Best Unit in the Game... Any thoughts?

[Endoperez]

mivayan said:

(uselessinfo
I know one - summon lesser air elemental!

it was cheaper 4-5 years ago and isn't used now.. I think.

Also False Horror, and the Vampire summons (Blood Rite etc). In earlier Dominions games, Caelum used to be the nation casting Illwinter because they preferred Cold 3 and Jotunheim (Iron Woods, or MA nowadays) preferred Cold 2. Reascendance (Marignon national Blood spell) is now restricted to Marignon only, while it used to widen up all Blood/Astral nations' magic by giving access to a Fire mage. Same with Angel summons and Pythium/Marignon. Carrion Reanimation used to rock in Dom:PPP (the first game), because it didn't need corpses and Jotunheim could have thousands of Soulless Giants in two turns after researching it.

The flying, gem-free summons that are very hard to kill (etherealness) and very good at routing enemies (trample or fear) were good enough to let groups of sole mages destroy whole armies themselves. Seraphs used to be Caelum's infantry: 1 Seraph == 3-5 Lesser Air Elementals, or later ~8 or so False Horrors.
Vampires aren't ethereal any more, but their cost hasn't been rebalanced.
Illwinter is still good, and very useful for EA Niefelheim, but now only three nations will ever consider it. Same with Reascendance - it isn't any worse, but it's going to be used only rarely. Same with Angel summons (Harbinger, Heavenly Choir, etc).
Carrion Reanimation is a bit weak now, because it needs corpses to work at all. If it would always create at least a certain minimum amount of undead (say, 10) and then existing corpses would be added to that, OR if it could be cast at a remote province, it would be useful again. Especially for Jotunheim and other nations with tough undead.

[Mind Elemental]

Regarding Tartarians...

Assume that you can't heal them (someone else has the Chalice, and the global slots are full, making Gift of Health iffy, at best). However, you can GoR them, using your modest nature income.

Are they still worthwhile?

[Kristoffer O]

They should be worthwhile jus by being 10 death gem monsters without any other effects.

[Shovah32]

Like KO said, even non-commander tartarians are close combat monsters, that shouldnt be forgotten.

[Wikd Thots]

Damn some of you people play like accountants. You put the game into a spreadsheet and figure out the best down to the last gem or gold piece. I guess we all want those experts around but I do not think that makes the other stuff broken or "never used". If balance is going to mean making everything match at the top of the spreadsheet then I do not want it.

Do not sweat balance kris. Just keep putting in more and more variety. Let the experts here sweat out balance (and let you know about the very FEW things that end up as a game-breaker). If you super-weak this game for the PvP people then it will trash it for the RPG people and lose half of your market. As long as you keep adding then they will have to keep playing it to test balance and the game will be fine.

[PvK]

I think Air Elementals are still very much worth it. They can tip the scales in battles (especially if you do several at once), and still only require an Air-1 mage with one gem.

False Horrors are still worth it too, IMO.

[Shovah32]

Air elementals are fine. Lesser air elementals are underwhelming.

[quantum_mechani]

PvK said:
I think Air Elementals are still very much worth it. They can tip the scales in battles (especially if you do several at once), and still only require an Air-1 mage with one gem.

False Horrors are still worth it too, IMO.

I agree, I use elementals of all types and levels, though of course only in niche situations. I don't think false horror is usless either, though far, far less good than it it used to be. There is a pretty good case for vampires, especially the high research summons, being nerfed to oblivion though.

[MaxWilson]

False Horrors got nerfed? They're gem-free, ethereal, have decent defense, cost 10 fatigue, and have two attacks. That seems pretty decent to me, though not overwhelming. What did they used to be like?

In my SP house rules I've modded the Summon Lesser Elemental spells to cast 95 fatigue but require 2 path levels. I still don't use them but this cost seems more fair relative to Raise Skeletons.

-Max

[MaxWilson]

Shovah32 said:
Like KO said, even non-commander tartarians are close combat monsters, that shouldnt be forgotten.

True, although they do take a bit of care. They have low protection, so somebody has to buff them up with Iron Warriors or Body Ethereal or Luck or Quickening.

-Max