Mictilan MA->Couatl

[Lord_Bob]

The Couatl seems to be a very troubled and weak Capital Only Top-Tier Mage. Since MA Mictlan is being changed, this thread is asking for thoughts about improvements that could be made to this basically not-so-usefull mage.

The Good:
Three Movement Flying:
Awesome for raiding, getting to the battle, leading fast magical troops(MA Argatha would LOVE these guys just for this). HOWEVER, most powerfull Astral Mages don't have much trouble getting places when they want to.

3 Astral- Paths match with Nahualli:
Communion Junky with the Flying Turkeys.
Easy casting of Power of the Spheres, and realitively easy to cast Light of the Northern Star

Astral-3 Nature-2 Holy-2 + Flying:
A very good site-searcher that always searches best first.

No Old Age:
Never gets disease from old age

17 Magic Resistance, 14 Morale, and 20 hitpoints:
Good resistance, good morale, good hitpoints

The BAD:
Size-4 - Flying:
Targeting them is easy.

Protection 5 and no body slot:
Hurting them once targeted is easy to.

400 Gold:
Loosing them is costly

Earth-0, No hands:
No earth path means no Nature path boost spell.
No hands and no body means no Thistle Mace, Treelord Staff.
They can use the Moonvine bracelet.

Only 3 Slots, 1-Head, 2-Misc to most races mages 7-Slots:
Other races top tier capital mages can be loaded down much more heavily than Couatls.

Compared to the Arch-Theurge, Grand Thaumaturg, the non-capital High Seraph, or even the Oracle of the Ancients, the Couatl has serious problems.

While the Oracle is slow, old, and has less paths for the same price, it also has 40 hitpoints and can wear armour, all 7 slots, can easily cast twice-born becoming an effective undead, and earth is easily boostable very high. In any case, MA Argatha has "The Golem Cult" while MA Mictlan lost blood and gained... the Couatl?

So what would it take to make the Couatl reasonable?

Is it okay now compared to some other MA Capital Only mages?

I think it should get extra Misc slots, one or two, and have nature moved to Air. Blocking arrows is no small thing for MA Mictlan. Also, having powerfull Air Magic is a special reserved for Air Races. Which is good and gives the game flavour. BUT, before Conjuration-8 and Construction-8 it is very difficult to get an air mage and all Air Magic boosters are Air-4 so short of designing your pretender with ALOT of points in Air Magic and getting lucky with an Air Indy Mage, races that don't have Air have trouble getting into it, site-searching, ect.

[Kristoffer O]

The patch is about to be released so there will be no further changes to the couatl. However there has been some. Still I find them very useful.

In my current MP game (where I play Mictlan) I have found them invaluable at times.

Light of northern star, baleful star, massprot, power of the spheres, will of fates, doom, antimagic, charm, enslave mind, etc. No big need to increase magic by items, since power of the spheres and northern star are available.

I have recruited several, and are happy with them all. They are strong enough to survive occasional stray shots and seeking arrows. If you get some other big units it shouldnt be too difficult to hide behind these. 20 HP is not that much.

Nahualli and Priest kings get 3 nature occasionally and can use thistle maces etc.

---

Couatl will have less N and additional A in the patch. But the sky priests will probably be more important as to blocking arrows.

[Edi]

With the next patch just around the corner, how about we wait and see what changes have been made and how they affect MA Mictlan? Just on the basis of the progress page, v3.08 MA Mictlan and the next version of the same nation seem radically different.

If these things are the same after the patch and are a problem, then it would be good idea to look at it again. Besides that, not all units are supposed to be the equal of all others, so a one on one comparison to an Agarthan Oracle for example is inappropriate. It's how MA Mictlan stacks up against MA Agartha as a whole which is the deciding factor.

[Evilhomer]

Anyone have a link to that page where you can see planned updates?

[Kristoffer O]

http://ulm.illwinter.com/dom3/dom3progress.html

[Lord_Bob]

Changes suggested were modding changes. Not long, irritating coding changes. Adding Misc slots for example. That said, I was not aware how close the patch was to release.

[Edi]

Not a problem. Feedback is welcome and you seem to be new here, so don't worry. Just pointed out why a bit more patience is good, but Kristoffer beat me to it.

Oh, and welcome to the forums for my part as well, Lord_Bob.

[archaeolept]

i haven't used the coatl yet, but am certainly planning to - mostly for those reasons kristoffer listed above. they're flying battlefield spell platforms

[BesucherXia]

Kristoffer O said:
http://ulm.illwinter.com/dom3/dom3progress.html

I usually check this page 3 times per day.

But this time...

3.10?

[Jazzepi]

archaeolept said:
i haven't used the coatl yet, but am certainly planning to - mostly for those reasons kristoffer listed above. they're flying battlefield spell platforms

I love flying mages. Highly mobile battlefield worthy mages make reinforcing your armies as needed much easier. They also retreat instantly, helping to keep them alive when the army routes.

Jazzepi