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  #131  
Old August 26th, 2004, 08:06 PM

deccan deccan is offline
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Default Re: MP Game - Pandemonium (noob/int game) - open

Ouch, just had my own pretender killed. I guess I'll need to think more carefully about using him to solo indies.

Alas, dear Carnifex, I loved thee well.
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  #132  
Old August 26th, 2004, 09:20 PM

Thufir Thufir is offline
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Default Re: MP Game - Pandemonium (noob/int game) - open

Quote:
deccan said:
Ouch, just had my own pretender killed. I guess I'll need to think more carefully about using him to solo indies.

Alas, dear Carnifex, I loved thee well.
That hurts! Using the pretender solo is a tricky business - I just lost mine in another MP game.
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  #133  
Old August 27th, 2004, 10:27 AM

jarenko jarenko is offline
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Default Re: MP Game - Pandemonium (noob/int game) - open

Mines still alive.
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  #134  
Old August 27th, 2004, 10:36 AM

deccan deccan is offline
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Default Re: MP Game - Pandemonium (noob/int game) - open

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Thufir said:
That hurts! Using the pretender solo is a tricky business - I just lost mine in another MP game.
Heh, my only consolation is that Pangaea lost his on the very first turn.
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  #135  
Old August 27th, 2004, 11:17 AM

PrinzMegaherz PrinzMegaherz is offline
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Default Re: MP Game - Pandemonium (noob/int game) - open

This is only a minor settback for Pangaea.

I somehow thought we had independent strength 4 which would not have been a problem... well, 6 was definitly to much for poor old Tiratan
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  #136  
Old August 27th, 2004, 12:38 PM

Aku Aku is offline
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Default Re: MP Game - Pandemonium (noob/int game) - open

new turn is up
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  #137  
Old August 27th, 2004, 02:25 PM

Thufir Thufir is offline
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Default Re: MP Game - Pandemonium (noob/int game) - open

Quote:
Boron said:

an artillery pretender can do too with the initial army :
a earth 9 cyclops with flying shards or a fire 9 moloch with fire darts ( evo 1 ) can rout most indies with the initial army only <img src="http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif" alt="" />
Boron,

I'm doing some tests with a fire 9 moloch, using fire darts in an Indy 9 setup, and it isn't looking good. Have you tested this against indies in turn 1? Or does this not work against strong indies? Also with Abysia, I'd think flare would be a better choice than fire darts, correct? Are you assuming any other equipment/spells?

- Thufir

PS Hope you don't mind assisting me knowing that I'll use this in our Casual Carnage game. After all, it will only contribute to making it a better game for you
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  #138  
Old August 27th, 2004, 02:45 PM
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Boron Boron is offline
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Default Re: MP Game - Pandemonium (noob/int game) - open

Quote:
Thufir said:
Quote:
Boron said:

an artillery pretender can do too with the initial army :
a earth 9 cyclops with flying shards or a fire 9 moloch with fire darts ( evo 1 ) can rout most indies with the initial army only <img src="http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif" alt="" />
Boron,

I'm doing some tests with a fire 9 moloch, using fire darts in an Indy 9 setup, and it isn't looking good. Have you tested this against indies in turn 1? Or does this not work against strong indies? Also with Abysia, I'd think flare would be a better choice than fire darts, correct? Are you assuming any other equipment/spells?

- Thufir

PS Hope you don't mind assisting me knowing that I'll use this in our Casual Carnage game. After all, it will only contribute to making it a better game for you
no i don't mind

you may not attack anything with knights / heavy cav .
but in another game i play as mictlan with f9 moloch .
i think indies are on 7 there .
he + mictlans starting troops +10 more because mictlan has so low morale conquer indeps well .

normally the imps fly into the enemy , delay him and before the enemy arrives to me my moloch has time enough to cast 4-5 turns 1 fire darts / turn .
he casts about 8-10 of them .
most indies are scared away already and the few that don't rout sometimes are routed by my small army then .

the army is only that the moloch doesn't rout after the imps have gone .
otherwise he would be a perfect sc .

fire darts is much better than flare against indies because flare has only area of effect 1 .
and it has not high precision so it misses often indeps .

from my 8-10 fire darts at least half almost always hit so they do much more damage .




i don't know what the coward moloch mod does but i think it removes the imps .

