design LA Ermor (AI)

[Gandalf Parker]

Just to keep things simple, lets stick to map commands. If you were to create a map game with an Late Age Ermor that didnt make dumb mistakes...
(LA Ermor is nation 50)

#computerplayer 50 4
#god 50 #
#scale_order nation -3+3
#mag_astral
#dominionstr 50 1-10
#additem
#allies 50 #
#specstart 50 prov
#setland
#fort
#temple
#lab
#startspell 50 "spell name"
#commander
#comname
#bodyguards # monster
#units # monster
#knownfeature
#unrest
#defence
#population

[Gandalf Parker]

OK starting with the first one. What God would you give it? Any unit in the game (doesnt have to be a pretender and other settings such as magic and equipment are also changeable).

I wonder what Eater of the Dead would do in a nation full of undead? Or maybe one of the unique devils. Tarrasque even.

Or maybe to avoid the "sends to arena" or "charges the pretender into losing battles" it would be best to use something non-moving. A monolith? Remember that we can preselect its equipment also which could be interesting to do with old mono.

[TirAsleen]

interesting...maybe lord of hell, demon lord lvl9 summon one of the 3 demon lords.....nice hp tons of power even gets blood magic....he might cast blood rite. but he spawns thralls too i guess taht will be just too annoying.

my preference would be an unique PoD for the AI.....problem with him is he is not ethereal and cannot go into the water like ghost king.

sphinx i like too as choice if AI use her with high dom10. lots of hp and if ai would use ghouls to defend castles it would be gold.

problem is ermor starts with just ermor citadel with just 200 def value.

a combat pretender that casts soul vortex and some other buffs before each battle would be interesting too.

i do not know whats possible to do or not just brain storming.

[Gandalf Parker]

Brainstorming is good. We can actually do most of that.

We can give it any magic we want, and what abilities they dont have can often be faked by giving them equipment right at the start (stealth cloak, ring of water breathing)

Extra units or sites that can generate ghouls can help insure them being available for castle guards

Home castle can be changed, or additional castles given nearby or at chokepoints on the map

[TirAsleen]

dark citadel is probably better with AI LA Ermor, like it was the case in previous dom versions.

for magic: max astral and max death in any case.

problem with item abilities is, once that pretender is dead the item is lost for the AI.

"eater of the dead" sounds fun as pretender....i did not expierement enough with that one how much hp can he max have without dominion? and what if he goes independent after a while?

[Gandalf Parker]

Even if he breaks out on his own, by then he is huge so it should still be a fun time.

Death and equipment could be a factor. What about Blood Fountain. There are 4 miscellaneous slots. If you could pick ANY misc equip to give right at the start, even uniques or things only seen on event monsters, what would it be?

[TirAsleen]

a blood fountain with a lof of hp added perhaps?

[Gandalf Parker]

Hmm I dont think I can add hp in a map command. I can add alot of experience. And of course a super high dominion would add alot of hp

[Taqwus]

Blood's a little moot unless you stack its land with blood-income sites. Pop loss + utter lack of early blood mages (neither Dusk Elders nor Spectators get it, IIRC)= no blood income to speak of. The Lord of Corruption spawns blood slaves, but he's only one guy and doesn't spawn THAT many.

If you wanted to ensure that a mobile pretender was unlikely to kill itself easily, the Armor of Virtue would help.

Sphinx with high Death, high Astral, full slots to avoid curse/horror mark (a Skull Mentor, a Ring of Sorcery, maybe a Spell Focus, can't remember if it gets a fourth or even a third slot).

Accompany with Bowl of the Lost for free Banes if we're being cruel.

[Gandalf Parker]

I will keep Bowl of the Lost in mind for later when sites comes up (the #knownfeatures command). Good call on that one.
LA Ermor only starts with one national site that gives 15 death gems. Probably not worth replacing that but it does give 3 more slots for sites. Isnt there one that gives blood slaves? It might be national and Im not sure if national sites can be re-given

Come on Taqwus. If you could give LA-E anything as a pretender what would it be? It doesnt have to be new. It can be any player-use Ermor build.