The Weirdest SC

[UninspiredName]

I've been tinkering with Sacred Statues/Sphinxes as of late, and it seems they're natural for Wish spells, Astral blesses, (When you think about it, Twist Fate Bless is pretty useful. Also cheap compared to other blesses.) and to a lesser extent Dual Blesses. I'm thinking though, as a wish/blesser, one's pretender is going to have a lot of underused magic firepower. And with that S3 already there, your pretender could, with a bit of preparation, cast Teleport. And especially with a Dual Bless, the pretender will probably also have a range of attack spells.

I'm sure you know what I'm getting at by now. If you teleport your pretender into an enemy province (Preferrably one you feel confident you can hold), it can likely do more good than back at the capitol. Especially if you have the resources to Teleport it back out. (I don't suppose there's a misc item that gives you teleportation. I know there's a pair of boots that does) Even if you don't, you can usually, if you manage to ward off any counterattacks, just build a Lab and it'll be like it never left the capitol.

I know it's pretty inconvenient and sort of risky, but Sacred Statues/Sphinxes are practically invincible against standard troops, and if nothing else it's another use for a wisher or S9 pretender. I like to give my pretenders at least two magic paths, though, and I can't think of what to put the second as.

[alexti]

Teleporting Sphinx into the enemy capital in the early game used to be a common tactics. That's until Sphinxes forgot how to teleport http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[PvK]

Gatestone?

[UninspiredName]

Did they used to have some innate ability to teleport, or do you mean Teleport doesn't work on Sphinxes? I know it works on Blood Fountains...

[Taqwus]

They're truly immobile -- teleport won't work for them. So are Oracles, I believe.

[quantum_mechani]

Sphinxes are 100% immobile, other immobiles can use teleport. No immobiles can use other movement spells besides teleport, and that includes the gatestone.

[UninspiredName]

Hm... I'll go run a quick test.

EDIT: Alright, Sacred Statues can teleport with no difficulties. It must be only sphinx.

[alexti]

UninspiredName said:
Did they used to have some innate ability to teleport, or do you mean Teleport doesn't work on Sphinxes? I know it works on Blood Fountains...


They were used to be able to cast teleport spell, but they aren't anymore.

[Taqwus]

Hm, that's strange. Thematically, why would a pretender be able to use Teleport but not, say, Gateway or Faery Trod?

[PvK]

Maybe because Gateway and Faerie Trod both require walking at least a short distance?

[Cainehill]

Eh, the three unique trees were immobile, but capable of doing Faerie Trod, as they should have been. Problem was when a version or two of the CB mods allowed the bastards to fly via items. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[HoneyBadger]

No trees that I've come across in Dom3, except treelords, any reason for that?

[PDF]

S9 Oracles/Statues are pretty fun, they can Teleport and unleash fun stuff like Master Enslave...
Howevre I didn't ever use Sphinxes, and now that they can't teleport, can't think of a good reason to use them.

[Shovah32]

S9 oracle/statue can also be used for SC hunting, give it a few penetration items and script it to cast soul slay.

[UninspiredName]

Or, if you're like me, Enslave Mind. Either way it's an MR save, right? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

Though Oracles could be a problem against flying or ranged SCs. They're kind of easy to destroy.

[Shovah32]

Enslave mind is easier to resist than soul slay isnt it? I always thought it was but i could be wrong.

[UninspiredName]

Well, my S9/N4 Sacred Statue with a Spell Focus just enslaved all of Bogus' squad, (Except for the human warrior mage, who was killed by the others) so it can't be too hard to make it work. The Troll Mage resisted the first one, but succumbed to the second just before successfully routing. That and, under the spell description, it just says 'Magic Resistance negates', which is what Soul Slay says unless I'm mistaken. If it was easier to resist, it would say "Magic resistance negates easilly".

Guess what the N4 is for. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[mivayan]

Shovah32 said:
Enslave mind is easier to resist than soul slay isnt it? I always thought it was but i could be wrong.


There's no penalty to enslave mind, but if you have S9, that's six above what you need to cast soul slay, so you get +3 penetration. S9 is only 5 above what you need to cast enslave mind, so you get +4 penetration. In that case enslave mind is easier to resist, but if you have S8 they are identical.

[Endoperez]

Enslave Mind requires S4 instead of S3. If an S4 mage casts Soul Slay, he has better chance of penetrating the enemy's magic resistance due to his skill being higher than the requirement.

[UninspiredName]

Ah, right. I forgot about that. Whoops...

I'll personally be glad to sacrifice a point of Penetration if it means mind-controlling an SC instead of killing it, though.

[okiN]

You also can't enslave pretenders, unless I'm mistaken.

[alexti]

Yep, pretenders are enslave-mind-immune.

[Shovah32]

UninspiredName said:
Ah, right. I forgot about that. Whoops...

I'll personally be glad to sacrifice a point of Penetration if it means mind-controlling an SC instead of killing it, though.



And, by enslaving it, turning it into a non-commander unit.

[UninspiredName]

Fair enough.

[alexti]

Shovah32 said:
And, by enslaving it, turning it into a non-commander unit.


You can Gift-of-Reason it back into commander. Particularly valuable if he has magic paths you have hard time accessing http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Graeme Dice]

Endoperez said:
Enslave Mind requires S4 instead of S3. If an S4 mage casts Soul Slay, he has better chance of penetrating the enemy's magic resistance due to his skill being higher than the requirement.



I believe that the bonus to penetration only arises if it's two or more skill levels higher. I could be mistaken however. I do know that the S4 mage will get more casts due to the spell's base fatigue cost being halved by the higher skill level.