Lunacy and Radiant Guards

[Zaklog]

Two unrelated questions here:
First, is there any way to remove the "Lunatic" promotion? Of course, when I intentionally build a lunatic, that's one thing, and I wouldn't complain about how those guys behave, because that's what you're asking for when you build one.

However, I currently have a lunatic hill giant running around. He went a little nuts exploring one of the dungeons. I'd like to be fully in control of him again, so is there any way to do this?

Second: Does anyone else find the radiant guards and ratha to be almost gamebreakers? Building these things en masse (which I believe doesn't even require a training yard or stable) allows you to freeze in their tracks virtually all of an invading army or, for that matter, paralyze most of a city's defenders so they can't strike first. I must admit that I'm playing at a relatively low difficulty, so maybe this changes at higher levels.

 

[Goodwill]

It didn't do much against a prepared player but the ai tends to just freeze itself up over it. Players can simply dispel it. If it's simultaneous turns though it can be different and the rathas can usually outspam the mages. It is what it is though and there are always ways to adapt a strategy. You're totally right though, it's an inexpensive defensive strategy and it tends to work. It's one of the benefits of Empyrean though as I would be quick to say that oo and av can be pretty overpowering too in other ways.

 

[DaveGold]

The radiant guards and ratha are expensive units for their combat strength and you still have to deal with a big stack even if you freeze it in place for a turn. A human player usually attack and defend better than an AI using magic, and this is just one example of that.

 

[Breunor]

I agree with Zacklog; playing against the AI, I find their ability to freeze AI stacks in place almost overpowering. They are especially good if you want to 'whittle down' a ridiculous SoD that the deity AI produces using a much smaller army with stronger units.

Best wishes,

Breunor

 

[Emptiness]

First, is there any way to remove the "Lunatic" promotion? Of course, when I intentionally build a lunatic, that's one thing, and I wouldn't complain about how those guys behave, because that's what you're asking for when you build one.

However, I currently have a lunatic hill giant running around. He went a little nuts exploring one of the dungeons. I'd like to be fully in control of him again, so is there any way to do this?

Unfortunately, there's no way to remove that promotion.

You can take a measure of control over the rampages of your lunatic units by having them board a naval vessel before they become enraged. Once on a ship, they will stay there even when enraged. You can then move the ship around, and unload the enraged units only when you are ready for them to fight. You still can't directly control their attacks, but instead of wandering off and dying alone they can be placed as a group near a target you want them to attack.

 

[Zaklog]

Thank you, Emptiness, for that strategy. I'll have to give it a try.

Second, concerning the power of the radiant guards/ratha, I realized that those units combined with the Empyrean hero Chalid Astrakin are even more dangerous. His pillar of fire spell dropped on a frozen stack turns them into sitting ducks. . . . I think I like Empyrean.

 

[avalonnn]

When enraged used to turn units into barbarians, Loyalty was a good countermeasure, but loyalty is no longer necessary.

Some good discussion on this thread.