Thug Commanders

[Rytek]

My favorite thug is Bane Lord
Boots of flying, jade armor,frost brand, any shield (my prefered is the lightning shield), pendant of luck, pendant of MR.
A fearsome raider indeed. especially if your opponent has no access to anti undead.

[HoneyBadger]

Well, the role of a unit as an SC or as a Thug can change, ofcourse. If you're using a unit to solo independents in the early game, it's an SC. If you later on use it to support troops, along with several other units of similar power, it's then a Thug. I think the primary difference between "Thug" and "SC" is how much you're focussing on them, at that given point in the game, not just on their respective level of power. A Cyclops, for instance, is a respectable SC Pretender, but when you stop using your Cyclops for combat/expansion and only use it for forging, research, summoning, etc. in your home province, it can be argued that it's no longer an SC, because while it's still "super", it's no longer a "combatant".

There's plenty written about Thug builds, but give a "thug" chassis enough choice equipment and empowerment, experience, make him a Prophet, etc. and he becomes a lot closer to an SC.

And thanks for the compliments!

Maybe I'll rewrite this and stick it in the strategies index, if you all think it's useful.

[thejeff]

I have a hard time thinking of things like Sidhe Lords or Jotun Jarls as SCs, regardless of gear. They'll be able to solo some indies and beat PD, but they're still not up to the level of able to handle anything they happen to run into that isn't designed to take them down, that I expect SCs to be at.


I'm really quibbling over terminology at this point.
The two do shade into each other and the expected power level scales up throughout the game. By the endgame even the toughest SCs aren't usually sent out solo, except for thug-like raiding.

[HoneyBadger]

Yeah, I personally think of SCs as being more unique, and Thugs as being more generic. It's still a factor of respective power, though.

[Ironhawk]

Yeah IMO, units never switch thug/SC status just based on what time in the game it is. It really is a rather static assesment of the powerful of a single unit. A thug will always be a thug.

[JimMorrison]

Originally Posted by Ironhawk

Yeah IMO, units never switch thug/SC status just based on what time in the game it is. It really is a rather static assesment of the powerful of a single unit. A thug will always be a thug.

Of course there is no SC school that thugs can graduate from. However, for example the phrase "awake SC pretender", refers to a Cyclops with a Blacksteel Tower, or some such thing. At a certain point in the game, he becomes just a poorly dressed thug, unless you upgrade his gear to enable him to fulfill SC status within the scope of the game.

To put it another way, all of your top end summons are merely thugs of varying caliber, until you send them to the tailor to get their SC suit.

[Lingchih]

I think this has been addressed before, but I paid no attention to it then. Can a Pan be made into a cost-effective thug? They are hugely expensive, but they do have good stats and all slots.

[Skirmisher]

I had read in the Dominions 3 WIKI that thugs were for taking over lightly defended provinces and taking on large common armies alone.
Since I got Dominions 3 back in late June I've been playing Arcoscephale EA exclusively. I guess the Arco's aren't really a good thug nation.
I have pretty much settled in using a rainbow sage with 24 research for my pretender. Since research is so important in this game, you really can't afford to slack on it. Using the pretender for an SC early seems counter productive. Unless the map is small.

[Poopsi]

...I dont think that the pretender´s research is that important, in the long run. Particularily since EA arco has access to philosophers as cheap researchers which can be spammed with ease.

You might do better with a SC pretender so that you get the resources to star your research economy... of course, you lose the gems edge, but you are losing that already if your pretender is sitting in the capital researching.

[thejeff]

Originally Posted by Skirmisher

Since I got Dominions 3 back in late June I've been playing Arcoscephale EA exclusively. I guess the Arco's aren't really a good thug nation.

Supposedly the Oreiads make good thugs. I haven't really really played enough with EA Arco to give advice, but with a little gear the Awe should protect them from enough attacks to survive.