Unused Units

[Anthony]

What units do you never build/summon, because some other unit just does the job better, or whatever job it does isn't worth toe cost? Mine:

Barbarians: swordsmen, bowmen, cavalry
Gnolls: swordsmen, bowmen, halberdiers
Halflings: bowmen
High Elves: swordsmen, halberdiers, elven lords (they seem like they should be good, but I never find myself wanting them)
High Men: swordsmen, bowmen
Klackon: halberdiers.
Lizardmen: halberdiers
Nomads: swordsmen, bowmen
Orcs: I don't build anything but spearmen, engineers, and (rarely) shamans.
Beastmen: I only built spearmen, engineers (if no cheaper ones elsewhere), and (eventually) priests.
Dark Elves: swordsmen, halberdiers, cavalry.
Draconians: swordsmen, halberdiers.
Dwarves: halberdiers, golem
Trolls: halberdiers, war mammoths.
All summoned: I very rarely use anything Rare or Very Rare, because by the time I have them, I have big heroes and other uses for my casting points; many of them would otherwise be competitive. However, I'll list ones that still seem uncompetitive
Life: unicorns, angel
Nature: cockatrices, stone giant, behemoth
Sorcery: none are really terrible, none are outstanding.
Chaos: fire giant, gargoyles
Death: demon lord
Chaos: fire giant, gargoyle

[I like Serena]

If I have a high elven capital, I'll build elven lords since they have more hit points than longbowmen.
This is particularly relevant if the spell comes along that deals damage to all units world wide (I forget its name) or stuff like flame strike.

And it's fun to play with sky drakes, especially if you can summon them for free.

[Asfex]

I play with my mod, there +4 def for large shield. With this any swordsman is useful, it saves toops for ranged attack.
Also it depends of style of play. if you afraid you hero will goes into deep by crack call, then summoned creatures will help instead.
orc magicians is cheap and can stop the wave of shadow demons,along with dispel evil spell.
unicorns can stop a wave of foot units. fire giants with war bears can form pathfinding stack. demon lord a nice to form the stack of undead.
cockatrices are dear, so i do not use. otherwise with regeneration or iron skin.

nice theme, i will use it for mod creation.

[Lamertien]

Units I never build are:

- Bowmen (longbowmen, slingers, rangers, horsebowmen, Pegasi and flying warships are much better)
- Orcish cavalry
- Galley & trireme

I also never summon these creatures:

- Nagas (their too expensive and too weak)
- Chaos spawn (much too expensive and instant killed by range attacks)

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I have to admit I mostly (90%) use just the cheap-to-summon-creatures, although there are some more expensive ones either.
These are my favorites (unordered list):

- Hell hounds (the best unit for that few mana)
- Sprites (only with conjurer-retort for 2 mana upkeep, but they are fast at the beginning of the game)
- Floating Island (I dont need ships)
- Phantom Warriors (always nice)
- Basilisk (nice for neutral cities)
- Doom Bat (very poor against better units BUT very fast and good for sneaking shamans, priests, bowmen...)
- Skeletons (very cheap and good at the beginning - also great in combination with darkness vs. a stack of missile-units)
- Shadow Demons (expensive but the regeneration ROCKS)

[Anthony]

On the topic of favorite summons, for 11-book strategies, the big "I can just conquer every neutral city on the map, and maybe capitals as well" options are Invulnerable guardian spirits, basilisks, and shadow demons or wraiths (wraiths are faster, shadow demons can plane shift, which is good because many towers are tough to crack with wraiths).

[I like Serena]

- Sprites (only with conjurer-retort for 2 mana upkeep, but they are fast at the beginning of the game)

Sprites can take out a wyrm!

[Anthony]

Sprites can take out a wyrm!

Hr. Using the combat simulator, in a node, I get an average of 2 damage per sprite before running out of ammo, which seems on the inadequate side (if you abuse the 50 turn rule to run away without losses, sprites can clear anything that can't attack air and isn't essentially immune to their damage).

[I like Serena]

Hr. Using the combat simulator, in a node, I get an average of 2 damage per sprite before running out of ammo, which seems on the inadequate side (if you abuse the 50 turn rule to run away without losses, sprites can clear anything that can't attack air and isn't essentially immune to their damage).

Sorry. You're quite right.
I miss-remembered the discussion in this thread.

Catwalk mentioned that sprites do noticeable damage against a wyrm. That is indeed 2 damage per unit of sprites.
However, with 9 sprite units that makes only 18 points of damage while wyrm's got 45 hit points.
Since the wyrm heals between encounters, 9 sprites cannot take out a wyrm. Not even with prayer.

[WhiteMage]

9 sprites cannot take out a wyrm. Not even with prayer.

Right. But 9 sprites attacking one by one takes out a wyrm with a single Cracks Call per battle is P=0.93 (93% in 1 turn) – LOL

Although I remember reading that cracks call does not affect merging any more. Was that 1.40n?

[Anthony]

Although I remember reading that cracks call does not affect merging any more. Was that 1.40n?

Pretty sure that's Insecticide. But yes, you can use sprites plus crack's call to clear a wyrm/war bear node (vs wyrm/sprite or wyrm/spider you usually can't be cost effective).