Earth and Magic Item strategy?

[Nerfix]

The trinket level Earth weapons are actually pretty good.

[Saxon]

Ring of Sorcery, thank you for reminding me! I have been finding that with the large number of Mystics I have recruited, the pool of paths is pretty wide, so pretty much anything is going to be possible with some thought. I am at work and your ideas mean I should have a good weekend!

I have also been chasing Gift of Health, so I recruited an Animist and empowered them, so the Thistle Mace was part of that plan. While GOH is not as immediately impressive as some of the other big spells, I have found it very helpful on defense. Right now, I am focusing a lot of my energy on one corner of the map and must be very defensive elsewhere. A few more turns and Mechanical Militia will join the Global list. My defense will look a lot better then.

I will look at powering up more mages and see if there are any other good globals I can set up.

Enjoy your 24 hour sun!

[Endoperez]

Mystics have elemental randoms, so Ring of Sorcery won't help. You need Ring of Wizardry, S5 and 80 pearls before forge bonus.

For Nature, make a Moonvine Bracelet. Nature and Astral, I'm not sure about the levels, but I think it's N3 S1 - Astrologer with his random in Nature and Thistle Mace can do that.

[Saxon]

I just got a national hero who is a rainbow, all level one. It is right up the alley I want to go, so I will have some fun with him.

Reserach was off to a slow start, but found a library in a strategic location, so lab, temple and fort were all dropped in place. Decent position in the rankings and on the map, so all is shaping up well. I took a Cyclops with earth five and death four. The Lesser fear for the sacred troops is a nice touch, as heavy infantry has to get up close and personal for some time with most enemies. Having the enemy rout a turn earlier is always nice!

I also took order and some magic, as I always find a use for money and research is needed to get the fun toys.

Finally, the Arco leaders tend to have heavy armour, so they are fairly durable to start. If I can boost them up with magic items, I think they are going to do well with this strategy. I have tended to find the gap between SC god and thug commander hard to bridge, perhaps I will learn some tricks.

[Agrajag]

Saxon said:
Having the enemy rout a turn earlier is always nice!

Not always. Often I just want to inflict as many casualties as possible (or kill off everyone), so runnin away can be really annoying. (This is especially true for long-range-summoning-spells, because you don't really care for the summoned units anyway)

[Ironhawk]

Saxon said:
Finally, the Arco leaders tend to have heavy armour, so they are fairly durable to start. If I can boost them up with magic items, I think they are going to do well with this strategy. I have tended to find the gap between SC god and thug commander hard to bridge, perhaps I will learn some tricks.

Arco leaders arent traditionally thought of as "durable". Basically all human commanders, no matter how good they are, are vulnerable to a one-hit-kill. If you want tough commanders that can actually survive a fight, you have to go with Jotunheim giants or Pangea centaurs. Man-Last Of Tuatha and Vanhiem also have glamoured commanders which can work (and buff themselves too). If not those, then perhaps Man (lord warden), Abysia (warlord) or Ulm (black knights).

[Arralen]

Best trinket weapon: "Stinger"
Ulms Black Knights can make good use of "Girdle of Might".
Shambler Chiefs are nice, too, with Black Steel Tower Shield. But do not add BS Full Plate, it's too heavy.

[Saxon]

True enough, often I prefer killing them all off, particularly strong spell casting commanders. At this stage in my current game, I am dealing only with independents and militias, so I am very happy to run them off. However, I now need to start worrying about Mitlan and Pyrithum.

Caelum is particularly good at killing off everyone. When they fly in front of the retreating units, the fleeing troops have to run around or fight. Either way, they get hammered. Cavalry are also good at running the enemy down after a rout.

Still, the scattering of the enemy after a rout tends to disperse their forces well. You can then do a piecemeal clean up. Late game, some seeking arrows to hit the scattered commanders can really disrupt their reorganization. While it does take a couple of turns, cleaning up the broken pieces can turn the won battle into a won war. After a close battle where my troops have been badly reduced, I want to be sure I capitalize on the victory.

Needless to say, a rout when the enemy can not retreat and is eliminated is even more satisfying!

[shovah]

take out mictlan asap, the are tough late game.

[Saxon]

Ironhawk,

That is a good way of looking at it. Pangaea could end up with some rather powerful centaurs now that you mention it. Throw in Gift of Health for a few extra hp, their good starting stats and some decent magic items …

For Arco, I am going to try the gift of health, if I can get a decent nature mage. As I am trying to get lots of gems, a Thistle Mace and an empowerment should not be too hard. I will beef up commanders, but use them as part of larger units of heavy infantry. I don’t expect them to win battles by themselves, but to stiffen the units they will fight with. It is a big investment, so I don’t know if it would work in a highly competitive game where every gem counts, but in SP, I am hopeful. Some should get into the hall of fame, which provides some random boosts as well.

I am also thinking some Horror Helms with the leaders in my Blood Companions unit, as they already have lesser fear. Boost that with the Horror Helms and I should be able to rout enemy units quickly.

Shovah, thanks for the idea of taking out Mictalan early. Combined with the map placement, focusing on them will save me problems later. I hate the casualties usually associated with a siege relatively early in a game, but taking the player out of the picture early usually pays good rewards later. Hopefully I can get some mercenary cavalry to race through the gate: that has shortened many castle battles for me.