Dominions 3: The Awakening/Nations/Helheim: Difference between revisions
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→Svartalfs
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E2D3: Skelly spam. Since you've got Enchantment-3 anyway, you might as well script all your D3 Svartalfs to Raise Skeletons x5. Skeletons are no better than decent, but they're free troops, and they can be buffed by the LoS/SoG combo just like the rest of your troops. If you prefer artillery, Shadow Bolt and Shadow Blast are also options, and at Thau-5 they can spam Leeching Darkness. With a skull staff they can cast things like Darkness (Alt-6), Drain Life (Alt-5), and Rigor Mortis (Ench-6). | E2D3: Skelly spam. Since you've got Enchantment-3 anyway, you might as well script all your D3 Svartalfs to Raise Skeletons x5. Skeletons are no better than decent, but they're free troops, and they can be buffed by the LoS/SoG combo just like the rest of your troops. If you prefer artillery, Shadow Bolt and Shadow Blast are also options, and at Thau-5 they can spam Leeching Darkness. With a skull staff they can cast things like Darkness (Alt-6), Drain Life (Alt-5), and Rigor Mortis (Ench-6). | ||
A1E2D2: For a long time I didn't know what to do with these guys beyond using them as inferior earth or death mages. Then someone pointed out to me that the +350% affliction chance from death-9 applies to spells as well as weapons, and suddenly... The E3A1 Evoc-7 spell Rain of Stones claims to be pretty much equivalent to Blade Wind except that it covers the whole battlefield. It's not. Unlike Blade Wind, shield-equipped units still take heavy damage. It's usually not enough to kill them, but most units in the army will take | A1E2D2: For a long time I didn't know what to do with these guys beyond using them as inferior earth or death mages. Then someone pointed out to me that the +350% affliction chance from death-9 applies to spells as well as weapons, and suddenly... The E3A1 Evoc-7 spell Rain of Stones claims to be pretty much equivalent to Blade Wind except that it covers the whole battlefield. It's not. Unlike Blade Wind, shield-equipped units still take heavy damage. It's usually not enough to kill them, but most units in the army will take 2-7 points of damage or so even with Prot 12. Combine that with a D9-blessed Svartalf (which requires astral mages to forge Shrouds of the Battle Saint for 5 pearls, available at Const-4) and pretty much the WHOLE BATTLEFIELD is going to be afflicted [see footnote 1]. Of course that includes your own forces. I can therefore see two scenarios: | ||
1.) Soften up enemy armies the turn before attack with a blessed air Svartalf scripted to <Summon Earthpower, Rain of Stones, retreat>. If you want to save the Svartalf, add Ironskin in there first and give him | 1.) Soften up enemy armies the turn before attack with a blessed air Svartalf scripted to <Summon Earthpower, Rain of Stones, retreat>. If you want to save the Svartalf, add Ironskin in there first and give him two Earth gems instead of one to reduce his fatigue enough to still be able to retreat. Or write him off and save the gems. Cost: 5S, 1-2E, in exchange for annihilating an enemy army of arbitrary size as a useful force. | ||
2.) Research Enchantment-4 and use a Winged Helmet or Bag of Winds to boost him to A2. Then cast Cloud Trapeze to drop said Svartalf onto an enemy army in the magic phase before normal movement takes place. Follow up if possible with a normal army attack on the same turn to wipe out the pathetic remnants--they'll still be low on hitpoints and probably morale. This tactic would work even without the D9 blessing, but the synergy is that even if the enemy out-foxes you in the movement phase (causing your regular army to miss), your Svartalf will have done more than just killing off 20% of the force with Rain of Stones. He'll have crippled the whole army. Cost: 28A, 5S, 1- | 2.) Research Enchantment-4 and use a Winged Helmet or Bag of Winds to boost him to A2. Then cast Cloud Trapeze to drop said Svartalf onto an enemy army in the magic phase before normal movement takes place. Follow up if possible with a normal army attack on the same turn to wipe out the pathetic remnants--they'll still be low on hitpoints and probably morale. This tactic would work even without the D9 blessing, but the synergy is that even if the enemy out-foxes you in the movement phase (causing your regular army to miss), your Svartalf will have done more than just killing off 20% of the force with Rain of Stones. He'll have crippled the whole army. Cost: 28A, 5S, 1-2E. Hopefully you get to reuse the helm and shroud so the marginal cost is 3A, 2E. | ||
[1] In tests vs. Marneri Ambibate Nobles, who are pretty decently armored for EA, this tactic resulted in about 25% of the Ambibates dying from the Rain of Stones and another 45% getting afflicted, leaving 30% slightly wounded but largely intact. | |||
When all is said and done, I'm not certain I wouldn't still rather have a D9-blessed fire Svartalf instead, but the Cloud Trapeze potential is nice, and Rain of Stones is a surprisingly nice spell. | |||
== Special tactics == | == Special tactics == | ||
