Hostile summons

[HJ]

There are several battlefield spells in the game that summon critters who will be hostile to the caster, such as horrors and lammashtas. I realized I never use one of these out of fear that they'll annihilate my own army, and judging that regardless of the odds, I have better chance to win a battle against an enemy army alone than against an enemy army and a horror. However, I was wondering whether other people use these to any good effect? And if you do, when do you use them, and how exactly?

One thing that came to mind is to use an immortal in your own dominion, but if he/she gets whacked by the summons, does that mean that the battle is over, or will it continue as enemy vs. summons untill one of those parties is gone?

So, in any case, I would be curious to hear about people's experience with these spells.

Cheers,

[ June 20, 2004, 04:06: Message edited by: HJ ]

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by HJ:
One thing that came to mind is to use an immortal in your own dominion, but if he/she gets whacked by the summons, does that mean that the battle is over, or will it continue as enemy vs. summons untill one of those parties is gone?

The latter.

So, in any case, I would be curious to hear about people's experience with these spells.

Several tips in this thread

[Norfleet]

These spells seem to be mostly "launch and run"...because if you cast them in the presence of any of your own troops, even if they don't immediately attack the nearest thing in sight, namely, YOU, your own troops will immediately attack them, and no unit in Dominions ever disengages from a fight to seek other prey. Thus, it's nearly certain that barring a specifically tailored setup, they will prove to be more of a hindrance than a help.

[Blitz]

I like using summon lama****as with wight lords (whichever the immortal ones are). Sure I'm not the first to think of it, but I did well with it.

[Norfleet]

Wraith Lords tend to be powerful enough to kill the Lammashtas, which renders the exercise slightly pointless.

[HJ]

Originally posted by Nagot Gick Fel:
The latter.

Ah, so that would mean teleport/call horror/returning wih warlocks as well. Thanks, and thanks also for the link, I forgot about that thread, and there were many new Posts to it since I read it Last as well.


I just tried the Wraith lord/lammashta feat. Wraith lords can cast Control dead on lammashtas, and can even survive long enough to point them in the right direction that way. As long as you're in your own dominion (or if you're using a demilich - he won't live to control them though), it's an interesting thing to consider, just like Manifestation would be when you cast it with those same commanders from your own dominion (assuming it works as if they're in your own dominion when the Ashen angel decides he'd rather come back).

So, basically, they are not really battle summons, but more of assassination spells. Both for you, and the opposition.

[ June 20, 2004, 06:35: Message edited by: HJ ]

[Norfleet]

You're kidding? If you can afford WRAITH LORDS, you can afford to slap some halfway decent kit on them....and a Wraith Lord properly loaded up with a running Soul Vortex is capable of doing whackloads of damage to anything that you'd expect Lammashtas to do. Certainly a Wraith Lord would beat the unholy tar out of a pair of mere Lammashtas.

[HJ]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
You're kidding?

No, I'm trying out things for the sake of fun.

[Norfleet]

No, I meant, you were kidding about them killing your wraith lords.

[HJ]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
No, I meant, you were kidding about them killing your wraith lords.

Ah, I see. Sorry for the misunderstandng.

Well, I'm not worried that they are going to kill him as such, but I would rather that they don't fight him at all, which is where Control dead comes into play. And if he's going to cast Control on them, he cannot fight them at the same time, so he might take a few blows, which demilich wouldn't be able to withstand. But it's pointless if the whole battle boils down to him trying to control them and them attacking him while the enemy is laughing and doing what they will.

All in all, I think it's not worth it using the wraith lords, i.e. someone who isn't just there to summon them and get away immediately. It might be better to use the Thaumaturgs, for example, who can teleport both in and out. That's again if the mage is not on a suicide mission, for which someone like harab seraph would be much better suited.