101 uses of Death 10 pretender

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Nagot Gick Fel:
It's the penetration that matter the most. You need death-11 to get +1 penetration over death-9 when casting Terror.

There's no MR check for terror, so I'm not sure what you're talking about here. There might be a morale check involved, but that would be something completely separate from the penetration bonus that affects MR.

[PhilD]

Originally posted by Wyatt Hebert:
Um, Phil, not to nitpick, but if you have Magic Level 10 in anything and cast a level 1 req spell, you get 1/10th the fatigue, not 1/9th.

Of course, you're right. And since I'm such a frequent nitpicker, it's hard for me to complain here...

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:
There's no MR check for terror

Doh! You're right. I've assumed there was one for ages, considering how easy it is to rout things with high death magic. I've always had the impression that a death-9 PoD casting Terror was more effective than 4 Sauromancers, while the latter cover a larger area and should trigger more morale checks.

[licker]

Originally posted by Peter Ebbesen:

quote:

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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.

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It could be fun, but I don't see how you will mass sacred troops with such a low dominion...

A dominion of 3 would let you recruit only 3 per turn (assuming they are capitol only...) until you get enough temples built, and that's not so cheap now is it with your massively negative scales.

I dunno, it's cute, but effective? Well I'd have to see it to believe it

It would seem as though death9 (or 10) is perhaps a useful investment of points, but 3 9s... well outside of certain nations (Ermor) I can't see it as a competitive alternative to a less focused blessing strat.

I do understand the 'fun factor' though, but I'm not concerned about the 'fun factor' right now, I'm more interested in successful high bless strats for competative MP games. Or failing that, just how many people would actually want to try a high bless strat for reasons other than surprise.

[Kristoffer O]

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:
There's no MR check for terror, so I'm not sure what you're talking about here. There might be a morale check involved, but that would be something completely separate from the penetration bonus that affects MR.

There seems to be a -5 mrl check independent of casters lvl.

Panic -3.

Thus panic (greater area) is better vs hordes of regular troops and terror better vs elites.

[PvK]

Several nations have expensive and strong holy units that you can only afford 2-3 per turn anyway at first. I could see some of them being quite tough units with a bunch of blessings on them.

Jotunheim, Vanheim, Ulm, Man, Machaka, Marignon, etc. have powerful units that even if only built a few per turn, stacked with blessings, can be very strong.

PvK

[Scott Hebert]

Originally posted by licker:
It could be fun, but I don't see how you will mass sacred troops with such a low dominion...

A dominion of 3 would let you recruit only 3 per turn (assuming they are capitol only...) until you get enough temples built, and that's not so cheap now is it with your massively negative scales.

I dunno, it's cute, but effective? Well I'd have to see it to believe it

It would seem as though death9 (or 10) is perhaps a useful investment of points, but 3 9s... well outside of certain nations (Ermor) I can't see it as a competitive alternative to a less focused blessing strat.

I do understand the 'fun factor' though, but I'm not concerned about the 'fun factor' right now, I'm more interested in successful high bless strats for competative MP games. Or failing that, just how many people would actually want to try a high bless strat for reasons other than surprise. [/QB]

Well, having read this Last night, I tried Ctis basic Last night with a Golden Naga Pretender. Basically had all scales -3 (though the Heat was only an effective -2) and had Fire 9, Air 8, Water 9. Granted, this is only the 2.02 demo, but...

it was absolutely disgusting. I played on Aran, and I think I may have lost a grand total of 10 Serpent Dancers all game. When you combine that with a Lizard King prophet who got Heroic Quickness... it was pretty scary.

As a note for the Luck thread, one of the first events I got in the game was the one that gives you a Hill Fortress (which was better than the one I started with). I had 3 Turmoil, 3 Misfortune, so you can guess how many lucky stars I was thanking. Again, old scales, but that's even worse, I think.

Oh, and regarding Dominion, I think I had taken a 7 Dominion. This was actually a mistake, because until I took a couple of Provinces, I could only afford to get 6 Dancers a turn.

Anyway, just my experience with it.

Bayushi Tasogare

[Peter Ebbesen]

Originally posted by licker:
It could be fun, but I don't see how you will mass sacred troops with such a low dominion...

A dominion of 3 would let you recruit only 3 per turn (assuming they are capitol only...) until you get enough temples built, and that's not so cheap now is it with your massively negative scales.

Under such a strategy, you do not want to build many temples, not at all. The more temples you build, the more you harm your core strategy.

As I see it (remember, this is all based on projections, as I have not actually played such a strategy yet) a vital ingredient to the low dominion approach will appear to be to play either a nation with extremely tough (but capital only) sacred troops [Black Hunters, Niefel Giants) - where you are unlikely to be able to recruit more than a few anyhow, OR to play a nation where you can recruit the sacred troops in each fortress. (And remember that sacred commanders may do instead of sacred troops. I shudder to think of a an army of four or five Last of the Tuatha Sidhe or Vanheim Vans with two or three L9 blessings...)

All things considered, Marignon comes to mind as probably the ultimate candidate for this strategy with BOTH cheap sacreds available in all fortresses AND tough sacreds available in the capital AND strong sacred mage/priests.