Various Newbie Gameplay Questions

[Epaminondas]

Thanks everyone for the answers! Let me respond sequentially and ask some follow-up questions as well:

Ironhawk,

*Yes, Pathos had a real high MR when he died. In fact, I may have undercounted his MR. He has a base MR of 14, and he had plus 4 from the Solaris helm, plus 4 from anti-magic trinket, and I had cast the Astral magic battlefield MR buff as well. So imagine my surprise when he went down with a Mind Blast.

**I really like Astral Shield and Body Ethereal on my Prophet thugs. But I am aware of the Magic Duel danger. So what's the comfort zone that I need the Prophet thug to get to in terms of Astral magic levels? I usually aim for 4-5--is that sufficient for SP?

Taqwus,

*Thanks for the 75 percent number for Ethereal. I wanted concrete information like that.

Endoperez,

*I agree with your comment that "Units with low hitpoints are pretty easy to kill." That's why I played Jotunheim almost exclusively in DII. Less micromanagement needed when your prophet has over 100 points with high dominion.

**What is Heavenly Choir? I don't see such a summon in the DIII units list on Sunray's website. I was actually referring to Angelic Host summon, which gives you a much weaker Archangel and apparently 5 angels. I believe this is what I remembered from DII as well.

But you as there is a much more powerful angel with more minions? Could you give me more info? So it's that one 77-HP monster and 12 lesser angels?

***Why are Golems used more often than the aforementioned summons? I confess fantasy games are "make-believe" for me, and I just cannot imagine I'd ever employ things like Golems, Devils, or the undead. That's why I limit myself to the so-called "good" creatures, and often humanoid at that.

Yes, I deliberately tie my hands late game!

Nerfix,

*So what are the nasty damage spells against which MR is useless?

[Epaminondas]

More clarifying questions:

1. Does the AI ever script Magic Duel? I've never seen a Magic Duel!

2. Can someone give me the precise stats and costs for the "An gelic Choir" summon?

[thejeff]

I rarely worry about Magic Duel in SP. I think I was hit by it once in Dom3 and don't ever remember it in Dom2.

In SP it's probably only a threat if you have 1 Astral. You won't run into the dozen S1 mages scripted to Duel your pretender that you'd see in MP.

[Endoperez]

Dominions 3 has made most of the angel-summoning spells national spells limited to Pythium and Marignon and perhaps a few other nations.

Manual lists Angelic Host as giving six Angels of the Host, but doesn't mention the Archangel. I quess it's better to test it at some point.

Any way, Angels of the Host have Flambeaus, and thus will devastate any tough devils/undeads they meet. They have rather mediocre protection rating of of 7 (no armor), but good defense (15 + 2 from Flambeau bonus), and they are sacred. Hordes of units will kill them, and archers will kill them, but they are very good against undead, demons, and probably thugs in general. They might actually hurt a SC as well. For 100 pearls, you get slightly less Angels than you'd get Ether Warriors. Both are limited in numbers. Ether Warriors do better against most units, but Angels are very powerful offensive weapon against "evil" types, and if you can increase their protection somehow they'll be very survivable as well.

Without a blessing, they've both got their uses.


Golems and such are used because they are cheaper. 90 pearls is A LOT.

[Epaminondas]

Endoperez,

You mentioned the Angelic Choir though. Is that a national summon then? Or did you just confuse Angelic Choir and Angelic Host--which are the same thing?

I am much confused

[Epaminondas]

And moving the Angel summons to national summons just sucks for me, because I don't like to use evil or undead or even non-humanoid-type of summons. It just restricts my summoning options even more!

[Nerfix]

Epaminondas said:Nerfix,

*So what are the nasty damage spells against which MR is useless?

Most of spells can't be resisted. Nasty spells that can be resisted are Soul Slay, Nether Darts/Bolt and various mind control spells. Banishment can be resisted. If the spell can be resisted it has "Magic resistance negates" in it's description along with damage.

[Cainehill]

Epaminondas said:
And moving the Angel summons to national summons just sucks for me, because I don't like to use evil or undead or even non-humanoid-type of summons. It just restricts my summoning options even more!

Plus it's made it simply impossible to get holy types for various nations, since angels and couatl were both moved to be nation specific. I guess it _does_ ensure more differentiation of the nations, but not (imo) in a good way.

[Endoperez]

I confused Heavenly Choir and Angelic Host initially. I've mentioned both in here already, but put shortly:

Angelic Host:
Conjuration 7, Astral 5, 50 pearls for 6 Angels of the Host OR 1 Archangel/5 Angels of the Host (not sure which, manual says it's the first one of these).

Heavenly Choir:
Conjuration 9, Astral 7 Fire 2, 144 pearls, a nasty Seraph and his 3 Harbinger and 9 Angel of the Heavenly Choir buddies as units. Harbingers would have A3H2 and AotHC H2 if they were commanders.

[Epaminondas]

Thanks for the clarification, Endoperez.

Now, is the Heavenly Choir a national summonable or is it available to all?