[Spoiler] Playing with Magic, Amurites only!

[Amelia]

My plan is really simple. First, get Govannon, then get 4 Archmages, and 4 High Priests (of something). Get law 3, then all cast Trust.

Watch as the world has a +50 modifier to me (we like you!).

I am confident that i will emerge victorious with this plan.

[Amelia]

With that said, it's 3.30 am so i won't have time to post anything for now :neenernee

[Ranamar]

I have a soft spot for the Amurites, so I hope you don't mind my dedlurking your thread this game... I'm not sure what I'll be able to add, but I want to be able to at least give you silly ideas.

(You should probably get someone else to shoot my ideas down, too. )

[Amelia]

Dain the Caswallawn walked into the Cave of Ancestors. He looked around. This will be the perfect training place for his magic! He wondered what sort of trials there will be here.

A plaque at the main tomb read: Defeat all the other civilizations in this game, and we shall grant you complete and total ultimate arcane power!

Here are the descriptions of the civilization you will be taking over to achieve this quest. Should you fail, no one will remember your name.

No, not even us.



Dain looked through the list. He didn't need to look at his own traits, he knew what they were already (Come on, i'm sure Arcane/Philosophical has been desribed thousands of times).

It looked like he would be taking over the civilization known as the Amurites. Children of Kylorin, Greatest Mage in history. (That sounds fitting for me, Dain thought to himself).

He came in with the knowledge to build monuments, and he intended it to finish off with a spiritual and arcane path. Nothing less would be expected from the aspiring greatest mage of all times. (Starting Tech: Ancient Chants).

Amurite Hero - Govannon



He's an Archmage (Not as good as me) who can teach spells (Lucky they are just adept spells, or i might lose my power). Immediately, Dain begin to think of the possibilities, such as a world full of Skeletons and Magic Eyes biting Horsemen off their... horses.

World Spell - Arcane Laguna

For several turns, Dain and his chosen ones will be the only people who can use spells. The rest of the cities will suffer, magical lights will extinguish, magicmills will stop, and hunger will set.

Unique Units - Now we're getting somewhere

Wizard



A standard mage, except they start with a fully crafted Spellstaff, ready to unleash it on unsuspecting enemies. They can also use them as weapons, but the effectiveness of such a staff against a sword has not been fully tested.

Firebow



Dain just looked at this unit in disdain. He had no use of bows, longbows, or crossbows of any type. Let alone Firebows.

(Not going to come into my game cause i plan to focus only on the Spiritual and the Arcane side of this game.)

Chanter



Dain balks at Assassins, remembering the time some tried to come at him. Of course, he had stoneskin, so he laughed and they perished through a Djinn. But he still will not use any, so Chanters didn't matter to him.

Unique Building - Cave of Ancestors



The Cave of... wait, isn't Dain in one right now? It looks like he can build more Caves in his own Cave.

But what mattered to him was that such Caves increased the power of his mage pawns. He resolved to get some constructed.

Dain was ready to start the game, but the game was not ready for him yet, as it needed to create a map.

[Amelia]

In his spare time before the game started, Dain meditated, remembering all his spells, and what he could do with them. However, he limited himself to Tier 1 and 2 Spells first. (Hint: Basic units, and Priests respectively).

In Tech Unlocking Order -

Divination

Law 1 - Loyalty.

Not worth teaching to others, since one person having it would do. But given the power of...

Law 2 - Summon Host of the Einherjar.

Awesome. Amurites can't afford the mass death nodes strategy due to the cave, so this is the next best alternative. Instead of mass undead, we have mass angels.

Also, for each battle won, they last one more turn. Needless to say, i hope to have hundreds of Angels overruning the enemy, while the priests stand and laugh.

Life 1 - Sanctify

Lol. At least i can keep the armegeddon counter slightly lesser.

Life 2 - Destroy Undead

That's better =) Welcome Spectres on Vampires, BANG no more spectres. Too bad Sheaim isn't in the game though!

Or maybe good, so i don't have to waste a node on Life. Of course, if I can get the Tomb of Succulus, that's much better.

