Vampire Queens and Sneaking Armies

[Yossar]

Originally posted by Norfleet:

quote:

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Originally posted by Graeme Dice:
The chance of a vampire appearing is 5% times the current dominion level of the province the VQ is in. In dominion 10, she gets one every other turn.

And a VQ that's out on the borders of the empire thumping indies and kicking *** is not going to be sitting around in a dominion-10 province most of the time. Furthermore, a vampire in the occupied province every other turn tends to result in a trail of little vampires with no master. A single vampire lying around with no way to get home until somebody comes along and kills it, sending it back to the capitol, is hardly a real threat: A VQ that sits around spawning mini-vampires in the comfort of a 10-dominion zone is one that is not having much effect on you.

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Well, to use your other example, you probably wouldn't want to park a PoD in a dominion-10 province for very long either, would you? At least the VQ's fodder can fly at the same speed as her. The PoD just leaves a bunch of leaderless skeletons in his wake.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Yossar:
Well, to use your other example, you probably wouldn't want to park a PoD in a dominion-10 province for very long either, would you? At least the VQ's fodder can fly at the same speed as her. The PoD just leaves a bunch of leaderless skeletons in his wake.

A PoD consistently generates the skeletons every turn, however, as long as he's within dominion. The PoD is also more likely to sit still for a period of time, being that he's not quite as directly combat-oriented, and will likely spend more time casting rituals or just being a blessing pretender. The PoD's skeletons can form a sizeable pile of chaff useful for a death-magic nation in only a few turns. The VQ's vampires are closer to the GK's ghosts in general format. If anything, the VQ's vampires are a poor choice for accompanying in combat unless you've piled up a lot of them, because the vampires are very cowardly despite their immortality and flee quickly, routing off into neighboring provinces and becoming badly scattered again, especially when there are not many of them to stabilize the squad. All in all, the VQ's vampires are more flavor than they are a real consideration: Nobody takes a VQ just to get the little vampirelings!

[GavinWheeler]

Originally posted by Peter Ebbesen:

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Originally posted by Zen:

The only other Immortal Pretenders are the Bog Mummy and Phoenix.

And the Lich, the Master Lich, and the Lich Queen,

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..and the Saurolich.

[Firebreath]

Originally posted by Norfleet:

Maybe you could add a special item like "garlic", a misc item that gives +20 defense vs. vampires.

Haha. I like that idea. It would probably work quite well, too. The notion of 'vampire hunters' would quite clearly balance out the apparent superiority of the vq. Maybe the inquisition should get a nice bonus vs vampires, too?

I have a question though, as everybody here seems to pay the dominion costs of equiping the vq in magic...wouldn't empowerment work equally well and a lot cheaper, or do MP games just not Last long enough for empowerment to be effective (vq's are just as effective at the start with only very limited spells).

[GavinWheeler]

Originally posted by Firebreath:

quote:

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Originally posted by Norfleet:

Maybe you could add a special item like "garlic", a misc item that gives +20 defense vs. vampires.

Haha. I like that idea.

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Hmm.. a "Buffy the Vampire Queen slayer" Mercenary, perhaps? Complete with a whiny scooby gang.

[Truper]

Originally posted by Firebreath:

I have a question though, as everybody here seems to pay the dominion costs of equiping the vq in magic...wouldn't empowerment work equally well and a lot cheaper, or do MP games just not Last long enough for empowerment to be effective (vq's are just as effective at the start with only very limited spells). [/QB]

Its a question of speed. The one weakness a VQ has is a lack of protection. You need some way to overcome it, and the best way is an Earth protection spell. Quickness is also *extremely* useful, and the same school of magic that gets you magical protection also gets you quickness. A VQ with earth and water magic can be a terror from the turn alt 2 is researched, while if you were counting on empowerment or items, it would take a lot longer.

[Norfleet]

Water/Earth gets you some basics, but I've fought against W/E VQs many times, and I was singularly unimpressed. You really have to do better than that if you want to create something truly mean.