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Heroes Community > Heroes 4 - Lands of Axeoth > Thread: Magic school abilities...
Thread: Magic school abilities... This thread is 3 pages long: 1 2 3 · NEXT»
Oldtimer
Oldtimer


Honorable
Supreme Hero
Please leave a message after..
posted April 13, 2002 09:58 PM

Magic school abilities...

Each magic school has a special, which ones do you prefer and which ones could you do without.

1) Necromancy, gets you creatures that you can really use, and free vamps are always welcome.

2)Resurrection, keeps you in the game after a close victory.

3)Sorcery, More damage anyone? Good and solid skill.

4)Summoning, gets daily creatures but sometimes seems too weak compared to other skills.

5)Charm, might get some creatures to defect but usually they just become annoying.
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ThE_HyDrA
ThE_HyDrA


Admirable
Famous Hero
The Leader of all Hydras
posted April 14, 2002 04:39 AM
Edited By: ThE_HyDrA on 14 Apr 2002

Magic Schools abilities

Well, as far as i'm concerned, they all have their good points and their bad points.
Although it is clear that there are differences and similarities that we must handle accordingly. It isn't any good mixing hero classes between Life and Death, because the alignments and magic abilities do not mix. As far as the different magic systems for towns, I'd just be content in giving my PREviews.

1: Necropolis (Death)
Yes, many may have overlooked this towns magic system in more ways than one. For a start, one could end up with over a legion of skeletons in three months or so, depending on how Necromancy is developed. To increase the Necromancy skill even more, vampires are now available. I think if one decides to play Necropolis, a thought pattern would be, don't let the creatures scatter, battle them, as one will be able to get something out of the battle if he/she wins.

2: Haven (Life)
While this skill is quite direct, there are ways to diversify utilising this skill range. It is not all about resurrecting. Other spells such as Holy Word (DD to Death), Heavenly Shield, Mass Fervor, Prayer, and Divine Intervention, which is similar to the Vampire's ability. So obviously, there are many other spells that can have great effects on the enhancment of creatures and heroes, along with some DD spells. (DD = Direct Damage)

3: Asylum (Chaos)
Well, the majority of spells I used in Heroes III were DD spells, but that is mostly because of the lack of spells available in the Fortress castle. My belief on DD spells in Heroes IV is that they need to be developed to deal some heavy damage. This can be a problem with the Thiefs, but if one decides on a Sorcerer, the task may seem easier.
I think if someone decides on the Chaos guild, it is a dedicated task. You either develop that magic, or you don't.
Although, the Asylum guild coexists well with its alignments.

4: Academy (Order)
Charm is a good abilitiy, if it is used well, and in relevant context. Yes, charm is similar to DD, but it completes the task in an abstract way, while it does whittle the enemy down at the beginning, I would think that more is needed to have a great advantage the alignments above it produce.

5: Preserve (Nature)
Well, obviously the Preserve town does rely upon the ability of summoning a diverse myriad of creatures throughout the game. I think it is a possibility that some us are coming to realise that the Preserve isn't as strong in most areas as other towns. While summoning does let the Preserve users choose the creature that suits the situation the best, creatures are not the 'Be all and end all' in Heroes IV.
I cannot see myself using this town very much when I buy the game in the (hopefully) neat future.

I believe that the Stronghold can stand up to magic towns in its own right, the creatures available aren't too strong, but if they come in multitudes, they will have a great chance even against the Necropolis.

{Edited}
If I had the game, would`you respect my decisions? Just because I don't have the game doesn't mean I don't know anything about it. If this was 1 month ago you woudn't have said that. Still, you have the right to comment in the way you do.
As gar as I can see, my post is much more meaningful than yours at the present moment. As yours had nothing to do with the topic!
Copying and pasting? No, I'm just trying to post what I feel is correct from 7 months+ and the community. Also, instead of saying 'that's silly' tell me what is silly, like you said resurrection is a skill, not a spell.
(I'll deltete this as soon as you add something in relevance to the topic.)
{Edited}
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"Dragons may breathe fire, but Hydras have many heads." - The Creed of Hydras
"As the Dragon drew its breath, the Hydra pounced, swiftly but powerfully, and the Dragon was defeated.”

