Should I make commander with 4 holy a prophet?

[Teraswaerto]

I've found that Smite is rarely worth the trouble, it's usually better to make a level 3 priest Prophet and save the money for troops.

[Yossar]

I never found smite that useful but it just won my Last battle for me. My footmen routed and smite allowed me to pick off enough stragglers to get the enemy to rout. So it does have its uses.

[Taqwus]

Yes, it depends.
If you're Pythium or Marignon, for instance, you may get a national hero with an intrinsic Holy-5 (!). It's also not that hard for Pythium to Smite en masse even without that hero or an Arch-Theurg prophet, because Communion boosts holy/unholy power as well.
If you lack easy access to Communion and don't have such a national hero (or have only one but want more smiters without Communion or boosting items), however, it may be more interesting to you to prophetize that Holy 4.

[Sandman]

If you're playing as a nation with really expensive non-sacred mages, you might want to make one of them your prophet to save on upkeep.

[Tricon]

It depens on the nation, of course, but usuually I go for holy 5. Smite is a good spell, even if there are a few misfires. Having 2 smiters with some cannonfodder, is really nice. However, in the long run fanaticism is the more important spell (in my games at least).

[Master Shake]

I always go for Holy 5 if the nation allows it (i.e., having a holy-4 recruitable unit). Early game against indy provinces, smite is very effective.

Pythium with a holy-5 arch theurg and a dozen heavy infantry can take out some serious indy provinces. Yes, Smite does seem to miss occassionally, and is resisted occassionally, but it costs little or no endurance, and hits quite frequently. Against an indy heavy infantry squad, a bLast of 4 or 5 smites is often enough to cause a rout.

[Argitoth]

I've currently done three different c'tis strategies which all require a different unit to become a prophet.

-I made a Shaman a prophet to cast body etheral and luck on my super combatant and so that he wouldn't die from a stray arrow.

-I made an Assassin a prophet so he could preach in provinces before my immortal pretender got to it.

-I made a Lizard King a prophet to gain smite to take on calvary provinces. Smite is very effective on independence and gets your prophet lots of experience and heroic abilities.


Just reallllllly depends on what you have availible. In my case, it only had to do with how to expand. (except for my immortal pretender who I used for the whole game)

-Shaman was for a super combatant
-Assassin was for an immortal
-Lizard King was for the ability of weak armies to take over calvary-filled provinces

(some editting was involved)

[ March 23, 2004, 18:17: Message edited by: Argitoth ]