Favorite assassin

[Slygar]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:

Pans and Lord of the Hunt do almost the same thing. A combat follows the assassination as Maenads try to take the province. If you are using assassination for gaining provinces its at least TWICE as fast.

Does this mean that there is some way to gain control of the Lord of the Hunt (the one that appears from Wild Hunt, I am assuming you mean)

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
I dont know. But they do seem to stick around long enough to "win" the province fairly often when both sides are routing. Maybe its just luck of the roll and is in reality 50/50. Or maybe there is a difference in the timing of rout for attacker and defender. They just never struck me as starting their rout as early as the other side. Some tester could whip up something on a mini map and tell us.

Oh, I think I know why, then: Firstly, Maenads are not gifted with any particularly high mobility. They move at about the same rate as any other human. Secondly, the defender moves first, so he begins his rout first. Since he begins first, assuming an equal movement rate, he will finish first.

Of course, you have to wonder why he has units just lying around in the province, yet can't be bothered to purchase a single point of PD.

[AhhhFresh]

Originally posted by Yossar:
I really like assassins. I used to think the R'lyeh Starspawn was worthless after paralyze was fixed, but he's now my favorite. Stick a lifelong protection on him and he's great (admittedly a bit hard to come by for R'lyeh - probably a blood-1 Random Starspawn or Sage with a ring of sorcery and wizardry/empowerment to get to blood-3). Unlike the other assassins he has the luxury of being able to paralyze anything the imps can't take care of themselves. He also has the flexibility of being able to throw on resist magic, body ethereal, personal luck, astral shield, etc., as needed. Personally, I've been using Resist Magic, Body Ethereal, Fire, but that can be changed up if you know what you'll likely be facing.

I stopped using Star Children as assasins shortly after the patch... I was losing too many to indie commanders. Which seemed to indicate that I was better off using their research ability back home...

However, your post makes me think that in the mid to late game (when you're doing ok with research). I might start using them against mein enemies.

My personal fave equipment for the Star Child is:

Rune Smasher, Astral Skullcap, Boots of Quickness, Crystal Coin, Spell Focus

Then scripted to Soul Slay.

But Gandalf's tactics make me think that it would probably be fun to give him some astral pearls and script him to (Enslave Mind)(Returning)

EDIT: Oh wait... then the enslaved commander would just flee... good against a lone SC with midling MR, thanks to the penetration bonus perhaps.

[ May 08, 2004, 06:24: Message edited by: AhhhFresh ]

[Stormbinder]

Originally posted by AhhhFresh:

quote:

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Originally posted by Yossar:
I really like assassins. I used to think the R'lyeh Starspawn was worthless after paralyze was fixed, but he's now my favorite. Stick a lifelong protection on him and he's great (admittedly a bit hard to come by for R'lyeh - probably a blood-1 Random Starspawn or Sage with a ring of sorcery and wizardry/empowerment to get to blood-3). Unlike the other assassins he has the luxury of being able to paralyze anything the imps can't take care of themselves. He also has the flexibility of being able to throw on resist magic, body ethereal, personal luck, astral shield, etc., as needed. Personally, I've been using Resist Magic, Body Ethereal, Fire, but that can be changed up if you know what you'll likely be facing.

I stopped using Star Children as assasins shortly after the patch... I was losing too many to indie commanders. Which seemed to indicate that I was better off using their research ability back home...

However, your post makes me think that in the mid to late game (when you're doing ok with research). I might start using them against mein enemies.

My personal fave equipment for the Star Child is:

Rune Smasher, Astral Skullcap, Boots of Quickness, Crystal Coin, Spell Focus

Then scripted to Soul Slay.

But Gandalf's tactics make me think that it would probably be fun to give him some astral pearls and script him to (Enslave Mind)(Returning)

EDIT: Oh wait... then the enslaved commander would just flee... good against a lone SC with midling MR, thanks to the penetration bonus perhaps.

---

That's nice setup but it means a lot of gems spend on single assasin. And all it would take do defeat him would be to have few decent bodygards, who would either distract assasin long enough for the main commader unit to kill it, though magic or melee, or who could overwhelm him if they can get to him quickly enough, preventing him from furter casting (flying or fast units).

