Mid Game+ magic.

[quantum_mechani]

archaeolept said:
dark vines are excellent. they have the charming ability to take down SC's if needed, which more than makes up for any flaws.

7 or 8, w/ chaff support, is good. Casting regen or luck as well, is better.

Ah, yes, I forgot their biggest advantage over vine ogres: armour piercing weapons.

[spirokeat]

Ok, so I summoned a Ice Devil finally. Equiped him with wraith blade, bone armour, winged shoes, ring of regen and amulet of luck.

First battle he enters against an army of infantry and a mage. Paralyzed. instantly dies.

MR of 19. Im hoping that it was a big fluke.

[shovah]

some time you should really try atlantis and go for conjuration and just spam abominations and of course you can use lots of sea trolls/krakens for cheap expaners
(construction also if you want to boost your mages to S4 for abomination and if reasearch is on easy you could go for evo to get malestrom)

[spirokeat]

I dont really play to win, so choosing atlantis to follow a particular pattern is not my style.

I play for themes and genre based concepts.

I've just read so much about ice devils, I was kinda suprised he fell over so quickly.

Spiro

[Endoperez]

Atlantis PD becomes quite powerful after you research Alteration 6: every W1 mage can cast Quickness and spam Frozen Heart. Unfortunately, they can't be reruited from every castle as Marignon's F1 Initiates. I recall someone having great success with Initiates on defence, thanks to the Conjuration spell Will'o'wisp.

Ice Devils are powerful, and one of them even starts with a life-draining weapon that protects him from fire. All of them can cast Quickness and BoW, they have good stats and all except one have full slots (or two, as you mighn't be able to change the Hell Blade away from the one who has it, I don't see why you would). They are also available quite early. They were mainly used in Dom:PPP, where every one of them had the same stats, and there were unlimited numbers of them (in fact, there were no uniques at all).

[spirokeat]

Ok, but what constitutes an SC....I see the term chucked about, but it has varying levels.

What are the limits of particular SC's....Bane Lords and Ice devils for example.

Spiro

[Alneyan]

Are you sure that Ice Devil gets Fire Resistance? I know the Virtue does not get the 50% Fire Resistance granted by her Flambeau. You should also be able to remove the Hell Sword from that devil, if it follows the same "rules" as the other armed commanders.

[Vicious Love]

His fire resistance is built in. Useful.

[shovah]

for those who dont know, SC=super combatant and in an unmodded game alot of people think it neccesary to give a life draining weapon to a SC (blood thorn/hell sword) banelords are popular often just because of their cheapness but if you have what you need ice devils work really well.

one of my favourite (extremely expensive) scs is a nataraja with a bloodthorn, hellsword, shield of gleaming gold, any good armour, winged shoes, ring of the warrior and another misc item. as for the helm it depends, against basic troops try horror helm but spirit helm is good all rounder

(i usually wish for this guy with my pretender and have someone weilding dwarven hammer (ulmish smiths work good if you can cast forge of the ancients) to make his equipment. with awe (+0 but still) and 2 lifedrain weapons hes hard to kill and using that unique helm that has awe works well too but generally dont send him out until he has empowerment (preferably astral for luck+etheral+shield) to buff himself as hes too expensive to waste

[sushiboat]

spirokeat said:
Ok, so I summoned a Ice Devil finally. Equiped him with wraith blade, bone armour, winged shoes, ring of regen and amulet of luck.

First battle he enters against an army of infantry and a mage. Paralyzed. instantly dies.

MR of 19. Im hoping that it was a big fluke.

It can happen to any SC, even with the best equipment. You can give it lower risk assignments (e.g., capturing provinces with low PD, having it fight alongside an army), or you can just create more SC's. In my opinion, the SC's mobility is more important than one-man-army heroics.

Did you have him buff with Quickness and Breath of Winter? BoW will help even when the SC is unconscious. Bone Armor is low protection, and the Wraith Sword already gives you life drain. Try something with higher protection, such as Marble Armor. A Starshine Skullcap would be good since you can never have too much MR. With lots of Blood, you could give him a Blood Thorn, which would free up one hand for a shield -- Charcoal Shield is my favorite.