Petition to Save the Moloch!

Teraswaerto · #1 July 5th, 2004, 02:30 PM

PrinzMegaherz,
I'd rather keep him as he is now, or even better, without any kind of special ability at all. A built in Soul Contract would not be worth all those points, IMO.

Truper · #2 July 5th, 2004, 04:07 PM

All the Moloch's Imps mean is that you have to use him a little differently than some other pretenders. A good thing, imho.

Norfleet · #3 July 5th, 2004, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Truper:
All the Moloch's Imps mean is that you have to use him a little differently than some other pretenders.

If, by "differently", you mean "is nearly useless as an SC", then yeah: He can still be used for his cheap Fire-9 blessing, but an otherwise valid use as suggested by his blurb text is ruled out. As such, he can be used exactly like any other pretender in every other use except being used as an SC, a role in which he is nearly completely useless.

Molog · #4 July 5th, 2004, 06:49 PM

The moloch isn't the only pretender getting combat summons. At least the imps are somewhat useful, lord of the gates get 3 shades.

Norfleet · #5 July 5th, 2004, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Molog:
The moloch isn't the only pretender getting combat summons. At least the imps are somewhat useful, lord of the gates get 3 shades.

Well, yes, there are a few others, but none of them suffer the problem as severely as the Moloch: The Moloch's Imps *FLY*, which means that they IMMEDIATELY get in the face of the enemy and rout the next turn, before the Moloch can even finish casting his spells. This means the Moloch will practically never be able to outrun them, and the Imps are weak and cowardly and rout quickly. The Shades move more slowly and have better morale.

Also, the Lord of the Gates sucks, and isn't really that cool-looking to boot, so nobody uses him when the Prince of Death can do the same thing with better magic for the same cost. He has the same problem, but nobody really wants him, so it's not a big issue.

Truper · #6 July 5th, 2004, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Norfleet:

quote:
Originally posted by Truper:
All the Moloch's Imps mean is that you have to use him a little differently than some other pretenders.

If, by "differently", you mean "is nearly useless as an SC", then yeah: He can still be used for his cheap Fire-9 blessing, but an otherwise valid use as suggested by his blurb text is ruled out. As such, he can be used exactly like any other pretender in every other use except being used as an SC, a role in which he is nearly completely useless.

You can still use him as a SC - just not in the "Lone Ranger" mode in which he and his Imps would be the only friendly units on the battlefield. Use him in support of other friendly forces, or work around the problem by sticking some units at the back of the battleboard with hold orders. The role in which I think he could truly excel is as an anti-SC, since he has, iirc, the highest inherent attack skill of any pretender.

Norfleet · #7 July 5th, 2004, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Truper:
You can still use him as a SC - just not in the "Lone Ranger" mode in which he and his Imps would be the only friendly units on the battlefield. Use him in support of other friendly forces, or work around the problem by sticking some units at the back of the battleboard with hold orders.

This will then cripple his strategic mobility, since he'll be limited to attacking only adjacent provinces: There aren't very many flying units that won't rush into the battle (and then die). I think the only ones that come to mind are Storm Demons and Caelumian archers. This severely limits your options.

Quote:

The role in which I think he could truly excel is as an anti-SC, since he has, iirc, the highest inherent attack skill of any pretender.

He can fight reasonably well if you can do something about his cowardice. This involves having to saddle him with troops that may not be able to be adequately protected from battlefield nastiness, and probably encumber his strategic move to a level that makes difficult to keep up with more mobile SCs, or sacrificing an item slot to collar him. Alone, however, his imps are liable to kill themselves quickly and rout him again.

Yes, it's entirely possible to have him accompany an army, but then you've largely defeated the point of having what would otherwise be a high-class SC chassis and reduced him to the level of artillery support. Certainly he does this well at the moment, since the only reason to take him at all is for the Fire-9 bless, but as an SC chassis, he's of very questionable worth at present.