Alexander's ever-expanding Tome of Knowledge

[Wauthan]

Great fun to read and really interesting ideas. You sure seem to know this game well.

Sadly I have little to contribute myself but I've noticed two oddities when playing against some friends.

THE LEFT HAND OF AN EMPEROR HOLDS THE DAGGER UNSEEN

Most people seem to become blinded by the idea of fielding enormous armies. Rows upon rows of warriors in shining armour. Their swords held high in honor of their lord, gleaming in the sun like a bountiful harvest of steel. The strength of an empire made physical form. Impressive yes?

It would be well worth keeping that nice sight intact would it not? Mountains of gold spent. Years of preparation. So why risk it when you do not have to?

Cut of the head and the body dies, as the saying goes. Ten assassins can do more harm than army one thousand strong. Fifty assassins can change the course of the war entirely. One hundred assassins and your enemies will throw themselves at your feet, begging for mercy from your unseen might.

Creating an assassin "guild" in a province that is out of the way and mostly worthless is always a good investment. Add a mage with no other buisness then the steady construction of cheap but dangerous tools like Dragon Helms, Skull Talismans or Snake Rings. Assassins are cheap when compared to most commanders and expendable. It's a lot of micromanagement at times but five Groups of ten assassins can create an endless migraine for your opponent and tie up a lot of resources that would otherwise be used against you.

SUMMONED UNITS DON'T HAVE UNIONS

What's better than a loyal soldier ready to give up his life for your empire? One that doesn't ask for a salary. Summoned units, save Trolls who are all members the Bridge Squatters Union, don't have a gold upkeep. The Monthly Ritual command is not to be ignored. Having a mobile provincial defence is quite worth it's cost in gems. And some summons even summon their own units! Remember that the next time you think about purchasing that new regiment of shiny knights.

[Gandalf Parker]

How about a comment on
THIEVES?

Blood magic 2 allows for Hellbind Heart. Other spells along the same line are possible.

Spells which summon commanders to you exist such as Wind Ride. Or giving the Black Heart to sneaky mages so they can become assassins.

You steal an enemy commander, get commanders you wouldnt normally have access to, get equip that the other guy spent gems on, and you leave large chunks of his army leaderless. Leaderless armys will rout from things like Call of the Wild or Call of the Winds, or even just a lone scout (a really funny sight)

If an assassin uses such a spell the newly converted commander will then attack his own troops in a fresh battle following the successful "assassination". Rinse-and-repeat until you snag the Last commander in a province and you will own that province no matter how large an army was there when the assassin walked in. Pick up some new blood slaves and sneak away to the next target.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by apoger:
DEVILS O' RAMA

For everyone else that wants devils but who don't get Demonbred mages...

You're writing Diabolists and Goetic Masters off too easily. Give them flying boots and you can use exactly the same tactic with Marignon/Diabolical Faith, except you can add some cheap Harlequins to the mix too.

An incentive to pick a Pretender with some air magic on your pretender, besides finding air sites and forging boots of flying, is the dreaded xbows/Flaming Arrows/Wind Guide combo.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by apoger:
LIZARDS GONE WILD!

I've found Falchioneers to be also effective with that kind of berserk strategies, and they're cheaper, do more damage (7+7 vs 8+3), and have better prot and defense. On the minus side, Falchioneers are supposed to be ambidextrous, but their attack rating is only 8x2 with falchions.

[apoger]

>DEVILS O' RAMA

>>You're writing Diabolists and Goetic Masters off too easily. Give them flying boots and you can use exactly the same tactic with Marignon/Diabolical Faith, except you can add some cheap Harlequins to the mix too.


I am not a fan of the Goetic Masters.

Marignon [Diabolic Faith] requires Heat +1 and Turmoil +1, which is a mighty heavy economic hit.

The Goetic Masters require those Winged Shoes to fly, and that means they aren't nearly as available as a fast response to whatever you may need responding to.

Also the Goetic Masters can only command 10 Devils, while the Demonbred can command 35. This makes a huge difference.

If I was playing Marignon [Diabolic Faith] I would probably stick with using Hordes from Hell and skip on devils.

[apoger]

>LIZARDS GONE WILD!
>>I've found Falchioneers to be also effective

The Falchioneers are good troops, but I have found the Elite Warriors to be better even at the higher gold cost.

#1 The trident is a length 4 weapon, which will provide extra defense in the form of repels much more often than the length 2 falchion.

#2 They have a 12 morale as opposed to the flachioneers 10. That's a huge difference, particularly for C'tis, who has no other troops with good morale.

#3 The higher attack skill is absolutely critical. In practice I find that the Elite Warriors simply deal damage on a much more consistent basis.

#4 The lower resource cost means that I can generate more troops. When playing C'tis I often find that numbers are the key to victory, and the production limitations are often a tighter constraint than the gold costs.

#5 I have tried games using both troops, and while this is certainly nothing more than anecdotal evidence, I have found that the Elite Warriors appear to out perform the Falchioneers in practice.


On the other hand I'm open to input on potential ways that the falchioneers may be abused.

[ January 11, 2004, 17:49: Message edited by: apoger ]

[Windreaper]

Doh, what's the point of morale since your army is going berserk anywy. Besides, Mass Protection is most useful to guys with low natural prot and plenty of armor on top of that (heh, pan satyrs go up to prot 19 ). Actually neither of the two are really armor kings and have pretty good natural prot too, but you're forgetting the fact that berserking gives a nice boost to the falchioneers' attack skill. I'd thus go for two high strength attacks but as with most of the stuff in the game it's a matter of preference.

As for those army bLasting strategies. I usually try to have quick response fliers (harpies, spring hawks, even ordinary hawks will do) with my armies to counter teleporting mages. Defender gets the first turn so the attacking mages are swarmed right from the very first combat round. Even if they manage to survive the harpy/whatever attack the combat AI tends to make their personal survival a preference thus leading into spells like shock wave/melee attacks :/. In other words, I wouldn't be sending in anyone smaller than a golem using teleport/cloud trapeze as they don't allow for a bodyguard.

The poison strategy, however, is very effective. Pangaea, Man, Miasma C'tis and Serpent cult Pythium can all easily pull it off. Just research conj 3, const 2, alteration 1, ench 5 (or alternatively evocation 4/5 for the poison spells, I prefer enchantment since it takes you near Relief, too). Have a good screen of vine ogres and cast quickness, poison resistance, foul vapors, (cast spells/whatever) and enjoy. Actually, vine ogres are also fantastic at dealing with illithids and such if you include some cheap fodder for the illithids to bLast at. Otoh their mr of 5 gets them owned by all kinds of control spells so this is naturally not an endgame strategy.

Other than that, I agree with most of the stuff you say, especially concerning incinerate (if I go for evocation it's usually for spells like stream of life/nether darts for nations like jotunheim or anyone with access to lamia queens - cast eagle eyes and bLast away w/ nethers). Actually, alteration and enchantment are pretty high on my research list every time (Relief, Mass Protection, Mass Regeneration, Battle Fortune, Doom etc...)