10 Magic Strength Pretenders....

[Graeme Dice]

Aku said:
Is it by the amount of attacks or the amount of attackers that drops defense down? I thought it is the amount of attackers.

It's the number of attacks.

But are the serpent cult mages n3 because if so you could have them scripted to charm when you get attacked by sc's.

They are only W1N2?1, which is my major gripe with the theme.

[Tuna]

Earth-10 on a cyplops is also good, esp. for pythium. Good rein for both communicants and mages, +4 armor that can make the mages Last a quite a bit longer, A pretender that can take lots of punches early on and a truly suberb Enliven statues caster. Just slap on earth boots and he makes 26 statues a turn with the price tag of 20E, or 0,75 gems a piece. (usually 2 gems a piece.) The statues augment pythian mages very well, being mindless lifeless 14 def 22 prot 15 hp size 3 troops that can protect your mages against sc's and armies for quite some time while the said mages deal destruction. As a Last bonus, once you reach alt9, that you are going to want for wish anyway, you can cast army of lead that is a battlefield-wide protection/mr spell that turns even militias (or mages, for that matter) into a stone wall...

[Cainehill]

Er - how often does Wish get cast except by Astral Pretenders? A top rank Astral mage is S4. Starshine Skullcap, ring of sorcery, ring of wizardry take that to S7. Replace the ring of sorcery with the Forbidden Light, S8. I guess you could always empower a mage from S4 to S5, and for nations other than Arco, R'lyeh, and Pythium, you have to empower up to S4 and then S5? (And then see your Empowered Wisher get killed by the Horrors the Forbidden Light brings.)

[En Forcer]

well the Fire 10 Moloch is doing well. I've been using him in combat and in joint ops with salamanders (priests) and warlocks.

The sacred lava warriors are carving through enemy ranks like butter. Thats the troops that haven't already fled...

[Nagot Gick Fel]

En Forcer said:
well the Fire 10 Moloch is doing well.

Now ask yourself, does it work that much better than a Fire 9 Moloch to justify the cost? These 56 design points could buy you a better castle, an extra click on the good side of a scale, an extra candle or 2, a special dominion effect like Desert Sun.

[En Forcer]

Oh you are absolutely correct. It is not the most EFFICIENT use of design points.

BUT I wanted to pursue this path to research the FUN factor of having a totally overpowered pretender on the field and what the differences might be between the different paths. See what the bless effects were like.

So you are right. This is not the best way to go. I would even argue that having a 9 anything pretender is not a good idea or worth it.

But it is kinda fun...

[Kel]

Cainehill said:

Er - how often does Wish get cast except by Astral Pretenders?

For me, the way you listed is pretty much exactly how it gets cast and is fairly normal in the late game when I play arco (I haven't played a lot of late game rlyeh/atlantis but I assume they would empower with clam generated astral). If you are lucky, you can also sometimes trade for or even hunt up a robe of the magi instead of empowering though empowering is more common.

Otoh, I rarely, if ever, take astral on a pretender (of course I don't play Ermor, either).

- Kel

[Nagot Gick Fel]

En Forcer said:
But it is kinda fun...

The most fun you can get with a level 10 blessing is equipping a Prince of Death with an Horror Helmet, a Stymphalian Wings armor and the Aegis. That's a grand total of Fear(+35). Even ultra-elite troops won't stay for long on the battlefield when this one starts scattering them around .

[Vicious Love]

Plus the Sceptre of Unholy Regency, that's +3, plus the Book of Profane Secrets, or whatever, that's +7, if I'm not mistaken, plus... any other misc items that cause fear?

Update: Also, would the Armor of Virtue make him more frightful than the Stymphalian Wings? Death 10 blessing on an undead unit, how much is that?

[Cainehill]

Kel said:

Otoh, I rarely, if ever, take astral on a pretender (of course I don't play Ermor, either).

I've taken Astral on the pretender several times now, on purpose despite knowing "Never put astral on your pretender". I'll often put it on an immortal (liches and phoenix) since it isn't as much of a liability there.

I've also been asked, "What is Astral doing on your Ghost King???" On a large map (one of the Cradle Versions), I figured my GK could easily avoid astral assassins, and would otherwise only be in danger if the home castle was endangered (scripting the recall spell).

Pretty fun, and successful - forged the Forbidden Light, and will soon be casting my very first Wishes, if the game goes on long enough (most players have gone AI, and Norfleet's abandoned Caelum have been trampling some other players).

Really made a difference for a nation that otherwise doesn't get astral - Vanheim's Helheim theme.