Building a Better Pretender

[archaeolept]

Anyone ever weighted the general strengths of the standard human pretenders?

yes. they all suck, but the freaklord sucks more.

well, if you count the skratti, he's good.

[Sheap]

Human pretenders aren't THAT bad. They can only be safely used with nations whose initial armies can really mow down independents though, because you take a big hit in initial expansion with them.

With a human pretender, Twiceborn is a necessity. Once your human pretender turns into a wight mage (and let there be no doubt - he will get killed eventually) he becomes, if not exactly tough, a lot less weak than before.

Human pretenders, since they don't go into combat, can safely take astral magic.

Human pretenders research and site search *really fast*. If you have a human pretender you will have more gems than any other nation except for Ermor, who can afford a rainbow undead. Human pretenders also have unsurpassed forging ability. With an undead or titan pretender, after about turn 30, you'll have trouble finding them anything interesting to do. With a human pretender, normally the problem is deciding what important thing needs to be done now, vs. waiting a turn.

Among generally-available humans, my personal preference is the Crone. True, she's slow, and weak even by human standards. The speed doesn't matter that much - the only time she should ever leave the lab is to site search, and that can be done just fine with strategic move 1. And any human pretender that winds up in combat is in trouble anyway. On the positive side, she costs the least, and gets a whopping 4 misc slots. If by some miracle she survives until late game, her ability to wield magic boosters is unsurpassed. And if she doesn't, well, at least you got the cheapest wight mage.

The Master Druid is the best site-searcher. He starts with a point of nature, which helps, and he's stealthy, so he can accompany the army and search the turn after it's conquered. And the Frost Father is cold-resistant, which makes him good for cold nations. Of course, of the four cold nations (Jotunheim, Caelum, Vanheim, and Ermor), none of them have any business taking a Frost Father.

The Freak Lord isn't as horrible as he appears. He has extremely good defense, and the trample ability will let him deal with occasional enemies that get through his bodyguards in combat. This is also an excellent combination for dealing with assassins, but any human pretender should have bodyguards at all times. He loses a foot slot, but makes up for it with an extra miscellaneous slot, which IMO is more valuable. And he doesn't cost that much. When he was size-6 he was immune to Wind Ride, that's moot now. Of course, earth-4 magic is not a difficult thing for a rainbow pretender.

Among the nation-specific rainbow mages, the ***** Queen, Master Alchemist and Skratti deserve special consideration. The ***** Queen regenerates, has pretty good hitpoints for a human, and costs the same as less survivable humans. The Alchemist generates huge amounts of money. Finally, the Skratti is tough, as tough as any Jotun, and plenty strong enough to use as a combat-support mage. Or even an actual combat unit, if you feel lucky. The Skratti, of course, is broken in 2.11 and 2.12, but when he returns, will be so much better than any other rainbow pretender that you'll wonder how you got along without him. Other nation-specific "human" pretenders, the Warlock, Arch Druid, and Arch Seraph, don't really distinguish themselves that much (especially since the ***** Queen and Arch Druid are available to the same nation!). Still, they're typically going to be the best available human for the nation, because they have compatible resistances and abilities that complement their nation well.

[Inigo Montoya]

I appreciated your post, Sheap. I've never tried a Skaratti. Why is he broken in 2.12?

[Inigo Montoya]

Oh, I see now. You can't even select him anymore!

[Thilock_Dominus]

Thufir said:

I'm just curious - but why do people ever go for N9 blessing? Maybe I just haven't figured out the right way to deal with this, or maybe I'm just giving it too much importance, but every time I've played with N4+ blessing - the berserker trait screws me over. Any sacred caster (including most importantly your Prophet, but this also happens a lot with both TienChi S&A and Pythium casters- two of my favorite nations) will get the berserk trait whenever they're blessed (and this is a permanent condition for the prophet). And believe me, if you're focused on mage power, the Last thing you want is you want is for your favorite Arch Theurg, or Celestial Master go running straight into the horde of enemy hydras just cause he got nicked with a sling bullet!

I'm one of them who play 9 blessing dragons. Especially when playing C'tis.

C'tis - Miasma, dominion 8, Green Dragon with N9.
1. You spread deceases and expand your domion quickly.(coorect me if I'm wrong, you'll get extra income for each +1 domion strength in every province with Miasma).
2. Strong SC
3. Your Sacred Serpents gets berserk +3, immune poison 100%, regeneration. Back up with poison slingers and it really kick a**.
4. With N9 on your SC pretender you can cast some of the coolest spell IMO (enchantments like gift of health etc. which is good because you are a SC).
5. Make sure that your shaman(s) forge a amulet of luck...when you can afford it empowering your SC with water so you can cast quickness. Also make some Sacred Serpents to Commanders so they can lead your armies.

Another Dragon combination would be Caelum. but not bless 9. Blue Dragon W4 A4. Before the dragon goes to battle cast quickness, Mirror Image, etc. and again you have a killer machine


best regards
Thilock

[magnate]

This is a great thread for a semi-newbie. There used to be a list of all the bless effects elsewhere on this forum, but I can't find it. Am I just searching for the wrong thing (+"bless effect"), or did it get lost in the upgrade?

CC (a big fan of the enchantress ...)

[Arryn]

magnate said:
There used to be a list of all the bless effects elsewhere on this forum, but I can't find it. Am I just searching for the wrong thing (+"bless effect"), or did it get lost in the upgrade?

Read the Javascript pop-up page titled "Bless Effects guide by Nerfix" at this site.

[PDF]

Magnate, the bless effect list can be found here : http://www.dominionsx.com/guides.html

BTW, I just found another pretty good use for N9 bless : TC base/BK ... The Celestial Sldrs are sacred, and are IMHO as good as Niefels !

[Karacan]

Berserking regenerating Demons of the Heavenly River in S&A are one scary troop, as well.

[magnate]

Got it - thanks folks.