Best Mana Type?

[MagisterCultuum]

Sure, when you play FF

No, I meant in my version. I love being able to summon transport units that work like ICBMs and let me move a stack instantly to almost any tile on earth, even those I haven't explored.


My favorite spheres then to be those I've changed the most. I really like Law in my version, because I considered the unmodded version so bad it demanded serious changes.

 

[Thunder_Gr]

No, I meant in my version. I love being able to summon transport units that work like ICBMs and let me move a stack instantly to almost any tile on earth, even those I haven't explored.


My favorite spheres then to be those I've changed the most. I really like Law in my version, because I considered the unmodded version so bad it demanded serious changes.

Yes! I knew it was about YOUR version. You own private version, that noone has ever seen or played ever except you! I just wanted to drive you in saying it openly.

So, dear Magister, will you please tell us when are you going to share this interesting mod of yours with the rest of the community?

 

[popejubal]

Fire I spell, Scorch can set forests on fire. Farms, Cottages and Mines remove forests for non-elves. Farms, Cottages and Mines do NOT put out fires. When the fire goes out on its own, a forest eventually grows back.

The problem is that workers won't walk into a fire, so you need a few workers to just sit on the tile until it actually catches fire - unless you have Orc workers. Orc workers are resistant enough to fire that they are willing to walk into the fire and either irrigate or build the cottages or set up the mine. Just make sure that you get your Orc slaves/captured workers (or your home grown workers if you are playing an Orc civ) to finish the work before the fire goes out.

 

[Grey Fox]

8 mana isn't much on a huge map. Esp if you have two vassals. Meta is just so flexible, and flexibility is key, esp to making powerful adepts, mages, and if you have enough nodes, archmages.

I micromanage, so that I switch nodes over before promoting to mage, so that I have at least 3 of one type, so the mage gets a free level 2 spell. 3 fire mana means a mage gets fireballs free, and that means more promotions for strength, which makes the fireballs very powerful, and makes your mages powerful fighters as well, which means big time promotional growth.

I never play larger than standard. And my fav civ is Amurites which start with Meta. I also like making mages with meta II for free for example, to gain that extra power for your spells. When making govannon I try to make as many pairs of mana as possible so he can get many lvl 1 promotions to share.

 

[Mailbox]

I like Death and Ice (if I'm illians or manage to be close to Letum Frigus) the best. Death has great stacking effects and gives me 4 extra archmages and Ice is a deadly tier III spell that does huge amounts of economic damage. Body is nice as well, especially for games where I'm just going up to mages and using lots of normal troops.

 

[Thunder_Gr]

I like Death and Ice (if I'm illians or manage to be close to Letum Frigus) the best. Death has great stacking effects and gives me 4 extra archmages and Ice is a deadly tier III spell that does huge amounts of economic damage. Body is nice as well, especially for games where I'm just going up to mages and using lots of normal troops.

I do not understand what you find good with Ice? If I am not mistaken Ice I is slow(crap), ice II is something useless that I don't recall right now, and Ice III is summon Ice Elemental. One of the weakest elementals in game. And since you cannot build Ice nodes, it cannot get any affinities....So, if someone can explain to me what good is Ice mana for arcane units?

 

[Methuselah]

I do not understand what you find good with Ice? If I am not mistaken Ice I is slow(crap), ice II is something useless that I don't recall right now, and Ice III is summon Ice Elemental. One of the weakest elementals in game. And since you cannot build Ice nodes, it cannot get any affinities....So, if someone can explain to me what good is Ice mana for arcane units?

Ice I is Slow.
Ice II is Ice Elemental
Ice III is snowfall (does 40-80% damage on enemy units within a one tile radius, and turns tiles to ice.)

 

[Mailbox]

I do not understand what you find good with Ice? If I am not mistaken Ice I is slow(crap), ice II is something useless that I don't recall right now, and Ice III is summon Ice Elemental. One of the weakest elementals in game. And since you cannot build Ice nodes, it cannot get any affinities....So, if someone can explain to me what good is Ice mana for arcane units?

Ice I is slow (a decent spell, depending on whether or not you need it to hold off an AI stack for a few turns), Ice II is summon Ice Elemental (a standard summoning spell with a bonus for the Illians if they get Letum Frigus), and Ice III is Snowfall (one of the most powerful spells in the game imo, allowing a player to choke another player both economically and damage his units to a large degree).

Ice I is Slow.
Ice II is Ice Elemental
Ice III is snowfall (does 40-80% damage on enemy units within a one tile radius, and turns tiles to ice.)

Ice III has a 2 tile radius iirc. (or is that just Mulcarn's version?)

 

[Thunder_Gr]

Ah, alright...I haven't seen snowball so far...Thank you for the information, I will be sure to try it out.

 

[Methuselah]

Ice I is slow (a decent spell, depending on whether or not you need it to hold off an AI stack for a few turns), Ice II is summon Ice Elemental (a standard summoning spell with a bonus for the Illians if they get Letum Frigus), and Ice III is Snowfall (one of the most powerful spells in the game imo, allowing a player to choke another player both economically and damage his units to a large degree).



Ice III has a 2 tile radius iirc. (or is that just Mulcarn's version?)

I think it's just Mulcarn's that does 2 tiles. Not certain though, but his version can kill whereas the normal one can't.