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destro23
destro23


Promising
Famous Hero
Keeper of GrongGrong
posted April 14, 2002 07:44 AM

When I buy the game??? Hopefully in the near future???


Are you joking??

You come in here and right this huge speil about how good/nad and strong/weak every town is and you do not even know the game???

LMAO...

Perhaps silly Hydra you should return to posting on H3 until you attempt to use your so called "Tactics" in battle..

btw Ressurection is Not a Spell in H4.. it is an ongoing ability that is coupled with the life school.. it is not a choice to use it.. it happens at the conclusion of anycombat.

Maybe you'll get some good info off a strategy site soon.. but I've a feeling your just copy pasting anyway..

Go buy the game then perhaps I will read you ungodly boring posts...


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The Dead Walk!!!

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Djive
Djive


Honorable
Supreme Hero
Zapper of Toads
posted April 14, 2002 10:48 AM

"It isn't any good mixing hero classes between Life and Death, because the alignments and magic abilities do not mix. As far as the different magic systems for towns, I'd just be content in giving my PREviews."

You won't want to mix different alignments in ONE army, but there's no penalty at all for mixing say Life magic and Death magic in one hero. You can also have one army with say Order/Life alignement and another army with say Nature/Chaos alignment in them and there are no penalties as long as you don't mix creatures/troops within the same army.

So if you recruited a Lord in an Academy and that Lord learns Chaos Magic and Nature Magic and leads a troop with Chaos creatures and Nature creatures then you have no penalty. So the inital alignement is all that matters.

You have to be a bit careful though. Ressurrection doesn't work on Elementals, Mechanical or Undead creatures so a hero with resurection is not nearly as useful if you have those kind of troops in your army.

Necromancy doesn't work on these types of troops either, so a map with only these types of creatures will handicap a Necro player.

Both Necromancy and Resurrection works on the Demon creatures.


1. Necromancy does produce Skeletons at first, but because you shift to Ghosts and later to Vampires you won't accumulate the same amount of skeletons as in H3. My inclination is that you want at least Ghosts as quickly as possible. Skeletons are just too slow to carry around.

2. Resurrection is on par with Necromancy. Just make sure you have the appropriate monster types in your own army.

3. Direct damage usefullness will depend a lot on which type of map you play. How big the stacks are and so on. Sorcery does apply also to other schools' damage spells so mixing Life spells with Sorcery can enable you to hit undead so much more. And I've a huch that mixing Sorcery with Plague also increases damage.

4. Summoning. The nature mage would probably be better off spending his hard earned promotions elsewhere. The creatures are free and come regularly. I'd like some more control over the ability. On the other hand, at GM the ability is perhaps 50 of what you would have gotten out of a creature portal so it's not all that bad. (You get one elemental per day and sometimes one elemental every other day.)

5. Charming can be useful. You need to have "Month of XXXX" with an appropriate creature to put it to efficient use. Do notice that Diplomacy will allow you a lot more creatures so if you have the money Diplomacy is better. If you have both you have to choose which to use. They're not cumulative.

Destro23: Stay on topic. There was no need to go picking on ThE_HyDrA.

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Jenova
Jenova


Famous Hero
posted April 14, 2002 04:18 PM
Edited By: Jenova on 14 Apr 2002

Quote:
5: Preserve (Nature)
Well, obviously the Preserve town does rely upon the ability of summoning a diverse myriad of creatures throughout the game. I think it is a possibility that some us are coming to realise that the Preserve isn't as strong in most areas as other towns. While summoning does let the Preserve users choose the creature that suits the situation the best, creatures are not the 'Be all and end all' in Heroes IV.
I cannot see myself using this town very much when I buy the game in the (hopefully) neat future.


