A guide to buffing
I have been thinking that a very important concept for new players to understand, but one that I'm not sure is spelled out anywhere, is 'buffing'. This is a strategy of taking powerful creature with magic (usually a pretender), and scripting it to cast several spells the make it more powerful in melee, before it charges into close combat. These are the kind of spells that experienced players often research first (within the first 2-10 turns depending on the research setting) and then send their pretender to take independent provinces by itself. The usual set of buffs means getting enchantment 1 and alteration 3, but many variations are possible.
Fire: It has two buffs spells, phoenix pyre and fire shield. Phoenix pyre is much to high in the research tree to use during expansion against independents, so for pretender design purposes does not have a lot of impact. Fire shield, on the other hand is very low research, and one of only two early buff spells for harming enemies that you do not have to directly attack. This drastically increases the rate at which you kill enemies, leading to reduced chance of dying and of picking up afflictions. It should also be noted that the damage inflicted by the spell goes up according to the amount of fire magic you have, making it especially important for fire bless pretenders.
Air: It has three buff spells, air shield, mirror image. Air shield is not one of the more important buffs, but if you are facing archers (particularly crossbowmen), and do not have enough buff spells researched to fill up your 5 script slots, it is worth casting. Mirror image can be highly useful, if you count on your luck you might get by with it as your only buff even (given high defense and air magic). It's priority is reduced if you have other defense buffs available, and not very high defense score (15 or less). Mistform remains highly useful no matter what your combatant setup.
Water: It has three buff spells, quickness, breath of winter, water shield. Quickness is one other the most useful buffs, providing +3 attack and defense, allows you to hit twice the number if enemies with your weapon, and giving you a better chance of casting the rest of your buffs before the enemy reaches you. Breath of winter is also very useful. Whether you need the spell depend much on your access to the fire shield spell. If you lack fire shield, you will almost always want to cast breath of winter (and if you posses fire shield, you will almost always want to cast that). If you have both though, the decision gets more complex. The most obvious factor is that a cold climate increases BoW dame, while a hot climate reduces it. Another factor is that BoW can damage friendly troops if they are present in the battle. BoW of winter can be cast underwater while fire shield cannot. There are in general more things that resist BoW than fire shield. The bottom line here is if you have both, you may want to change your script as you go, based on a large number of factors. Water shield rarely influences pretender design, but if you happen to be in a situation where you are fighting underwater, poses water magic and a have a free script slot by all means use it.
Earth: It has five buff spells, stoneskin, ironskin, iron will, summon earth power, and invulnerability. Ironskin is one of the more important buffs, though it diminishes in usefulness if you already have high natural protection. Stoneskin is simply an earlier research (and weaker) version of the above. Iron will is not particularly useful for expansion vs. independents, but it has a niche here and there when fighting other players. Summon earth power is mainly of use when you want to cast invulnerability, or have no access to life drain. It is not used so much in early expansion due to being in an obscure (buff wise) magic school. Invulnerability is also not much of an pretender expansion spell, due to being high research, but it is not without it's uses a bit later on.
Astral*: It has six buff spells, personal luck, body ethereal, resist magic, astral weapon, astral shield. Personal luck is highly useful, making a combatant much more durable. Body ethereal is even more useful in early game expansion, though it's value diminishes as the game proceeds. Resist magic is like iron will, not very useful when expanding, but has a niche later on. Astral weapon is worth a script slot when expanding if you have few paths other than astral, and is even more useful vs. certain opponents later on. Astral shield is all around a good choice no matter what stage of the game you are at.
Death: It has one buff spell, soul vortex: But that one is highly powerful. Too high of research to be used usually vs. independents, it nonetheless can be used devastating effect in the mid and later game
Nature: It has two buff spells, barkskin and personal regeneration. Barkskin is not very useful if you have more than 10 natural protection, or earth magic. If you don't though, and have nothing else to fill the script slot, go ahead and use it. Personal regeneration is much more useful, if you have nature magic and are not lifeless it is almost certainly worthy casting, both for longer lasting combat power and reduced afflictions. It should also be noted that the power increases with the amount of nature magic you have, so nature bless pretenders should particularly rush to this spell.
Blood: It has one buff spell, blood vengeance. Blood vengeance has a number of drawbacks, being extremely high research and requiring a method of supplying blood slaves (usually a flying scout or two). It certainly won't be used against early independents, and it is not really worth putting blood on your pretender for it (you can empower by the time the research is done). Still, it remains a potent late game weapon.
*A note on putting astral on pretenders. Many people will advise that you should not put astral less that 9 or so on your pretender, or risk eminent death from magic duel. The fact is though, there are many cases where you can get around this or lessen it's impact, and there are many positive aspects to make up for your trouble. The first way to take low astral and get away with it is an immortal, duelling will just slow you down, and the enemy is likely to permanently lose mages trying it. The next way is to take good early combatant, and make astral it's only path (like a wyrm), if it gets dueled, so be it. In the meantime it can cause a lot of damage. Third, design your pretender as usual, and if you go to war, keep it moving unpredictably with flying or stealth, and your enemy will waste lots of mage time trying to pin him down.
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