Calabrim games : Magical choices

[SolkaTruesilver]

Hi there.

First successful game of FFH I played was with the Calabrim. (First one was with the Khazad, but I ended up being alone on a continent, and I didn't liked the game on the long-term). Initially, I loved making basic vampires units to be overlords over my cities. I have a pack of uber-soldiers conquering the world!

But after playing a game with the Elves, the Amurites, the Grigori and the Khazads (again, much more successfull), I realise the true potential of the Calabrim: uber-mages. Since leveling the mages once they reach level 6 is so easy, I might get access to the best spells not that hardly. However, I need suggestions for which magic to specialise.

Playing on Rampaging barbarian + No settlers, so it's gonna be hard securing all the nodes I see. I got lucky and I have 2 for now, unexploited. I also got the luck of spawning right next to the natural +1 Earth mana terrain feature.

So right now, I have 1 of:

- Shadow Mana
- Entropy Mana
- Body Mana
- Earth Mana

As I plan to convert to the Ashen Veil (already created the religion), I plan to have an army of Sorcerous Vampiric Warlocks to conquer the world. The problem is, what magical abilities do I use?

Do I go Death Mana, in order to be able to Lichify some of my Wizards, and crease massive skeleton armies? Or do I diversify and try to go Body Mana, to have uber Flesh golems created by powerful Vampires?

Earth 2 also has it's advantage in term of long-range offensive potential against cities.

Anyway, if you have suggestions, I'm all ears.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Well, from an addicted Calabim player here.
I say go nether.

You will need 1 mage with body 1 and 2 per stack but that is it.

You absolutely do not need flesh golems since your vampiric units (Vampire lords in particular) will be devastating on their own. These are strong vampiric units that you can level just like your mages. I usually make all 4, give each a unique name and use them as essentially secondary heroes. Since after some rapid leveling nothing can kill them.


Instead, focus on the Fire sphere. Fire 2 is fireball, the absolutely best spell in the game. It turns your mage into a walking siege weapon. Fire 3 gives you fire elementals that will really ruin anyones day. (I think they even do collateral damage)

If you really want a summoned army thou, nothing beats death.


If you want, you can also get some of the more exotic spheres but I usually stop there.
I usually build divisions of 4 Archmages and as many mages with Fire 2 and Death 2 as I can. The combination will chew through anything.

It will also link up insanely well with AV and the Ring of Fire spell from their tier 2 priests.

 

[SolkaTruesilver]

I know Fire is good, but it seems every Tom, Dick and Faeryl uses it. It is very powerful, I agree, but..

I dunno. I am a little restricted in my Mana choices, don't forget. I could get Rockfall with only 1 of my mana node. Isn't that a good offensive spell too?

 

[PPQ_Purple]

One thing, did you know that you can get spells for your units and later, remove the mana node using Metamagic 2 - Dispel and still keep the spells.

In theory, we are talking about a feast-> learn -> dispel -> new node -> repeat

 

[SolkaTruesilver]

One thing, did you know that you can get spells for your units and later, remove the mana node using Metamagic 2 - Dispel and still keep the spells.

In theory, we are talking about a feast-> learn -> dispel -> new node -> repeat

I was thinking about something like that. So I get Metamagic 2 with my 2 actual nodes, and I simply convert them at will depending on my mood swings?

I can get behind that.

I guess all-out warfare would be with all-death mana. Skeletons have Death sensitivity, right?

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Yep, but I would suggest going for fire instead. Due to the awesome might of Fireballs that turn makes into catapults.

Also, you don't need 2 nodes to get level 2 spells. All you need is 1 node to do it.

 

[SolkaTruesilver]

Yep, but I would suggest going for fire instead. Due to the awesome might of Fireballs that turn makes into catapults.

Also, you don't need 2 nodes to get level 2 spells. All you need is 1 node to do it.

WHAT?!

Oh... damn it. I feel stupid now.