I disagree. The Preserve is very capable of taking care of itself. The summons you use in battles are a very inexpensive way to conjure up free units to use as tanks and to deal damage. With a high level Druid you can boost your armies to ridiculous numbers with these summons. How about 8 unicorns? Next round you can reinforce that number by summoning them again. When you finally get to GM Nature magic you can start summoning in Mantises, Phoenix, and Fairy Dragons. Adding an army of these into the battle can turn the tides somewhat.

And the Preserve units themselves are not second rate either. With the creature portal you can get a whole army of shooters almost. Waspworts, Fire Elementals, and Elves are great archers, and if your hero gets a certain Relic they can each get an extra shot in combat. Mantises are basically another 4th level unit to compliment your Phoenix/Fairy Dragons. Albeit their low growth, it's better than other towns that can only build one 4th level unit.

I agree that the summoning skill sucks though.. until you get it to a high level. At low levels it keeps summoning sprites, wolves and leprechauns which are a waste of troop space that you could use for creatures from the portal instead. However if your army normally has wolves and sprites, its worthwhile. Getting leprechauns is not a total loss either.. For some reason the computer likes shooting at them, which takes damage off the rest of your troops, and as a bonus you can use the leprechauns luck ability on one of your other troops for free.

Preserve is by far my favorite town.

One thing I've noticed with Resurrection is that it never resurrects the powerful creatures.. When you lose a few titans, and heaps of other less worthy units, it resurrects the less worthy units but never seems to resurrect the titans.

Charming and Diplomacy I've found to be of limited use. I like to fill up my 7 slots with all units from the same town I begin with, so when I encounter units of types not from my army, I never see the use of Charm. I only use it on enemies which are the same. I would have to remove some of my own units for it, which isn't worth it.. except maybe when you get GM charm, but that won't happen too early on.

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Snogard
Snogard


Known Hero
customised
posted April 15, 2002 06:48 AM

Errh... can anybody tells me how resurrection works (I don't have the game yet)?  

Djive, you stated, "Resurrection is on par with Necromancy", does it mean that even if you don't loose any troops, you'll still get a certain troops "resurrected"?  
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Jenova
Jenova


Famous Hero
posted April 15, 2002 07:09 AM

You don't get troops resurrected if you didn't lose any.

Resurrection is a secondary skill now, not a spell. It belongs to the Life Magic line of skills. What happens is that after a battle a certain percentage of troops lost would be resurrected. It only happens at the end of a battle. At GM, 50% of troops lost get returned to life.

I'm not quite sure how they select the actual troops for resurrection. It could be based on HP. It might be based on HP (or experience) rather than numbers. For example, if you lost 2 Angels and 20 Pikemen, it might resurrect the 20 Pikemen because the Angels' HP is too great to resurrect -- rather than 1 Angel and 10 Pikemen. Which seems to be the case because I've never seen an Angel resurrect from this skill. That makes it a bit crap in my books, but still a spell you won't want to pass up.

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Snogard
Snogard


Known Hero
customised
posted April 15, 2002 07:53 AM

Quote:
You don't get troops resurrected if you didn't lose any.

Resurrection is a secondary skill now, not a spell. It belongs to the Life Magic line of skills. What happens is that after a battle a certain percentage of troops lost would be resurrected. It only happens at the end of a battle. At GM, 50% of troops lost get returned to life.

I'm not quite sure how they select the actual troops for resurrection. It could be based on HP. It might be based on HP (or experience) rather than numbers. For example, if you lost 2 Angels and 20 Pikemen, it might resurrect the 20 Pikemen because the Angels' HP is too great to resurrect -- rather than 1 Angel and 10 Pikemen. Which seems to be the case because I've never seen an Angel resurrect from this skill. That makes it a bit crap in my books, but still a spell you won't want to pass up.


Thanks!  So it seems like Necromancy may be better than Resurrection; as it provides additional undeads even if no troop (friendly) is lost, and one can be certain of what undead would be raised.

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FuriousGeorge
FuriousGeorge


Hired Hero
posted April 15, 2002 09:13 AM

Quote:

So if you recruited a Lord in an Academy and that Lord learns Chaos Magic and Nature Magic and leads a troop with Chaos creatures and Nature creatures then you have no penalty. So the inital alignement is all that matters.



