously a huge deal.

AdmiralZhao said:
I would also defend the spectral infantry, as they were quite useful to me when playing as Lanka. You can send them out as a first wave, to exhaust the enemy heavy infantry or to hold the enemy in place while your archers do their work.

I think you mean Host of Ganas, and yes, they are another solid summon. Not that great, but they don't suck.

Spectral infantry are an Abysian summon also known as Smoulderghosts which suck in combat, have virtually no special role (ethereal with 0 prot, rarely actually do any damage), are overpriced and are impossible to cast with Abysia's national mages. They're like an even worse version of the truly awful basegame Summon Shades spell. Summon shades was dropped to one gem in CBM and still doesn't get cast much :]

There's no defending them. Oh, though thematically they are cool, so there's that.

They don't beat Ziz for worst summon in the game though. I don't think anything even comes close to that flying turkey.

[Edratman]

I also am not a real big fan of summons. I think most are way too expensive for what you get.

I summon basically for thugs and magic users that will fill gaps in my forging abilities.

[Humakty]

I don't think any player with a little experience will come in and shout : 'Oh my ! Summons are so much more usefull than anything else'
In facts I sometime use seasonal spirits. Those with auras (wolves and lions) can be usefull to tire up the ennemy front lines before your liners come in.Or when you have no flankers, they can play this role quite well.
My last try in low level summons was with the sea dogs (or is it lions ?) and from this summon I saved my gems for a better use.
Waiting eagerly for the next update of CBM.

PS : thanks Sombre, I play Abysia a lot, and never bothered to summon spectral infantry, now I know I missed nothing.

[Sir_Dr_D]

The CBM makes osme of those summons more interesting. Dragon master at level 3, the stats of drakes boosted slightly, and the summmon drake spells take 6 instead of 8 gems. Suddenly using drakes sounds like a viable strategy.


In general the game would be more fun if the summons all had there use. They should not be so powerfull as to replace troops, but to supplement them and fill in holes that your national troops can't handle.