What to do about Ermor ....

[Pickles]

Why did it fatigue out? What spells were you casting?

I was being a bit disingenuous. It cast some buffs then used Tempest for an attack spell which is what did it in really.

It was my faulty programming & using it outside an army that did for it. There is no inherent flaw with the concept - which is one I also use.

Pickles

[Boron]

With 3S, the golem can teleport from the lab to a distant province, and in battle can cast Body Ethereal, Astral Shield, Personal Luck, Twist Fate, and Astral Weapon before stomping away.

That's pretty high-end, though and not well in line with Jotun's magic paths.

that is pretty dangerous . just 2 words : MIND DUEL .

i don't remember if i ever saw the ai cast that in sp but i think it does sometimes too .
in mp this is extremely dangerous though .

furthermore i see no reinvigation items / life drain items on the golem sc .
so i have to agree with pickles and add : after the spells he might have 70-80 fatigue but can't recover so after a few tramples he fatigues out .

imho this setup is extremely bad for a golem sc even against ai ermor .

[LintMan]

that is pretty dangerous . just 2 words : MIND DUEL .

i don't remember if i ever saw the ai cast that in sp but i think it does sometimes too .
in mp this is extremely dangerous though .

Yes, it's a bit of a concern, but hasn't been a problem for me in SP (I don't play MP).

furthermore i see no reinvigation items / life drain items on the golem sc .
so i have to agree with pickles and add : after the spells he might have 70-80 fatigue but can't recover so after a few tramples he fatigues out .

imho this setup is extremely bad for a golem sc even against ai ermor .

Golems are lifeless, 0-encumberance so they do not fatigue out just from melee/trampling. I've used them - they work well.

Note: I'm not claiming this is an uber SC combo. It's not - It lacks many resistances you want on a SC and is poorly equipped to deal with large (size 5-6) enemies or enemy SC's since it lacks a good weapon or high defense. Perhaps "mini-SC" or some other term might have been better. And the item set I listed is just my personal choice, which I freely vary to match my current situation -and Pickles' Version is arguably better than the listed one. But my only point in mentioning this golem SC was that it is very efficient for going against large masses of cheap units and killing them quickly without getting overwhelmed.

[Boron]

oh i thought you play mp too lintman .

have you ever encountered an ai casting mind duel ?
i am not sure if i saw them ever casting this spell but i am not sure and i think you have much more sp expierience then me because i always tend to boom there ( wish etc. and not be agressive earlygame ).

[Arryn]

have you ever encountered an ai casting mind duel ?

Not yet. OTOH, I don't play Dom 2 day and night for months on end so my observations may not be as statistically significant as that of some others on this forum (those die-hard fanatics know who they are).

[LintMan]

Boron said:
oh i thought you play mp too lintman .

have you ever encountered an ai casting mind duel ?
i am not sure if i saw them ever casting this spell but i am not sure and i think you have much more sp expierience then me because i always tend to boom there ( wish etc. and not be agressive earlygame ).

My playing time is usually extremely limited and I'm a slow turn-taker so mp would be hard for me to keep up with most games. I might venture into mp at some point if I can find a mega-slow game and when I'm ready to get my butt kicked.

Like Arryn, I've never seen the AI use mind duel, but I've seen other people on this forum say that the AI has done so on occasion, so it's not impossible.

In SP, I'm pretty aggressive in the early game, but in mid to late game, I tend to slow down and boom also - it's just too much fun forging items, making wishes, etc to rush to end the game.

It seems we've usurped magnate's AAR (DAR?) thread... How's it going there, magnate?

[Arryn]

LintMan said:It seems we've usurped magnate's AAR (DAR?) thread... How's it going there, magnate?

This was an 'AAR' thread? Looked more like a "I'm getting my *** kicked, HELP!" thread.

[Stormbinder]

Arryn said:

This was an 'AAR' thread? Looked more like a "I'm getting my *** kicked, HELP!" thread.

LOL

[magnate]

Arryn said:

This was an 'AAR' thread? Looked more like a "I'm getting my *** kicked, HELP!" thread.

Can't it be both?

It's ... um .... er ... well, it's ok ... just about. Thanks for asking. Ermor seems to have stopped expanding but has developed this habit of sending one commander and 50 undead to attack one of my provinces every turn (the same province, in fact) - they get wiped out by my priest phalanx for no loss, but he's still too strong for me to make any further inroads. So I've got a whole bunch of priests with really useful stats like heroic toughness, heroic strength, etc. etc.

The battle with Tien Chi is really humming. I didn't have the right mage levels for any of the spells you suggested vs the living statues, but as someone else said the giants are pretty strong so I just overwhelmed them with numbers. There's one massive army of about 180 units wandering around - if I can beat that I think I can take him (I've found his capital). My pretender is leading about 40 giants, which is not quite enough to take 180 yet.

I've also found the Caelum capital, which is massively defended (~300 units), but he seems exceptionally unaggressive and I just can't spare the armies to take it yet. Same with Abysia - I've been sitting outside his for years but haven't the resources to take it.

What is it with Pythium?? They still have no provinces, they're still under siege from what I assume must be R'lyeh (process of elimination - I can't actually find their capital), but they're still casting Imprint Souls at MY provinces!! Bastards. The latest one overcame the defences at Pangaea so I've a siege to break there (shouldn't be difficult - Jotun regulars can dice madmen quite easily, it's just a shame my PD are not up to much).

A few things have developed. Last time I tried to take an Ermor province, his commander was casting Disintegrate, which is a bad sign. Means he's only one level from Utterdark. Caelum has cast Dark Skies, but that's not much of a problem 'cos it only works inside his Dominion (right?).

My main problem now is money - upkeep is up over 800, which is way more than this stage in previous games (I now appreciate how cheap Ulm and Pythium infantry units are!) - my income is just under 2k so I have only about 1100 per turn to spend. I've had to pause building temples and cut right back on PD, just to keep the Jotun recruitment up. I do now have several more Bane Lords and a Lamia Queen, but I haven't been able to keep up with outfitting them, so several of them are butt naked.

My current plan is to finish off Vanheim before they call their God back, then take out Abysia and then Caelum, all the while whittling away at Tien Chi. By then I'll have several Lamia Queens with Skull Staffs ready to cast Whither Bones at Ermor, a Couatl or two to cast some astral spells at Last, and who knows, I may even have found Pythium .....

Like I said, thanks for asking.

CC

[Arryn]

A "butt-naked" Bane Lord is still an effective combatant. It's just not quite good enough to go out alone. Group a few of them together, especially with some support, and they can still rip up stuff while you take the time to make the equipment they'll need to be "true" SCs.