The (not really) Official Endgame Summon Thread!

[Endoperez]

First version of my monster mod attached. It has four seasonal spirits and one improved Mechanical Man commander. I've tested the units and they should work fine, and the spells appear, but I haven't tested if they summon the correct creature (or anything at all).

That's 4 level 9 non-unique SC summons and one strong non-unique level 9 thug. The mechanical giant has full slots, full immunities and enc 0, but 40 hp and mr 12. It might still be too good for its price (15 gems).

[Aezeal]

I'd say make relatively WEAK Fighter --> mages with a one battle spells.. and then not one that has all those major effects Twan had.. but multiple so you'd have to combine them and they could be killed w/o to much effort

[Wrana]

Transform command is, I think, impossible. Rituals, iirc, will work on any unit(s) which is not what is desired. Though there is a transformation possibility here. I would say that chain of #firstshape would be better, or even making unresearchable #onebattlespell - unless somebody actually knows how The Eater of the Dead works!
We also could add to any of these possibilities some uncontrollability - for example, giving large dragons some Tartarian-style madness & making their final shape a neutral. This will make Dragons a viable alternative, but not a must-have.
A #onebattlespell alternative is cool, too. I'm not sure about it exact effects on gameplay, though. Testing may prove whether or not it makes conventional armies even weaker than SC prevalence does. But in any case I think this is a productive direction to look in. Also, does somebody know whether it's possible to take SCs out temporarily without banishing them to Cocytos?

[Twan]

Wrana said: I'm not sure about it exact effects on gameplay, though. Testing may prove whether or not it makes conventional armies even weaker than SC prevalence does.

It's exactly the contrary, onebattlespell allow to use armies in attack, if used to cast spells like antimagic, protection buffs, resistances, etc... before round one.

The problem is more to avoid to make armies too powerful and end with a game where only number of troops matter as they are immune to anything.

So I'd mix the best buffs with effects that may be detrimental (affecting the two armies or even friends only).

[MaxWilson]

The other way to use an army in an attack is to attack twice (once during the magic phase and once during the conventional phase) so that the defender uses up all his gems during the magic phase.

-Max

[Wrana]

Another question - is there a possibility of direct or battlefield Dispel?

[Twan]

MaxWilson said:
The other way to use an army in an attack is to attack twice (once during the magic phase and once during the conventional phase) so that the defender uses up all his gems during the magic phase.

Trusting AI to use or not gems is rather unreliable and this tactic is not usable for the most important battles (castle storming, attack of provinces with lab+domes, etc...).

Also any addition to the game making success relying on something else than exploitation of spell AI stupidity would be good to take IMO.

Mages simply shouldn't use their gems when they are sure to win without (and should be sure to win against about 90% of what is used to harass them in magic phase, and sometimes actually work). Seing 30 wise mages thinking they need to use their gems to kill a hundred of black hawks the province defense alone would rout, or one diseased teleported ennemy caster in suicide mission, is more a problem than a quality of this game.

[Agema]

Shoggoth:

"It was a terrible, indescribable thing vaster than any subway train – a shapeless congerie of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes forming and un-forming as pustules of greenish light all over the tunnel-filling front that bore down upon us, crushing the frantic penguins and slithering over the glistening floor that it and its kind had swept so evilly free of all litter."

Basically, a size 6 greenish blob of bubbles. Lots of HP, maybe no or low protection. Trample attack I guess (I think they were giant six foot penguins), with some sort of engulfing attack. Bite seems a bit weak to describe it, but I guess it might do.