Nit, since the Lord is Order, he will have a penalty with Chaos/Nature creatures.

A hero's alignment is determined by his initial class, not his current class or evolved classes. So a Lord (Order) who becomes a Demonologist (Nature/Death) is still considered Order for mixing troop types.

But your statement is true, the initial alignment is all that matters.
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Djive
Djive


Honorable
Supreme Hero
Zapper of Toads
posted April 15, 2002 09:18 AM

Necromancy and Ressurrection has same limitations. They won't work on Undead (but works on the Demon branch of Necropolis), Elementals, or Mechanichal units.

If any of these are present then they won't be considered for Necromancy/Ressurrection.

As you probably know, it's the opponents units that are considered for Necromancy (so even if you defeat lowly level 1s you can get more units), and it's your own units that are considered for Ressurrection.

Both skills have an Xp limit for much you can get with your skill at the the end of any combat. GM Necromancy and about level 30 gives you 4 Vampires. My guess is that Ressurrection would be the same Xp limit, so you could need perhaps level 15-20 and GM ressurrection to be capable of getting back an angel at all.

Resurrection is also limited in the way that you have to lose creatures to be able to ressurrect them.


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FuriousGeorge
FuriousGeorge


Hired Hero
posted April 15, 2002 09:20 AM

I think all the special magic skills are not as good as the other skills (GM Charm vs. GM Pathfinding? Um Pathfinding thank you very much).

But compared to each other, i think Necromancy (GM level only) and Rez are useful.

I gotta say, they're all fun though.

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Djive
Djive


Honorable
Supreme Hero
Zapper of Toads
posted April 15, 2002 12:52 PM

Quote:

Nit, since the Lord is Order, he will have a penalty with Chaos/Nature creatures.



Oh no, how errororous the reasoning can become!

You're right he has a penalty, and this penalty is because he was originally Order aligned.

However, no (additional) penalty was incurred by giving him Nature and Chaos Magic. (which was what I tried to explain.)
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Columbus
Columbus


Hired Hero
posted April 15, 2002 01:49 PM

Experiences

Necromancy is very strong: I get about 2 vampires per stack with a 10th level character. That early in the game it's a killer. It also doesn't have many prerequisites in the way. I've maxxed the skill at 8th level so it's available a lot earlier than GM Pathfinding

Sorcery is strong against the AI but will be a game-winner in multi-player. Imagine, turn 1, priest casts Mass Bless, sorc Disintegrates him. It's the counter to Potions of Immortality which virtually every opposing player will be using. The extra 100% from GM sorcery helps make sure of a kill. A maxxed Chaos sorceror/ess does more damage than a character with any other single skill group

Resurrection is very powerful. As mentioned it doesn't work on mechanical creatures which is something to watch for Order players. It would be stronger than Necromancy if you were fighting many close battles but Necromancy with all those vampires allows easy win after easy win against the computer, even against large groups

Summoning at GM level gives you about 2/3 of an elemental per day. A Necromancer should be able to beat up at least one group of wandering monsters per day and thus get 2 or more vampires a day. Necromancy clearly beats it hands down.

Diplomacy recruits exactly double the amount that Charm does. It's most useful if you have all seven stacks full - it's not worth losing a point of morale to accept 4 minotaurs so it's best if you can make a separate army. I've not found a great deal of use for these creatures to be honest. There are 6 different alignments and your main stack will probably only use two so two thirds of the creatures are automatically not worth having unless you want to set up separate armies. Maybe on an XL map it might be worth doing. I would consider it a very strong skill if playing multiplayer against someone of the same alignment - nicking a wedge of his creatures would be so cool.

