Dominions 3: The Awakening/Units/SC

General

Super-Combatants or SC's are exceptionally strong units that act as one man army. In most cases gifted with lots of hitpoints, big size, good magic equipment and lot of magic buffs or resistances, an SC can take weak defended provinces alone or annihilate smaller armies. Building and outfitting SC's is a very popular occupation of many Dominions players. An unequipped potential SC is called an SC chassis, and each nation has access to at least a few, either by normal recruiting or more likely by summons.

It is also an important skill to learn as a new Dominions player. Getting a feeling for how strong certain SC are, and how to outfit and deal with them is important. In single player it is not that important but, it gets more so in multiplayer games. It is also important to learn that not all SC's should wade into battle unsupported. A good way to learn a basic understanding about SC's is to play Niefelheim, a nation which has easy access to a SC chassis (the Niefel Jarl). Experiment with different bless strategies, and different equipment and see how this all works together and learn that unsupported SC's can be killed.

Elemental Royalty

With the proper research, all nations have the possibility of summoning powerful magical beings referred to as Elemental Royalty. Available at Conjuration Level-8, these beings generally have a strong knowledge of magic, as well as some kind of natural resistances or other desirable skills. While these beings make powerful casters in and of themselves, when outfitted properly with the right equipment they can be used as SCs. There are a limited number of each type of elemental royalty, available on a first-come-first-served basis. In general, all ER chassis have most normal slots for equipment, excepting they have no feet slots. They all have 0 Encumbrance, meaning they gain no fatigue from wearing armor or fighting, and most have no natural armor (0 protection) although some do.

Queens of Elemental Water

Bathusma, Thalassa and Limne are all powerful Water mages (W4) with 65 hp each and above average combat stats. They all have Recuperation skills (ie. they naturally heal afflictions over time), 100% cold and poison resistance and the ability to Regenerate 100% hp each combat round when fighting underwater. Bathusma and Thalassa are aquatic (ie. they need an Amulet of the Fish to enter land provinces), while Limne is amphibian, but their regenerative powers are somewhat diminished on land (90%, 75% and 50% hp/round respectively). Thalussa has Dark Vision.

In combat these ladies of the deep can self-buff Breath of Winter, Water Shield and Quicken Self. When used as casters, the AI will likely spam Falling Frost, Desiccation or Sailor's Death and the like. It is fairly easy to give them 100% resistance vs both fire and shock, making them good all-round melee SC candidates. Possible equipment could be a Burning pearl and Dragon Helmet (100% vs. fire), Copper Plate (100% vs. shock) or Robe of Shadows (ethereal), Vine Shield (crowd control), Cat Charm (defense stat buffs) and a Fire/Frost Brand for a weapon.

Kings of Elemental Fire

Pyriphlogos and Rhuax are powerful Fire mages (F4 and F4E1, respectively) with high strength and attack but low defense stats. They each have 100% fire and poison resistance and generate powerful Heat Auras with a permanent Fire Shield spell active, and have Dark Vision. Pyriphlogos has 54 hp, is Ethereal and can summon Fire Elemental allies. Rhuax has 87 hp, a stony natural armor skin (prot 13) and can summon Magma Children (fire immune troops) allies.

Queens of Elemental Air

Nephelle, Aella and Thuella are powerful Air mages (A4), each with 45 hp, decent strength, attack and defense stats, high precision, and all become more powerful during Storms. They each are Ethereal, have 100% shock and poison resistance and can Fly. Nephelle has a permanent Glamour spell active, can summon Slyph allies and gets an extra Shock attack. Aella can summon Air Elemental allies and gets 2 extra Shock attacks. Thuella gets 3 extra Shock attacks.

Kings of Elemental Earth

Oreigenes and Barathrus are powerful Earth mages (E4) with high Strength (27) and natural Protection (16+) stats. They each have 130 hp, natural Regeneration (5% and 10% hp/round respectively) and 100% poison resistance. They can move through mountainous terrain without penalty and are consisdered poor amphibians when fighting underwater. Oreigenes can summon Earth Gnome allies. Barathrus generates a free earth gem each turn, and can summon Earth Elemental allies.

Practical Examples

Wraith Lord

available to any nation able to cast the Conj D4 Summon Wraith Lord ritual, this commander can self-buff the spell Soul Vortex (Alt 6) in battle before attacking, which sucks up hp from nearby (living) enemies. Minimum kit would be outfitting it with a Horror Helmet to increase its Fear effect and Boots of Quickness for extra movement speed and attack. It evokes Fear, generates a Cold Aura, is Cold Immune, Poison Immune, is Ethereal, has 0 Encumbrance (ie. never tires from combat) and if it dies in friendly domain its Immortality causes it to be resurrected.

Wyrm

this a pretender chassis available to most nations that can very easily be designed as an SC available on turn 1. Take at least 4-6 levels of Nature magic (which increases the effectiveness of the Wyrm's intrinsic Regeneration skill) and a Dominion of 6 or more (preferably 9 or 10 for the Awe bonus) which will dramatically increase the Wyrm's total hp in strong friendly dominion. Increasing Regeneration also decreases the chance of gaining Afflictions in combat. Push your dominion into enemy territory, then attack. The idea is to regenerate faster than the enemy can inflict damage. Eventually the Wyrm can be outfitted with 2 Horror Helmets, an Amulet of Resilience and can self-buff Barkskin or have your national mages add other protective spells.