Conceptual Balance Mod v1.92

[shatner]

Originally Posted by Squirrelloid

tl;dr Zmeys costing more than ~5f are useless if they're cold-blooded, because that's the break-even point in gem expenditure on both sides. Cold-blooded means instant 2x chest-wound-equivalents whenever your opponents wants - and a single chest-wound is enough to end the career of most thugs.

You are absolutely right that cold scales are more common than heat scales. I myself favor them for precisely the reasons you laid out. Where we disagree is in whether Cold Blooded is really the nail in the Zmey's coffin.

First off, a Zmey doesn't need 15-25 gems worth of equipment. Sure, it's got three misc slots and three heads so you could decorate it like a christmas tree, but the main points of the Zmey are first rampant raiding and second for ruining commanders by attacking rear. And for that all you really need is a 5N Lyncathrope Amulet. Face it, the Zmey comes with fear (10D helm), flying (10A boots), flame AoE (5E5F fire brand...x3), 22 protection (10E fullplate), fire immunity (5F ring) and 50% poison resistance just for laughs. Those 30 fire gems summon a big scary monster that's the equivalent of more than 45 gems worth of equipment attached to a really good chassis (high hp, three lives, high moral, excellent MR, high attack, etc., etc.).

Second off, when your opponent does cast Wolven Winter on you (possibly twice if the province had heat scales) they still need to teleport, cloud trapeze or remote attack with something that can kill a Zmey. And sure, in a Cold-3 province, that really just means surviving 7+ rounds of combat after which the creature will be crit to death. But even then you are talking about employing a high moral, fire immune, ethereal/high hp monster with A2 or S3. That requires gems and mage-turns of preparation to ready. At that point, your opponent is reacting to you tearing up his backfield, teleporting his thugs into his own former provinces instead of doing something proactive like raiding you.

As in all wars, a worthy opponent will respond to your tactics. It's not a question of if your weapon will fail you, but when... and for how long/savagely you can beat them with it. Zmey are only conjuration 6 so they can pop out and raise hell early enough to make a huge difference in a mid-game war. And even once they are eclipsed by late game summons (angels, elemental royalty, etc.) and late game spells, they are still cheap enough to be used as a bolstering force in a late game army. And once that foe commits their three tricked out golems (or whatever) to some province that doesn't contain a lab, well that's when the Zmey can once again take wing and burninate the countryside.

And if worst comes to worst, you can always give them an amulet of reinvigoration and a heart of life. At that point you're likely not paying much more than your opponent who has to bring the stubborn thing down.