EA Arco oreliads as thugs.

[endomorphious]

Hi all,

Ive just recently read Baalz's guide to thugging and I'm just a titch overwhelmed with choices. Thugging and SC'ing is a weak point in my game. I am only playing SP non-cbm. I'd like to send out pairs of oreliads as expansion parties. Would a luck pendant, a lightning rod, and shock wave be enough starting off for them to succeed?

Thanks

[Fantomen]

The missing info here is:

What's your blessing?
What research is done?
Which enemy are you planning to attack? (in case of indies, what poptype and indie strength?)

I'd probably wait for mistform, and add some reinvigoration item.

[thejeff]

One problem with Oreiads is they're sacred but not priests. If you're relying on a bless you'll have to send some one along with them, probably on Bless/Bless/retreat. This raises logistical issues.

Without a bless, I'd try them without gear against indies. Air Shield/Resist lightning/Shockwave would be minimal. They'll probably die fairly often though. Using them in pairs will help.
Switch Air Shield for Mistform, add Stoneskin and they'll be solid. You'll want reinvig for longer fights. Summon Earthpower or Messenger Boots.

Luck is always a good addition. Against AI nations, add mr or elemental resistances as you expect to face them.

[DeadlyShoe]

As Fantomen and thejeff said, Mistform is the go-to spell for air mage survivability. that's alteration 3 IIRC and very useful.

For mage-thugs like the Oreiads, the important thing is usually the self buffs they can cast more than the items you give them. You want to minimize how many gems you have to spend on equipment - which is why mage-thugs are useful.

EDIT: Ahha, here we are. Baalz' guide on EA Arco specifically lays out a strategy based around Oreiad thugging and how to do that. Here's the relevant section:

She’s got awe, and a powerful one. Powerful enough that even high morale troops will shy off more often than not. She’s stoneskin, which with any armor you stick on her, anything which does hit her will bounce off more often than not. She’s got mistform so those few hits which do cause damage will only cause one point, and she’s got powerful nature magic so her regeneration is about half her hitpoints. Add this all up and it means she needs to get hit more than 5 times per round over many rounds to bring her down. Not many units can do that. Now, if you get rushed into very early fighting (that for some reason your Bull God can’t handle) you can use a priest to bless them to gain the regen and reinvig you need. In most circumstances though I’d suggest just forging her a shroud of the battlesaint, your protection is plenty enough with your buffs and you get the regen without casting the very fatigue expensive personal regeneration. You’ve got all those mystics arcane probing, you shouldn’t have any trouble at all popping out a sacred shroud every turn to match the one Oreiad you get.

But I haven’t told you the best part yet – no need to forge a shield or weapon. Try this script on for size – mistform, stoneskin, resist lightning, cast spells. What spell is she going to cast? Shockwave of course. Now you’ll do plenty enough damage to blast PD around with just this, but with a little more reinvig you become truly unstoppable. Fortunately, 25% of your Orieads can cast summon earthpower, and the rest just need an earth gem, or for just 3 gems you can forge boots of the messenger with a hammer. Oh, also no worries if she runs into somebody lighting immune, the spellcasting AI will automatically switch to something like freezing touch or fists of iron.

But wait, there’s more! Add “resist elements” there and it gives you 50% resistance to everything. This means 100% resistance is as easy as slapping on a dragon helm & frost brand (you’re already scripting resist lighting). You can toss in resist poison if it seems like it’ll help.

That, I believe, is with a earth/nature bless (which might as well be called the Baalz Bless ;p)

[krpeters]

Word of caution: be *very* careful using mages with both E and A. If the script doesn't work out right, the mage will cast Ironskin. You can imagine what hilarity follows.

[Warhammer]

I've considered handing out RoLR to counter that.

[thejeff]

It doesn't help. If they have 100% LR already, they won't cast the spell, so you can't get to 175%+.
Though I'm not sure if a Ring with a script of Ironskin,Resist Lightning would work.
Usually, if you script Stoneskin, they won't also cast Ironskin. If you don't give them any protection buff, they'll probably try the highest one they can.

[Redeyes]

Originally Posted by thejeff

Though I'm not sure if a Ring with a script of Ironskin,Resist Lightning would work.

It works with Caelum Eagle Kings who start with LR 100 % (IIRC!)

[Warhammer]

It does, that's why I mentioned it. I had to do it my last game with them, because occassionally, despite my Stoneskin, they would still cast Ironskin.