MoM: Favorite traits?

[player1]

What are your favorite traits?

Mine:
-Warlord: anybody likes that trait
-Channeler: EXCELLENT trait! You always have enough mana
-Archmage: good trait for 1 point

I usually take Archmage & Channeler as combo.
That way I can use magic extensively on battlefield.

And that put more that 50% of my mana to power.
Use mainly buildings for research fund.
And just a little funds to mana reserve (I usually convert gold to mana if needed)

[moomin]

I was alway fond of the artificer. Archmage is cool. Never use warlord since I use heroes and not critters.

[Tuberski]

Artificer and Runemaster are EASILY the best for mana production.

[moomin]

Yeah, that was a nice combo. The cool thing with MOM retorts was that certain combos were worth a lot more than their parts.

[aaglo]

One thing I've never understood... why does the divine and infernal power cost 2 pics?

I've never found any use for them..??? They are my least favourite retorts...

I like warlord, alchemy, archmage and node mastery...

[moomin]

I find those retorts overpriced as well.

But then, I don't think warlord's worth it either.

[LDiCesare]

alchemy always. The rest depends on mood. I like charismatic when I want to get a fast game (heroes earlier), but it's expensive for what it does. Myrran is good in order to play dwarves.
Warlord is also good on heroes, since they get one more level and thus level up faster to demigod status.

[aaglo]

Warlord actually is worth the two pics:

when comparing elite&ultra-elite;
ultra-elite has +1 to-hit, +1 defence and +1 resistance to ALL OF YOUR REGULAR UNITS!

Well, this of course is a crappy retort, if you only rely on summoned creatures... But when I play, I almost never summon creatures, thus my defences are regular units (spearmen, swordsmen, halberdiers, pikemen, bowmen, ect.), so the bonus elite->ultra-elite is quite handy

[moomin]

I only go for warlord when I play with Death magic. It does make all those free undead troops nifty indeed.

But otherwise, I play almost exclusively with heroes, so no warlord retort for me.

[player1]

What do you think about Channeling?

Two benefits:
-mana upkeep is HAVLED (good if you are summoner)
-you spend less mana for spells used in combat outside your fortress (HUGE befenit for me)

[aaglo]

Channeling has two drawbacks (for me):
- costs 2 pics
- i rarely use summoned creatures.

But if I ever try to play with summons, I think I would want this pic

[Ecthy]

Warlord is too expensive, but fun.

[LDiCesare]

Channeling:
Mana upkeep halved: Well, alchemy effectively gives you that for 1 pick, since you can change twice as much gold into mana. I tend to be pretty rich all the game in MOO, so all my mana comes from gold.
Spells outside fortress: Yes it is a bit of an advantage, but again, I find that I am more often hindered by my proficiency (max amount of mana I can use in a fight) than by the multiplier. I'd rather use archmage there.

[moomin]

I agree. Channeling is good, but not good enough if your play style doesn't rely heavily on summoned critters. Which I don't.

And since my play style relies heavily on heroes, I rather think artificer is a must.

[player1]

Channaling:
It's not all about summons.
Enhacnments are cheeper for upkeep too.
(so you can use it on heroes)

You save a LOT of mana by spending less mana in combat outside fortress.

And if you add Archmage in combination (more mana for use per combat), you get a realy powerfull spellcaster.

And this combo makes Alchemy a little bit redudant (gold to mana part, not magical weapons), since you'll have a lot of mana anyway.