Why I would never recuit a priest smith.

[llamabeast]

Well they're capital only so not much danger of eclipsing the master smith. I played a SP game of MA Ulm the other day though, and only recruited priest smiths in the capital. I wanted some Iron Blizzard action!

[lch]

Why don't you rephrase that title to add emphasis: "Why priest smiths will NEVER GET RECRUITED!"

[Sir_Dr_D]

Priest smiths are sacred, and cost less upkeep. Nations with sacred researchers have a huge advantage.

[Tuidjy]

1. He is sacred, his upkeep is halved.
2. You can recruit the standard smith everywhere else, you'll get enough randoms.
3. He can be blessed for fatigue reduction.
4. He can be used for the new evocation spells.
5. He has an awesome hairdo.

I'm in the middle of a MP game (Man/Ulm/Caelum) and Ulm has been significantly
improved. I have been recruiting exclusively holy smiths at the capital, and
the reduced upkeep has allowed me to make more castles. As soon as Man finally
submits his turn, I will see how Iron Blizard works.

But despite all my castles, I still wish there was some medium infantry that
would not cost so damn much in resources, and that I could force march to the
front lines. The lightning bolts do not care for armour, and my casualties are high.

[AreaOfEffect]

My apologies. It appears that the priest smith has one boon I failed to notice. The new spells indeed make them more unique. That combined with there cheaper upkeep would entice me to buy a few. However, for my approach to Ulm, an earth bless isn't a priority and the random magic levels are.

[thejeff]

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about a bless.

The general strategy with Ulm involves building a lot of castles to recruit Smiths and so your slow troops can be build nearer the front. So if you're recruiting 5-6 mages a turn fairly early on, one less chance at a random isn't a big deal.

[Edi]

Yep, he's capital only, which is a good thing. It makes sure they don't eclipse the master smiths, but early on they may do so until yo get more castles.

AFAIK 3.15 is going to be somewhat of an interim patch, it was rushed out to eliminate the scale bug and the other stuff was crammed on because it was feasible and KO had a week of holiday to work on such things.

[CUnknown]

If I didn't recruit a priest smith, it would be because the regular smiths are actually pretty good mages for the price. I think people underestimate them. And before you get that all-important (at least to me) astral random on your smith, I try to recruit as many smiths as possible.

After getting an astral one and researching the iron blizzard stuff, yeah, priest smiths would be pretty sweet.