Pythium Strategies

[shovah]

aww :C i liked that idea, how bout a bow of war on each?

[Endoperez]

When Master casts a spell that targets just him (range: Caster), it affects the communicants as well. Try Phoenix Pyre...

I haven't tried this out in a long time. It might have changed or worked differently. However, there were some crazy things one could do with Jotun Jarls carrying Slave Matrices...

Never tested that, though. Lots of work for few tricks isn't worth it IMO. Jotunheim doesn't exactly shine as a Communion nation...

[Sandman]

In my very limited experience, slave matrices don't work when placed on non-mages. Plus, you're going to have morale issues with a commander-heavy setup like that.

[archaeolept]

both those points are correct. It is certainly possible to use the "slave buff" effect to create mini-SCs, but it is usually a lot of work, and often a fragile setup.

communicants w/ a few buffs and phoenix pyre is a good plan though - still a lot of work to get going - and don't forget that your own mages have to run away...

[Vicious Love]

archaeolept said:
both those points are correct. It is certainly possible to use the "slave buff" effect to create mini-SCs, but it is usually a lot of work, and often a fragile setup.

communicants w/ a few buffs and phoenix pyre is a good plan though - still a lot of work to get going - and don't forget that your own mages have to run away...

Yeah, but the advantages are tremendous: you can have multiple masters cast all their buffs within 1-2 rounds, you can safely distribute the fatigue, you can put together combos which would be impossible for any individual unit save a rainbow Pretender(and would be impossible to script for any one mage, anyway), and, best of all, you can have a handful of astral-1 mages cast Astral Shield, Resist Magic, Personal Luck and Astral Weapon without making any of your SCs susceptible to Magic Duel. And since access to matrices means access to hammers, the setup is usually strikingly cost-effective, even if you lose the occasional matrix, slave, or master.

[shovah]

and dont forget the fact that the grand thaumaturgs random can buff aswell and as for your comment about that rainbow why not use him as one of the main buffers? astral shield+fire shield+body etheral+twist fate+mist form+air shield survivable anyone?

[shovah]

Endoperez said:
When Master casts a spell that targets just him (range: Caster), it affects the communicants as well. Try Phoenix Pyre...

I haven't tried this out in a long time. It might have changed or worked differently. However, there were some crazy things one could do with Jotun Jarls carrying Slave Matrices...

Never tested that, though. Lots of work for few tricks isn't worth it IMO. Jotunheim doesn't exactly shine as a Communion nation...

really weird i was just thinking of that phoenix pyre a while ago (today) one MAJOR advantage (if it would work) would be if the master got picked out by duel or such he could spread the fatigue of revival among his comunicants (but im not 100% sure)

[Vicious Love]

shovah said:
really weird i was just thinking of that phoenix pyre a while ago (today) one MAJOR advantage (if it would work) would be if the master got picked out by duel or such he could spread the fatigue of revival among his comunicants (but im not 100% sure)

I always meant to test that out. I'd concluded that the only simultaneously efficient and "safe" use for the Forbidden Light was to stick it in that archdemon with the astral/fire combo, give him a bunch of reinvigoration and defense items, attach a retinue of blind communicants and bodyguards to him, and send him off to mind duel, blind, and incinerate to his heart's content. I still don't know whether or not this would actually work. And I imagine the communicants would drop off like flies, if one Phoenix Pyre 'splosion were to start off a chain reaction.

[shovah]

spread em out (phoenix power brings u back to life neway)

[Vicious Love]

as for your comment about that rainbow why not use him as one of the main buffers? astral shield+fire shield+body etheral+twist fate+mist form+air shield survivable anyone?

Because he's too valuable for field work, and fragile enough to be taken out by a handful of Bone Grindings or flying troops. Still, if he does survive, that's one hell of a combo. Though Body Ethereal is area 1, and doesn't transfer to communicants. Also, you forgot Invulnerability, Resist Magic, Personal Luck, Personal Regeneration, Summon Earthpower, Strength of Gaia and so very much more. You can fit more buffs into a single matrix misc slot than you can into an entire equipment loadout, so long as you keep the communion masters alive for a round or two.

Then again, I favor this tactic precisely because you don't have to keep them alive to be cost-effective. You're very likely to lose a communion master or two, but they're usually perfectly expendable, and more than worth the sacrifice if they get their spells off for just a few battles.
Not that expendability is the only way to go: if you've managed to get a Tartarian factory going by the lategame, you'll find few better uses for it than this. Two or three Tartarian masters could endow as many tartarian slaves as they like with pretty much every self-buff in the game, and still survive a pitched battle.

shovah said:
spread em out (phoenix power brings u back to life neway)

Yeah, but after the first death or two, random teleportation just might result in a chain reaction. Does Soul Vortex restore exactly as much fatigue as it drains? If so, it might be a semi-workable solution, when combined with Personal Regeneration.

Edit: Right, just in case I haven't properly overstressed this point: Astral Goddamn Weapon. Perhaps the best SC-killer buff in the game, and a pretty decent everything-else-killer buff, to boot. With no risk at all, save to the astral-1 mage that casts the buff. And you don't even have to get said mage his own matrix.
Ever seen what an armor-negating Herald Lance can do to a demon or Tartarian? It ain't pretty.