Horror Marking as a battle tactic for a non-Blood nation

[thejeff]

But if you're relying on bodyguards and the higher level single target spells you're not going to be cloud trapezing around destroying armies.
The single target spells aren't army destroying spells, nor are the buffs you use to take armies in melee what you want against horrors.

If you have to change gear/scripts to cope with potential horrors, you're not as effective against me. That's a win.

Again, even more so against a SC backing up an early rush, or even in the first series of wars, when horror counters are harder to come by.

[SalsaDoom]

Originally Posted by thejeff

But if you're relying on bodyguards and the higher level single target spells you're not going to be cloud trapezing around destroying armies.
The single target spells aren't army destroying spells, nor are the buffs you use to take armies in melee what you want against horrors.

If you have to change gear/scripts to cope with potential horrors, you're not as effective against me. That's a win. .

This is all true stuff. Unquestionably But yes, my point though, is that horror mark can be dealt with. Its a nuisance, and it will likely end an SC pretender traipsing around your lands willy-nilly. Just like the spells supposed too. Its a great counter to SC's. It just makes said traipsing a lot more dangerous, and it will end up making me use my pretender for other things.

I wasn't trying to say that horror mark wasn't effective, only that I can live with it. It makes living a bit more complex, and a bit less flexible. And sometimes a bit shorter.

Thats why its never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket!

[K]

As a battle tactic, it is marginally useful. As a tool for psychological wafare, it is invaluable.

People tend to get super attached to SCs and Thugs, and Horror marking them "ruins" them in the eyes of these players. Sure, only one or two may die, but the player feels less confident sending Marked units into battle and so their threshhold for quitting becomes that much less.

[SalsaDoom]

Oh hell, I totally do myself. For someone with serious villain/evil inclinations, I have a bizarre habit of getting attached to my commanders. I even get attached to my troops once they become veteran enough. Its probably a bad thing, but hey, thats the game for me

That said. My strategy is moving toward having a couple of solidly equipped thugs clambering along with an army. I play a mod-side that I made that is basically bits and pieces of things that I like -- it doesn't really contain anything fancy (Well, except a unit I made, a Howitzer. Works as advertised. I'm pretty pleased with the sprite too.).. it doesn't field things like SC's out of the box but I think it does field excellent thugs if you equipped them nicely. The point is though, I try and disperse a good group of them. That way, if anything goes wrong and they get offed, there are others who can receive the love of affection of their god still.

If one gets horrormarked or some such... well, I think the best thing you can do is use 'em till you lose 'em. Long as you keep that in mind horrormarking is annoying, effective, but not devastating. Probably works best on sentimental types