Most of these skills are restricted both by experience value, by the actual numbers lost/killed or whatever and by a percentage. In practice the experience limit is almost always the deciding factor, making items that give +10% and the Necromancy Amplifier pretty much useless. (For example if you can have 30% of the 10 000 exp of monsters you just killed to a maximum of 800 exp, improving it to 40% or 800 exp doesn't help)

Finally (sorry to all those who hate long posts!) the game balance issues appear skewed here. They are not, the factors are balanced in other areas. So while Necromancy looks good that is balanced against poor 1st and 2nd level creatures and a weak selection of spells. All of the towns are perfectly playable and have their strengths

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Columbus
Columbus


Hired Hero
posted April 15, 2002 01:54 PM

Resurrection

Just to clarify the resurrection skill you get half your losses back (rounded down)

Example, you lose
3 angels
4 crusaders
21 ballistae
40 squires
11 crossbowmen

You get back
1 angel
2 crusaders
20 squires
5 crossbowmen

(ballistae are mechanical)
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Djive
Djive


Honorable
Supreme Hero
Zapper of Toads
posted April 15, 2002 04:25 PM

Quote:
Diplomacy recruits exactly double the amount that Charm does. It's most useful if you have all seven stacks full - it's not worth losing a point of morale to accept 4 minotaurs so it's best if you can make a separate army. I've not found a great deal of use for these creatures to be honest. There are 6 different alignments and your main stack will probably only use two so two thirds of the creatures are automatically not worth having unless you want to set up separate armies. Maybe on an XL map it might be worth doing. I would consider it a very strong skill if playing multiplayer against someone of the same alignment - nicking a wedge of his creatures would be so cool.


Diplomacy and Charm is not too useful on the start map, but after you've played a month and get a Month of the "X", it's collecting time for the skill. If you've GM the skill you can get a lot for free and all of it will be of one alignment; hopefully your own or at least allied with it.

If you get Month of a plentiful level 1 on an XL map (such as Imps, Peasants or HALFLINGS) and have high Diplomacy skill, you could perhaps amass a Legion of that creature without too much problems. Then again that 1,000 creatures is not all that much worth but it does some damage.

You don't pay the full price if you use Diplomacy. At (Master) level I was offered 1 Bone Dragon for 2,000 Gold. So I suspect you pay half the price. (Have not looked into this but prices are low.)

Circumstances could very well force you into separate armies. If you start with say an Asylum and gets a close second town which is an Academy. (Other towns are far away.)

In this case the player has a clear conflict, because his native Chaos Leaders will make very poor leaders of the Acadmey troops (which soon may become half of his standing army!). A Nature Hero will be just as bad, but a Death hero will not have a penalty. Still even a Death hero will not be able to mix Chaos and Order creatures without penalty. (But could lead either one of the factions without problems.)

The player could also opt to develope new heroes for the second town, and recruit Life/Order/Death heroes in the Academy.
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Jenova
Jenova


Famous Hero
posted April 16, 2002 06:41 AM

Quote:
I think all the special magic skills are not as good as the other skills (GM Charm vs. GM Pathfinding? Um Pathfinding thank you very much).

But compared to each other, i think Necromancy (GM level only) and Rez are useful.

I gotta say, they're all fun though.



True for secondary skills, but I think this is balanced by the primary magic skills. Those allow you to cast powerful spells, which make up for the crappy magic secondary skills vs good non magical skills. And two of those magic secondary skills for each school basically are there to augment the primary skill (provide more effectiveness with spells and more spell points to cast with). The third skill always sucks except Resurrection and Sorcery. As a consequence I always skip the third skill (this skill happens to not be a prerequisite for other skills thank god).

I'm very happy they removed the Mysticism and Eagle Eye skills. This was long overdue. I hated when my hero was forced to choos between the two.

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Flashman
Flashman


Adventuring Hero
posted April 16, 2002 11:12 AM

A druid with Life magic magic has enourmous staying power,
Summon tank/very good buffs + Resurection + Summoning couples low combat loses with "free" replenishements and "free" resurections.

It's damn hard to beat that combo IMO.

/Flash

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ThE_HyDrA
ThE_HyDrA


Admirable
Famous Hero
The Leader of all Hydras
posted April 16, 2002 11:39 AM bonus applied.

Thoughts on Magic Schools.....

