prepping for beginning expansion

[tinkthank]

All good stuff here. I have a question, however.

Originally posted by Wauthan:

My own preference however is to use assassins. At indep 9 there's usually four commanders to deal with. It's very easy to create assassins that no regular indep commander has a chance to fight. Just give them a cheap magic object and they will usually develop a good heroic ability since you're still so early into the game. This is especially true for C'Tis who's assassins need very little spellresearch to be effectively unstoppable by indeps.

I dont have much success with assassins, although I never really gave Ctis much of a shot. What "cheap items" are you talking about, Wauthan? I cant think of a single trinket that would save my assassins, although I guess Ctis could get a Skull Talisman fairly quick. (But how do you use those assassins anyhow, set to "fire closest"? I dont understand Empoisoners very well -- any tips?) I only feel safe with assassins once they can equip summoning items (bottle of water, lifelong protection, etc.) or really good gear, otherwise they die on me to everything but priests. Tips?

[tinkthank]

Just retried Ctis -- cant get it to work.
Anyone have tips on Assassins early game (without auto-summon help from items)? General early-game assassin equipment help?
merci!

[Scott Hebert]

I don't know if this 'helps', but I do remember vividly thinking at one point that Empoisoners weren't 'all that'... and when I finally used them, they cast Decay and that was that.

I don't know much about C'tis, but I do know that Desert Tombs is an absolute bLast now. One small request I would make of the designers is to give Unholy-5 priests a 'unique' Reanimation ability. I believe that for BE/AE Ermor they are Lictors (already). Soul Gate could get Ghosts. As for Desert Tombs, the most thematic I think would be Banefire Archers. Just an idea.

Scott

[Jurri]

I have found the Enchantment level 1 spell "Animate skeleton" or preferably "Animate dead", if there are corpses available in the province, to be quite neat with empoisoners. Just set him in a far back corner with orders to summon skellies, and he can beat most commanders. Swarm is also nice, but you need a gem for that.

[Taqwus]

Luck charms, barkskin amulets aren't too expensive and can help (well, the barkskin won't help as much as on a human assuming that Empoisoners, as lizardmen, have some base prot; can't remember what it is 'tho). For somebody with decent prot (perhaps from Boots of Stone, say), the etherealness from a Robe of Shadows can be a big help.

If you think there's a decent chance the assassin will die, a weapon with powerful poison or a decay effect might be in order.

But the auto summoners are very useful (wraith crown in particular; but that's very expensive; against many non-flying non-lightning-immune opponents, a spirit helm might be the better buy, although harder for C'tis).

Later on, the Drain Life banner is just vicious... always-hits, affects even lifeless enemies, decent range, good armor-negating hp/fatigue damage, restores health/fatigue on assassin, and not blocked by any immunities.

[tinkthank]

Let me rephrase: I have lots of success with assassins in mid- to late game, it's early game (turns 1-20) with eliminating indy commanders with access only to magic trinkets or maximal construction 2 items.
Barkskin amulet: ok, I'll try that. Other than that, I feel there is no real good gear to give assassins pre-construction-4 that can help in expanding early, and my assassins always die sooner or later when naked.