Endgame Diversity Mod - v1.2 released

[Micah]

Opposition doesn't do damage though, and can be MR resisted, plus I think it takes S3 to cast and has short range. Not incredibly hard to pull off, but it's not "any astral at all will kill you dead" either.

[BigDaddy]

arcane bolt is pretty stiff, it has decent ranger (35) and an10+ and and 3 prec. 2 paths and 20 fatigue. So a 1s mage could cast it 5 times with 5pearls. It's level 1 evo, which is something most people could have by then. Opposition is lvl 6 enchantment, which is probably later.

With arcane bolt though, you're probably talking about specifically sending someone to kill the thing while you're still using conventional armies... and needing more than one guy (probably) and pearls (most likely). And that spells pain in the butt guy all up in my stuff. He'd be most useful if you surprised them and crippled his forces. He'd probably be fine with a horror helm and some black steel stuff. I'll admit, however, that I only made him on SP, and used him more decked out... but, he was using horror helm and blacksteel. I gave him a brand though.

[Sombre]

Originally Posted by Micah

Isn't arcane bolt a missile spell? Those are pretty easy to shut down.

I do mean arcane bolt not opposition. I don't think it counts as a missile (you're thinking storm?), I could be wrong though. Haven't seen air shield have any effect on it.

If arcane bolt fails, there's always control of course, but frankly arcane bolt is the main thing that makes S nutty good against magic beings in cbm. Obviously it's not an instant I win button, but being AN, long range and extremely accurate and cheap, easy to research, it's an awesome counter right up there with the very best in the game, imo. Of course if it does have missile limitations, that's interesting and changes it a great deal.

[Stavis_L]

Originally Posted by llamabeast

Four of the resulting summons are modified versions of base game pretenders or monsters...

Currently you're using nation slot 93 to get around the issue of copystatting pretenders. I wonder (haven't tried) if you could use nation 23 (independents) or 24/25 (special monsters) to avoid consuming a nation slot?

[Sombre]

Originally Posted by BigDaddy

arcane bolt is pretty stiff, it has decent ranger (35) and an10+ and and 3 prec. 2 paths and 20 fatigue. So a 1s mage could cast it 5 times with 5pearls. It's level 1 evo, which is something most people could have by then. Opposition is lvl 6 enchantment, which is probably later.

With arcane bolt though, you're probably talking about specifically sending someone to kill the thing while you're still using conventional armies... and needing more than one guy (probably) and pearls (most likely). And that spells pain in the butt guy all up in my stuff. He'd be most useful if you surprised them and crippled his forces. He'd probably be fine with a horror helm and some black steel stuff. I'll admit, however, that I only made him on SP, and used him more decked out... but, he was using horror helm and blacksteel. I gave him a brand though.

No, it's 22+AN damage and 10 precision in cbm.

'It's something people will probably have by then' is a strange thing to say. GoR + research to get the magic being, versus a super low level spell that they'll have anyway because they'll have gone for arcane probe. No 'probably' about it. If it's midgame and you use a magic thug against them, they can research it in a turn if they haven't.

If you send S2 mages to cast arcane bolt and the magic being isn't there, they'll switch to numerous other awesome spells against the regular army no matter what's scripted. It isn't like stellar cascades paralyze and mind burn suck against regular troops.

I don't think magic thugs should even be considered against astral nations tbh.

[mehrunes_dagon]

Originally Posted by Sombre

I don't think magic thugs should even be considered against astral nations tbh.

And how many astral bolts are needed to kill Ember lord who has 160 health? And if he wears lead shield and anti-magic amulet?

[Graeme Dice]

Originally Posted by mehrunes_dagon

And how many astral bolts are needed to kill Ember lord who has 160 health? And if he wears lead shield and anti-magic amulet?

About 8 if he doesn't have a shield. More than that if he does. It's 20+ armor negating damage that doesn't require a MR roll.

[kianduatha]

The main problem with Arcane Bolt is that shields can parry it--a guy with a Shield of Gleaming Gold is effectively immune to the things. On the other hand, it's not MR-negates so it'll hit regardless of their antimagic amulets and so on.

[Graeme Dice]

That's also why nether bolt sometimes seems to be more reliable than nether darts.

[Sombre]

Are you sure it can be parried? Because while I haven't tested it, anecdotally it doesn't seem like it can be.