Been romping with my Undead until...

Lord Hammer · #1 December 5th, 2003, 06:58 AM

First off, let me say what a wonderful diverse game this is! I've had 4 victories and i haven't even scratched the surface

. Tonight i'm against Mictlan and they're killing me! Banish really seems to work well for them as my 120+ army is gone in minutes. I've tried Ashen and Soulgate and i don't want any vile living creatures in my "death squad". Any hints anybody? How to you oppose banish?

Graeme Dice · #2 December 5th, 2003, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lord Hammer:
Any hints anybody? How to you oppose banish?

Magic resistance and use more undead. Magic resistance can be increased by having a level 4 unholy priest repeatedly cast Protection of the Sepulchre on them, as it Lasts for one turn.

#3 December 5th, 2003, 07:05 AM

Spells like:

Antimagic (Astral, Enchantment 4)

Drain 2

Unholy Priest Spells like Unholy Protection.

Also try fighting in your domain.

Each of those increase your MR of your armies. Though Ermors troops are usually fodder and used to distract while your mages and elite troops tear up the armies.

Saxon · #4 December 5th, 2003, 08:35 AM

You may also wish to get a nice squad of undead horsemen. Put them as far forward as you can, on the extreme left or right. Make their battle orders to attack the rearmost.

The effect is that they will race down the side of the enemy army and hit those hiding at the back, who are usually the priests and mages who are hammering you. They will quickly take out the commanders, especially priests, making your un-life a happier place. This also creates two targets for the spells, which reduces the effectiveness on the usual closely packed troops.

I also put my other regular undead troops as far forward as possible, so they get into action earlier. Leaving them at the default starting position means they are exposed to “spell fire” for an extra turn of two.

The earlier suggestions on protection spells are very good. I am currently in a nasty war with Ermor and toward the end of the battles, when they have protected most of the surviving troops, my banishment power goes way down. Those protection spells work! On the plus side, I have five priests in the hall of fame, as their kill count is truly massive. I am boosting them with precision items and they get even more dangerous.

Saxon · #5 December 5th, 2003, 08:44 AM

I just thought of something related. More generally, flying troops that can hit the rearward commanders will also work well, though most that I can think of are living.

I also like The Pelt of Feniris (I think that is the name). It does not fit in with your undead theme, but having wolves line both sides of the battle is a nice distraction. I have found that they do not do much damage, but they distract your opponent from the main force. Right now I have a lot of spell casters, so the extra couple of turns the enemy spends cleaning up the close by wolves are a couple of extra turns of spell casting. In your case, having the priests mess about with the wolves in close combat give the rest of your troops more time to advance.

Mortifer · #6 December 5th, 2003, 10:46 AM

Indeed, MR must be boosted.

Ermor is the best nation IHMO, if you know how to play them.

Gandalf Parker · #7 December 5th, 2003, 03:13 PM

Marignon was generally considered (in Dom1) to exist as a barrier to Ermor being the ultimate choice. Have you not hit them yet in this game? How do you feel Mictlan compares as an Ermor killer?

Catquiet · #8 December 5th, 2003, 04:58 PM

Could someone who has experience playing Ermor please list everything that affects the automatic recruitment of undead.

Be as specific as possible. For instance, I know that building a Fortress will give you better quality troops, but does the amount of resources in that province matter?

Psitticine · #9 December 5th, 2003, 05:04 PM

Your dominion strength, type (as in theme), and the presence of unburied corpses all affect what kinds of automatic summons you receive. I believe temples don't have a direct effect, but they do boost your dominion, and I am also pretty sure you need a higher dominion in a province for the better auto-summons.

Wendigo · #10 December 5th, 2003, 05:12 PM

Unless this changed from Dom I, for Ashen Ermor:

Dominion strength, presence of temple & world richness determine the numbers generated, presence of fortress determines quality.

In my little playing of Ashen Ermor I have not noticed any changes to the above, although the presence of unburied corpses & existence/lack of population seem to have some effects on soulless & ghouls summoning/reanimation.