Why I would never recuit a priest smith.

[Twan]

Summon earthpower + chain Iron darts (or blizzard later) ?

Also master smiths aren't capitol only. You may recruit them in other forts and make one priest smith each turn (costing half upkeep) in the capitol.

[llamabeast]

Iron blizzard? Have you seen it? It's vicious.

[Edi]

Chalk up another person does not seem to have taken a look at anything beyond the blindingly obvious. The Iron Darts and Iron Blizzard are murderous with earth power and Priest Smith = Master Smith combat-wise except for the rare few.

The biggest beta group concern about Priest Smiths was that they are currently too good compared to the master smith for research (drain immune and less upkeep due to sacreed) and together with the combat aspect they'd eclipse the master smith.

[llamabeast]

Well they're capital only so not much danger of eclipsing the master smith. I played a SP game of MA Ulm the other day though, and only recruited priest smiths in the capital. I wanted some Iron Blizzard action!

[lch]

Why don't you rephrase that title to add emphasis: "Why priest smiths will NEVER GET RECRUITED!"

[Sir_Dr_D]

Priest smiths are sacred, and cost less upkeep. Nations with sacred researchers have a huge advantage.

[Tuidjy]

1. He is sacred, his upkeep is halved.
2. You can recruit the standard smith everywhere else, you'll get enough randoms.
3. He can be blessed for fatigue reduction.
4. He can be used for the new evocation spells.
5. He has an awesome hairdo.

I'm in the middle of a MP game (Man/Ulm/Caelum) and Ulm has been significantly
improved. I have been recruiting exclusively holy smiths at the capital, and
the reduced upkeep has allowed me to make more castles. As soon as Man finally
submits his turn, I will see how Iron Blizard works.

But despite all my castles, I still wish there was some medium infantry that
would not cost so damn much in resources, and that I could force march to the
front lines. The lightning bolts do not care for armour, and my casualties are high.

[AreaOfEffect]

My apologies. It appears that the priest smith has one boon I failed to notice. The new spells indeed make them more unique. That combined with there cheaper upkeep would entice me to buy a few. However, for my approach to Ulm, an earth bless isn't a priority and the random magic levels are.

[thejeff]

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about a bless.

The general strategy with Ulm involves building a lot of castles to recruit Smiths and so your slow troops can be build nearer the front. So if you're recruiting 5-6 mages a turn fairly early on, one less chance at a random isn't a big deal.