The Ghost King

Omnirizon · #1 July 11th, 2008, 01:49 AM

I have mixed feelings on this pretender and want to know how others use him.

He seems to have many options available to him, and he is one of my favorites. However I'm just no quite sure he is ever the _best_ choice.

For one, he can SC immediately, but in the end he is kind of fragile, and depends upon a layer of defenses that filter out damage through many chances (Awe -> Ethereal -> Air Shield -> Luck -> whatever else). If any of these defenses become cancelled (high moral, magic weapons, ect.) he is fuct. Even with everything in place and working, with a lucky hit (Cavalry charge double damage, maybe two in one turn; low chances but certainly possible) he is dead.

For two, he is able to provide good access to magic. he has some base Death magic and 20 points to open other paths.

Lastly, he is kind of expensive (at 120 points I think, plus the points to have dom 9/10)

Considering all these points, this guy is just way risky. He is used because he can SC, yet also can provide magic power and diversity. However, as an SC he is fragile and can die or get the feebleminded affliction; making his magic worthless. But for him to really be worthwhile you need both an SC and magic diversity from him, but on this chassis those two things just don't combine well.

Another option is to have him asleep. However then his SC ability is a little less worthwhile; as the chief attraction of an SC pretender is quick early expansion.

How do other people build this guy? Dom 9/10 is a given. But what about magic paths?

What do others go for on Awakening? Awake but wait to research some spells and/or equip him? Awake and use immediately, but maybe using him for the least risky indies until he gets equipped and access to some buffs. Asleep so that when he wakes up you have equipment for him?

How do people equip him?

Is he really worth it considering his riskyness and what other choices are available? With the right luck, I think he is probably the best pretender available. But he is risky, and useless if the wrong things happen, or you face the wrong nations (anybody with recruitables with magic weapons, lots of missiles, or that can undead spam). And with those weaknesses, he won't be able to face many of the indie provinces. It's even feasible that your home province will be surrounded by indies that he can't safely take on. You're also typically going to have bad scales if you take him (unless you take him asleep; but then SC aspect is worth less), so you really need him to be able to give 100% through the whole game. But there are enough things with enough chance of happening that can really clip this guys wings, so that he won't often work out.

Lingchih · #2 July 11th, 2008, 03:37 AM

I never use him. He is useful, but too fragile in my book. I'll stick with a Prince of Death.

chrispedersen · #3 July 11th, 2008, 03:42 AM

Never use.

secretperson · #4 July 11th, 2008, 04:33 AM

I have tried this guy in SP a few times because I heard he could be pretty good.

I think the appeal is that he starts out with stealthy, ethereal and undead (so encumberance doesn't come into play when actually meeleing) with full slots. So you can use slots for things other than ethereal. I can't remember what kind of scales I had but I went awake with 9 or 10 dom and 2 air (for air shield, mistform, and mirror image), 1 earth for ironskin, and then a few more points in death as filler.

I wasn't too impressed. Sometimes I could attack blindly on turn 1 and be fine other times he got owned hard. I'm sure he shines a bit more with proper equipment or perhaps I didn't build him very well. That being said, I think I may give him a try again as he seems somewhat viable.

llamabeast · #5 July 11th, 2008, 05:29 AM

I've heard before now that he's considered powerful.

Zenzei · #6 July 11th, 2008, 06:03 AM

The GK is alluring but having tried it a few times, I'm not impressed. To me he seems to be jack of all trades but master of none. For awake SC 35hp and low starting dominion combined with high chassis cost just doesnt cut it. For spellcasting master lich is better, for example.

Xietor · #7 July 11th, 2008, 07:44 AM

He was my favorite in dom II, but he was nerfed. Unfairly nerfed KO!

Heh. After his nerf I have never used him.

I will add I played dom II mp games on another forum-not this one. And we had funny "house" rules. One of the house rules was no immortal pretenders(in response to the Queen most likely before her nerf).

So before the nerf to the Ghost King, and removing the immortal undeads from the selection process, the Ghost King was one of the best Pretenders to take for a rainbow mage.

I cannot even recall what all was done to him. His cost was raised, his dominion lowered, and I think something else as well.

cleveland · #8 July 14th, 2008, 01:19 PM

The Ghost King is a nice choice for a nation that doesn't need a strong bless, could use an awake SC, needs magic diversity, and benefits from high dominion. A nation like MA Ulm.

Some modest magic (Air2 for Mistform & Cloud Trapeeze, N2 for Personal Regeneration & Resist Elements, E1 for Ironskin & Iron Will, S1 for Personal Luck (EDIT: as triqui points out, this makes him vulnerable to Astral Duels...better to skip the Astral & forge him some luck instead, he's got the slots) , W1 for Quicken Self, D3 for an eventual Soul Vortex) and Dom10 for Awe are yours for just Drain3, Cold2.

Forge a Black Steel plate on turn 1, equip & send him to solo weak indies on turn 2...Alt1 [(Air Shield)(Barkskin)Attack Closest] takes all but unlucky Heavy Cav.

Alt3 [(Mistform)(Ironskin)(Quicken Self) Attack Closest] still beats any elephant rush. Relegate him to site searching detail when your finished expanding, Cloud Trapeeze him for counter-raiding.

Dom10 spreads that Ulm-friendly dominion fast: Drain3 means your Ulmish knuckleheads actually survive the occasional mind burn, & Cold2 amplifies his frost aura.

With an awake SC, you can divert your funds to making those beautiful guardians to counter the bless-rushers.

One-shot ANWSDE site searching + cheap Ulmish forging rates + full slots = long-term usefulness.

Works well for quite a few other nations too, but MA Ulm makes for a nice example. Most other nations will need to wait until turn 2 to forge the Black Steel Plate, so just have him research Alteration on turn 1.

Amhazair · #9 July 14th, 2008, 01:27 PM

The ability to forge a decent armor on the first turn does indeed make the ghost king far more appetizing. Apart from Ulm I think early and mid Agartha can do that. Can't think of any others off the top of my head.

triqui · #10 July 14th, 2008, 01:31 PM

Quote:

cleveland said:
The Ghost King is a nice choice for a nation that doesn't need a strong bless, could use an awake SC, needs magic diversity, and benefits from high dominion. A nation like MA Ulm.

This one sounds much more convincing. Although i would not give a pretender S1. Either give him a strong astral score to avoid magic duels, or give him none. Indi lizard shaman or crystal sorceress killing pretenders are a no-no.