How to use mage in a battle

[atul]

Skolem said:
I was aware that it was a highly situational problem, but i though maybe there are a few rule of thumbs, or basic techniques which one could build upon. That was what I was interrested in. the problem that I am still overhelmed by the multitude of spells that are posible,

You've been asking for help with communion and Pythium, well, that's one of the things I haven't really figured out either so can't help you there, sorry. I've used slaves in order to get magic boost for big spells, but they always seem to die... With Pythium I've read on these forums about using Body Ethereal, I'd assume with quickness - direct damage (star fires, mind burn/soul slay, stellar cascades) you'd go far, I've seen even communion-based Smite-spamming happen.

Skolem said:how you use a SC is fairly situational to, but you find a lot of builds, with explanations in the forum, I though maybe one of the wise, old and mighty players , could give an advice in how to create army's with mages and how to use them effectively, as I IMHO found is maybe the greatest lack of strategical discussion in this forum.

I'm by no means old nor mighty, but I'd think the problem with mages is that their use is much more situational than SCs. Scout the weakness, exploit it. And it really depends on the mages you have at your disposal. So generic strategic discussion would be a bit hard. I think that thread "Alexander's ever-expanding Tome of Knowledge" had some good tricks in it, though.