Guide: Magic Path Booster Guide

[Zeldor]

And items giving more than +1 should have it stated [like treelord's staff].

P.S. Is there any list of tartarians? Can you get any commanders at all from there? I didn't play much with it but I got only units that needed GoR.

[DigitalSin]

The tartarians have a small chance to be commanders, IIRC, as well as a small chance not to be feebleminded.

[Gregstrom]

I think Tartarians have 20% chance to be commanders? They are mentioned in the guide, as are Hidden in Snow mages. They come under the magic path required to summon them, which seems reasonable enough.

Staves of the Elements might deserve a bit more mention, but they are pretty tough to get and there are cheaper ways to boost any single path.

[mathusalem]

the tartarian king is ?7, once I had a 7A tartarian, W00t !

[Micah]

There are 2 cyclops tarts, 2 titans, the snake guy, the chained spirit, and the manticore.

The lightning bolt cyclops has E3A2
The cyclops with the sword is E4
The chained spirit is E3D2
The manticore has 2/2 picks
The male titan has 3/2/2 picks
the female titan has 3/2 picks
the snake has 2/2/1/1 picks

This is just based on a random sampling from a test game I have, but it should be pretty accurate. The picks can double up, and I'm not sure what the distribution restrictions are. The air-clops is the best chassis by far, while the manticore is nearly useless as a commander, being AFAIK the only unit to not get misc. item slots.

Hope that helps.

Tangentially, I don't think level 9 summons are available in time to really help diversify a nation's magic/booster access, you'll want to have it done before then.

[Edratman]

It should also be pointed out that this guide is oriented towards MP. For SP, where you are virtually assured of getting the Forge of Ancients (a global all but the most expert SP player should consider mandatory), the +1 forging ability to magic paths enormously facilitates the forging of all path boosters.

FYI, I consider the Forge mandatory for my games, thus establishing my skill level.

[sector24]

Great comments all, I'll update the guide this afternoon at work and hopefully have an update in a few hours.

[Twan]

I think it would be more clear if you add a separate section for all "diversification summons" like
- spectres (their place isn't in death but in "how to start to developp earth, water or astral magic")
- unfrozen mages (how to get earth with water/death)
- faerie queens (how to get air with nature)
- naiad (how to get nature 3, and so nature 5/6 with boosters starting with W3N1)
etc...

[sector24]

I updated the guide. Thanks for everyone's comments so far! By all means keep them coming.

EDIT 1-17-2008

Added Micah's paragraph about the Ring of Wizardry and made several changes to emphasize its importance
Removed Jade Mask from the Death section (not a general strategy)
Removed "Army of Lead" from the Earth section. Technically everyone is correct, the base path is 5 but it can be cast with E3 mages. It was a poor example.
Fixed Forbidden Light requirements and bonus
Removed "Awaken Treelord" from Relevant Summons due to his lack of item slots to hold boosters
Fixed Robe of the Sea requirement
Added section about Rainbow Pretender
Added Ether Gate where appropriate
General revisions based on feedback

In response to some of the posts:

Bind Ice Devil is B3W3 to get to W3, so Sea King's Court is much more likely.

I've never had a Heliophagus with a Death pick. Does anyone know the chances of this happening and what level of Death Magic?

I've never had an Archdevil or Ice Devil with an Astral pick. Does anyone know the chances of this happening and what level of Astral Magic?

I do not know what the randoms can be on Ether Gate, Summon Spectre, Hidden in Snow and Contact Lamia Queen. I can be more specific if I know what the possibilities are. The manual just has something like ?2 which is very vague.

[DigitalSin]

One of the Archdevils has astral, and one of the Ice Devils does as well. I think they're both at level 1.