Am I missing something about the Soul Forge?
- Thread starter Alzara
- Start date
Pyr0mancer
Prince
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2008
- Messages
- 542
Any unit that dies in that city also adds some production to the city. Not sure if it's in the city itself, within 1 tile, or within the fat cross, but that's what the description says. Never managed to build it in a city that's been threatened so far.
Really? Does this include units sacrafised at a demon altar?
I've never actually sacrafised units for science at one of these altars. Does it could as a unit "dying"?
I was thinking of using the demon altar to fine tune the AC, building warriors in a city with the prophecy of ragnarok (to raise the AC), then sacrafising them later (to reduce the AC). Can this be done also?
Al
I've never actually sacrafised units for science at one of these altars. Does it could as a unit "dying"?
I was thinking of using the demon altar to fine tune the AC, building warriors in a city with the prophecy of ragnarok (to raise the AC), then sacrafising them later (to reduce the AC). Can this be done also?
Al
It used to work that way, but there was some discussion about making sacrificing work differently so I don't know if it still does. The big combo is to use both the soul forge and Mokka's cauldron when you sacrifice a unit. That way, you get production, research, and flesh golems or whatever it creates now (haven't built it in a while)
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
Most ways of killing your own unit (building temples, disbanding, etc) do not count, but sacrificing most certainly does. This building works quite well wiht demons altars and/or arenas.
I think that anything that actualy counts as killing the unit will reduce the AC if the unit has a prophecy mark; however, I believe you can get rid of them in other ways (like spreading AV) without lowering the AC.
I think that anything that actualy counts as killing the unit will reduce the AC if the unit has a prophecy mark; however, I believe you can get rid of them in other ways (like spreading AV) without lowering the AC.
xienwolf
Deity
Full details on each building individually are in the manual (Range and whatnot) 
Though I do not go into length about the synergies with other buildings. Fortunately I think most of that has been covered here
Though I do not go into length about the synergies with other buildings. Fortunately I think most of that has been covered here 
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
No; Only living units can be sacrificed.
I personally really don't like the Cauldron creating FlEsh Golems. It should really create undead units instead. I'd be fine with simply skeletons with their strength adjusted the way the golem's strength is now. That fits the theme much better, and wouldn't lessen the body III spell like the current way does.
I personally really don't like the Cauldron creating FlEsh Golems. It should really create undead units instead. I'd be fine with simply skeletons with their strength adjusted the way the golem's strength is now. That fits the theme much better, and wouldn't lessen the body III spell like the current way does.
I might be wrong, but the cauldron seems very similar to a D&D cauldron from "The Book of Vile Darkness". I can't exactly remember what it is called, but it is a demonic artifact.
It creates zombies essentially, so a flesh golem is reasonably true to this idea
I do think that modified skeles would be interesting though
Al
It creates zombies essentially, so a flesh golem is reasonably true to this idea
I do think that modified skeles would be interesting though
Al
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
The Cauldron comes from Lloyd Alexander's book The Black Cauldron, or perhaps from an older mythical source he may have based it on, or on numerous other sources that borrowed from him.
Mewtarthio
Emperor
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2004
- Messages
- 1,930
The Disney movie used skeletons. It also gave me nightmares as a child, but that's not entirely relevant.
Alexander did indeed get the Balck Cauldron (the correct name was the Black Crocken) from Welsh mythology, specifically the second branch of the Mabinogian, the story called 'Branwen, Daughter of Llyr'. The first four 'branches' of the Mabinogian are by far the most important modern source of Welsh mythology, and other references come from this 'book'. The Mabinogian itself comes to use today from two medieval manuscripts, but the the stories refer to life around the first century, before the Roman invasion. Remember that Wales became dominated by Celtic invasions, a major one probably refernced being from the Belgae in 279 BC., so we have the 279 BC to the Roman period as the endpoints. The actual date of the original story content is unknown.
The Mabinogian is highly recommended to anyone interested in mythology/folklore, and Celtic themes have very large influence on modern fantasy. Like the Book of Invasions for Irish mythology, the stories refer to euhemerized gods, probably because referring to them as gods when written in a Christian era wouldn't be possible.
In 'Branwen', the giant-king Bran the Blessed was the king of Wales, and his sister Branwen married the King of Ireland Mathonwy. Her relative Efnisien, a horrible guy, is insulted by not being consulted, and starts trouble by killing Mathonwy's horses. Bran offers to restore the losses. Mathonwy and the Irish, however, wouldn't forgive them, and abused Branwen. Branwen finally gets news to Bran, who invades Ireland.
An agreement is made so that Mathonwy's and Branwen's son will rule Ireland. Unfortunately, the bad guy Efnisien kills the boy, and this starts a war. The Irish were going to trick the Welsh, but Efnisein discovers it and kills the hiding men.
At this point, the Irish shouldn't have a chance, but they use the black cauldron to restore their dead warriors. Finally, Efnisien in an act of sacrifice destroys the cauldron but dies doing it. In the Alexander book the Black Cauldron, Arawn (the main bad guy) creates an invulnerable army by putting dead bodies in it, spawning the 'cauldron born'.
The Alexander stories (Chronciles of Prydain) are based on the Welsh tales. Obviously, Ellidyr plays a role in the book The Black Cauldron similar to Efnisien in the Mabinogian.
For any of you who don't know them, Alexander's Prydain series books stories are GOOD! They are REALLY GOOD! The Black Cauldon and the last book, the High King, are as good as they get, although they are children's stories.
Clearly, the black cauldron in both the Mabinogian and in The Black Cauldron are a lot more powerful than Mokka's cauldron, which otherwise would be very powerful in a game sense.
The tie between the black cauldron in the Mabinogian and the Holy Grail stories (which apparently were invented by the French poet Chretien de Troyes) has been debated, and is based on the Arthurian tradition/Welsh debate.
Best wishes,
Breunor
