Newb Q: Pretender options for Machaka?

[PvK]

Originally posted by Boron:
...
some items like an ivy crown increase the gain of vine men / ogres and in the description of an ivy king stands that he increases the chances too.
somewhere in the manual or ingame description i further read that summoning in a forest province helps too.
but i remember once i tried to give an ivy king the suggested +nature staff but he had no arms if i remember correctly to use it .

so what is the best combo to get most ivys with one summoner ?
because if you forge all the items you should get something between 6-10 vine men / ogres per summon right ?
normally you get 2 vine men or 1 ogre but the additional vine men / ogres from the items are the same right ?
so in the end you get either x vine men or x-1 vine ogres right ?
thnx for abolishing my confusions according to the vine creatures

The "best" is a slightly silly question. The silly answer would probably be the Animist, since he is a random unit you get for free via luck, and has an innate vine summons bonus and a head and two arms. Ivy King is good with is bonus, but a bit expensive - I'd rather use a couple of N1 national mages with treelord staves, or N2 mages with thistle maces, or Druids, or whatever I happen to have. If I had an Ivy King, I'd probably do something else with him besides make ogres, at least part of the time. BTW IIRC he does have arms, but lacks a head - he's the king, so he just kinda grows an ivy crown, is my interpretation.

Yes you can get 5-6 or maybe more ogres/turn if you use a treelord staff and an ivy crown and a caster who has innate vine summon talent (Druid, Ivy King, Animist, etc.).

Yes, the ivy men get +1 more of those per casting, but the bonus number is constant. So the ogres are generally the better deal unless you have no ivy bonuses (and even then, probably better for most purposes).

PvK