Standard special ability, totally pointless?

Cainehill · #1 November 12th, 2006, 05:03 PM

Quote:

alexti said:
For example, for Jotunheim standards are very useful. They don't have numerous troops, so they're easily covered by standard area and those giants [aware of being so expensive] are pretty cautious and usually try to avoid the battle they could easily win if there's a risk of getting a scratch. Standards help to fix this problem.

Problem being that Jotunheim's units are big so only one fits into each square, meaning that they wouldn't be easily covered by a standard. That's probably one reason why they don't _have_ a standard bearing unit.

Sammual · #2 November 12th, 2006, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Cainehill said:
Problem being that Jotunheim's units are big so only one fits into each square, meaning that they wouldn't be easily covered by a standard. That's probably one reason why they don't _have_ a standard bearing unit.

They have the tiny hero that rides the wolf.

Sammual

Sheap · #3 November 13th, 2006, 04:36 AM

Which I find really amusing, in the Dominions way. Jotun thought process: "Well I would run, but that little guy is charging in, I can't let him show me up..."

NTJedi · #4 November 13th, 2006, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Sammual said:

Quote:

Cainehill said:
Problem being that Jotunheim's units are big so only one fits into each square, meaning that they wouldn't be easily covered by a standard. That's probably one reason why they don't _have_ a standard bearing unit.

They have the tiny hero that rides the wolf.

Sammual

Yes, he's a virtually useless hero... most players would gladly trade him for 100 gold. I wish the heroes without magic were more worthy of a hero title.

Gandalf Parker · #5 November 14th, 2006, 12:45 AM

Yeeesh. He is a stealthy leader with stealthy units. So yeah, if you dont use him that way then he is virtually useless.

Graeme Dice · #6 November 14th, 2006, 02:01 AM

Quote:

Gandalf Parker said:
Yeeesh. He is a stealthy leader with stealthy units. So yeah, if you dont use him that way then he is virtually useless.

You can always just buy a chief for 50 gold to lead your Vaetti around if you want stealthy units. He's a redundant unit, but at least he's not as bad as the Ulmish heroes.

TomD · #7 November 14th, 2006, 06:27 AM

Surely it's as much about character as it is about usefullness? They're free units that should add extra feel and story to the game, not wipe out enemy nations single-handed. I really like having the Ulmish heroes (with some cheap items) leading charges of black knights. Okay, so they normally only lead one or two charges before they go to a heroic grave but that's the same for normal Ulmish commanders. It would hardly be in keeping for them to be magical super-heroes.

Sheap · #8 November 14th, 2006, 07:56 AM

A hero should be heroic, and many of them simply aren't. Ulm's heroes are hardly better than normal commanders. They don't necessarily have to be super-powered but they should give you something you normally don't have, or be a better version of your regular, commonly used units. That's why Etimmu is such a good hero, because powerful undead are good units to start with, but he's slightly better, plus you can get him earlier than you can summon anything comparable. Ulm's heroes are better than their normal commanders, but the problem is that their normal commanders are not particularly great.

Plus, mortal combat units don't tend to have particularly long lives, another drawback to the Ulms. Mages and immortals are much more valuable as heroes because they last longer. A mortal combat hero needs to be *really* good in order to be of value because otherwise all he will accomplish is dropping a bunch of expensive equipment in some field somewhere.