Priests and LA Ermor

[Lord_Bob]

I've done some tests with priests vs. LA Ermor, and I'm kinda wondering about the talk about "Priests counter Ermor". Even without buffing, 300 castle undead inflicted 19 kills on the infantry protecting 10 priests with shields.

Given the insane priest/undead ratio, the lack of ANY buffs for the undead, and the presence of 60 infantry, am I missing something, or is this "the sucky strategy" that is supposed to work?

Cause playing Ermor, I can easily see how I'd run this over.

[Lord_Bob]

If I'm missing something about using priests against Ermor, then I really do want to hear it. Is there some specific thing necessary to make them work? If there is some pre-Level 7 spell that is necessary, then please say it.

If this is just another pathetically broken piece of c***, then please admit it so I can realize I have no chance and move on from there.

[VedalkenBear]

Well, using Priests against Ermor is generally a matter of quantity. Regarding your initial post, I'm confused about the second sentence.

Did you kill 300 Undead in exchange for 19 kills on your priest's guards? If so, I would think that's a fair exchange. Any buffs that the undead would get would be minor, since the MR buff is rather hard to 'stick'.

Something you might want to consider is the 'priest raiding strategy'where you send about 20 priests into an Ermorian province scripted with Banishx5 then flee.

Regarding spells, Solar Rays (Evo2 S2) can be very effective. If you have the gems and have researched Construction 4, you can make Herald Lances (S2, 10 pearls) which would let any commander throw Solar Rays.

Almost any Area effect Evocation will be effective. Falling Fire/Frost is quite good. Dust to Dust (D1, Thau1) is very good against undead, and Wither Bones (D3, Thau6) is even more effective. Against chaff undead (especially longdead) Blade Wind (E3, Evo4) is also quite effective.

It would help if we knew what nation you were playing to give more pointed advice.

[Lord_Bob]

-Did you kill 300 Undead in exchange for 19 kills on your priest's guards? If so, I would think that's a fair exchange. Any buffs that the undead would get would be minor, since the MR buff is rather hard to 'stick'.

A single castle/temple Ermor undead generator creates 25 undead a turn.

[Lord_Bob]

-Regarding spells, Solar Rays (Evo2 S2) can be very effective.

This statement indicates you are another ra-ra Dominions player. A mage killing 3 undead per turn is not great. It is pathetic. It is so pathetic that there are no words to describe it's patheticness.

-Dust to Dust (D1, Thau1)
Dust to Dust was designed to kill the Vampire Queen and other super-powerful undead. It is USELESS against legions of dead.

-Something you might want to consider is the 'priest raiding strategy'where you send about 20 priests into an Ermorian province scripted with Banishx5 then flee.
Yes, I can see this working.

[llamabeast]

You sure are aggressive with your opinions Lord_Bob.

[cupido2]

Hey Lord_Bob, those people try to help you, they save you time making up strategies and list all the things that could be helpful against those undeads so be at least a bit polite. If you think solar rays is useless, just write "I think it's useless" instead of "This statement indicates you are another ra-ra Dominions player". No need to be so rude.

[VedalkenBear]

Any money this degenerates into another flame thread. Can we just all ignore him?

And Lord_Bob? If a 15:1 kill ratio is not enough for you, I'd suggest finding another game. As you say, an Ermorian Castle can spawn about 25 undead a turn. Surely you can get 1.667 guards for your priests in the same time period? It's not like you are losing the priests, no?

If you have a high dominion, there's also Purgatory. Wrath of God can also work. Yes, they are Globals. If you can't guard them, don't use them.

>I made sure every battle I fought I had darkness, rigor >mortis and protection of the sepulchre up. This meant I >would often destroy far more of the enemy or equal >numbers, which of course means Ermor wins given its huge >freespawn every turn.

Responding to a different poster, you were able to put these up, every battle, with every army? This sounds a little hard to believe. That's also two level 6 battle enchantments that cost a total of 5 death gems every battle. This does not sound like a 'pre-level 7' issue that needs to be responded to, which is what Lord_Bob specified.

[vfb]

VeldalkenBear wasn't suggesting that you (Lord_Bob) have mages cast Solar Rays. His suggestion was to build herald lances, and give them to your non-mage commanders. If they are hasted (W9 bless or equip) then I think the Solar Rays fire faster. And the lances give a morale boost to your front line too.

Anyway, it's better than having your commanders just sitting there doing nothing.

What nation are you playing? You could always hope for this guy. He's not even in a communion! With 16 communion slaves, you could get him up to H14. That should help with your banishment .

[K]

In my experience, the Level 1 priests you can recruit are almost useless for this purpose. This is because Banishment's AoE and damage is based heavily on Holy level, and Holy 1 makes a very small Area of Effect and doesn't do much damage.

Holy 2, however, is the real deal. Put five Holy 2's on the field and you will see more killed undead than ten Holy 1s.

Also, when fighting Ermor and blasting them with Banishments, you want to make the combat go longer, so they spend more time dying. Simple infantry recruited out of a Indie province is BS. Put heavily armored and hopefully Lifeless things on the front (I like Statues), but regenerating meatshields work as well. Luck armies are also ideal.

Stuck with Holy 1's? There are several ways to increase Holy level. They are Prophet(one H3), Crystal Shield(E1,S1 for for +1H) or Power of the Spheres(S1 spell and one pearl for +1H), Communions or Sabbaths(easy to get a +2H with four slaves), two artifacts(+1 Hs), Hellpower(B3 and 3 slaves for +2H, beware the Horrors), and summoning Telestic Animations(H2).

Done correctly, you should be throwing down so many kills that your priests will be competing against each other for spots on the Hall of Fame, and you have losses per battle in the single digits. Ermor's real weakness is that you basically know the 6-7 kinds of units it'll use, and you'll see SCs and some summoned crap thrown in for flavor.

Ps. Penetration rules. Eyes of the Void and Spell Focuses are a must to counter a self-buffing Ermor.