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There are several things that differentiate Helheim from Early-Era Vanheim: | There are several things that differentiate Helheim from Early-Era Vanheim: | ||
* | *Vanheim's Dwarven Smith is more powerful in Earth magic but less so in Death and without the bonus 10% random. Perhaps more importantly, Helheim's Svartalf's are recruitable anywhere and Dwarven Smiths are capital-only. | ||
* | *Helheim has a Vanherse-like Helkarl with D1 magic instead of A1 and 1 point more of Strength, and a sacred Hangadrott which is like a souped-up Helkarl with up to D4 or A3. | ||
*The somewhat puzzling lack of the "Sailing" ability | *The somewhat puzzling lack of the "Sailing" ability | ||
*Heavy cav/flying sacreds vs. Vanheim's berserkers (Helheim's high-defense sacreds synergize better with glamour, especially since berserk only kicks in after taking damage) | *Heavy cav/flying sacreds vs. Vanheim's berserkers (Helheim's high-defense sacreds synergize better with glamour, especially since berserk only kicks in after taking damage) | ||
*Vanheim has (capital-only) immortal pigs with trample | *Vanheim has (capital-only) immortal pigs with trample | ||
In this writer's humble opinion, Helheim is clearly a stronger nation than Vanheim on large maps unless you're gunning for E5 spells like Petrify or have a good use for berserkers. Helheim is very strong with either a high bless strategy (F9W4D4 for example) or to take advantage of excellent Vanir heavy infantry with buffs like Legions of Steel and Strength of Giants. In large games as soon as a fort is built it can start cranking out Hirdmen and Svartalfs--even 15 Hirdmen and 2 Svartalfs is a potent force when buffed--whereas you'd need to rely on Boots of Flying or spells like Cloud Trapeze to ferry Dwarven Smiths to the front. | |||
=== Svartalfs === | |||
Did I mention that I love Svartalfs? Once you have Conj-3, Ench-3, and Const-3, any Svartalf is capable of casting the basic buff sequence <Summon Earthpower, Legions of Steel, Strength of Giants> that turns Hirdmen into Abysian-class heavy infantry with glamour and defense 17+ to boot. Svartalfs come in four classes because of the extra random. Each has its uses after the basic buff is done. | |||
F1E2D2: Good battlemages. Summon Earthpower, Magma Bolts/Eruption. Requires Evoc-3/6 respectively. 26 points of damage to AOE 5 works well against any infantry, even fire-immunes (it's not fire damage). Doesn't always hit moving targets but adds extra punch to your awesome frontline infantry. If you give one a Skull Staff they can spam Bane Fire at Evoc 6, which rocks, frankly. | |||
E3D2: Summon Earthpower, Earth Meld, Blade Wind, Armor of Achilles/Destruction. Requires Alt-2, Evoc-4, Alt-2/4 respectively. Nicely counters either high defense or high Protection. Also suffers less fatigue casting the basic buffs because of the extra earth level. With Earth Boots they can cast Petrify at Alt-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 3-7 points of damage 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. 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 three 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, 1-3E, 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, 1-3E. Hopefully you get to reuse the helm and shroud so the marginal cost is 3A, 3E. | |||
== Special tactics == | == Special tactics == | ||