Awe Question

[OmikronWarrior]

As long as this thread has semi-morphed into a discussion of the Virtue, one of my favorite Pretender choices, I might as well toss out my experience with her.

Pros:

-High Base Dominion (4, same as Immobile pretenders, higher than any other type of pretender I can think of)
-Awe +4 standard, and with high dominion getting bonus awe certainly affordable
-Air Magic (base 2) great on SC and thugs for Arrow Shield, Mirror Image, Mistform, and Cloud Trapeze
-Base Encumbrance of 1, very few units have encumbrance this low giving the Virtue a lot more staying power and makes balancing encumbrance and revig easier
-Flying
-some elemental resistances

Cons:

-Poor starting equipment, lack of armor particularly significant
-Low HP and Protection almost necessitates additional gear or she will die regardless of awe.
-80 points for a new path limits possible diversity.

The end combination is something difficult to use immediately as an SC, yet can become very powerful with some spell research and gear.

[Redeyes]

From what I remember of my perusing the readme-file, the Virtue is A1S1 in CBM, though, so I guess that is what you are using.

That's the exact change to her, which really makes her much more useful.
That the prince of death was changed from 125 points from 75 is another thing weighing in her favor.

The Scenario I described up-thread was probably a fluke, but I hope it made a point of her being quite vulnerable.

One CBM build I have toyed with is Earth4/Astral4/Air4, Dom5, Order 3, Sloth 1, Misfortune 2, Magic 1.
Opens some hard to get stuff like Crystal items, Golem Summoning, Elemental Staffs, many globals, besides all the personal power she attains.

Not tested it yet, but I imagine I'll give it a run in a future game

[Amorphous]

Originally Posted by Redeyes

That's the exact change to her, which really makes her much more useful.
That the prince of death was changed from 125 points from 75 is another thing weighing in her favor.

The Scenario I described up-thread was probably a fluke, but I hope it made a point of her being quite vulnerable.

One CBM build I have toyed with is Earth4/Astral4/Air4, Dom5, Order 3, Sloth 1, Misfortune 2, Magic 1.
Opens some hard to get stuff like Crystal items, Golem Summoning, Elemental Staffs, many globals, besides all the personal power she attains.

Not tested it yet, but I imagine I'll give it a run in a future game

The Virtue is fragile, yes, but with awe +7 most units will just not hit her. That in combination with flying and high dominion makes her a quite solid awake expander. You have to avoid some indies, but most present no problems.

I am a bit unsure about your build as the difference between awe +4 and +7 is huge. It might be hard to expand with her without equipment or alteration 3 researched. Consider having her dormant.

I am also not really convinced that the CBM version is more useful. It is very nice for EA Arcoscephale - that much I admit - but for the most part it just makes her more expensive.
Air 4, for early air-boosters if nothing else, is usually very high on the list of things I want with her - costing 24 points extra in CBM - and if I seriously consider a second path it tends to be either nature or earth. Furthermore, her high awe makes her a quite adequate combatant, but low astral makes her a very easy target, so you are more or less required to invest some points there, too.