Pretender Design

[Ctennyson]

I'm new. I admit it. I am going to give a short bit of info on me, and then move on. I've been playing TBS for years and years, including MoM, Civ-Civ III, MoO to 2, Alpha Centauri, and pretty much any of the others I could dredge up. Age of Wonders, you name it. I have been waiting years for someone to make something as good as MoM, and as deep, and finally, I found it.

I've been playing a few weeks now, single player, and I have tried SC's, Casters, middle grounds, all scales, bless effects, and pretty much everything in between. So, lets get to a few questions, and observations.

The SC is great for initial expansion, but after the first 15 turns, even in SP, seems to be...well, basically useless. That said, he's good for getting you into a potential winning situation, but frequently, I find he gets a vile and nasty affliction on turn 6-8 and thats game. I have tended toward the Nataraja, and Son of Niefel, for my SC, although the one time I used the Cyclops, I was very very impressed. The Cyclops, with his incredible early protection, didnt get afflicted, and later was able to cast all the great earth spells. Opinions on what other SC's are viable, SP and MP are certainly welcome, including why. Early game equipment, pendants of luck, amulets of antimagic, can also be added, although its generally the same every time.

Casters dont aid much in expansion, but DO seem to get you a serious research boost. I have used the Skratti, Crone, and Sage, as well as Pythiums Divine Emperor, and found each of them to be excellent at researching, and the Emperor and Crone to be awesome for casting, with the extra misc slots. Skratti was tough enough to aid in battle also, and fairly cheap. After my Research was high enough without the caster, he went out rainbow site searching, and this also worked well. much better site searching than with the SC. So, the tradeoff seems to be gold vs research + gems.

In MP, I imagine a Starcraft style pretender rush, of SC + gold + troops, would be very bad against your crone, or whatnot, but likewise, if they rush you, you could have a SC yourself, depending on their intel, so that might be a bad rush, also, if the opponent was ready for it.

Ok, And on the subject of the SC/Caster: Bog Mummy, Ghost King, possibly others, whats opinion of them? They cost a lot, 110 and 90 points, but both seem very durable and flexible. Of course, your scales will suffer, slightly, are they worth it? Initial expansion and later research? Ghost King to go with the army, and site search after each fight? Or, is the opinion more on dilution: Not enough of either the rainbow mage, or the SC. Jack of all Master of none?

I know a lot of people tend to really like their Pretender as an SC, I'd love to hear the whys, and wheres, and how many points is too many, in your own opinions. Also, specific information on which magic paths, and why are also valuable, even though most of us probably know which specific early combat spells each is going for.
Still overviews, like Death is great for research/conjuration but not so hot for SC, is helping someone, if not myself specifically.

Basically, in SP, you can win no matter what you do. I'll take this assumption for granted, and being as I have never played MP, I'll take my own opinions with a grain of salt.

[ February 16, 2004, 19:50: Message edited by: Ctennyson ]