Soul gate

[HJ]

Originally posted by Kristoffer O:
Steal strength do do HP damage and lowers the strength of units.

Paralyzed targets hit by an additional paralyze are slightly damaged.

Apparitions are surrounded by clouds of disease. Any units near them will be affected.

Spectral weapons have no additional penetration (11+2d6). The centurion does not have a spectral weapon (IIRC).

Wailing Ladies are sacred nowdays.

Ah, great! That means that the only reanimation that you can keep on doing is the one that also damages units, which makes perfect sense. You only get the special ones on special occasions, but "regular" ones any time. Shadows are very dangerous then. And even paralyzers can do damage, which is also great, as they seem to succeeed very often. And disease clouds means that noone is getting out of one of those battles unscathed. And wailing ladies are able to get fear +14 with death 9 (which you will probably have to get the consuls at death 6), so yes, it's great that they are sacred. And I know that centurions have regular weapons, I was just using it as an example of what I was trying to say. And I like this theme very much, and it's perhaps the most flavourful one in the game IMHO, along with carrion woods. And thank you for the reply. And...
Cheers,

[Kristoffer O]

Thanks!

[mjlaufgr]

I have been playing this theme for the Last couple hours and I want to second that- it's enormously fun and flavorful! Kudos!!

[PDF]

Exhumed the thread - normal for Ermor !
Just tried Soul gate in SP on Zen's cool "MTW" Europe map, and I'm very impressed !
Disposs Spirits, Shadows and Spectral Legionnaires compliment each other perfectly : the ones swarm the enemies and paralyze them, the others kill it
Then you have quite good national summons : W ladies, Apparitions... Unholy leaders are expensive but powerful (Senators and Consuls).
In battle what's funny is that your losses are often important, but SG units are *very* effective vs big baddies often feared : Knights, Seasonal Spirits, Trolls, etc are quickly disposed of with your magic ethereal paralyzing units
The SG Mages are much better than the AE mages, with Dusk Elder D3 *1 at only 20 gems, allowing varied magic, site searches and items.
All the units are Ethereal, and many are Stealthy, you can send huge armies in enemy territory and attack/pillage them by surprise.
Lastly kick *** Heroes : a Wraith Lord with U3, and a Bane Lord !
Overall they look very good, admittedly I've only played them SP so my experience is limited, but compared to the crappy hordes of AE Soulless and Skeletons they are much more powerful - even if much less numerous.
And I like them much more, because they don't stink !

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by PDF:
The SG Mages are much better than the AE mages, with Dusk Elder D3 *1 at only 20 gems, allowing varied magic, site searches and items.

Uh, Chief? That's exactly the same as the AE mages. Those Dusk Elders are the SAME D3*1, 20 gem Dusk Elders. I'd know. I've just gotten back from my second board-organized AE Ermor MP stomping.

Originally posted by PDF:
Lastly kick *** Heroes : a Wraith Lord with U3, and a Bane Lord !

Etimmu the Wraith Lord, D3U3 is a hero in Ashen Empire as well.

Overall they look very good, admittedly I've only played them SP so my experience is limited, but compared to the crappy hordes of AE Soulless and Skeletons they are much more powerful - even if much less numerous.
And I like them much more, because they don't stink !

The problem with SG is that it doesn't acquire forward momentum with the same speed as AE: Your better unholy priests can't be summoned by base Dusk Elders, unlike the AE ArchBishop. Your troops aren't as numerous (which can be both good and bad, depending on the micromanagement load), and they're no longer unbreakable. Their weaknesses to massed-banish continue to exist. The troops *ARE* somewhat better, but it takes you a lot longer to acquire critical mass than it does with AE. SG Ermor does better mid to mid-late, whereas AE Ermor is better off early.

[ March 08, 2004, 10:43: Message edited by: Norfleet ]

[Pocus]

I like particularly the wraith centurion, which is immortal. He never routs (immortal in friendly dominion), can kill alone indep provinces, and if he fails, you find him again in your capitol for the next season of rampages. Well worth the (high) price.

[PDF]

Ha, Ok Norfleet, I made a mistake about AE Mages - I compared them only on paper and didn't correctly read the AE Unit List .
So AE magic is on par with SG magic. For high-level commander summoning, it not that hard to give a couple Dusk Elders a Skull Staff to get Senators, then a Skull face to have Consuls. And anyway you can have a 6+ Death Pretender to help.

Pocus,
SG units are breakable, but not easily, their base morale is 16+, and they are immune to fear. OTOH they create much fear themselves ...
Their MR is good too at 13+ (except Disp Spirits at 11). And it gets increased by Unholy prayers !