Well, it seems as though people are mixed in opinions, as I expected they would be. Although, Djive and Oldtimer have quite similar interpretations of the abilities of magic schools.

"You won't want to mix different alignments in ONE army, but there's no penalty at all for mixing say Life magic and Death magic in one hero."

I see. My comment was based on the first part of your sentence there, but it is interesting to see that opposing alignments do not have penalties what so ever. I then take it that having neghbouring alignments in one army would be some what of a benefit towards the army, as ones options would have doubled, and therefore having more variety and precision.

"Ressurrection doesn't work on Elementals, Mechanical or Undead creatures so a hero with resurection is not nearly as useful if you have those kind of troops in your army."

Hmmm. Yes, that would be so. Although it would be quite rare for undead creatures to be found in a Haven army, but still, the possibilities are there. But I believe it would be unwise for the reasons you mentioned to place these creatures together.

"The summons you use in battles are a very inexpensive way to conjure up free units to use as tanks and to deal damage. With a high level Druid you can boost your armies to ridiculous numbers with these summons."

Yes, this is very true. But one must question that the damage may be able to be dealt in more direct and simpler ways. Direct damage, and death and life spells do in fact deal much damage compared to summoning creatures.

"Next round you can reinforce that number by summoning them again."

Yes, while with Necromancy and resurrection abilties, that outcome occurs without manual summoning.

"And the Preserve units themselves are not second rate either."

I'll agree with that comment. They're not the best, that is certain, but they do have some potency, especially in the 3rd and 4th levels. I think they lack slightly in the 1st and 2nd levels. It previously used to be the area they excelled in.

"Preserve is by far my favorite town."

I think this is some justification on why you believe the Preserve isn't such a bad town. It is a natural instinct to think that your favourite town is near the top of the rankings list. This applies to everyone, I think. Unless there is something extremely outstanding. I myself, being an Aslyum fan believe Asylum is the best. But it doesn't mean they are....
Personal feelings are most likely to have effects on ones interpretations about the town's strength.

"Resurrection is a secondary skill now, not a spell."

I think that is most likely the reason why it has become one of the most powerful abilities. A spell doesn't have the same effects as a constant ability, and thats what saves the Haven's special.

"So it seems like Necromancy may be better than Resurrection"

I would have to agree here, with Snogard's comment. Necromancy is much more predictable, not to mention reliable in which creatures are 'resurrected' so to speak.

"I get about 2 vampires per stack with a 10th level character"

So it appears that Necromancy is quite easy to obtain, and has great outcomes. It is a known fact that overall, vampires are better than Venom Spawn, and therefore giving it the slight edge.
Based on Jenova's comments previously, it seems that Resurrection only helps the lower level creatures (1 & 2), while Necromancy helps the best 3rd level creature in the game, and to great effect and efficiency. Necromancy also allows for lost troops to be regained, in a different, perhaps more profitable form.

It seems as though this discussion is quite in depth, but it is clear that Resurrection and Necromancy are the two best magic school abilties.(In most cases)
____________
"Dragons may breathe fire, but Hydras have many heads." - The Creed of Hydras
"As the Dragon drew its breath, the Hydra pounced, swiftly but powerfully, and the Dragon was defeated.”

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Jenova
Jenova


Famous Hero
posted April 16, 2002 02:22 PM

Quote:
"The summons you use in battles are a very inexpensive way to conjure up free units to use as tanks and to deal damage. With a high level Druid you can boost your armies to ridiculous numbers with these summons."

Yes, this is very true. But one must question that the damage may be able to be dealt in more direct and simpler ways. Direct damage, and death and life spells do in fact deal much damage compared to summoning creatures.


Not too sure about that.. I guess it depends how many you are able to summon. Even then, the summons provide the additional function of drawing fire away from your main army. You can summon some faster units like Unicorns or Griffins that can reach the other side in 2 turns, and then the enemies on that side typically like to waste their attacks on the summons since they are closer and in range. And when you recast the summon, it will increase the stack size of the original summon rather than creating a new stack, which means the new summons don't need to walk up there to join the battle. If done properly, the enemy will be constantly pounding away at the same stack of units which keep getting replenished every round (or growing in number).

