Finally got shaper golems.
They are a hilarious rejection of the very idea of balancing the game :)
It seems that some glyphs don’t give their damage bonus predictably. They might increase the number on teh character sheet but not actually in combat. In particular the corrupted leadership rune (+3 per follower in the stack) doesn’t seem to show its bonus anywhere, and the pure ashen rune gives its bonus on teh character sheet but not always in combat. Has anyone else noticed this?
Yeah, the glyphs that affect combat are supposed to only show the bonus in combat. I have noticed the follower bonus not showing up but you do still get the bonus. That rune is awesome early on.
I found Pack Tactics to be pretty wonky in my last game. I looked pretty closely both in and out of combat and I didn’t see the effect. Maybe it was in the final damage numbers (instead of the attack stat)? I don’t know how those are calculated.
I never could convince myself it was doing anything and simply avoided it as a choice whenever it came up. Could be I was handicapping myself and it is in fact quite powerful, but I never saw it when I initially was trying it out.
Yeah, the nature spell seems like it should be pretty good–put it on all your units in a stack and they all get +6 damage (which is basically the “big damage boost” value for the game) for only 1 mana upkeep each. That’s not a mind-blowing advantage but generally you pay 1 mana upkeep for a +6 vs a specific target (e.g. holy warrior), and this would be +6 vs all. But like you I never convinced myself it was working.
Meh, they are okay I suppose, but only until you see a Forgemaster :-P
Forgemaster is fun, that’s for sure! IIRC you can get more than one shaper golem, though.
So I’m playing on custom balanced with the overall enemy stack strength down a notch and the world progression and circle mage stack strength up a notch. The game rates this as equal to standard balanced in overall difficulty but it provides an easier start with a (to me) notably tougher end game.
Specifically I’m finding for the first time an actual need for a Titan unit in my main stack to take down the late game circle mage towers - they can be beasts. Thus far I have played with the Shaper Golem (not technically a Titan but tell that to the golem - Shaper Golem don’t care) and with the Forgemaster both which were ROFL awesome, and with the Lightbringer, which was mighty but boring.
I note there is a Flesh Colossus (Undead Titan I’'m assuming) and the Arachnoid Abomination you meet in the final Circle challenge, and there is also a Primordial Titan (Treant) in Nature magic, but I’m not seeing Titans for Enchantment or Mentalism magic.
Here’s the list of Titans as it seems to me:
Death magic - presumably Flesh Colossus, page tbd, but have not played much Necro
Earthmaster - Forgemaster page 4, also Shaper Golem page 2 if you expend an adamantium node.
Enchantment - unknown - maybe the Arachnoid thingie? Haven’t played deep into this spell book.
Guardian - Lightbringer page 4
Mentalism - unknown - is there one?
Nature - Primordial Titan page 4, requires expending a Primordial Forest (but worth it)
Thanks for posting this! It is making me realise something, which may also be a tip for others.
I have completed two games, both Balanced, one as default Artificier, one as a custom Alchemist with Nature and Mentalism. In the first, I only just got access to the Forgemaster at the game-end, and only then because I delayed finishing to cast it. In the second, I never even got a third, never mind a fourth Nature page, so did not get to summon their Tier IV. So, what was I doing wrong?
I am pretty sure it is this . . . I did not go for the Shaper sites, at least not until late game. I think it is through these that you get your core pick tome pages. In contrast, in both games I had lots of tome pages, including 3-4 death pages I did not want, but having more or less ignored the Shaper sites until late game, I only had 1-2 of my core tome pages.
So, next game, I will make more effort to clear the Shaper sites - unless this theory is proven wrong first!
I think it’s just random what spell pages you get, although it may be weighted towards what you started with. I also had a game where it just didn’t want me to get more pages for my starting schools, and that was with going for a lot of shaper ruins.
In addition to Shaper sites, when you take out a circle mage’s tower, you will get a spell page and it’s not random.