 

[Corlis]

I probably build Enchantment the most, as it's pretty solid all the way up. Body is good like that too. Death has some wicked summons if you amass nodes for it; however, if you're playing against humans you'll have to use that strategy quickly before they can research Sorcery and turn your units into a fine ash with Destroy Undead.

 

[WarKirby]

God Tier
------------------------
Chaos
Water
Body
Enchantment
Death

High Tier
------------
Nature
Wind
Earth
Fire
Entropy

Mid Tier
-------------
Metamagic
Mind
Sun
Life

Crap Tier
------------
Law
Spirit
Shadow

This is how I would personally rate the mana types.

About the bad spheres:

Law
----------
Loyalty is useless. The AI doesn't even seem capable of going after a unit-capturing strategy, and it keeping a priest alive long enough to upgrade and learn all command promotions, is very unlikely.

HotE is one of the weaker summoned creatures. It's ability to stay alive if it wins doens't matter much, most summond are just cannon fodder.

Valor: An awesome spell, comes way too late to be useful. If this were the level 1 spell, law mana would be a lot better.


Spirit:
----------
Courage is only really relevant for fighting dragons, or horsemen of the apocalypse. There are very few of both. A counter to a barely used game mechanic is really pointless.

Hope is minorly useful, but not really at the expense of getting to mage level. Hope should be the level 1 spell.

Trust. nice idea in theory, can onl be used once though. Kind of a waste of an archmage promotion, I think.


Shadow
---------------
Blur isn't really very good. First strikes and defensive strikes both seem to be very minor mechanics.

Shadowwalk to ignore terrain defence could be mildly useful, if attacking a hilltop position, but really not great.

Mistform, a hidden nationality summon. but by the time you get archmages, you'll probably have shadows too, so what's the need?

Shadow sphere REALLY needs an invisibility spell. How such a thing could be forgotten is mind boggling, and without it the shadow sphere isn't worth much.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I still think that Valor should be Law I (probably having a chance to wear off), that Host of the Einherjar need to start with the Guardsman promotion, and that Law III should be Unyielding Order (giving Priors Pillar Fire instead). (I'm thinking I may make Banish be an additional Law III spell for units that also have The Order religion.)


I'm thinking that hope should be slightly nerfed and moved to Spirit I (Courage can stay there too), Spirit II should be Calm (which removed Enraged and maybe Crazed from nearby units), and that Spirit III should also allow Peace (perhaps a cross spell sphere with life or Force).


Blur isn't that bad, given the new defensive strikes. I think that Shadowwalk should ignore city defenses. I recently realized that Mistforms are living units (the only living summon), so this spell is ideal for the Mercurians to use. It still seems lacking in general though. I agree an invisibility spell seems reasonable. There used to be one before the lines were merged.

 

[Thunder_Gr]

I probably build Enchantment the most, as it's pretty solid all the way up. Body is good like that too. Death has some wicked summons if you amass nodes for it; however, if you're playing against humans you'll have to use that strategy quickly before they can research Sorcery and turn your units into a fine ash with Destroy Undead.

But the summons just last 1 turn, if you do not have the summoner trait, so destroy undead cannot really harm them. And, if you are playing Amurites, the skeletons can be so numerous, that no Destroy undead can really make the difference. In addition, I doubt any Human enemy would really research sorcery quickly if it is not an Arcane civ. And even then, you can expect not to have more than a couple of mages for a long time. So, an Arcane civ with death mana is not likely to face destroy undead soon. The problem in multiplayer I would focus on, is how on earth will I be suposed to research necromancy and build a death node, if I do not already have death mana from the palace, before the others axe me down...Well, this is something to consider..

 

[Gelvan]

Hope is great for non-creative civ's for warfare and peaceful expansion, isn't it?

 

[popejubal]

Hope is great for non-creative civ's for warfare and peaceful expansion, isn't it?

If it were the level 1 spell, it would be simply amazing. As it is, Courage is also simply amazing, so I still give Spirit a big thumbs up even though the Tier III spell is pretty bleh.

 

[cyther]

I see Death as the best sphere and law as about the worst. Law 1 doesn't do anything and Law 2 is about average while Law 3 is too weak to be a Tier 3 spell.

 

[zup]

What I like the most? Metamagic, hands down. It gives a bonus to maelstorm, my magi are quality over quantity. It lowers enemy spell resistance which just might save you from a failed domination attempt. Djinni are very good, as I do not hoard a single mana type. (I still have this image in my mind of a 250 strength djinn. <3 ) I very much prefer to get all spells for all my arcane units for free too. Therefore, I do not switch mana types unless absolutely necessary. But if it has to be done, I can do it.

The second place goes to fire. Brigit, 'nuff said.

Third is shadow. A bonus for a total of four replaceable national units that are more powerful than many world units. And first strike immunity to all those fodder summons.

 

[Thunder_Gr]

What I like the most? Metamagic, hands down. It gives a bonus to maelstorm, my magi are quality over quantity. It lowers enemy spell resistance which just might save you from a failed domination attempt.

Can you elaborate a little more on this? How does it give bonus to maelstorm?

 

[someone67]

Can you elaborate a little more on this? How does it give bonus to maelstorm?

Each Metamagic promotion increases your spell damage, just like combat promotions.