Mind 1 - Inspriration.

Eh, at least i don't have to keep an adept in each city.

Mind 2 - Charm Person

Step 1: Cast Arcane Laguna.
Step 2: Keep Charming enemies, while you rush over them. They can't attack back, they can't cast spells.

Amurites are indeed full of tricks!

Spirit 1 - Courage

Not even needed with Life 2, since Spectres will go bye.

Spirit 2 - Trust

Now this could be handy... except it's Tier 2. Imagine 1 free happiness in each city, and free courage! But nah.

Sun 1 - Scorch

Go to an enemy's city full of plain and plain hills.

Scorch all down to Desert. End result - Useless enemy city!

I might teach it actually, if only for the fun of scorching the world to a wasteland.

Sun 2- Blinding Light.

Now this is the cake. Blinding Light + Arcane Laguna = Destruction of enemy cities, while they cannot do anything. Better than Charm Person, so this is why most of my Priests will have scorch (no, it's not because Dain wants to destroy the world inside!)

Alteration

Body 1 - Haste

Cookie Cutter Spell. I'll be putting this on adepts (WIZARD) instead of Govannon though, because only one is needed in a group.

Body 2 - Regen

Read Body 1.

Enchantment 1 - Enchanted Blade, Enchantment 2 - Flaming Arrows.

Read - Using Spiritual and Arcane only. No warriors or Archers allowed in civ.

Nature 1 - Treetop Defense

Now this, is...

Not a complete waste of time, actually. Again though, only one needed in a stack.

Nature 2 - Poisoned Blade

DAIN HATES ASSASSINS AND THEIR FRIENDS SO NO.

Rest to come in next post!

[Amelia]

Elementalism

Air 1 - Fair Winds.

Err, just no?

Air 2 - Maelstrom

Keeping it on Mages will be sufficient, but this will be my main damage spell.

Earth 1 - Wall of Stone

Govannon will want Stoneskin (so that all the Priests and Mages have it as well, heh). So he'll be teaching Wall of Stone as well, so why not? Free walls in each city is always a good thing.

Earth 2 - Stoneskin

YES YES YES (if you don't want Govannon to die to say, Assassins). Every Priest and Mage will have this.

Fire 1 - Blaze

Erm.... it destroys the Elves, and it allows me to Ignore Bronze Working (Burn the jungles, and they become forests). But other than that, nah.

Fire 2 - Fireball

Although Fireball is classic, Maelstrom + Hosts/Spectres are strong enough to take over them. Fireballs are just... balls of fire. Lousy.

Water 1 - Spring

Will be needed on a few adepts, but in the end depending on the map everyone might get this.

Water 2 - Water Walking

Because if you see TONS of units walking at you through water, you're going to panic.

Necromancy

Chaos 1 - Dance of Blades

Eh.... one adept per stack with this is enough.

Chaos 2 - Mutation

One mage is enough! (Not even per stack, just one mage throughout the empire).

Death 1 - Summon Skeleton

As much as i want to use this, i don't want to. I know, doesn't make sense, but think of the unit costs =(

Death 2- Summon Spectre

Unfortunately, like i've pointed out, Hosts are better if you're not massing up death mana.

Entropy 1 - Rust

Quite good, depending on who i fight.

Entropy 2 - Summon Pit Beast


(Isn't he an ugly creature).

=) Same like the Hosts, only they're death aligned instead of holy. Depending on who i fight again, i will switch between this and the Hosts.

Shadow 1 - Blur, Shadow 2 - Shadowwalk

One adept/mage per stack, as usual.

OTHER MANAS

Ice 1 - Slow

Beaten by Blinding Light for Tiers 2, but not bad for Tier 1. However, Ice is situational.

Ice 2 - Summon Ice Elemental

If i can get this, they'll be Str 6 (7 with Tower). Eh, if i can get ice, i would use this over Hosts/Pits, but no guarentee.

Metamagic 1 - Summon Floating Eye



=) Imagine if every unit i own, doubles as a Hawk. I might even be able to ignore Hunting.

