Equipment: which to use and what to avoid?

[Ravagemk2]

With the, not exactly small, collection of items in this wonderful game to find and/or forge, what are some of your equipment approaches and/or favorites?

As I mentioned in my other post, I'm still quite the newbie to the game, and some of the item descriptions are dubious at best.(Bearclaw Talisman anyone?)

Personally, I've sofar been trying to get as much offensive ability on my non spellcasters, so I often end up with 2 weapons on my stuff, usually completely ignoring defense unless I don't need more weapons.

Is dual wielding, regardless of weapon types, preferable to a 2 handed weapon?

2 copies of the same one handed weapon tend to deal more damage then it's 2 handed counterpart.(I think?)

Anyone here ever tried wielding 4 weapons on the 4 armed commanders/pretenders? If so, just how deadly did they get?

I've noticed the Air and Fire domains let you build RP boosting items, always a good investment I'd assume?

I can definately see the usefulness of items which generate magic gems, especially if you don't have a Turmoil+Luck scale setup or the item makes a gem type you don't have easy access to.

[LDiCesare]

4 weapons is fun but generally speaking 2 area of effect weapons are enough to clean around you. And life drain is so great that fire brand, frost brand, and the 2h life stealing sword make a fine combo.
I wouldn't ignore defese if I were you. You're very likely to lose your super equipped combatant if you do that. Charcoal shields are great for both defense and offense for instance, as they can kill your opponents.
The owl quill is auite poor. Death has a much much better research item (skull mentor). Fire is quite good too.

[quantum_mechani]

(assuming base game):

Most all-purpose items:

Luck pendant, frost brand, anti magic amulet, starshine skullcap, boots of flying, charcoal shield, ring of regeneration, marble armor, lifelong protection pact.

Strong Niche:

Reinvig items (especially boots of the messenger), almost anything providing an elemental resist, eye shield, rime hauberk, other luck items, quickness items, horned helmet.

Avoid:

Crystal heart, bear claw talisman, red and blue dragon armor, silver hauberk, crystal shield, hammer of the mountains, bane blades, any whip, evening star, star of heroes, star of thraldom, boots of giant strength.

[Dedas]

quantum_mechani said:
(assuming base game):

Most all-purpose items:

Luck pendant, frost brand, anti magic amulet, starshine skullcap, boots of flying, charcoal shield, ring of regeneration, marble armor, lifelong protection pact.

Strong Niche:

Reinvig items (especially boots of the messenger), almost anything providing an elemental resist, eye shield, rime hauberk, other luck items, quickness items, horned helmet.

Avoid:

Crystal heart, bear claw talisman, red and blue dragon armor, silver hauberk, crystal shield, hammer of the mountains, bane blades, any whip, evening star, star of heroes, star of thraldom, boots of giant strength.

Star of Heroes is not so bad (at least when playing MA Ulm).

Pros
* +4 attack (against shields +6)
* Destroys all armor except magical)
* Quite good damage (12 + strength)
* One handed and not so long (2) for ambidextrous use
* Cheap 5E (even cheaper for master smiths)

Cons
* -2 defense. But this is not really a con when playing MA Ulm as your defense is abysmal anyway. Just go offense and more armor.

[llamabeast]

Ooh, I just tried Star of Heroes - yeah, it's not too bad. Two attacks as well! I gave some Black Knights two Stars each, nd they ended up with 4 attack-14 damage-26 attacks, which I think isn't bad for 6 gems (or 4 with hammers, I think).

[Dedas]

Just to point one thing out again that is easily forgotten: Maces/Morningstars/Flails/Whips (magical and non magical) gives +2 EXTRA attack against ALL shields. This is not seen when you click on "attack".

Thus the flail gets 2 attacks (+1) + -2 defense on the target in the second attack + if shielded +2 on all attacks.

