Jotunheim:Utgard AAR

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Pillin:
Hmm.. conjuration, but forget the vine ogres. too little for the mage time.

Really? With 2 mages and 2 crowns I have the gem income to pop out 4 ogres (which don't eat) per turn, and only lose 1/6 of my (current) RPs for the effort, even less of a hit as I get more Seithkonas. The vine critters are pretty tough. Still not worthwhile you think?

[Pillin]

Personally I dont feel they are worth the time, your mage could be put to better use than summoning those. If you like em thats up to you tho

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Pillin:
Personally I dont feel they are worth the time, your mage could be put to better use than summoning those.

I'm truly not trying to argue. What I'd like to understand, as it will help me I think, is to know *why* you don't feel they are worth the time. The main drawback that I can see is that it slows down my research by a bit. The extra speed of research is better than a few, no-food, tough cannon-fodder per turn? Or is there something else I'm missing? (there are so many subtleties to Dom)

[Pillin]

Yes thats basicly it, you have to set mages with nature of atleast 3 to summon them, thats pretty high magics compared to the creature you get. Those mages could instead be emplyed to search for sites, do research or perhaps support your armies.

PS. Im still a newbie too, so this might not be correct.

[licker]

Originally posted by Pillin:
Yes thats basicly it, you have to set mages with nature of atleast 3 to summon them, thats pretty high magics compared to the creature you get. Those mages could instead be emplyed to search for sites, do research or perhaps support your armies.

PS. Im still a newbie too, so this might not be correct.

This is definately one of those gray areas, in the realm of 'it depends'.

Certainly there are times when you have better things for your mages to do, but there are also times when having a few dozen vine ogres will be really useful. I doubt that many people base a game strategy solely around the creation of vine people (does anyone ever use the Master Druid?), but it can fill in the gaps where you need this kind of fodder, and you have the time and gems to spare on it.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Pillin:
Yes thats basicly it, you have to set mages with nature of atleast 3 to summon them, thats pretty high magics compared to the creature you get. Those mages could instead be emplyed to search for sites, do research or perhaps support your armies.

They do need N3 to summon. That's my N2 Norna with a Thistle Mace (plus the Ivy Crown to get the extra Ogre). Or any of my Seithkonas with the Mace and another (expensive) item I'll need Construction-6 to get. I plan to get the Norna to N5, eventually, for GoH, so making a Thistle Mace is a necessary step towards that anyway. Taking one of my 3 Norns out of RP isn't so bad, given my constant addition of new Seithkonas each turn.

I almost never send mages out site-searching. That's what I use Acashic for. And I think that I have enough mages to both support my research and my one army. At least for now. The mages supporting troops would be much more important if I had decent offensive spells.

The biggest hit I take is the loss of half my meager N gem income.

Thoughts?

I need massive amounts of N gems to be able to make items and empower to get to the 5N (from 2N) I'll need for GoH. So Enchantment, for now, isn't a real good choice of study I think.

There are many nice L6 construction items I'd like to have, but my gem income is a tad weak to support the amount of items I'd like to make.

That pretty well narrows the field between Conjuration and Evocation ...

[Norfleet]

I'd go with Conjuration. As you yourself noted, your gem income remains presently anemic....this isn't going to improve much unless you start doing some more band-scanning for sites. At the rather poor mage-time ratios for vinecreature summonings, plus that it'll likely take you a turn or two to even get set up, then move all your newly summoned creatures to the front, it'll be at least a dozen turns or so before they start showing up in useful quantities. Better to work on getting the gem machine rolling, which will greatly expand your future options.