Do people underuse mages?

[Epaminondas]

Originally Posted by MaxWilson

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This is one reason why I love LA Agartha and MA Ashdod. I love seeing huge AI formations of elite troops evaporate as 8 or 10 mages spam Banefire/Magma Eruption/Cloud of Death/Falling Fires/Gifts from the Heavens/Nether Darts at them. (Ashdod can do all of these! There is no such thing as a Zamzummite who isn't an arty mage, even unboosted.) You still need some cheap troops as cavalry blockers, even if your mages can skelly spam, but it costs zero gems and it's a lot of fun to watch.



-Max

The AI builds "huge" "formations of elite troops"? I don't see that even while playing on Impossible with mods designed to encourage the AI to be more selective with its troop recruitment

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by Epaminondas

The AI builds "huge" "formations of elite troops"? I don't see that even while playing on Impossible with mods designed to encourage the AI to be more selective with its troop recruitment

It depends on the nation, obviously. In my current game, I'm using Edi's BI mod v2, and Helheim for example will throw 100 Hirdmans and 40 Longdead Horsemen at me. EA Arco will send in 300 troops including two ~80 troop wings of Myrmidons.

Also, I sometimes test my troop formations by inserting "phantom" troops into easy battles (w/ Ctrl + 'U')to see where the weak points in my formations are, and I usually pick elite troops for that.

As for the comment that this proves that Ashdod needs a nerf, well, I don't play MP so I don't know. I can tell you that "fun" != "overpowered". Ashdod battlemages are great fun, but in MP I suspect you'd let those mages do research and thug out recruitable commanders as much as possible instead. Certainly MP players don't seem to have much problem with playing the nations that I loathe, i.e. without decent recruitable-anywhere mages--and isn't that what this thread is about? Apparently battlemages don't get used much.

But Ashdod is tremendously flexible and fun in SP.

-Max