Thunderstrike - what am I missing?

[Knai]

Originally Posted by krpeters

I measure it as gold cost for mages vs. skipping magic altogether and just hiring more troops. Obviously that's a fail for any long term strategy, but I expect to be out of the game long before L9 spells are being tossed around anyway.

So my thunderbolt slinging Theurgs have to convince me they're more valuable than a squad of principes.

Even in the case of battles alone that doesn't work very well. A squad of principes suffers from significant attrition in basically every battle, mages hidden at the back don't. Granted, neither do small scale hydra squads and such (unless it is a battle you lose), but the mage is basically worth principes and their replacements for as long as the mage survives. When you look at the sort of kill counts these mages get, in troop cost alone they usually pay for themselves.

On a side note, there is also the matter of being able to turn mages into much more temporary thugs that will suffer attrition at higher rates, but be more more dangerous while they last. Mistform and a series of Shock Waves can do a lot of damage to an enemy army.

[krpeters]

So let me post a strategy I found fairly effective, and maybe this will help explain why I consider other strategies comparitively ineffective.

MA Tien Chi
80xImperial Crossbowmen -- 1000 gold
8xImperial Geomancer -- 640 gold
1 astral pearl - eq 50? 100 gold?
20 PD - 210 gold

So depending on how you add it up, this is equivalent to 2000 gold, or a 200 troop army.

First 6x geomancers scripted to: Communion Slave, hold, 3xGift of Heaven
Geomancer #7 scripted to: Communion Master, Summon Earth Power, 3xhold
Geomancer #8 scripted to: Communion Master, Power of the Spheres, 3xhold (he has the 1 pearl)

The result? 54 meteors plowing into the enemy ranks -- the bigger the opposing force, the more effective, but I imagine this would also do a reasonable job against elite forces, thugs, and SCs. Meanwhile, the crossbowmen supply additional damage to cause routing, and hold up reasonably well in melee combat.

What other combinations can obliterate 100 or so enemy troops of an opposing force before they have a chance to reach your troops, using only 640 gold worth of mages, only one gem, and without causing significant collateral damage?

[Louist]

Originally Posted by krpeters

What other combinations can obliterate 100 or so enemy troops of an opposing force before they have a chance to reach your troops, using only 640 gold worth of mages, only one gem, and without causing significant collateral damage?

If you don't mind a little collateral damage, I had an Eagle King go from 0 kills to 240-odd kills and catapult to the top of the HoF by a single casting of Wrathful Skies