So you have some control over what you get.
Oh, hehe, so, just to show, I am two completed games into this, and apparently I still have LOTS to learn :-P
Did you end up trying this? How did it work out?
No, I haven’t done so quite yet. I got a bit distracted by a game I picked up on the Spring Steam sale, The Last Spell (which is really good).
I’m planning to be back to Eo and try the slaver game next week.
I am finding Mentalism a pretty strong school due simply to exchanging mana for influence with cities and then refreshing shops at will to get whatever tier 3 units they have to offer quickly. I started in Draycott as a Artificer Mentalist and love how the dwarf units largely pay for themselves. Once they level up enough to select follower they become money makers. Their speed isn’t great without a few level ups there but sooner or later you can craft +3 speed artifacts and spells.
The dwarf units are arguably the best set of racial units in the game. Each of the 3 main races has great strengths but I think overall the dorfs might be the best. It’s a close contest with the orcs. And the humans are also quite good, but not quite as good as the orcs and dorfs.
The dwarfs have a generally very stout set, lots of armor and willpower, good damage, good hit points. The Earth Shaper is the best level 2 healer on acquisition, easily, although the other 3 tier 2 healers all get better upgrades. But early on, an Earth Shaper can carry a stack. Their axewielder is also the best tier 1 melee unit. They lack a pure archer but Earth Shapers are actually quite decent as a ranged damage dealer. And the Ragehammers are just mean bastards. Their very high armor and the Frenzy ability mean they survive a long time and get more vicious as the battle wears on. And Moleriders excellent cavalry. Plus you can typically get Mountain Bears in the dorf lands and they rule.
The orcs are also pretty damn fine - the whole willpower damage plus slavery stuff can get you units you wouldn’t otherwise get, the Brute is by far the best tier 2 melee unit (other than bears), Drummer can upgrade to some very good stuff. Warg Riders are only OK IMO but the Ravagers are nasty and the Wartrolls, well they have are mighty slabs O beef. Also, the Orc Shamans you can buy in Orgash come with the Summon Spider ability and they can also upgrade to Summon Demon making them a combo summoner/ranged damage with good survivability.
I like the human units, especially Keepers and Tiara’s Priests but overall I think the race ranking for me is: dorf, orc, human.
So in the game I’ve been playing now I got a Wendigo in a random event, and man that sucker is mean. Heals up by eating the dead, including auto-self heal at the end of each battle, hits like a truck, fairly tough, and can teleport up to 6 hexes at the cost of one action and still attack. Just a vicious back-line killer.
I’ve gotten that event exactly once and I keep hoping I get it again. That Wendigo is awesome. I gave mine a life steal glyph and he got a level-up back stab ability. He was popping up behind units and doing a one-shot kill almost every time. They also have good HP. I wish there were more ways to get one.
So, I got a bit antsy to jump back in and start my first slaver game and I’ve been thinking about some meta strategy regarding spell pages I haven’t seen discussed before.
I’m thinking that it’s not such a good idea to just grab every spell page at random you can before you research your core schools. For example, if I have the primary mentalism school and I want the follower spell on the third page, it might be best to stick with researching my two starting mentalism pages and my starting secondary school page for as long as I can before grabbing other pages.
What spells you get to research are chosen randomly from all the pages you’ve gotten. So, if you have found 5 other pages, the chances of getting any mentalism spells you want to research go way, way down,
So, when I’ve researched what I can and it’s time to get my third primary school page, I can take out the appropriate circle mage to get it. In the case of the mentalism school, Ianna should be my first circle mage target.
I think this is going to be my strategy as I start my slaver run. We’ll see how it goes.
That makes sense. Once you get the spell you are looking for on the third page like Kennel or Summon Beast in Nature or Summon Golem in earth you can tackle those shaper ruins/Circle mages. I usually try to rush questing for nearby cities to get my Armies going but why not both?!