Re: What are the strongest summons?
 

Ermors priests reanimate undead all the time after they have been summoned. That means, if they summon 1 arch bishop per 2 turns, at turn 30 they have 15 reanimators. IIRC right (Dom1, rich world) they can do this without finding any new sites at all! As Pangaea, you would have to have about 1 new nature gem per two turns to get the same amount, plus all the equipment. With Ivy Crown it takes three full turns to get your gems back, but with other items it takes longer, while Ermor doesn't NEED any items to make it worthwhile.

But it is true that Pangaea could in theory use 10 gems /turn to summon Ogres and get 3+ ogres per gem used, that is 30+ vine ogres /turn, and it is a very nice amount. I hope I'll get my Dom2 soon...

Re: What are the strongest summons?
 

I think that Vine Ogre (Cast by an Ivy King with a Treelords Staff) gives the best bang for the buck (5 Vine Orgres for one gem).

The Iron Dragon is my second fav summon. Flying size 6 trample with great protection. Gift of Reason one and have him lead a pack on a random province taking mission (After he gets his Anti-Magic Charm that is).

Sammual

Re: What are the strongest summons?
 

Vine ogres rock http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Lvl 3 conjuration(vine ogres) and lvl 2 construction(vine crown) is all you need.

And a nature friendly nation like pangaea and you can start pumping out 5(resources gotten per turn from basic pangaea) 10 of em per turn with 5 pans/pando's with vine crowns.

When your territory expands and you find more nature gem resources you might wanna make treelord staves and put more pans/pando's on summoning you can outsummon Ermor even with units that cannot be banished http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: What are the strongest summons?
 

I am amused. Clearly, you people's games go MUCH longer than mine do. No doubt because I'm playing with only one other person at a time, and we're at each other's throats so quickly.

But to my question. R'lyeh. I love R'lyeh. Not for their power, which is decent, but for their style. A man has to go with style. And what's the coolest thing they've got? Well, of course, horrible otherworldly things summoned from the Void Gate!

So does anyone know how to get the best out of the Void Gate? Is it sensitive to higher-level mages? Is there any way to restore a feebleminded mage's magic so that he can go back to summoning? I've gotten a few nifty things out of the Gate, but they've all been pretty weak so far. I want to see what it can really do.

Re: What are the strongest summons?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Void-caused feeblemind is only amenable to the usual cures for afflictions -- having a commander which can heal afflictions (e.g. Fairy Queen), remaining under a Gift of Health until it's healed, using the Chalice et al.

The priestly starspawns have the best chance of getting stuff without getting feebleminded, IIRC. The national hero Cthgul the Stargazer has an even better chance than your average priestly starspawn, but you get at most one... Astral magic matters too, I think.

Give 'em good guards, because the more successful summons they pull off, the better chance they have of getting fun monsters, and good bodyguards makes it more likely they'll live that long.

Greater Othernesses, Formless Spawn, and Vastnesses are pretty interesting.

Re: What are the strongest summons?
 

You remember correctly. The difference between the priests and the wizards is VERY obvious. Nothing else is showing any clear sign of making a difference, even whether or not the priest is a prophet.

Interestingly, it has to be an Illithid priest. A Telestic Animate, for example, can't use the gate.

Thank you! Thanks to your advice I've been able to play with wonderful Vastnesses, Things That Should Not Be, Greather Othernesses, and a host of other unspeakable beings from beyond our understanding.

And casting Gift of Reason on them was fun, too.

Re: What are the strongest summons?
 

Being able to use Void gate efficiently is a special (stacking) ability, and only few commanders have it. Compare it to stealth. And no one can enter the gate without astral magic. So, the only effective summoners being Starspawn priests does not mean that other priests would do any good. And the Stargazer-hero of R'lyeh is better than the priests, or so I have heard. I don't believe the pretenders who came from Void are very effcient at summoning, or even able to.
They are not going to go back after having so much trouble getting out of there in the first place...

Re: What are the strongest summons?
 

The game SAYS Cthugul the Stargazer is a good summoner. I've personally gotten much, much better results from standard Illithid priests.

It's interesting that there's a non-race-specific site for summoning void monsters. I'm going to have to put it on a map sometime.

Re: What are the strongest summons?
 

Did the priests have experience in summoning or were they fresh ones?

I think the Stargazer is better than the priests, but as I still don't have the full game I only post what I have read elsewhere. And I might remember that wrong.

Re: What are the strongest summons?
 

Cthugul is not better, he's just less likely to go insane, which is good.