Best ways to poach mages...

[Taqwus]

The Tupilak never impressed me. It might be cheap, but the att/def stats give it very low odds against anybody who isn't pretty feeble.

Didn't see any mention of the Strands of Arcane Power or Astral Corruption, both of which might be fun given good circumstances.

I suppose that if you're hard-pressed by a mage-heavy attack, it -might- be interesting to spam blood domes across your empire, but that's rather double-edged.

[Gregstrom]

Originally Posted by Taqwus

The Tupilak never impressed me. It might be cheap, but the att/def stats give it very low odds against anybody who isn't pretty feeble.

So it'd be fine against the average human mage then It can even take a hard-hitting attack spell or two, which might be useful.

Originally Posted by Taqwus

Didn't see any mention of the Strands of Arcane Power or Astral Corruption, both of which might be fun given good circumstances.

I suppose that if you're hard-pressed by a mage-heavy attack, it -might- be interesting to spam blood domes across your empire, but that's rather double-edged.

Astral Corruption is okayish. It'll knock out low-level forge mages on a semi-regular basis, but it's a late-game spell and by then important ritual-casting mages can be well-enough bodyguarded to survive a Horror attack. It won't touch battle mages in invading armies.

That said, about 20% of horror attacks from this spell will be upgraded by one notch, so any mages spamming Wish are likely to get eaten by Doom Horrors sooner or later.

I think Strands of Arcane Power would be most useful defensively, unless your domain is so deep in enemy territory that you've effectively won anyway.

I haven't dared use the Blood domes.

[sum1lost]

Originally Posted by Gregstrom

So it'd be fine against the average human mage then It can even take a hard-hitting attack spell or two, which might be useful.

Astral Corruption is okayish. It'll knock out low-level forge mages on a semi-regular basis, but it's a late-game spell and by then important ritual-casting mages can be well-enough bodyguarded to survive a Horror attack. It won't touch battle mages in invading armies.

That said, about 20% of horror attacks from this spell will be upgraded by one notch, so any mages spamming Wish are likely to get eaten by Doom Horrors sooner or later.

I think Strands of Arcane Power would be most useful defensively, unless your domain is so deep in enemy territory that you've effectively won anyway.

I haven't dared use the Blood domes.

I used astral corruption to great effect by casting it the turn after declaring war. When someone starts a war, players generally respond by having their mages pump out various summons, magic items, and rituals in an attempt to pump up their power. I believe that I took out a huge number of mages with this, since the magnitude of rituals cast at me dropped sharply after that turn, and stayed down even after AC was dispelled.

Thus, it can work wonders if timed to do maximum damage.

[Nikelaos]

Originally Posted by sum1lost

I used astral corruption to great effect by casting it the turn after declaring war. When someone starts a war, players generally respond by having their mages pump out various summons, magic items, and rituals in an attempt to pump up their power. I believe that I took out a huge number of mages with this, since the magnitude of rituals cast at me dropped sharply after that turn, and stayed down even after AC was dispelled.

Thus, it can work wonders if timed to do maximum damage.

Dude that's evil. I love it so much, taking advantage of you're enemies reactions - now that's real strategy.

I salute you.