if this is true forget what i have said and use a standard bufflist .

i would probably use the following :
quickness , fireshield , mistform , you can add mirror image since it is air too .
if you take nature magic you can add personal regeneration.
with D3 later ( alteration 6 ) you can add soul vortex which is great .
for the above mentioned you only need enchantment 1 + alteration 3 .
paths :
fire 1 , air 2 , water 1


but moloch is risky as sc :
he has base protection of 15
you get this with stoneskin : E( alteration 2 ) too .
with ironskin : E(alteration 3 ) you get prot 20 .
with invulnerability : EEE (alteration 5 ) you get prot 30.

my indy conquering vq survives against most indies with prot 15 already .
with prot 20 she wins normally against knights too.
with prot 30 no indy can damage her .


with your moloch now the decision is : are 15 prot enough ?
getting prot 20 is not that much more and you need alteration 3 for that plus earth 1.
for prot 30 you need earth 3 with invulnerability + you don't reserach that in the first 10 turns probably.

the problem with abysia + moloch is that abysia has almost no chance to ever get healing items .
so when you are unlucky and get afflictions your moloch gets more and more useless.


Conclusion :
if the moloch mod from graeme really removes the imps i would not use a moloch with abysia .
i would use him with arco since after conquering indies i can put him into a province with a lab , assign priestesses healing him and he can meanwhile forge / summon / research .

but with abysia + moloch sc you have always to care about afflictions and if you take earth 3 or not for the additional protection .
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  #139  
Old August 27th, 2004, 03:21 PM

Thufir Thufir is offline
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Default Re: MP Game - Pandemonium (noob/int game) - open


This is great info, Boron. Thanks!

I am seeing some successful tests now, there are a lot of variations with scripts and positions, and it took a while to hone in on a successful combination.

Flare does seem to work, although I really haven't tested enough to say if it might work better than fire darts.

The section you just wrote on buffs was very helpful for Pretender design in general, that was a nice, succinct summary that helps a lot in knowing what various research goals can do for you.

Since you seem to be in an informative mood Do you have any opions on how SCs develop in later game?

For example:
1) If you don't take any N (or E or A), is it ever reasonable to plan on doing empowerment by late game to get N2 (and thus personal regen)? And of course similar questions for E or A. Or, is empowering your Pretender from zero to 2 or 3 nearly always cost-prohibitive?

2) Your description doesn't talk about items - but it would seem reasonably easy with a Moloch to get to prot 30 w/ items - is this not so? I'm not sure how this all adds up, and I don't have a convenient test available, but even just jade armor + a black steel helm would get you close, correct?

3) I do worry a lot about afflictions, with every position I play (as I've never played Arco), but this is one of the areas of the game that I think I know least how to handle. I have done a lot of SP testing of all my MP pretenders up to turn 10-20, so I am beginning to develop some knowledge here, if not real solutions.

In the case of Abysia, I can see how it would be hard for them to reach GoH or the Chalice until long after other nations get there. How about (in the end game), Faery Queens? I know that's a lot of nature development for a non-nature nation, but at least it's not a race. Maybe by the time you could do that you could so many other things that its not so relevant.

What I'm doing in my other Abysia MP game, where I know I have a sub-optimal pretender, is to rarely, if ever use him solo until I can equip him and get some of the buffs you describe. Still it's a very hard judgement for a newbie to make - and you do see us newbies getting their pretenders killed an awful lot!

4) As you mentioned, it seems likely that a key part of Frosted agressive strategy relies on the fact that he doesn't need to worry about afflictions as much as the rest of us do. For the rest of us that do need to worry about afflictions would you say that E3 for solo SC pretenders is a must? Or if not, do you wait to do soloing until you know you can get prot 20 via equipment?


Anyhow, sorry to bend your ear so much, but this is very helpful stuff, Boron!
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  #140  
Old August 27th, 2004, 04:00 PM

Thufir Thufir is offline
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Default Re: MP Game - Pandemonium (noob/int game) - open

Quote:
Thufir said:

Flare does seem to work, although I really haven't tested enough to say if it might work better than fire darts.

I've done some more testing now, and you are right, fire darts are better than flares. Flare is probably better against knights/HC, but we don't want to fight them solo, anyhow.
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