Example:
Unit A attacks unit B

Unit A
Base 10 attack
With flail 11

Unit B
Base 10
With shield 14

Unit A
First attack
Attacks 11 + 2 against shield = 13
Defense 14
13 against 14

Second attack
Attacks 11 + 2 against shield = 13
Defense 14 - 2 for second attack = 12
14 against 12

Flails damage is only +3 though. So don't try them against heavy infantry with shields. Instead use morningstars +6 damage. Against heavy infantry without shields use battle axes or mauls depending on defense.
But you can clearly see flail guys rock against light infantry.

All weapons in the game have their niche I believe. MA Ulm's infantry pretty much covers them all. My tip is to recruit units with the weapons able to most easily deal with the defense you expect to be up against. If possible that is.

[quantum_mechani]

Dedas said:

Star of Heroes is not so bad (at least when playing MA Ulm).

Pros
* +4 attack (against shields +6)
* Destroys all armor except magical)
* Quite good damage (12 + strength)
* One handed and not so long (2) for ambidextrous use
* Cheap 5E (even cheaper for master smiths)

Cons
* -2 defense. But this is not really a con when playing MA Ulm as your defense is abysmal anyway. Just go offense and more armor.

This still does not really stack up even against weapons of sharpness. The destroy armor effect is fun, but anything you are paying to equip should have enough punch to kill most things with non-magical armor in one hit.
Armor piercing is just much more useful against tough opponents than destroying non magical armor and the anti-shield effect, while in most cases the attack bonus is easily canceled by the defense hit. Another good weapon to compare it to is the fire sword, again a trinket, with very similar stats but much easier on the defense.

As for every weapon having a niche, I invite you to compare battle axes and mauls, or short bows and longbows. Unless by niche you simply mean you are often don't have the full selection of weapons available. Or for forgable weapons, take a look at the vine whip, even the star of heroes looks good next to it. I actually agree flails and morning stars have a niche (on troops), but I think such generalizations are just aren't realistic.

[Dedas]

Yes, I agree Quantum, some weapons are worse than others in every way except one - in cost. In some cases cost is a factor, in others not so much. That is what I mean with niche as well. Now and then you don't need that extra damage or that extra attack, you will be better of with more troops or more weapons instead. Quantity over quality if you will.
But that isn't black or white, quality will conquer quantity with hardly any loses at some levels. So few loses will it take that it would have been better to go with quality. The key word is of course efficiency, but that is relative to a number of things.

As always it is good to come up with an example:
What do you prefer:
4 Black lords kitted with low class magic items.?
Or
1 Black lord kitted with high class items?

The answer is of course: "it depends". Maybe you could take 4 provinces at once with the low class BL, and only one with the one BL. But maybe the four low class BL can't take one thug? What do you prefer? With those extra provinces you might find gems faster to kit out an even better BL.
So you looking at the whole picture and from there drawing good conclusion (not the best because it is almost impossible to predict exactly how humans will react to your decisions) on how to act seems like a good way to play. Trying to approximate what is the perfect move.

[Ewierl]

quantum_mechani said:Avoid:

Crystal heart, bear claw talisman, red and blue dragon armor, silver hauberk, crystal shield, hammer of the mountains, bane blades, any whip, evening star, star of heroes, star of thraldom, boots of giant strength.

I've actually found Silver Hauberk occasionally useful. Not often enough to put into even a "Strong Niche" category, certainly not "avoid". It provides 16 protection for 1 encumberance, which is the best protection you can get for 1enc. If you need to keep the wearer's fatigue low, it can be the best pick out there; the Air Shield effect is just gravy.

Yes, Rainbow Armor is generally better for the fatigue-watchers, but there are situations (especially in early game) when an extra 6 protection can be better than the MR/revig. And more importantly, you don't always have the NA paths.

[chrispedersen]

Clearly the death item mentioned rocks - but it isn't necessarily so that owl quills are a bad idea.

If I have a small caster, something like a 1-2 path with 1-2 levels in each path, and a drain scale, so my net research is 5 or so...

spending one character action to add 3 build points is worthwhile (imo).