Ulm Beginner Strategy - need help

[Taqwus]

For standard Ulm, use Earth magic to get a force which will go underwater. Mechanical Men and Living Statues are amphibious, and Gargoyles might be as well, and they have the additional advantage of being immune to poison (a lot of underwater types use poisoned gear...). You'll need to attach 'em to an amphibious commander, however (e.g. one with a breathing item).

Also, consider using Earth Attack to kill off triton commanders; 100 tritons, without commanders, will rout instantly instead of surrounding and attacking.

[TheKDawg]

I won my game. I was a dominant force all game, I crushed the difficult AI and my player opponent perished from lack of dominion.

Thanks for all the help

[Graeme Dice]

There's no need to forsake a SC pretender with Ulm in order to get extra magical paths. You'll want either a Prince of Death or Ghost King anyways to take full advantage of black steel armour early on, and they can both get all the other magic paths that you'll need.

[Sly Frog]

Graeme Dice said:
There's no need to forsake a SC pretender with Ulm in order to get extra magical paths. You'll want either a Prince of Death or Ghost King anyways to take full advantage of black steel armour early on, and they can both get all the other magic paths that you'll need.

Those are SCs? I was thinking more along the lines of the Wyrm when I was talking SCs.

[Graeme Dice]

A wyrm and other monster pretenders are thugs. They can't stand up to a SC, which is something that can kill an entire mage supported army by itself.

[Boron]

Graeme Dice said:
A wyrm and other monster pretenders are thugs. They can't stand up to a SC, which is something that can kill an entire mage supported army by itself.

Unless the mages can cast enough anti-sc spells in 1 turn to eliminate the SC .

Those mages are though likely more expensive then the SC himself cause you would need either drain life casters or petrify casters ( or other very expensive / questionable mages like gifts from heaven casters etc. ) .

If the SC is a "weak" undead like a banelord though with dust to dust + wither bones there are 2 more good spells against him and they are cheap aquireable .

[Graeme Dice]

Boron said:
Unless the mages can cast enough anti-sc spells in 1 turn to eliminate the SC .

I just defined a SC as something that can survive such an attack. That would mean that it has to have magic resist of around 25 or more, between 50 to 100 hitpoints, and immunity to elemental damage.

If the SC is a "weak" undead like a banelord though with dust to dust + wither bones there are 2 more good spells against him and they are cheap aquireable .

Banelords are not SCs. They are thugs as they can be killed by elite normal troops even when completely equipped with anti-troop equipment (non-artifact) and no MR boosting or elemental resist items.

[TheKDawg]

Could someone give me an exact example of an SC so I know what you're talking about? Are these commander units, pretenders, summoned units, or otherwise? The closest thing I had to what I think you guys are talking about was a Black Lord with every slot with something forged for him. (He won the arena deathmatch easily...) I know this is nowhere near what you folks are talking about, but I would like to know what an SC is to you folks.

[PrinzMegaherz]

nah, think about some sizes bigger, maybe an Ice Devil with lots of stuff, a life draining weapon an armor that negates most elemental magic, something to increase his magic resistance, a pendant of luck and something that gives him etherealness and regeneration.

[deccan]

Heh heh. Will your Black Lord thug mow down an army of 150+ soldiers single-handedly? I think not. On the other hand, an Ice Devil equipped as PrinzMegaherz says will kill an army composed of however many mortal troops you put into it quite easily. That's SC.