Pls explain how early summoning spells are useful

PrinzMegaherz · #1 February 13th, 2007, 07:41 AM

Problem with early summons is that you can't get most of them in numbers that actually matter. In addition to paying the gems, you have to keep one mage away from research for one turn... and all that for only one fire drake or one wyvern?

It's sad not every single summon spell has it's higher level equivalent like summon wraith and summon legion of wraith. The later is much more useful than the first

Aleph · #2 February 13th, 2007, 11:41 AM

I play SP. It's a caveat worth mentioning.

Three pages in and no one has mentioned my favorite early summon spell in the game - crossbreeding. Granted, usable only by a small number of nations, and requiring particular scales to be really effective, but it's pure joy when it works (IMO, a basilisk alone is more than worth the cost of casting).

Sans Blood, often I find my early-mid summons are more driven by what I have that's disposable than what I really want. For example, in any game where I have death magics, I find that a serious chunk of my early game death gems are going to Skull Mentors. So I rarely think all that much about any death summons early on. Corpse Man Construction, on the other hand, is a great spell for those capable of using it, even early on. You pick it up on the way to Skull Mentors, you also grab the Lightning Rod on the way there as well (which doesn't use Air gems to create, so you're saving that resource for the corpsemen), and it uses air gems which aren't known for their great summons. LA Caelum loooooves corpsemen.

PrinzMegaherz - I watched your little animation all the way through, twice. Pretty funny.

Belcarl · #3 February 14th, 2007, 10:13 AM

I find myself using quite a lot of the summons that are noted as bad here, in some situations. Depending on my main stream mages and gem income and what kind of national troops I have. What summons are regarded the best, are usually those who fit in the best for some common cookie-cutter strategies. Agreed, some of them are a better option in almost any scenario.

Cave drakes and Scorpion beasts I tend to use to strenghten a line of "slightly" inferior infantry, so my mages and artillery gets enough rounds to kill the enemy.

All in all, I rate banes, naiad warriors and Sea kings court among the best. Mainly since I almost always use them if I have them available.

The eater of the dead though, is for SP only. And then only for the kicks of summoning something odd.

merlinme · #4 February 14th, 2007, 10:31 AM

I've never actually summoned the eater of the dead, so can't really comment. He sounds kind of interesting, maybe I should give it a go some time. What's the problem with him? He attacks provinces at random? Do you ever have control of him, or is he random from the start?

I vaguely remember someone on the forum described quite an interesting strategy they stumbled across, where they followed the eater of the dead around with a bunch of stealth troops. I believe the way it worked was that because they were on hide, he never attacked them, and they could go in and take provinces which had just had their province defence and defending troops annihilated.

It would require a certain amount of luck, but it might be a viable strategy for someone who likes experimenting.

Aleph · #5 February 14th, 2007, 11:23 AM

The Eater of the Dead starts out under your control, but, as you might guess from the name, he eats dead. This makes him stronger. After some amount of this (I have no idea what the corpse count has to be), he becomes an independent terror, running around attacking provinces at random. I think the main strat for him is to Gift of Reason him (IIRC he starts as a rank and file), load him up with nasties, and push straight into enemy territory. That way, when he goes bonkers, his rampages will still work out in your favor.

NTJedi · #6 February 14th, 2007, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Aleph said:
The Eater of the Dead starts out under your control, but, as you might guess from the name, he eats dead. This makes him stronger. After some amount of this (I have no idea what the corpse count has to be), he becomes an independent terror, running around attacking provinces at random. I think the main strat for him is to Gift of Reason him (IIRC he starts as a rank and file), load him up with nasties, and push straight into enemy territory. That way, when he goes bonkers, his rampages will still work out in your favor.

For 50 astral gems this creature has toooo many weaknesses to be considered worthwhile. Astral gems are more wisely spent on other summoning spells such as golem construction, juggernaut or ethergate.

Aleph · #7 February 14th, 2007, 01:28 PM

Just to be clear - I wasn't advocating the Eater, just saying what he's for.

I think my favorite overkill late game use for astral gems (besides wishing for SC chasses and blood slaves) is something I saw in the Alexander's Tome. Golem + 3 astral boost items + Cloak of Shadows + Luck shield/faithful + Ritual of Return, tucked in a corner of the battlefield, scripted with Astral Tempest, Doom, and Astral Geyserx3 and loaded with 10 pearls, and teleported at a large enemy stack. Get 2 golems, switch the gear back and forth between them, one casts teleport every round while the other casts ritual of return. It's fairly effective at whittling away large armies of regular troops and slapping afflictions/horror marks/curses on tougher ones, and also has the silly fun aspect which eater of the dead has without the inevitable loss.