Caster of Magic Release thread : latest version 6.06!

[GermanJoey]

Do you ever use Move Fortress? That spell is super useful in the late game, saving you tons of mana so you don't have to pay cross-plane penalties so much. It's probably maximally useful for lizardmen because they have such an easy time expanding.

And wait, you played Myrran Lizardmen on a poor resources map?? What's the point of that??

[Nelphine]

If you read the outpost growth thread I'm convinced lizardmen are so strong right now that they are effectively a must have pick for higher difficulties. I'm trying to convince seravy to reduce outpost racial growth rates from -33 to +50, down to -10 (for dark elves) to +25 (for lizardmen).

I believe the variance in growth rates is simply too high. (I'm also hoping to have him reduce the variance on growth rates based on the max pop of the square as well.)


This build is my typical high difficulty build (usually with beastman instead). Now that I've really looked into growth rates, Ive used the same build, and am trying to crush the enemy, instead of just barely win (or lose).


I took poor resources specifically to try to make Myrran as poor a choice as possible, while still crushing my enemy. (Seravy may decide this means towers are too strong and that was the source of my success, instead of lizardmans growth. He may decide it was some other factor. I don't know.)

[Seravy]

[quote pid='622602' dateline='1486054333']
If I cast Survival Instinct for 450 mana (specialist + books) what is the guaranteed dispelling strength? (900 or 1200) + 50% ?

900. Base casting cost is used for dispelling.

So if someone else casts evil omens (EO) and then I cast Charm of Life (specialist (SP) + no book reductions (for simplifying) + runemaster (RM) + bound ethers (AB)) for 1500 * 0.85 (SP) + 1500 * 0.50 (EO) = 2025mana; is the guaranteed dispelling strength now 2025 * 2(RM) * 2(AB) * 1.5(+50%) = 12150 mana?

If yes then this would be probably the most durable enchantment? :-)
[/quote]

No, as I said the base cost is used. So it's 1500*1.5*2=4500 mana. AEther Binding has no effect on dispel resistance, it only boosts dispel power.

[Tlaloc]

4 life, warlord, myrran, specialist, inquisitor (my income is over 400g per turn in April 1408 - even without alchemy, the only time i ever spend any power on mana is to summon magic spirits at the start to explore), tactician, sagemaster (i would change this next time. If i get good spells, which i did the last time, it's amazing. If i don't, its a waste.  Last game (beastmen), I got alter of battle (before I had even built a barracks, so I just never built barracks - biggest downside to lizards is the lack of war college), lionheart, enlightenment, charm of life). I'd replace it with alchemy. Or maybe Archmage? I'm not really sure. My gold income is so high I can't really imagine needing more. But, late game battles on the other plane require HUGE amounts of mana, so it's probably still the best choice.

And given I don't have a single amplifying tower yet (or wizards tower, or cathedral), my spellpower is going to get an absolutely huge boost in a few years (probably over 200 by the time I have any serious interaction with Arcanus), so archmage seems overkill.  I'll stick with alchemy. Although I'd be tempted to try to fit 2 sorcery books in.

Why is Tactician good in this case? You aren't guaranteed heroes and +1 Def doesn't seem like that much for 1 pick. Also, could you briefly describe your city build orders and how you built up your empire?

[Nelphine]

Sawmill, marketplace, 12 settlers. Take swordsmen from outposts to act as a defensive force. Pick your first outpost location as the highest pop spot you can get to quickly, and try to build that up to a fighters guild asap to start building troops. Once you have 2 or 3 cities building halberdiers and javelineers, you can start building settlers at a different city, which means your capital can finally start developing.

I lost a few cities to raiders and monsters, but its all about quantity. An outpost earns you 3 power towards casting skill (or some obscene amount of research if there's something worth going after since I was sagemaster) but losing it only costs you gold, which you are literally rolling in. Retake with a horde of lizardmen, rebuild. Enemy declares war? Neutral around? Wipe them out, colonize. Constant expansion. You have a stack heading toward a war zone, detour and take out lairs. Casualties? Who cares you have 3 more the next turn. Make a mistake and lose a city? Who cares, its hardly developed compared to what the ais natural troll and dark elf and dwarf and beastmen and draconian super cities can do, so they don't gain anything from it, they won't make settlers there which might slow down your expansion, and you can already crush the 'superior' races through sheer quantity.

[Nelphine]

Tactician is free. My troops start out with better HP than dark elves and draconians, better defense than dwarves, and are far cheaper than trolls. Beastmen are easily the biggest threat.

Free bonuses mean faster expansion. (I'm actually kind of shocked because I haven't had casting skill to spam holy armor/holy weapon/endurance on everything, even though I have plenty of mana to do so, and those 3 spells are normally what make my beastmen armies into unstoppable killing machines. Lizardmen are so bloody fast I don't even need them.)

[Tlaloc]

Tactician is free.

What do you mean? Tactician costs 1 pick.

Thanks btw for the description of your playstyle. That's quite informative.

[Seravy]

Tactician is free.

What do you mean? Tactician costs 1 pick.

Thanks btw for the description of your playstyle. That's quite informative.

Free, as in, you don't spend actual resources to make your units stronger. It doesn't cost you gold, mana, etc, especially not on a per-unit basis. Think of it as having half of a free barracks or war college or altar of battle in all your new outposts : the more cities you have, the more you save on it, and the higher level units you're producing the more it is worth (war college is much more expensive than barracks). It's the same reasons why Warlord is powerful and costs 2 picks, except this retort is about half as good. A typical level gives +1 to two stats, this adds only defense.

the only "cost" is having 1.5 fewer mana per turn which is nothing compared to having all your units improved (including fantastic ones, what Warlord cannot do!) and missing a few late game spells which are irrelevant if you win the early game. (and missing a starting common so I guess you also lose like 50 RP, lol)

To be honest, Tactician might be overpowered as is, but I can't make it grant half of a defense for obvious reasons., and buffing heroes only would be far too limited use.

[Nelphine]

Yup, in this game I declined the first two heroes that came along. Heroes are great, but delaying the lizard war machine defeats the entire purpose of the test. By the the third hero offered to join, I was rolling in the golds though.

[frutagode]

The animation for "Aether Binding"  seems to be corrupted. (I mean the animation that shows when the spell is cast)