Horror Marking as a battle tactic for a non-Blood nation - Page 2

TwoBits · #11 July 25th, 2009, 10:40 AM

True, but then at least they're changing their scripts to deal with the horrors. That will likely make them less useful in the field (which is my goal - how many horror marks would it take for you to change your scripts, atul?

)

atul · #12 July 25th, 2009, 11:16 AM

Dunno, haven't noticed any effect yet. More than what you've accomplished thus far?-p

Pythium, turn 20ish, easy research. You could do better.

TwoBits · #13 July 25th, 2009, 11:59 AM

Hey, I've been busy! Plus, that fight was obviously something of a surprise for me, and I was just hoping I got some value in exchange for those 100+ casualties (I was actually kind of surprised my mages defaulted to Horror Mark in that situation, and cast it so often)!

Now that your pretender is apparently fleeing in terror, I guess it's all kind of a moot point

Joking and trash talking aside (to fill people in on this private conversation, atul's pretender CTed in on a big army of mine that was threatening an ally of his, and trashed it, but racked up a lot of horror marks in the process), the incident was definitely food for thought, and hence this thread.

So please, if anyone else has anything to contribute, whether more anecdotes, or hard data (does anyone have that?), do so. I'm sure atul and myself would appreciate it

SalsaDoom · #14 July 25th, 2009, 12:36 PM

Hi fellas.

Well, since I made that post all those years ago -- I've learned a few things about playing Dom3 and mostly about dealing with the nastier things that can happen. Personally, I'm always fond of playing an Immortal god if I'm going to go SC'ing around. But its not really necessary...

At least if I'm immortal its like, "Huh. That was interesting. Mmm coffee." But otherwise I like to ... become powerful really fast. Seriously. The meaner horrors are pretty horrific (unsurprisingly) but yeah, there are some good spells you can do to sort them out. Having a commander guarded by a solid group of guys helps a lot. With the right spells it doesn't take too much to kill them. That said I find the non-humanoid's like the Wyrm to be quite a bit less capable for dealing with them. Some of the higher level, more powerful spells are really extremely powerful... its worth going for a few of them early on if your gonna take a personal hand in things.

If you end up having to fight off horrors, well, yeah, script in a few of your meaner spells and sort them out. It just means in a regular combat a few poor enemy militia get hit by some really nasty stuff and die spectacularly

After a while, I find visiting horrors to be manageable. I just take solace that when I am the one true god, I will take a really, really, personal sort of revenge on those guys for the trouble.

thejeff · #15 July 25th, 2009, 12:52 PM

But if you're relying on bodyguards and the higher level single target spells you're not going to be cloud trapezing around destroying armies.
The single target spells aren't army destroying spells, nor are the buffs you use to take armies in melee what you want against horrors.

If you have to change gear/scripts to cope with potential horrors, you're not as effective against me. That's a win.

Again, even more so against a SC backing up an early rush, or even in the first series of wars, when horror counters are harder to come by.

atul · #16 July 25th, 2009, 01:22 PM

Dunno. The fact of life numero uno with dominions is that if your opponent wants some particular unit of yours dead it will be sooner or later. So better just not grow too attached.

Though pretender dead by endless swarm of horror attacks is usually the most sure way of pretender being down and staying there. If you can accomplish it.

SalsaDoom · #17 July 25th, 2009, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thejeff

But if you're relying on bodyguards and the higher level single target spells you're not going to be cloud trapezing around destroying armies.
The single target spells aren't army destroying spells, nor are the buffs you use to take armies in melee what you want against horrors.

If you have to change gear/scripts to cope with potential horrors, you're not as effective against me. That's a win. .

This is all true stuff. Unquestionably

But yes, my point though, is that horror mark can be dealt with. Its a nuisance, and it will likely end an SC pretender traipsing around your lands willy-nilly. Just like the spells supposed too. Its a great counter to SC's. It just makes said traipsing a lot more dangerous, and it will end up making me use my pretender for other things.

I wasn't trying to say that horror mark wasn't effective, only that I can live with it. It makes living a bit more complex, and a bit less flexible. And sometimes a bit shorter.

Thats why its never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket!

K · #18 July 26th, 2009, 06:25 AM

As a battle tactic, it is marginally useful. As a tool for psychological wafare, it is invaluable.

People tend to get super attached to SCs and Thugs, and Horror marking them "ruins" them in the eyes of these players. Sure, only one or two may die, but the player feels less confident sending Marked units into battle and so their threshhold for quitting becomes that much less.

SalsaDoom · #19 July 26th, 2009, 02:55 PM

Oh hell, I totally do myself. For someone with serious villain/evil inclinations, I have a bizarre habit of getting attached to my commanders. I even get attached to my troops once they become veteran enough. Its probably a bad thing, but hey, thats the game for me

That said. My strategy is moving toward having a couple of solidly equipped thugs clambering along with an army. I play a mod-side that I made that is basically bits and pieces of things that I like -- it doesn't really contain anything fancy (Well, except a unit I made, a Howitzer. Works as advertised. I'm pretty pleased with the sprite too.).. it doesn't field things like SC's out of the box but I think it does field excellent thugs if you equipped them nicely. The point is though, I try and disperse a good group of them. That way, if anything goes wrong and they get offed, there are others who can receive the love of affection of their god still.

If one gets horrormarked or some such... well, I think the best thing you can do is use 'em till you lose 'em. Long as you keep that in mind horrormarking is annoying, effective, but not devastating. Probably works best on sentimental types

Agema · #20 July 27th, 2009, 07:06 AM

You probably need about 50+ horror marks from horror mark/astral geyser to get decent horrors to turn up and attack with reasonable frequency. Depends to an extent on the SC you're facing too: one that can't hold a weapon or cast a suitable spell (eg. gifts from heaven) can be in real trouble as they have severe difficulty killing the horror.

Astral Geyser can still be a useful spell, but for the damage not the horror marking. It has got good range and decent AoE, and is cheap in fatigue. It is only 2AN MR, but that still means against most opponents you'll affect every second unit for an average of about 3.5 damage.