Cheap way to kill SCs?

[Ironhawk]

Is there any cheap way to kill SCs? Short of summoning your own, that is?

I'm currently in a MP game and I am getting schooled by Ice Devils and Father Illearth from the Jotunhiem player to my south. His SCs are all cold/lightning resisted so my mages are worthless against them it seems. Any ideas out there?

Much thanks in advance.

[NTJedi]

Easy SC attack methods:

Ethereal Crossbows(astral item) - very cheap & very deadly

HellBind Heart(blood spell) - turns an enemy into an ally


Gather 5 or so average commanders with ethereal crossbows, surround them with other basic archers and place living statues in front.

[Cohen]

Far better, if you can afford it, soul slaying with spell focus.
If you can get too some comm slaves to raise the astral power is better too.

But remember these are all lucky check on dices, so on both soul slay or ethreal xbow aren't sure.

Undead SCs are the easiest to take out with Dust to Dust or Whiter Bones or Solar Rays.
Drain Life works with all SCs.

Petrify hold them or kill them directly.

Well those are cheap for sure, but some need high magir research and a good spellcaster.

Instead of living statues that are spent gems, I advice common troops. If the problem is the renewing of life points by killing living troops, soul slay, ethereal xbow ignore hit points.
If you go for direct damage, having a barrier of SCs Fodder could cripple your battleplan.

[Ironhawk]

Thanks for the response, jedi. I will look into those options. I should have mentioned before that I was playing Caelum (thus the cold/lightning resists ruining my mages attacks). Might be able to forge some xbows. Hellbind Heart will be impossible for me tho as only my pretender has blood.

[NTJedi]

Originally posted by Cohen:
Instead of living statues that are spent gems, I advice common troops. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I would not use common troops as cannon fodder against SC's for several reasons. Common troops require gold upkeep where summoned troops do not. Most common troops will eventually FLEE during battle... most summoned troops will not. Most common troops will fall much faster then living statues against SC's. The living statues will hopefully provide the time your commanders need for using the ethereal crossbows or spells setup to cast.

[ July 06, 2004, 19:35: Message edited by: NTJedi ]

[Norfleet]

How about the "mile wide mass of False Horrors"?

Unless he has fireshield, an Ice Devil can kill a maximum of 4 units a turn. If you can thus bury him in about 200 false horrors, he can't win, as long as you're defending. They might even, but I wouldn't count on it, kill them. Otherwise, you need to roll your own SCs, like, say, Air Queens, which should be easy enough to get for Caelum. Throw in a burial of false horrors, and use your AQs for punch, and you can probably take 'im down.

[Ironhawk]

Being Caelum and not having any earth on my pretender (blood fountain), living statues are not a possibility for me. I could, on the other hand, use a big stack of winter wolves that I have lying around.

As for the false horror - yeah I was attracted to that spell but wasnt sure of its power. Apparently its not really its power that is an issue but its cost - quantity vs quality. Plus I like that there is no life for his SCs to drain.

Sadly no SCs will be produced by my empire in its current state. I'm too far gone to really put the resources into not only summoning but then properly equipping one. I have every intention of making the fall of my empire and extremely painful process for Jotunhiem tho! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[SelfishGene]

If you have access to blood, why not skip the false horrors and try the real things? Cast horror mark on it until it sticks (maybe with retreat), then cast Summon Horror or Send Horror, lots of times. Minor Horrors are too weak. Make about 3-4 Horrors that will be attracted to the horror mark, and that would hopefully be enough to take it down. Of course pelt it with everything else you can get your hands on.

[Norfleet]

Because actual horrors, even if you can afford them, are expensive, and do not provide that much more benefit over false ones for their cost. Real horrors require an actual mage to be there, and pay slaves, and risk being eaten myself, or ritually cast and send one, for more slave cost.

False Horrors, on the other hand, can be performed with Caelum's natural air magic, have low fatigue cost, and given that neither will effectively kill a decent SC, you can just bury him in crap.