EEEK! Ermor pretender!!!! (SP)

Depending on the magic you have availiable I'd keep the Elemental Hauberk, Boots of Behemoth. From there it would really depend on what you are facing. Since the Cyclops tramples, he doesn't need a weapon for anything but defense. So I'd go 2 Main Gauges of Defense (+6 Defense each) since they don't add to encumberance (your real enemy). Put a Ring of Regeneration on him and probably an Amulet of Antimagic.

What I like to do with a Cyclops is put on Some Stymphalian Wings, Boots of the Messenger, Lucky Coin (If he can't cast Personal Luck), Starshine Skullcap (for MR), Ring of Regeneration, Amulet of Anti-magic and then either some defense or lightweight shields, Vine Shield and Eye shield are good for this purpose.

If you're fighting anyone who uses elemental magics heavily you can swap out a shield, weapon, or misc to fit the type of magic, or if you don't know and are afraid of magic heavy nations, take the Elemental Hauberk and use Boots of Behemoth, though it means you can't fly which makes you less of a threat.

If your Cyclops has access to Astral Magic he is even more deadly since you can have him cast Resist Magic, Astral Shield, Personal Luck, Body Ethereal and go to town and mess up most anything he finds with any sort of decent equipment.

[DimmurWyrd]

Originally posted by Zen:
Depending on the magic you have availiable I'd keep the Elemental Hauberk, Boots of Behemoth. From there it would really depend on what you are facing. Since the Cyclops tramples, he doesn't need a weapon for anything but defense. So I'd go 2 Main Gauges of Defense (+6 Defense each) since they don't add to encumberance (your real enemy). Put a Ring of Regeneration on him and probably an Amulet of Antimagic.

What I like to do with a Cyclops is put on Some Stymphalian Wings, Boots of the Messenger, Lucky Coin (If he can't cast Personal Luck), Starshine Skullcap (for MR), Ring of Regeneration, Amulet of Anti-magic and then either some defense or lightweight shields, Vine Shield and Eye shield are good for this purpose.

If you're fighting anyone who uses elemental magics heavily you can swap out a shield, weapon, or misc to fit the type of magic, or if you don't know and are afraid of magic heavy nations, take the Elemental Hauberk and use Boots of Behemoth, though it means you can't fly which makes you less of a threat.

If your Cyclops has access to Astral Magic he is even more deadly since you can have him cast Resist Magic, Astral Shield, Personal Luck, Body Ethereal and go to town and mess up most anything he finds with any sort of decent equipment.

sounds interesting I've got to try that out hehe.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Zen:
So I'd go 2 Main Gauges of Defense (+6 Defense each) since they don't add to encumberance (your real enemy). Put a Ring of Regeneration on him and probably an Amulet of Antimagic.

You will need reinvigoration if you plan to trample lots, and although summon earth power gives you 4, it's always good to have more. You also might want to keep the charcoal shield as it will mean that any enemy that does hit you will take damage.

[PvK]

The image of a Cyclops with Stymphalian Wings, vine shield, two main gauche, flying through the sky and sqashing, entangling, and impaling enemies, is really hilarious!

Run away! Run away!

Umm... as for Ermor, at least in Doms I against the AI, it didn't take terribly many priests to defeat Ermor. Even as Ulm, using just Holy-2 indie-rasied priests, if I had 2-4 in each battle, I seemed to do just fine defeating even pretty large Ermorian attacks, mainly by banishment.

The problems occur when you aren't ready, and/or Ermor builds up to a really enormous size/strength, and/or the sun goes out, and/or there is a human doing intelligent things with them.

PvK

It's all a matter of preference. That's why I try to give my SC's items that do multiple things in order to try to use more effectively the slots I have. Because Cyclops already start with 3 Earth and good Protection, I try to focus on the things they lack. And they already have access to 1 type of reinvigoration I'd try to stop other things. I have found in my games, that MR is vital and if you don't have more than your base your SC is looking for a Vengance of the Dead or other nasty effect to slap him square in the face. Hence my suggestion of the Stymphalian Wings.

If you really wanted to suck it up you could put on an Amulet of Resiliance instead of Amulet of Antimagic, but for me, I'd rather trample slower and be protected from Rituals and some of the more nasty spelsl rather than reinvigorating faster. Just a a playstyle choice. And most of the time my SC's are deep in enemy dominion so they have naturally lower MR.

[DimmurWyrd]

Originally posted by PvK:
The image of a Cyclops with Stymphalian Wings, vine shield, two main gauche, flying through the sky and sqashing, entangling, and impaling enemies, is really hilarious!

Run away! Run away!

Umm... as for Ermor, at least in Doms I against the AI, it didn't take terribly many priests to defeat Ermor. Even as Ulm, using just Holy-2 indie-rasied priests, if I had 2-4 in each battle, I seemed to do just fine defeating even pretty large Ermorian attacks, mainly by banishment.

The problems occur when you aren't ready, and/or Ermor builds up to a really enormous size/strength, and/or the sun goes out, and/or there is a human doing intelligent things with them.

PvK

hehe... actually I was mostly remarking on the massive power it was able to give it's pretender from the word go (BTW it was 9 fire 3 air 3 water 4 death I was wrong before hehe just saw it again in the arena.) that's what it had from the start... really does give it a massive boost being able to go fire 9 (or 9 in anything) so early I think.
As for it's armies I am doing strength 9 indies so it took me 5 turns just to take my first province with heavy losses. Everyone praises ulms armor but it doesn't seem to do squat for me... abysia's troops seem just as heavily armored and more skilled. Then again it could just be thier heat generation doing some extra damage anyway... I have no hope of hitting ermor before they get huge :/ I could do weak independants but then they just spread like wildfire and it's even worse hehe. Granted 1 ulm blackplate infantry is worth 5 longdead velites usually but when ermore can summon 40-60 longdead horsemen each turn from around turn 5 on It's a losing game. (pale riders spell is quick to gain and easy to cast.) again they are WEAK individually but in the hordes I was able to summon as ermor nothing could stand against em hehe. (indy that is.) thankfully the AI is too dumb to do that but a prist can't banish that many at a time and longdead horse moves fast they'll hit your front line quickly. imagine a death 9 pretender casting that since it's 20+ summoned... yikes hehe. then again a death 9 has more fun things to summon ah well... I KNOW there are balances but they seem all harder to use than it is for ermor to shrug em off. ermor can afford to lose 5-1 every fight and still come out ahead.

[DimmurWyrd]

Originally posted by Zen:
It's all a matter of preference. That's why I try to give my SC's items that do multiple things in order to try to use more effectively the slots I have. Because Cyclops already start with 3 Earth and good Protection, I try to focus on the things they lack. And they already have access to 1 type of reinvigoration I'd try to stop other things. I have found in my games, that MR is vital and if you don't have more than your base your SC is looking for a Vengance of the Dead or other nasty effect to slap him square in the face. Hence my suggestion of the Stymphalian Wings.

If you really wanted to suck it up you could put on an Amulet of Resiliance instead of Amulet of Antimagic, but for me, I'd rather trample slower and be protected from Rituals and some of the more nasty spelsl rather than reinvigorating faster. Just a a playstyle choice. And most of the time my SC's are deep in enemy dominion so they have naturally lower MR.

I agree I like your suggestions. I used the resilience because it was available quick with my low skills in magic. (took mostly domain and castle strength so I can do some fun things with troops) i.e. 457 resources in capital hehe... lots of fun shiny black knights to run and stomp on things.