How to Kill the Ancient Presence

[Lingchih]

All ideas are welcome. I just got him in an MP game. I would rather charm him than kill him though. He has about 100 mandragoras left.

[Aezeal]

What are you talking about? I have no clue who or what it is and what mandragoras have to do with it but I'd like to know :D

[Ballbarian]

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/picture.php?albumid=11&pictureid=63

641 Ancient Presence
, size 3, hp 47, mor 16, mr 18
, normal ldr 40, undead ldr 170, magic ldr 15
, hand 0, head 0, body 0, foot 0, misc 2
, D3, N3
, undead, magic being, resist poison, regen, srv:forest, lifeless, noeat
, uniquename Infor Vadul, special -999

[Aezeal]

strangish, never met the guy tough.. and he leads mandragora..
Bring a lot of priest.. and banish I'd say. Charm MR 18 might be hard of surrrounded by 100 smaller stuffs.

[Nikelaos]

Thaumaturgy 9, D7, Undead mastery
Alteration 9, S7, Arcane domination
Thaumaturgy 9, S8, Master enslave

okay not worth going to the above extremes for this but these are the obvious ways to charm both the ancient presence and the mandragoras though you should consider scripting retreat incase the ancient precense resists your spell. If in the likely case you aren't in a position to use these spells then get a bunch of mages with a few units to act as a meat sheild spamming any of the following lower lvl spells.

Thaumaturgy 6, S4, Enslave mind
Alteration 6, S3, Control
Blood 5, B2, Hellbind heart
Thaumaturgy 5, D2, Control the dead

Obviously if you aren't interested in adding some mandragoras to your garrison then by all means kill some off with preists spamming banishment(becareful not to hit ancient presence) before charming your target with the spells listed above.

[Lingchih]

Thanks Nike, those are all out of my reach right now though. I could possibly send a flying mage in to attack rear, then cast Charm. I assume his mandragoras would "poof" at that point.

[Nikelaos]

well twas a shame , i would be careful with that flying mage though, with such high MR it is more than possible that our friend will resist the spell and ultimately your flying mage will find himself 6 feet under.

it would be safer to simply wipe out most of the mandragoras with some skirmishes and evocation magic(or banishment) over a number of turns, then send in a few mages casting charm when it is much safer.

[Aezeal]

not likely you have the time to be fancy about it in MP though.. else I'd say take a load of H2-3 priests and banish 5x and then retreat till he's nearly alone and then spam charm on him.

Might be just better to take him out fast and clean or just forget him and focus on your neighbours.

[Lingchih]

It's a border prov. Not important now since the "Ancient Presence" event turned most all my citizens into vine critters, and pop is now only 300. I would still like to charm him though, when the time comes, if my neighbors do not take him out first.

[Aezeal]

why do you think he is worth the effort (loss of valuable troops and mages etc)

[Nikelaos]

I agree though he is quite strong he is probably not worth the work, if you had access to one of the 3 whole battlefeild charm spells useable here then it would be a different story, especially undead mastery which according to my grimoire does not require a morale check for charming like the other 2 thus giving you a commander and a whole 100 troops in a single turn. Unless of course the manual is mistaken or there was a balance change on it.

[Ballbarian]

Best way to clear a province of the Ancient Presence is a good mower. :)
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/picture.php?albumid=11&pictureid=64

(Works well for vine infestations as well.)

[Falkor]

I would try the following:

Two small squads (2 x 10 Militia) in the right corner scripted: attack rear and hold + attack rear.
Guarded mage placed in the opposite right corner a bit to the back side scripted: attack one turn, 4x Charm, retreat.

This should give the mage time to cast the spell undisturbed. Retreat after 5 turns saves the mage. AI will probably choose evererything but not charm for him to cast.

Advantages:
-Repeating until successful.
-Get rid of some unwanted upkeep suckers.

[AreaOfEffect]

The best way to get a one-on-one with the guy is with assassination. You would need a mage/assassin with either astral, nature, or death magic to cast the approriate charming spell. Though, to be honest, I don't know what that would do for the ancient presence if you succeed.

[Rytek]

Its not worth it. Unless the province has good magic sights. If it has good magic sights or is in a strategic spot and you have to have it. Best is lots of archers with some blockers. Otherwise save it for a late game undead mastery.