How to not die

[Baalz]

I'm not sure what exactly the point you are arguing is. My point: spells & tactics which increase your attack/defense/fatigue advantage can be more effective in some situations than the typical SC/artillery configurations most people tend to goto. Sure, you could have basalt kings with construction-6 researched. And some alteration researched to make him actually useful. And conjuration (earthpower). And have invested in a strong blessing. And have the gems and spent the time to forge appropriate SC gear. And have him where you need him. And your opponent doesn't have nasty SC counters (charm, a couple bishop fish spamming smite, etc.) Or....maybe one of those things isn't true and instead you're trying to figure out how to stop an attack with a couple gems and stuff you've recruited out of your border fort.

Sure, "standard" tactics like kitting out a Basalt King can be very effective, that's why they're standard tactics. You're really limiting yourself by not being open to using other tactics though when they make sense - which includes the fact that you're not doing exactly what your opponent expects.

I also don't understand what your reluctance is about using early magic. It's an opportunity cost, obviously, but many an early war can be turned by a couple mages dropping early spells like numbness or tangling vines precisely because early wars usually involve smaller number of troops so countering 10-20 troops can be a very big deal. Obviously it's a bad idea to try and tag slingers with numbness....but I'm seldom much worried about pulling my mages out to stop a slinger rush. That's, admittedly a snarky way to phrase your position, but really what you're saying is "there are lots of situations where numbess isn't gonna cut it". No arguments from me on that one, but I think you're vastly underestimating how often a dozen or two super elite units are dominating the early battlefields.