Another Dominions thread

[General Ludd]

Golems experience no battle fatigue... the idea was that they cast buffs on themselves like body ethereal, personal luck, astral weapon, ect... and then rampage through the enemy.

My first golem was just a few hit points away from taking out an entire army of trolls and living statues all on his own.

[General Ludd]

But the other golem to whom I gave specific orders didn't fair much better this turn, anyways.

[solo]

I think they need some other supporting units. IIRC, in that first battle, you also had an army along to watch the show and fire arrows, and even do some of the fighting.

I believe a Golem or any other gladiator all on its own can be overwhelmed in melee by a swarm of much weaker units, because they are not distracted or hurt by any other combatants. The Golem can only kill one at a time, which is not fast enough for him to survive.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by solo
I think they need some other supporting units.

Oh yes. I'll just recruit some commanders and have them collect that army that's sitting around in Dragon Ridge leaderless, eh?




Although in retrospect, i suppose I could've summoned some undead and given a golem a wraith crown... but really, I don't think a bunch of ghouls would be of much help anyways.

IIRC, in that first battle, you also had an army along to watch the show and fire arrows, and even do some of the fighting.

You're right, I think there was a small militia defense.... and maybe a priest.

I believe a Golem or any other gladiator all on its own can be overwhelmed in melee by a swarm of much weaker units, because they are not distracted or hurt by any other combatants. The Golem can only kill one at a time, which is not fast enough for him to survive.

With the right equipment, I think they could do alot better. I've been bit limited in the selection of what i can forge, however (water and fire skilled priests have been mostly alluding me). I think the ideal equipment would be:

Jade Armour (for the innate quickness)

Fists of the Gladiator (x4 attacks - since golems have high strength, this can be a highly effective weapon against lightly to medium armoured oponents)

Flame Helmet (Highest protection available for a helmet, and the -reinvigoration has minimal effect)

Boots of the Behemoth (To trample over everything.)

Ring of Regeneration (to regenerate, obviously. An elixer of Life might be preferable in some circumstances)

Ring of the Warrior (To compensate for the Golem's poor attack.


The first golem I had came pretty close to this, but I didn't think of making a ring of regeneration for it at the time.



It'd be interesting to see how well a Juggernaut could perform with similiar equipment. And since it has an innate ability to trample, it could wear somethign else on it's feet. Some interesting possibilites would be:

chi shoes (I can just imagine a quickened golem running around the battlefield punching, kicking, and trampling in a blur )

Winged shoes or Sandals of the Crane (Perhaps just for the novelty of it - I'd need to see how the AI performed with it, if he flies to the back and kills the commanders more quickly without having to trample through the entire army first, it could be worth it)

Boots of Antaeus (for the extra regeneration)

Or perhaps ideally, he could wear boots of quickness and monolith armour instead of the jade armour.


EDIT: But then again, juggernauts do not have any skill in astral magic and would be unable to give themselves buffs.. so it would probably need to be rethought.

[LDiCesare]

Usually super combatants use objects that replensih life/fatigue. If you ever have the random event when Bogus the troll comes by, you'll see his sword (wraith sword I think, but can't remember) does marvels. It steals fatigue from the neighbouring units and lets your character heal himself alone. There's also a Death spell to that effect (Soul Vortex).

[solo]

Originally posted by General Ludd

Oh yes. I'll just recruit some commanders and have them collect that army that's sitting around in Dragon Ridge leaderless, eh?

Oh yes, I am aware of your situation. Sorry, but I was speaking in general terms. Perhaps the best solution is to just recruit a whole army of Golems.


I'm not that experienced yet, but from what I have read I would like to try equipping just one Golem with the Crystal Heart and/or the Ankh. This may be enough help to ensure survival in a tough battle.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by solo


Oh yes, I am aware of your situation. Sorry, but I was speaking in general terms. Perhaps the best solution is to just recruit a whole army of Golems.

Yeah... somehow all my golems got seperated one way or the other. Either through very lucky ashen angels, or erroneous orders.

I'm not that experienced yet, but from what I have read I would like to try equipping just one Golem with the Crystal Heart and/or the Ankh. This may be enough help to ensure survival in a tough battle.

I haven't tried it out personally, but I think the elixer of life has more or less the same effect as the Crystal heart, minus the chest wound. I don't remember off hand what the Ankh does, though.

[quantum_mechani]

Originally posted by General Ludd

I haven't tried it out personally, but I think the elixer of life has more or less the same effect as the Crystal heart, minus the chest wound. I don't remember off hand what the Ankh does, though.

None of these items are very useful. The Ankh reanimates every (living) unit killed in a batte into a soulless. While this sounds good on paper, you can almost always get more undead by using the gems to summon demiliches to cast summon skeleton in battle.

The items that bring units back to life are rarely usefull, as things that can kill the unit the first time can usually kill them again.

EDIT: I believe the juggernaut has only misc slots.

[solo]

Originally posted by quantum_mechani
None of these items are very useful.

You read about so many spells and items and think "This is real neat" and then when you try them out, they turn out to be duds. It takes practice and experience, I guess, to sort out what is best to use or forge.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by solo


You read about so many spells and items and think "This is real neat" and then when you try them out, they turn out to be duds.

But, then again, there's usually a situation where they can be absolutely priceless. That's what's so great about this game... there is such a subtle yet complex balance to everything - everything has it's counter, even if it is not readily obvious. Infact, I often wonder if it's intended or merely a fluke that everything fits so perfectly with everything else.

[General Ludd]

Alas, the Stone of Ulm is no more.


Before the final battle an arrow struck it, and it suffered a chestwound... how silly is that?

[quantum_mechani]

Originally posted by General Ludd
Alas, the Stone of Ulm is no more.


Before the final battle an arrow struck it, and it suffered a chestwound... how silly is that?

I've seen them get limps too

EDIT: Now Arco and Jotun need to get to work killing each other so we can start a new game...

[solo]

Originally posted by quantum_mechani
Now Arco and Jotun need to get to work killing each other so we can start a new game...

What??? Attack my good friend and game long ally?

I'd rather declare us joint victors and start a new game, so that we all can participate fully again.

This game has been tremendous fun and a great learning experience for me, but maybe it's time to begin another.

(If we do start another, I must inform other players that if it lasts until the end of May, that I may be requesting a time out then of about 3 or 4 days, since I will be away from my computer and internet access. If the game were to continue into the summer, I may be requesting additional time outs, too, for the same reason. So in the interest of keeping things rolling in a potential second game, I would suggest that we get it going soon.)

[General Ludd]

I'm surprised that I'm still "alive" this turn.



Here's a couple screenshots I grabbed during this game.

The high point of the Ulmish army, as they stand outside the gate of Marignon:




The unfortunate priest who was left alone to garrison the castle:

[Sandman]

Ah yes, the battle of Erikgrad.

I'm not averse to starting a new game, even though it somewhat goes against the spirit of Dominions. I suggest we use victory points next time.