101 uses of Death 10 pretender

DarkTears · #1 March 27th, 2004, 11:27 AM

In multi games many people are playing death 10 pretenders. Why people choose death 10 for Ashen Empire / Sould Gate Ermor?
Any why the start with 10D for other nations? And why give death10 to a FoB?
Please reply if you are a 10D player.

Thanks!

Tuna-Fish · #2 March 27th, 2004, 12:09 PM

I am not a D10 player but the reason seems rather clear: D10 gives a very nice fear for all blessed troops. When playing nation with cheap sacreds (flagellants?) mass them all together and as their effect is cumulative watch as indies, or normal armies, flee before taking a single hit. Helps initial expansion massively for some nations. Also, D10 can be very useful later in the game as many death summons give more troops for higher level caster, making your pretender essentially into a very efficient undead factory.

Nagot Gick Fel · #3 March 27th, 2004, 12:21 PM

Reasons I can see:

- Improved Fear Aura on sacred troops and pretender, IIRC the Fear Aura gets bigger at +5, +10, +15 etc. so having a multiple of 5 can be seen as a step towards optimizing the Fear effect

- Turning expensive living mages to undead to save on upkeep costs

- Better bang for your bucks on some reanimations/conjurations (eg, Summon Ghosts)

- Lowered resistance of targets for resistable rituals (eg, Leprosy) or battlefield spells (eg, Terror), or increased damage (eg, Cloud of Death)

Gandalf Parker · #4 March 27th, 2004, 04:56 PM

Isnt there also some nasty global spells for 10d?

For anyone with cheap sacreds that they tend to use as sword fodder, that "death curse" isnt a bad add-on also.

Im not so much for maxing an single field as in doing combos. There is a playable strategy for maxing all the bad scales and taking more blessings. Not a total ultimate strategy and not easy to play but a fun one to consider. You can get all 4's and one or two 9's from it.

[ March 27, 2004, 14:57: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

DarkTears · #5 March 27th, 2004, 05:25 PM

IIRC Utterdark is the only 9D spell, and there is no 8 or 10 D spell. Bone Grinding, Tartarian Gate and Undead Mastery are 7. I think there is no 10th level spell in the game at all.

licker · #6 March 27th, 2004, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Isnt there also some nasty global spells for 10d?

For anyone with cheap sacreds that they tend to use as sword fodder, that "death curse" isnt a bad add-on also.

Im not so much for maxing an single field as in doing combos. There is a playable strategy for maxing all the bad scales and taking more blessings. Not a total ultimate strategy and not easy to play but a fun one to consider. You can get all 4's and one or two 9's from it.

Hmm, I was going to make a poll about this actually, but my connection is too slow and it was too annoying

Anyway, how many people actually take high blessings for MP games? I've not really seen anyone doing it. Though there are several reasons for it... national sacred troops are poor (too expensive, whatever...), need points for other scales, etc...

I personally enjoy the blessings, but I can't see using them in a serious MP game. Perhaps for some nations, but overall... They just don't seem worth the opportunity cost.

Gandalf Parker · #7 March 27th, 2004, 07:11 PM

Its rather a specialized tactic. It either works really REALLY well in an MP game as a surprise, or it fails miserably and early.

But I have a number of such variations in my bag of tricks. Having a favorite nation with a favorite strategy that does well in MP games is kindof a baseline. Everyone should have that. But if everyones baseline is too average then the game is just a really long juggling for position. In a game with many people playing their middle-of-the-road strategys, an extreme strategy has a chance to shake things up.

--
If you cant beat 'em, then join 'em.
If you cant beat em or join em,
then at least try to surprise them.

Peter Ebbesen · #8 March 27th, 2004, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Im not so much for maxing an single field as in doing combos. There is a playable strategy for maxing all the bad scales and taking more blessings. Not a total ultimate strategy and not easy to play but a fun one to consider. You can get all 4's and one or two 9's from it.

Catastrophic scales, minimal dominion (1-3), expand in front of your dominion, and just keep rolling while your ultra-powerful Pretender goes on a conquest spree and your sacred mass-blessed troops carve out a realm of glory for you?

Then you will probably want the ability to rapidly build a fortress near your ever expanding frontlines, which means the 40 point Mausoleum.

That should leave you enough points for THREE level 9 blessings and a single 4 on a Naga Chassis, or two level 9 blessings and 4 on the rest. Could be brutal.

I have got to try that one out one day - sounds fun.

Teraswaerto · #9 March 27th, 2004, 07:42 PM

Mictlan is the one nation that really needs to use (a) blessing(s), especially in MP. It probably can work for some others, like Niefelheim and Last of the Tuatha.

Gandalf Parker · #10 March 27th, 2004, 08:34 PM

[quote]Originally posted by Peter Ebbesen:

Quote:

That should leave you enough points for THREE level 9 blessings and a single 4 on a Naga Chassis, or two level 9 blessings and 4 on the rest. Could be brutal.

I have got to try that one out one day - sounds fun.

You laid out the strategy perfectly. ALso keep in mind the nations where some of the catastrophic scales are of no conern for them or even beneficial.

When I first tried it I expected my home capital to fall quickly under the burden of horrible events but was surprised to find that not much happened to me for quite a long time. Well, more happened but not nearly as balancingly horrible as I expected for all the gain.