Arcoscophile

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I figure, now that it's been all day and no-one's mentioned it, that a "spread" Mystic (the 3 ?s not matching) is not as useless as Blitz says. It just takes longer. Consider:
1. Find a duo of Mystics, one with AAA, one with AEE (this takes luck, I admit-- a 1 in 64 and a 3 in 64-- but with so many places to make them it won't take as long)
2. Race to Construction 4-- the first Mystic makes Bag of Winds, Winged Helmet, gives them to the second, who has put together some Earth Boots for himself, moving him to 3A3E...
(A tougher line requires a 3F, a 3W, and a WFF and doesn't come into play until Const6 for the Water Bracelet. If you get both combos use them equally.)
3. Now at Construction 6-- Staff of Elemental Mastery time! Pass these on to what had been just "magically worthless" 1-1-1s and turn them into 2-2-2s, and with the right items, 3-3-3-3s (yes, four threes, with Crystal Coins). If you're swimming in gems empower them into the missing element and... five threes is a distinct possibility... (SEM+ Flame Helmet +Bag of Winds +Earthboots + Robe of the Sea + Crystal Coin). Add Power of the Spheres... yoicks! He's his own magical orchestra, just give him six of each gem before battles and watch him have at it!
(And he can lead, what, 75 magic beings after all that?)
So I'd amend the Mystic plan with this in mind: Have the "triples" gather in one place for path-boosting items when the time comes. Have the "doubles" on standby for the elemental-remote-searching spells (or go all-out for Const 4 with lower gem income, have one of each "triple" forge the boost item for themselves, and match them up with an Astrologer with a 4th S to clean up in all five disciplines). An Astrologer with D for Dark Knowledge, a Druid or Jade Sorceress for Haruspex and you'll have the gems (and summoners) to hit with so many different summoned thingies that the enemy won't be able to adapt to all the... stuff coming their way. Especially since what works for one set of things is completely backward for what's coming up next.
(Admittedly I haven't gone deep enough into an actual game myself to make this maneuver work. I guess I'm more into theory.)

[Yossar]

64 mystics has an upkeep of 768 gold. And then you have to add on some astrologers, some priestesses, and an army. I guess you can purposely kill them off to keep down upkeep but you're still going to need a large empire before you can count on getting a 3A mage. A Mystic with 3 in anything is too rare to be counted on as part of any strategy. You'll get some kind of 3-magic Mystic before too long, but it's not something you can plan for.

[Stormbinder]

Originally posted by Yossar:
64 mystics has an upkeep of 768 gold. And then you have to add on some astrologers, some priestesses, and an army. I guess you can purposely kill them off to keep down upkeep but you're still going to need a large empire before you can count on getting a 3A mage. A Mystic with 3 in anything is too rare to be counted on as part of any strategy. You'll get some kind of 3-magic Mystic before too long, but it's not something you can plan for.

In MP games you can always try to trade for magic pathes boosting items that you really need from other players. It may be costly, and some players may refuse if they consider you a threat, but more often than not you can find what you are looking for, as long as it doesn't take magic path higher than 2-3 to forge.

[Chris Byler]

Whoever posted that slingers are the worst unit - Mictlan slaves are worse. And they *do* have a use - soaking up lances and crossbow bolts.

But you have to pay for slingers, so I'm not sure if they have any use. Unless Flaming Arrows works on slings, in which case their cheapness and resultant mass of fire could make them dangerous.

I propose that anyone struck with a blunt weapon (sling, mace, club, fist, etc.) should take armor negating stun damage equal to half the weapon's normal damage, even if the weapon fails to do HP damage (because of the target's protection). Even if you can't get through someone's armor you can still beat them unconscious. This would make slingers good for something. The effect would be relatively minor on blunt weapons that do enough damage to usually do HP (troll clubs, hurled boulders) and would mostly be effective for weaker weapons (there's some Mictlan troops with maces, obviously slings, vineman fists).

[Teraswaerto]

Originally posted by Chris Byler:

I propose that anyone struck with a blunt weapon (sling, mace, club, fist, etc.) should take armor negating stun damage equal to half the weapon's normal damage, even if the weapon fails to do HP damage (because of the target's protection).

Something like this would be good, since currently swords penetrate armor better than maces, which is kind of silly.

[ May 08, 2004, 14:13: Message edited by: Teraswaerto ]

[st.patrik]

Originally posted by Chris Byler:
I propose that anyone struck with a blunt weapon (sling, mace, club, fist, etc.) should take armor negating stun damage equal to half the weapon's normal damage, even if the weapon fails to do HP damage (because of the target's protection). Even if you can't get through someone's armor you can still beat them unconscious. This would make slingers good for something. The effect would be relatively minor on blunt weapons that do enough damage to usually do HP (troll clubs, hurled boulders) and would mostly be effective for weaker weapons (there's some Mictlan troops with maces, obviously slings, vineman fists).

I think that this is a great idea - a good way to add more flavour to the combat system.

[Firebreath]

Originally posted by Teraswaerto:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chris Byler:

I propose that anyone struck with a blunt weapon (sling, mace, club, fist, etc.) should take armor negating stun damage equal to half the weapon's normal damage, even if the weapon fails to do HP damage (because of the target's protection).

Something like this would be good, since currently swords penetrate armor better than maces, which is kind of silly.

---

I'm not sure I agree. (Short) swords are good for penetrating the weaknesses in the armour, be it a thrust through the rings of chain mail, or a cut in the knee joint, or whatever. Hammers, maces, etc are good at battering things (rather than piercing it) - which is why it would be interesting to have dazed, concussed units as a temporary status (much like paralyse).


Back to the original topic though: I tend to prefer a fire 9 blessing with the heart companions rather than a death (or any other). They never come in large enough numbers for the death blessing to be much good, being resource intensive and capital only (unlike flagellants, where death 9 is rather awesome), and with the fire blessing they are an excellent unit of choice to put in the way of nasty things like niefel giants, ethereal units (ermor), etc. But I tend to use them without any elephants at all. Pretty much the only thing they're vulnerable to is trampling units (which they kill off quickly). Body ethereal works well on them too, of course.