Scorpion King and Medusa pretender...any use ?

[Mardagg]

I used the Scorpion King several times in SP and also 1 time in MP ,always when playing Abysia.
I took E4/F4,goal was to find all Earth and Fire Sites as fast as possible and then alchemize it into Gold,to get a very quick start with Abysia.

This tactic always ended up very succesfull for me,mainly because the good gold income gave me the ability to get a blood economy going very quick.

For initial expansion,the Scorpion King helps a lot with Flare/Legions of Steel(if you go for construction first).
Search all mountain provinces you conquer as fast as possible ,other terrain whenever you can spare the time.
Your goal should be to get at least 150 Gold per turn through alchemy by turn 12.During the initial expansion phase,where all nations dont have that much provinces,and thus income,this means a huge advantage for you.
You are therefore able to field bigger armies soon,to build more castles and to build more mages.
Thats the key.


Later on,the Scorpion King can be formed into a reasonable SC or ,with help of items into a ritual caster.

Personally,I dont think you need a melee SC Pretender with Abyisa...after all your troops are all very potent in melee and later you get very good SC`s with Blood Magic.
Thats why I looked for a Pretender who supports the economy as well as the initial expansion phase by making use of the potent starting spell.

E4/F4 leaves a lot of points for the scales and thus fitted perfectly.

[ July 02, 2004, 21:22: Message edited by: Mardagg ]

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Ragnarok-X:
anyone else ?

Me. I like the SK. No body slot but enough natural protection to somewhat make up for it - just consider he comes with a free builtin (and *cursed* ) Black Steel Plate. No feet slot, but the nations he's available to are hot ones and get design points from that, so he can easily buy Quickness thru Water magic - and in exchange you get 2 extra weapons (Pincer and Stinger).

So what's not to like?

And there aren't that many 50-points pretenders that come with 2 magic picks. The SK may not be well suited to a level-9 bless strategy, but it's an extremely effective (and cost-effective) combattant if you give him only the magic he needs to be able to buff himself before entering H2H combat.

[PvK]

Scorpion King is quite good. Like most things, you just need to use it for what it is, rather than trying to use it like something else you're used to using. The high natural defense is better than "free full black steel plate" because it has no defense or encumbrance penalty. Earth power adds to it. He has nice built-in attacks, and the two paths are good. I took a 3-path SK in my first MP game and won, though I didn't have to use him very much - I mainly had him forge and cast.

The Medusa does seem to have more style than substance. Seems like she should have more awe or fear and/or a short-range paralyze attack (paralyze shield?) to live up to her reputation. Though from a practical standpoint, she's probably fine, as long as you're not trying to use her as a SC without the right extras, and as long as you aren't married to the "every pretender must be a SC" theory.

PvK

[Jasper]

Originally posted by PvK:
The Medusa does seem to have more style than substance. Seems like she should have more awe or fear and/or a short-range paralyze attack (paralyze shield?) to live up to her reputation. Though from a practical standpoint, she's probably fine, as long as you're not trying to use her as a SC without the right extras, and as long as you aren't married to the "every pretender must be a SC" theory.

Hmmm, perhaps the Medusa should have a short range petrification damage shield?

In my experience the Medusa is a bit underpowered (due to IMHO unreasonably low hitpoints), but with carefull play still is an effective super combatant. Her ability to turn entire armies to stone in the early game can be very fearsome once you figure out how to keep her alive. She very quickly reaches 3 stars and tends to sit atop the hall of fame.

IMHO the medusa's biggest drawback is that her Nature and Earth magic overlap with Pangaea's magic, when you'd really like to have access to other paths. Even so, raise her hitpoints from 20->30 and I think she's good.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by PvK:
The high natural defense is better than "free full black steel plate" because it has no defense or encumbrance penalty.

Well, if you consider that the analogue the Scorpion King is otherwise a mounted unit (feetless, larger size), you wouldn't have gotten a defense or encumberance penalty anyway. You do save out on the spellcasting fatigue, but black plate ain't all that.

The Medusa does seem to have more style than substance.

If she had a built-in Aegis effect, that'd make her a very scary person, with people being petrified and turned to stone and crap.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Norfleet:

quote:

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Originally posted by PvK:
The Medusa does seem to have more style than substance.

If she had a built-in Aegis effect, that'd make her a very scary person, with people being petrified and turned to stone and crap.

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Hmmm, I haven't tried the Medusa for a long time, but Last time I did I think she still had that built-in 'Aegis effect'.

[Edit: just checked, apparently she still behaves just as a 'living Aegis' would in 2.12]

[ July 03, 2004, 16:58: Message edited by: Nagot Gick Fel ]

[Jasper]

Heh, if she didn't have the Aegis field then she definitely wouldn't be worth it!