Building a Better Pretender

[rylen]

I'm sure this has been done to death before. Finding the thread though, that's tough.

I'm intrested in general discussion of the pretender chasis, setting the scales, and custom equiping. I'm really intrested in, how to use an immobile pretender.

Boron, I hope you or another strategy guide person will include some info on this.

For example, how useful are dragons. I've stayed away from them in SP (and am more conservative in my one MP) because of their single straightforward magic path and their tendency, when played by the computer, to charge into my army and get slaughtered. Are there compensating strengths? How do they work well?

What about the various humans? I've used the Sorceres occasionally for a cheap rainbow w/ added pearls. The sage makes sense for quick research. I've tried the druid to generate Vine stuff in SP but find, if he just hangs around, he's worth more as research. Has there been a discussion of these folks?

The discussion of special pretenders at: http://www.freewebs.com/dominions2/ in the guides, is great. I'm looking for that w/ normal pretenders.

Rylen

[NTJedi]

I rarely see any talk about dragons being used as pretenders... mainly because they are overpriced and pretty much stuck with one good magic path.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

rylen said:
I'm sure this has been done to death before. Finding the thread though, that's tough.

I'm intrested in general discussion of the pretender chasis, setting the scales, and custom equiping.

If you can read French, you may want to give these threads a look:

aide pour la traduction

Comment faire un bon prétendant - spécialistes

Comment faire un bon prétendant - supporteurs

[archaeolept]

nice Posts nagot. I like any alternatives to a standard supercombatant.

[Sheap]

I think the reason most people avoid dragons is because, for what you get, the Wyrm is really a better deal. The thing about a monster type pretender is that you can start attacking independents right from turn 2. Undead or titan pretenders need to do at least a little bit of research before they move out. The problem with dragons is that they don't have regeneration. Since monster pretenders fight all the time, they are really prone to getting afflictions. The Wyrm, who is tougher than the dragon anyway, and has much lower path cost, does have built-in regeneration and is amphibious, too. The dragon's only military advantage is that it flies. (The blue dragon can go in the water by way of water magic, of course).

If you wanted a good cheap W9 or N9 blessing, and a monster-type pretender, the dragon would be the way to go. For F9, you'd really be better off with the Moloch.

The dragon can also take better advantage of items by turning into human form. But it's hard to come up with a good use for these items when you can't use most of them in combat and all your magic is concentrated in one or maybe two paths.

[Taqwus]

There's always the Pangaean Carrion Dragon, which does have recuperation if memory serves. It's not quite the 'traditional' dragon however.

Immobiles... well, there's the Fountain of Blood, which might be useful for jumpstarting a blood economy. There's the R'lyeh Void Lurker, which since it's alive can be turned into a mobile Wight Mage. The Oracle might be useful for an astral-9 blessing, while Mr. Flaming Skull has been pushed into F9/A9 by some although the scales will presumably suffer.

[Thufir]

Sheap said:
If you wanted a good cheap W9 or N9 blessing, and a monster-type pretender, the dragon would be the way to go. For F9, you'd really be better off with the Moloch.

I'm just curious - but why do people ever go for N9 blessing? Maybe I just haven't figured out the right way to deal with this, or maybe I'm just giving it too much importance, but every time I've played with N4+ blessing - the berserker trait screws me over. Any sacred caster (including most importantly your Prophet, but this also happens a lot with both TienChi S&A and Pythium casters- two of my favorite nations) will get the berserk trait whenever they're blessed (and this is a permanent condition for the prophet). And believe me, if you're focused on mage power, the Last thing you want is you want is for your favorite Arch Theurg, or Celestial Master go running straight into the horde of enemy hydras just cause he got nicked with a sling bullet!

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Sheap said:
If you wanted a good cheap W9 or N9 blessing, and a monster-type pretender, the dragon would be the way to go. For F9, you'd really be better off with the Moloch.

Except you can't solo-conquer independents with a Moloch, because of the Imps. Until this gets fixed, I know many players who'll pick the Red Dragon over the Moloch.

[archaeolept]

its not that difficult to conquer indeps w/ a moloch. just send in a little bit of useless backup.

[Cheezeninja]

Thufir said:

I'm just curious - but why do people ever go for N9 blessing? Maybe I just haven't figured out the right way to deal with this, or maybe I'm just giving it too much importance, but every time I've played with N4+ blessing - the berserker trait screws me over. Any sacred caster (including most importantly your Prophet, but this also happens a lot with both TienChi S&A and Pythium casters- two of my favorite nations) will get the berserk trait whenever they're blessed (and this is a permanent condition for the prophet). And believe me, if you're focused on mage power, the Last thing you want is you want is for your favorite Arch Theurg, or Celestial Master go running straight into the horde of enemy hydras just cause he got nicked with a sling bullet!

I play N9 alot with jotunheim niefel theme. The combination of high hp and N9 regen on Jarls or giants really helps stop afflictions. Plus its usually not a bad thing when niefel giants or Jarls go beserk as they are extremely potent in small Groups, I've had my army run away but my 4 berserking niefel giants win the province more times than i can count. Plus with the Jarls they wont go berserk until they are blessed, and they can bless themselves AFTER casting quickness and get a breath of winter in on the same turn, about that time it doesnt matter if they berserk because i tell them to attack anyway.