Water magic on land?

[jaif]

I've been playing ma tien chi on an all-land map. I noticed that a significant portion of water magic spells deal with being underwater (summon kraken, water breathing, etc).

Besides evo-2 cold bolt/beam/deathray/whatever, what early-game water magic is appealing? Especially summons or items - how do I use all those stupid water gems? The only thing I can come up with is clam of pearls, and that takes a bit of work to finagle.

Bonus question - what's a river do, besides make a bright blue mark? I didn't find it in the terrain section.

-Jeff

[Tyrant]

River does nothing unless it's a player made map that's set up so it does.

As to the water gems- Boots of Quickness and Bottle of Living Water are great items, you can never really have too many. Frost Brands are pretty much the best sword you can buy and a bargain at 5 gems. You will want Water Braclets for anyone who plans to use Falling Frost. Ice Drakes have uses and Winter Wolves are ok.

[Ballbarian]

A province with a river running through it has the "fresh water" terrain tag. I think this means that the province is susceptible to flooding. Some spells may be able to take advantage of this fact.

There may be some other effects related to income and such, but I really don't know what they might be.

[Endoperez]

Fresh Water provinces are also richer IIRC.

[Sandman]

Numbness is a decent debuff spell for the early game. The Ice Pebble Staff at con-2 is a handy item for melee commanders who would otherwise sit around doing nothing.

[Jazzepi]

Tyrant said:
River does nothing unless it's a player made map that's set up so it does.

As to the water gems- Boots of Quickness and Bottle of Living Water are great items, you can never really have too many. Frost Brands are pretty much the best sword you can buy and a bargain at 5 gems. You will want Water Braclets for anyone who plans to use Falling Frost. Ice Drakes have uses and Winter Wolves are ok.

I love the bottles. Love them.

The only problem is if you are in a territory that has any levels of cold in it, all the elementals spawn as ice elementals with a cold aura Unless you're playing a nation like the giants where everyone has cold resistance it generally just kills your mages off, as the elementals have a hard time of finding their way to the front of the battle.

Jazzepi

[atul]

Does the river province affect magic sites also? I've found water magic site 'River Fortress', which gives you a free fort. I'd guess it could be restricted to river provinces.

Most of the aforementioned propositions enforce my previous feel: water gems early game are stored for mid-game where they find some use. Which applies to most gems in general, of course.

[Jazzepi]

atul said:
Does the river province affect magic sites also? I've found water magic site 'River Fortress', which gives you a free fort. I'd guess it could be restricted to river provinces.

Most of the aforementioned propositions enforce my previous feel: water gems early game are stored for mid-game where they find some use. Which applies to most gems in general, of course.

I agree with Atul. This doesn't make them bad, they're actually quite good, it's just akward sometimes when your nation isn't setup to use them out of the box. For nation like T'ien Ch'i with lots of magic diversity clam hording should always be an option. Since water gems are the most expensive part of that process, keep in mind they're very value if you're considering that strategy.

Jazzepi

[Ballbarian]

I recommend giving the water bottles to commanders with some armor & shield (missile protection of some sort). Place them near the front lines with orders to stay behind troops.

[jaif]

Thanks all for the replies. So many things. :-)

I'm mostly concerned with the first 10-20 turns of the game or so. I find these set the tone for the rest of the game. I'm trying to find stuff I can do after reasearching xxx=2.

So far I like Tien Chi for having a more practical army than Ulm. Ulm's army maybe nice and elie, but Tien Chi gains a lot of flexibility and speed while giving up very little strength. I can easily build Tien Chi armies to take out most independants (str 5 is the default, I think).

But I'm kinda at a loss when I use the mages early only. That ice pebble staff may be something for me to look at - I just ignored it in my game.

-Jeff