[SPOILERS] BaxAmeliKnight's thread

[WarriorKnight]

Question, what to do with Govannon?

I'll be able to build him in 2t, but considering how expensive he is (320ish hammers) and my current lack of military (need moar mages!) I may decide to hold off on him for a bit. That said it would be foolish to hold off on him for too long, considering he's a big part of Amurites gameplay.

The obvious thing to do with him is make him a teacher, however he is a archmage and since we'll most likely miss Hemah and be in major combat soon it would be silly to pass up on his combat abilities. I think it's best to have a mix of the two personally.

There are a couple of spheres I definitely want Govannon to teach. In descending strength order IMO:

• Metamagic - floating eyes is excellent, Dispel is useful and Djinn's will be my summon of choice for archmages. I should create a 2nd node to get it for free.
  
• Body - Regen & especially Haste are two spells I'll be casting often, better to let line units cast them rather than mages.
  
• Entropy - Rust will be very useful against the Clan/Vamps. The more units that can cast it the better.
  
• Earth - Even though Stoneskin can be dispelled, it's still useful to put on any unit that can get it (mainly Priests).
  
• Air - Collateral is very important, like Stoneskin any unit than can get Maelstrom should.
  
• Death - Not sure about this tbh. Skeleton spam is overrated but potentially useful as a wall of bone if necessary. Also leads to spectres & liches, but that isn't strong enough on it's own to justify death.
  
• Sun - Not as useful overall as above spells, but as we have 2 sources of sun it won't cost anything to get. We do have uses for both Scorch and Blinding Light too.
  

Everything else is probably not strong enough to be taught IMO given the current situation, although it's certainly possible I missed something. Earth and Air are primarily Priest spells, so can wait until Priesthood, but the others want to be taught to everyone ASAP.

As for combat, I mentioned above that Djinn's will be my archmage summon of choice. EitB gave them base 5str, and once Amelia is done with the ToD mana in 2t I'll have 10 mana for base 15str at least (9 palace + 1 law node). The promotions I'll need for that are meta2&3 (meta1 should be free with a 2nd node, as mentioned above) and Spell Extension 1&2 will be useful for mobility on Djinn's as well. I'll include Mobility1 as well for Govannon mobility.

So that's 4-5 promotions for teaching and 5 for combat. 10 promotions requires 101xp, so it should be possible to get everything I've said eventually (Channeling3 + potency caps at 110xp I think, not sure if EitB changed that). I think that's the best way we can use Govannon right now, I do hate to send him in combat since he's so valuable as a teacher but a archmage at this stage will be extremely useful against the Clan. Can you guys think of a better use for him?

[nabaxo]

I agree with your assessment, a "mixed" Govannon is probably the best.

I think the most useful spells to teach non-spell casters are entropy and metamagic. I'm not sure which spells are useful to teach spell casters. Probably all the spells that are useful for Govannon himself.

[WarriorKnight]

I think the most useful spells to teach non-spell casters are entropy and metamagic. I'm not sure which spells are useful to teach spell casters. Probably all the spells that are useful for Govannon himself.

Don't forget body for non-casters, everyone can use the extra movement from haste.

Priests need Govannon to use spheres in the first place, and Earth and Air are the two best spells for Priests IMO (although metamagic is pretty good for them too). Arcane casters are able to promote without Govannon's help so it's a bit of a waste to use Govannon spells for them, although if Govannon were a full time teacher I'd probably put Fire1 on him for arcane units.

[nabaxo]

Well, it's a free first tier of spells for spellcasters. No need to use XP on them so to say.

And yes, body is excellent on regular troops too.

[Amelia]

Yeah if you have a teacher you might as well use a teacher for the free promotion. Mages with 7 types of free level 1 spells are diverse, and can respond to any situation. The adept promotions can be used for mobility + spell mobility instead.

[WarriorKnight]

We really need to decide on what to tech after BW, as we really don't have any sort of tech goals now that sorcery is done. There are a couple of techs we do need almost immediately, and I'd suggest this order:

Elementalism
Currency
Military Strategy
Priesthood

Elementalism is for air mana, as a reliable source of collateral against the Clan (which we may need real soon). Currency let's us exchange gold, which would give more flexibility to our teching ability. Mil Strat is cheap and gives 2 useful military buildings in the form of HE and Command Post, even though we don't have the time to build them right now. Priesthood gives FoL Priests for now (which while useful aren't as great as other military options we have) and reason to chase other religions, not great but is the next best military option we have (perhaps we should hold off deciding this one until later).

Mid-term, we need to be able to get everything we need for defense, while working towards getting all the techs we need before switching tech off. That means the mana techs, assassin defense (order + stirrups), mage guards (order and AV both have good options), religion for the 3 of us and working towards engineering/taxation. That's all some time away though.

Also, with plakoV's lack of interest in Arcane Lore, we have the possibility of getting Hemah and the Crown again. I'm not sure how feasible Hemah is, even though Balseraph's have gone for Gibbon instead of Hemah, Luchuirp are still OO. It requires that we tech OO after BW, switch religions and then build him which isn't that difficult of a task but a distraction nonetheless, and its not guaranteed we get him if plakoV get Arcane Lore in that timeframe. Hemah is still one of the best hero's in the game, and a lot more disposable then Govannon when (not if) Clan launch a counterattack.

As for the crown, it's a expensive project, almost as expensive as ToD, but +100% research is a very nice boost and the immunity to magic would be very useful to have, if only for denial.

[Amelia]

I'm going to suggest Elementalism > OO, actually. We need Air ASAP for Maelstrom, as we've seen already that fireballs just aren't enough.

[Amelia]

Arcane Law + Free GS makes me happy~

I can get Crown in 10 turns, which will be further reduced in the golden age. Let me know if that's a good idea.

[WarriorKnight]

Arcane Law + Free GS makes me happy~

Heron Throne + Warfare makes me happy too.

I can get Crown in 10 turns, which will be further reduced in the golden age. Let me know if that's a good idea.

I think you should. Crown would be huge to get and 10t isn't as bad as I first thought.

Couldn't start my own ToD this turn since 10t hasn't passed since I gifted the Law mana. Oh well, have to wait until the GA wears off before starting it then.

I only have 4 mages this tun (a couple of adepts are a few xp short ), so that means a max of 8 fireballs next turn. 2 of those fireballs don't have mobility, but could be still be useful against the 2 axes. I should be able to deal with the axes with my own units so we don't waste yours. Recon shows no change from last turn, Fat Tire still have the Thane so it's probably staying there.

1 of the 2 wolf riders I spotted too far away to be a threat. The other is approaching my borders in the NW, which is too far away for you to deal with. Just have to deal with it myself somehow. Don't see anything else noteworthy.

Other thing I noticed this turn is this:



So that's how Team Clan got 40% world pop. We'll have to do something about that eventually, perhaps with Cultists?

[Amelia]

Urgh i'm not so sure if 5 centaurs can take out the thane + warrior, to be honest. I do have one promoted with shock though, so hopefully that's the key centaur.

If the Thane walks away it would be much better.