Quote:
"Next round you can reinforce that number by summoning them again."

Yes, while with Necromancy and resurrection abilties, that outcome occurs without manual summoning.



Not exactly.. With Rez and Necromancy you have to wait till the end of the round to replenish them, whereas the summons are replenished constantly whenever you cast them. If you're lucky enough to have high level summons your enemy will be shaking to see every round a couple of 4th level creatures appearing. I believe there's some spell to banish summoned creatures however.

Quote:
"And the Preserve units themselves are not second rate either."

I'll agree with that comment. They're not the best, that is certain, but they do have some potency, especially in the 3rd and 4th levels. I think they lack slightly in the 1st and 2nd levels. It previously used to be the area they excelled in.


You're right. The lower level preserve units are a waste of space in an army, which is why I don't build them and instead go for portal creatures. The preserve has pretty good shooters in their arsenal.

Quote:
"Preserve is by far my favorite town."

I think this is some justification on why you believe the Preserve isn't such a bad town. It is a natural instinct to think that your favourite town is near the top of the rankings list. This applies to everyone, I think. Unless there is something extremely outstanding. I myself, being an Aslyum fan believe Asylum is the best. But it doesn't mean they are....
Personal feelings are most likely to have effects on ones interpretations about the town's strength.


Ok, I should explain. It's my favorite because I just think the design of it is cool.. I don't think it's the best town, but then again your favorite doesn't have to be the most powerful does it? I've always liked whatever is "cool" as opposed to whatever is strong. In H2 my favorite town was the Sorceress, because it looked so colorful and the Phoenix looked great. I knew Warlock and Wizard towns were more powerful however.. but I just didn't like the Warlock theme so never used them much. In H3 my favorite was the Rampart for the Gold Dragons.

Make no mistake, in H4 the Asylum is hands down the most powerful town.. But I've never liked the dungeon/cave/warlock/evil type theme so I've always looked at the "good" sides (Nature, Life, Order) as my favorites.

Quote:
"Resurrection is a secondary skill now, not a spell."

I think that is most likely the reason why it has become one of the most powerful abilities. A spell doesn't have the same effects as a constant ability, and thats what saves the Haven's special.


Definately a must have if you have Life Magic, but pity you need to have it at GM with a very high level hero in order to resurrect your powerful troops, such as Angels. Otherwise, you typically just return a few dwarves and halflings.. bah.

Quote:
"So it seems like Necromancy may be better than Resurrection"

I would have to agree here, with Snogard's comment. Necromancy is much more predictable, not to mention reliable in which creatures are 'resurrected' so to speak.



I agree too.. but only because you need a super high level resurrection for it to have any potency at all. I just wish Necromancy could animate some Bone Dragons if you killed other dragons. I believe H3 had that.

Quote:
It seems as though this discussion is quite in depth, but it is clear that Resurrection and Necromancy are the two best magic school abilties.(In most cases)


Yes, the rest kind of suck. Sorcery is not bad, extra power for direct damage spells (from all schools).
Charm is probably only useful when the "Month of" creatures start spawning as suggested by djive, and even then they had better be good creatures. Summoning skill sucks because the units it summons most likely won't be the units in your army except elves and either Griffins or Unicorns. There are too many possible summons that you can't have all of those different creature types in your army. Avoid that skill and spend it on another branch.

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Flashman
Flashman


Adventuring Hero
posted April 16, 2002 02:34 PM

Quote:

Summoning skill sucks because the units it summons most likely won't be the units in your army except elves and either Griffins or Unicorns



I beg to differ, lower level summoming is usefull early on when every level 1/2 creature counts in the resource race.
It isn't great but it isn't bad either.

Now where summoning really shines is when you get to the elementals, namely water elementals.
Just keep one creature slot open and dissmiss any summons until you get a water ele. Once you get it you can sit back watch the stack grow every day and if you add water eles from a creature portal you can easily get a huge stack of self replenishing kickass shooters.

/Flash

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