On the effective early use of Pretenders in combat

[Huzurdaddi]

Caelian ice weapons do, in fact, count as magic. So there's your flying, magic-wielding opposition right there...

That's actually exactly what I was talking about! I was shocked when they crushed my pretender in about 2 rounds of combat.

So taking her is a little of a crap shoot (with good odds!). Against almost anyone she rules in the early game, but she has problems against Caelian.

Natarajas are a better choice for Arco

A lot of people seem to like the Natarajas. However for early expansion I don't think it's a very good choice. He needs a lot of weapons to get going. That's like 20 water to make 4 swords. That's a good while to wait for most nations, and he's pretty gosh darn vulnerable without those items.

The Vanheim Allfather is another good one: Mounted, so armor encumberance can be ignored, a low base encumberance value of 2, which drops to 1 with experience (and is unaffected by armor), and built-in Glamour/Mirror Image and flying.

Yup he looks pretty good. However he looks weak to me compared to the vamp queen. He costs more, yet it sure looks to me that he will have a hard time taking high strength independents. I guess I SHOULD try him before flapping my mouth off.

So let's hear some more early game (and if you wish late game) SC's. Let's see if anyone can de-throne the vampire queen!

I'll put in a vote for the Son of Niefel. He's cheap, he's big, he's tough. With boots of boots of Behemoth he's super, sadly that's not going to happen for some time since Jotunhiem does not have access to earth gems ... pitty. So while I think he has potential he is not going to be beating any strength 6+ independents by himself for a little while.

[ March 29, 2004, 18:17: Message edited by: Huzurdaddi ]