Best sacred units?

[AMF]

Ok, so, new guy here has to confess to something: I'm still not entirely sure what holy/unholy effects are...

I know, this is probably a really lame question, but, really, what is different about a holy/unholy unit, and what do the levels in them really mean? As far as I can tell, unholy commanders can reanimate better/more undead, but other than that, I'm sort of clueless.

Alarik

[Alneyan]

Holy/unholy units (or commanders) are your sacred units, particularly devoted to your cause... you get the picture. In game terms, they cost half upkeep (1/30th of their gold cost), and can be blessed. Blessing them gives a +3 morale bonus, and other effects depending on the magic you picked when *creating* your Pretender. Level 4 in any magic path gives a minor bonus, level 6/8 increases that bonus, level 9 gives a big bonus, and level 10 increases the level 4/6/8 bonus. For example, Fire 10 results in a +5 bonus to attack, plus flaming weapons; Fire 4 would only give +2 to attack. Stacking blessings can work out quite well, and this thread is dedicated to coming up with ways of boosting the power of sacred units via blessings. There is no difference between Holy and Unholy units here, except the colour of their candelabra icon.

Holy/unholy mages have access to Holy or Unholy magic; they are your priests, in other words. All priests can call back your Pretender (you need 40 priest levels to call the Pretender back), can build Temples, and require a Temple to be recruited. Holy priests can preach to boost Dominion in a province; Unholy priests can reanimate creatures. Holy and Unholy priests can also cast some spells, depending on their priest level: Banishment, Blessing spells and Morale spells are the most common for Holy priests, and Unholy priests have different spells depending on their nation. All priests are also sacred, including the Unholy priests of Broken Empire, who lack the Sacred icon, but still cost half the upkeep.

So higher levels in priest magic are only needed to get access to the better spells, and for preaching/reanimation purposes. On a related note, Prophets are effectively priests, but do not cost any upkeep, and will be either Holy or Unholy depending on your nation and on the Prophet (Unholy priests stay Unholy when they are priests, and vice versa).

[Cainehill]

And yet for some reason, "Holy" undead can't preach, even when they have Holy-3. (Evidenced by having a nation like Man make an undead commander such as a black servant the prophet. Gets Holy magic to use on the battlefield, can build temples, but can't preach.)

[Endoperez]

Would you believe an undead's promise of happy afterlife?

[Oversway]

I have a hard time doing anything with the c'tis sacred serpents (not counting DT). They are pretty expensive and die fairly easily. I don't often play c'tis with a bless effect so maybe they are more effective than I realize.

I havn't bothered with ermor Wailing Ladies or Knight of the Unholy Sepulchre. The ladies don't seem worth 15 death gems and I never seem to get enough knights.

[Alneyan]

Endoperez said:
Would you believe an undead's promise of happy afterlife?

If a Ghost King is running arounf as Pretender, quite possibly. And said undead can hide, I think: under heavy robes, it should be hard to figure out your good ole pastor is actually a Revenant. Of course, mindless undeads need not apply.

That, and being an undead can be good, so long as you get to choose *what* kind of undead you want to be; Immortality is certainly good enough for my tastes, and not aging isn't too bad either. That way, if your Pretender was kidding about that "afterlife where you shall get every kind of wonder you can mention", you will do just fine regardless.

Priests for Ashen Ermor will, of course, have a much tougher time doing anything looking remotely like preaching to the human populace.

[Nerfix]

Besides the underworld of Dominions doesn't strike me as a nice place. It almost feels like all those sentient undead creatures are strugling to get out of there.

[Evil Dave]

Alneyan said:

If a Ghost King is running arounf as Pretender, quite possibly. And said undead can hide, I think: under heavy robes, it should be hard to figure out your good ole pastor is actually a Revenant. Of course, mindless undeads need not apply.

Without naming any specific religions, many religious leaders seem pretty mindless to me: "Do what I say, go to heaven... Do what I say, go to heaven..."

[Taqwus]

I'm fond of Greater Othernesses, as they nicely compensate for R'lyeh's weakness in melee crunching, and being void summons don't cost upkeep.

(Yeah, they have Meteorite Guard, and Lobos; but the former are hideously expensive, and the latter unarmored, if memory serves.)

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Endoperez said:
Would you believe an undead's promise of happy afterlife?

I'd be more likely to figure he's telling the truth, since he's been there after all....
And as to another (closer to topic) point raised recently:
--Lava Warriors fatiguing out too quickly? Note to self: Next time I design Abysia go with an E9. It's a start and also reduces the defense problem with that +4 prot... I also have gone E9 with Pythium (not sure how much help it'll be: I'm always too busy with other stuff to get the Communicants that were the whole point...)