Some questions on LA Ermor

[alansmithee]

I would never go drain with Ermor. I think Magic 3 is vital. I find keeping up with research to be one of the biggest problems for Ermor, because it's usually easier to get up the gold for castles/labs and buy mages than it is to get the gems to pop more out. To get two dusk elders a turn, you need 40 (unless you got a conj site for a discount). And that's also spending your gems on nothing but your two mages.

[ese-aSH]

Originally Posted by alansmithee

I would never go drain with Ermor. I think Magic 3 is vital. I find keeping up with research to be one of the biggest problems for Ermor, because it's usually easier to get up the gold for castles/labs and buy mages than it is to get the gems to pop more out. To get two dusk elders a turn, you need 40 (unless you got a conj site for a discount). And that's also spending your gems on nothing but your two mages.

magic3 is also -2 MR in dominion. (drain2 is +1 MR) thats a 3MR gap for my chaff, in my dominion. I cant imaginate how to win any battle with such a low MR.

my idea was to get skull mentors asap to 'erase' the -1rp / turn.

Look : whatever magic scale I take I will be very limited in mage number. the +/- 1 research from magic scales as a huge impact when one got lots of mages, but a limited one when you got only few of them.

I may be totaly wrong, again, but in my mind taking this limited negative impact and getting the design point + MR bonus is a good deal.

a dusk elder is 6 base research isnt it ?

it cost 20 gems for dusk elder + 3 gems with hammer for skull mentor == 23 gems
magic3 (-120 pts) 8, with reseach skull 17 -> 1.35 gems / rp
magic1 (-40 pts) 7, with reseach skull 16 -> 1.43 gems / rp
magic0 (0 pts) 6, with reseach skull 15 -> 1.53 gems / rp
drain2 (+80 pts) 5, with reseach skull 14 -> 1.64 gems / rp
drain3 (+120 pts) 4, with reseach skull 13 -> 1.76 gems / rp


a spectator is 3 base research isnt it ?

it cost 12 gems for a spectator + 3 gems with hammer for skull mentor == 15 gems
magic3 (-120 pts) 5, with reseach skull 14 -> 1.07 gems / rp
magic1 (-40 pts) 4, with reseach skull 13 -> 1.15 gems / rp
magic0 (0 pts) 3, with reseach skull 12 -> 1.25 gems / rp
drain2 (+80 pts) 2, with reseach skull 11 -> 1.36 gems / rp
drain3 (+120 pts) 1, with reseach skull 10 -> 1.5 gems / rp


so with drain 2 if I use spectators equiped with mentor skull early on for research I still got quite a good gems / rp conversion.

edit another note :
the base conversion rate is better for duskelder (20 gems, 5 research -> 4 gem / rp) rather than spectators (12 gems, 2 reseach -> 6 gem / rp). So I would summon mainly duskelder until I reach const4.

[JimMorrison]

Man, I wish Skull Mentors were 5D, but they are 10D (so 7D with hammer).

Still, as much as it pains me to admit it, you are probably just better off with 2D, against a skilled opponent. This places you more on the defensive though, with less mages in total no matter what you do. On the other hand, you can afford a bit more magic on your pretender, opening up extra options.

Honestly I think Magic scale is your hardest build choice for LA Ermor. Consider that you won't always be fighting in your dominion, and it all gets so complicated.....

(You'll not thwart me again, THEJEFF! )

[ese-aSH]

ok I'll do it again then (tks I dont have dominion here, and I dont know all the item cost/effects yet )

a dusk elder is 6 base research isnt it ?

it cost 20 gems for dusk elder + 7 gems with hammer for skull mentor == 27 gems
magic3 (-120 pts) 8, with reseach skull 17 -> 1.58 gems / rp
magic1 (-40 pts) 7, with reseach skull 16 -> 1.68 gems / rp
magic0 (0 pts) 6, with reseach skull 15 -> 1.8 gems / rp
drain2 (+80 pts) 5, with reseach skull 14 -> 1.92 gems / rp
drain3 (+120 pts) 4, with reseach skull 13 -> 2.07 gems / rp


a spectator is 3 base research isnt it ?

it cost 12 gems for a spectator + 7 gems with hammer for skull mentor == 19 gems
magic3 (-120 pts) 5, with reseach skull 14 -> 1.35 gems / rp
magic1 (-40 pts) 4, with reseach skull 13 -> 1.46 gems / rp
magic0 (0 pts) 3, with reseach skull 12 -> 1.58 gems / rp
drain2 (+80 pts) 2, with reseach skull 11 -> 1.72 gems / rp
drain3 (+120 pts) 1, with reseach skull 10 -> 1.9 gems / rp



hmmm I think i'm gonna do an excel sheet for those calculations... do you know if quill and mentor skull effects do stack ?

[Endoperez]

Originally Posted by ese-aSH

hmmm I think i'm gonna do an excel sheet for those calculations... do you know if quill and mentor skull effects do stack ?

Yes, they do stack. Lightless Lanterns (Constr 6, F1) would also stack if you had mages with three misc slots.

Because your pretender isn't out searching, you don't have the gems to forge Dwarven Hammers and every Skull Mentor costs full 10 gems. This might change if you took Forge Lord pretender, but I don't know if La Ermor can take him.

I agree with JimMorrison, it is a really difficult choice.

[alansmithee]

IIRC, magic scales don't actually lower MR. So you wouldn't be getting any negatives there.

And I don't like relying too much on skull mentors with LA Ermor because death gems are essentially your whole economy. To get any commanders worth anything you either need to get lucky finding sites.