Metamagic 2 - Dispel Magic

Removes beneficial spells from enemies, and hurtful spells from me. I'll be using this depending on what they're using. A lot.

So that covers that. Now, what spells are useful?

We start with Metamagic, Fire, and Body. So we will have Floating Eyes, Blaze (hey, i don't need Bronze Working after all), and Haste (cool).

We will need the following as well

Sun - Blinding Light
Law or Entropy - Summon Hosts or Pit Beasts
Life - Against Vampires
Air - Maelstrom
Water - Depending on Map, water walking
Earth - Stoneskin

The following will be nice

Chaos - Mutation, Dance of Blades
The other Law/Entropy - For variety.
Ice - If only.
Mind - Inspiration
Shadow - Because first strikes and city defenses are bad.

The following won't be touched

Nature - Not playing assassins.
Death - I need a variety of nodes, not 10 death nodes.
Spirit - Already have destroy Undead

Needs more explanation other day

Enchantment - Spell Staff.

[Amelia]

Game plan:

My game will be massed Priests, and Adepts.

Adepts will be the main attackers (yeah str 3, but i hope to have a lot!)

Govannon will teach the Priests, and also, THE ADEPTS (if possible). That way, the adepts will be able to go the combat route instead, since they will start with the tier 1 spells. Let's hope this works in practice.

Mages will be kept on a pedestrial.

About religion, i am most likely aiming OO. I need Hemah =)

Oh, and Saverous casting spells just tickles my humor.

Finally, if i research Bronze Working, you need to smack my head and tell me to research Arcane Lore instead.

Also, will be building lots of Cave of Ancestors, hopefully with Form of the Titan and Apprenticeship. Needed XP to upgrade = 17.

Form of Titan = 2.
Conquest = 2
Apprenticeship = 2
Cave of Ancestors = 5, hopefully.

Total: 11.

This is how you get an army of mages (Use Arcane Laguna once you have 50 adepts to get 50 mages).

Let's go!

[Selrahc]

Imagine if every unit i own, doubles as a Hawk. I might even be able to ignore Hunting.

Definitely. In PBEM1 Floating Eyes were a more than adequate replacement for hawks.

THE ADEPTS (if possible).

Govannon can indeed train adepts.

Oh, and Saverous casting spells just tickles my humor.

I don't think he can train Saverous though. I've got a sneaking suspicion that it is living units only...

Needed XP to upgrade = 17.

Needed XP to upgrade=10.

Finally, if i research Bronze Working, you need to smack my head and tell me to research Arcane Lore instead.

Lightbulb plans or tower of divination?

Any sort of early game defensive plan at all?

[Ranamar]

One mechanical nitpick... Govannon won't be able to teach stoneskin, as it's L2. On the other hand, yes, stoneskin for everyone! (... at least that get Channelling 2...) I bet you already know this and I misunderstood you.

Other than that, Selrahc has covered the big points. Floating Eyes are actually superior to hawks, because they actually have an extra 1 range... and yes, having any random unit being able to cast haste and Floating Eye is extremely handy.

With regards to Govannon, channelling 3 + potency gives you an exp cap of 110, so there's a 10% chance each turn after govannon reaches 100exp that he'll get another one. This gives him 10 levels of promotions plus one free promotion for Dain being Arcane, eventually. If you double up on mana nodes when you build him, you get even more of them. There are only 16 mana types in the game. I doubt the game will go on long enough, but you could easily manage to get most of them on him, and certainly all of your first- and second- choices, given enough time.

Finally, a question:
Have you given any thought to what religion you'd like to follow?

[Amelia]

@Ranamar: Religion = OO, if only for Hemah. More mages =)
Yes, i will teach Wall of Stone to all those Channelling 2 people, who will then be able to learn Stoneskin.

Selrahc = Oh right, 17 XP is level 5, 10 xp is level 4. So if i do things correctly, i start with instant mages?
Defensive Plan = Mass adepts :neenernee
Copper? What is copper? We adepts don't know how to use copper!