Personally I like to have my assasins either very cheap (no items, or few cheap ones) or very expensive (with very good battle gear designed to kill some specific and amportant target). But perhaps it's just me.

[AhhhFresh]

Originally posted by Stormbinder:

quote:

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Originally posted by AhhhFresh:

quote:

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Originally posted by Yossar:
I really like assassins. I used to think the R'lyeh Starspawn was worthless after paralyze was fixed, but he's now my favorite. Stick a lifelong protection on him and he's great (admittedly a bit hard to come by for R'lyeh - probably a blood-1 Random Starspawn or Sage with a ring of sorcery and wizardry/empowerment to get to blood-3). Unlike the other assassins he has the luxury of being able to paralyze anything the imps can't take care of themselves. He also has the flexibility of being able to throw on resist magic, body ethereal, personal luck, astral shield, etc., as needed. Personally, I've been using Resist Magic, Body Ethereal, Fire, but that can be changed up if you know what you'll likely be facing.

I stopped using Star Children as assasins shortly after the patch... I was losing too many to indie commanders. Which seemed to indicate that I was better off using their research ability back home...

However, your post makes me think that in the mid to late game (when you're doing ok with research). I might start using them against mein enemies.

My personal fave equipment for the Star Child is:

Rune Smasher, Astral Skullcap, Boots of Quickness, Crystal Coin, Spell Focus

Then scripted to Soul Slay.

But Gandalf's tactics make me think that it would probably be fun to give him some astral pearls and script him to (Enslave Mind)(Returning)

EDIT: Oh wait... then the enslaved commander would just flee... good against a lone SC with midling MR, thanks to the penetration bonus perhaps.

---

That's nice setup but it means a lot of gems spend on single assasin. And all it would take do defeat him would be to have few decent bodygards, who would either distract assasin long enough for the main commader unit to kill it, though magic or melee, or who could overwhelm him if they can get to him quickly enough, preventing him from furter casting (flying or fast units).

Personally I like to have my assasins either very cheap (no items, or few cheap ones) or very expensive (with very good battle gear designed to kill some specific and amportant target). But perhaps it's just me.

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No, you're right... I prefer the same thing, however the Star Child has become much less effective as a "cheap" assasin since paralyze was fixed... I've only played around with the above setup in SP games, and while it's fun, I don't think it's "competative"(because of the gem investment on a fragile unit).

With the increased astral, however, they can Telport and Return... so you could script them with Returning after a few castings, so that they're not that vulnerable... and just Teleport them back near the front afterwards.

Yossar's suggestion of Lifelong Protection is obviously superior in many regards, but not very achievable for most R'lyeh players I think.

I'm basically just trying to figure out the best way to use them as assasins in the mid to late game... and this is what I've always played around with, but never used seriously.

I would think that a non-flying SC with medium MR could be brought down with lille risk, given the above equipment, with: (Soul Slay)(Soul Slay) (Soul Slay) (Returning).

[Yossar]

Originally posted by AhhhFresh:
I would think that a non-flying SC with medium MR could be brought down with lille risk, given the above equipment, with: (Soul Slay)(Soul Slay) (Soul Slay) (Returning).

How long's it take a mounted commander to get over? 2 turns? Although most people don't tend to use mounted commanders all that much.

What about just sticking a skullface on one? Not quite as effective as lifelong protection, especially against mages, but still pretty good and much easier to obtain (A Death random on a mage or priest with a ring of sorcery and a staff of skulls. If you're really lucky you could even get a mage with Death 2). Then you could even throw on an elemental armor, cast resist magic, and not have to worry about mages much. Not sure what you'd script, though. Resist magic, raise skeletons X4, fire? Maybe skip resist magic since you already start with 20. You could throw on an AMA if you're really worried about it.

The funny thing about casting Body Ethereal with Lifelong Protection on is that he seems to always cast it on an imp or two. Not exactly what I wanted but usually actually works out really well.