Jotunheim:Utgard AAR

[Norfleet]

I'd like to point out that, from personal experience, the most important value of a long-run SC will be his encumberance and slottage. The Wyrm, while very powerful in a short engagement, which is the melee combat rankings are based on, with his encumberance of 4, will prove to be somewhat limp-wristed in an all out battle, particularly if you can't break the opposing army through Cause Fear. Many, many times I've had an SC fall not through loss of hitpoints, but because he passed out like a big sissy and lay there like a useless sack of potatoes until the opponent beat him to death. This has led to my conclusion that a quality SC should have a low or no encumberance. With an encumberance of 4, and 2 bites per round, your Wyrm's maximum kill potential is about 50 enemies before he passes out into the dirt. This will probably be less, because you'll lose fatigue from pre-battle buffing, and because your enemies are surely not likely to be so obliging as to always be hit, always die in the first hit, and always be gathered together in a single square that you can chomp on them with both of your bites. Not to mention that poison is time-release damage, which will likely lead to a lot of cases of "beating a dead horse", as your Wyrm chomps an opponent who's already doomed anyway.

It should also be noted that another disregarded factor in the melee ranking of a combat pretender chassis is the spells you actually buff yourself with, and the use of items. Your Wyrm's item selection is going to be rather limited. I'm guessing you plan on a Horror Helmet or two, and the Amulet of Resilience? Let me know how it goes, and if my prediction of the Wyrm passing out into the dirt from his encumberance rating comes true.

[Arryn]

I have previously played a Wyrm in a Jotun SP game, and in a R'lyeh SP game. In neither one have I ever had my pretender pass out. The enemy always routs before that can happen.

This game I'm writing the AAR for is already on turn 18. I have a lot more writing to do.

Stay tuned ...

If you look at the theme that she is playing Norfleet, it has easy access to Relief. Early in the game the Wyrm may have it's limitations (only being able to instagrab certain provinces alone, including water) but late game it is not affected by the common "encumberance" issue, simply because the nation's mages support it. The nation and the pretender can both teleport so there is no reason that when the Wyrm is running around, he doesn't have a chance of a Relief or two.

[Norfleet]

Relief is nice, although those hanging mages do have a tendency to get killed when your pretender becomes distracted by the oncoming hordes and they swarm past him....and kill your squishy mages, leaving your poor pretender hanging out there alone to pass out. Plus there's no guarantee that your mages will continue to cast relief with sufficient regularity, once your script runs out.

Then again, maybe I'm just used to playing on a high independent strength, where the passing out problem early on becomes much more severe, and the late game is filled with that many more unbreakable units that won't flee in terror when you scream "Boo!" at them, and have to all be killed the old-fashioned way.

[ February 08, 2004, 08:05: Message edited by: Norfleet ]

Relief effects everyone on the battlefield regardless of where the mage is. You can put mage(s) in the very back corner who are casting Relief. You can also have them have Returning on them so you don't waste them if you have a sudden fear (from say a Howl, though more than likely you will be doing the howling) of getting attacked at the back.

A Wyrm doesn't quite accumulate fatigue as fast as something that tramples. I doubt you'd need more than 1 or possibly even 2 Reliefs to keep him in good working order.

Unless you are trying to say that the Wyrm is supposed to be a standalone combatant, which he can be, if you pick different paths than Astral.

[ February 08, 2004, 08:04: Message edited by: Zen ]

[Arryn]

This is my first astral-only Wyrm. My previous ones have been W9S4, typically. I'm trying the good scales and weaker pretender for a change. So far, I like what I've seen.

As far as mages getting munched on at the rear, besides Returning, there's also Body Ethereal and Astral Shield. Not much gets past that combo. And you can stack a lot more defenses on a mage than that. Not to mention that unlike the Wyrm, mages have hands, feet, and body slots.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Arryn:
As far as mages getting munched on at the rear, besides Returning, there's also Body Ethereal and Astral Shield. Not much gets past that combo. And you can stack a lot more defenses on a mage than that. Not to mention that unlike the Wyrm, mages have hands, feet, and body slots.

Hmm, yes, Astral Shield. A nice spell, in theory, although I've found it DOES actually promote several rather irritating problems.

Astral Shield, as you know, causes people attacking you to pass out. This is potentially quite handy, but can backfire horribly in one way:

Paralyzation, as you know, is the bane of SCs. When an SC is standing out there alone, he tends to get slammed with everything, and sooner or later, he's going to fail a paralyzation MR save, even with all the best antimagic gear and spells you can stick on him.

He will then spend the rest of the battle as a useless, immobile lump. All is not yet lost, though, as you may have done any number of things, like slap a Charcoal Shield or a Ritual of Returning on him, and he may very well be able to continue thumping people through passive shielding, perhaps even the accursed Astral Shield....

Until that Astral Shield causes one of your opponents to pass out. Assuming nobody is successful in popping your SC, which I've found may often happen, eventually, everyone starts routing. Obviously, your SC is unable to rout, being that he's paralyzed or passed out cold. This means the "is routing" light will flash several rounds until the OTHER side starts their "is routing". Now, ordinarily, this would hand you the victory and leave your SC alive: However, your opponent, too, has become paralyzed or permastunned: So he can't finish routing either, and eventually the battle just goes back and forth as both sides continue to be "are routing". Eventually, a safeguard built into the game, apparently to prevent infinite loops like this, kills everyone. The opponent loses a few units of minimal value. You lose your SC.

Besides, paralyzed/stunned opponents can't hurl themselves to a fiery doom on fire shields.

You're bring along astral mages as your baggage train for your SC, presumably if you're teleporting him....which is almost a must, as, at least for me, I use SCs primarily as fast-response forces to an AI incursion: With normal moving forces, you'd be chasing him around forever and never catching him, or having to second-guess his next move. Quite the pain. With an SC teleport drop, you can land on him and wipe him out. Unfortunately, sooner or later, one of your Astral mages is going to likely pop off a paralyze, when your SC becomes paralyzed.....

And so it begins.