Do I need "1 node" or "1 mana"?

Also, how many nodes/mana I need for level 3 spells?

 

[Azhral]

1 Node = 1 source of Mana.
Palaces, some unique improvements and Holy Shrines also provide Mana.

With 1 source of Mana any unit with Channeling can learn those spells.

With 2 sources of Mana Arcane units with Channellng 1 (Adepts) learn the first tier spell of that sphere FOR FREE. (e.g. Blaze with 2 Fire Mana)

With 3 sources of Mana Arcane units with Channeling 2 (Mages) learn the second tier spell of that sphere FOR FREE. (e.g. Fireball with 3 Fire Mana)

With 4 sources of Mana Arcane units with Channeling 3 (Arch-Mages) learn the third tier spell of that sphere FOR FREE. (e.g. Fire Elemental with 4 Fire Mana)

Stacking Mana for free spells isn't usually a good idea, since Arcane units get XP for free, and free promotions when they are built/levelled. However, stacking Mana shines when you have units with a Mana Affinity. I.e. Fire Elementals have 1 Fire Affinity, meaning they get 1 strength for each source of Fire Mana you have. Stacking Fire Mana means your Elementals will be stronger, and as a side bonus your Arcane units will get free spells letting them take Combat and Extension promotions making your Fire Elementals even stronger.

The best sphere to do this with is the Death sphere, due to the fact that their Tier 2 AND 3 spells are both summons with Death Affinity. Also they can turn into Liches with Death 3 so you can have twice as many Archmages.

So, you only need 1 source of Mana to get Tier 3 spells, and proper application of Mana stacking will win you the game.

Nothing quite like bearing down on your foes with a Chalid whos been spending time with 30 sources of Sun Mana

 

[SolkaTruesilver]

1 Node = 1 source of Mana.
Palaces, some unique improvements and Holy Shrines also provide Mana.

With 1 source of Mana any unit with Channeling can learn those spells.

With 2 sources of Mana Arcane units with Channellng 1 (Adepts) learn the first tier spell of that sphere for free. (e.g. Blaze with 2 Fire Mana)

With 3 sources of Mana Arcane units with Channeling 2 (Mages) learn the second tier spell of that sphere for free. (e.g. Fireball with 3 Fire Mana)

With 4 sources of Mana Arcane units with Channeling 3 (Arch-Mages) learn the third tier spell of that sphere for free. (e.g. Fire Elemental with 4 Fire Mana)

I got confused. You seem to contradict yourself. Apparently, I need 2 Fire mana to learn Fire1 spells, I need 3 mana to learn Fire2 spells, and 4 mana to learn Fire3 spells. But then after, you say I just need a single mana of a source to learn all the spells.

I DON'T UNDERSTAND

 

[mcwill123]

That's what you need to get the spells FOR FREE. If you have 2 sources of fire mana, your new adepts get Fire I and also get to take another promotion. Etc....

I got confused. You seem to contradict yourself. Apparently, I need 2 Fire mana to learn Fire1 spells, I need 3 mana to learn Fire2 spells, and 4 mana to learn Fire3 spells. But then after, you say I just need a single mana of a source to learn all the spells.

I DON'T UNDERSTAND

 

[SolkaTruesilver]

That's what you need to get the spells FOR FREE. If you have 2 sources of fire mana, your new adepts get Fire I and also get to take another promotion. Etc....

...

Ohhhhhhh...

So with Lotsamana in a single tree, my adepts stary with many spells. And after this, I can simply teach them new spells?

Thanks!

I kinda feel stupid now. But that's not so bad..

 

[Morkonan]

Death mana = Win.

Stack Death mana. Get buildings that have +Death mana. Create Vamps that can summon Spectres and double the effectiveness of your production to boot.

Spectres have Death Mana affinity. The more Death you have, the stronger they are. So, if you have a stack of ten spectre summoning vamps, that's 20 units... Ten summoned Spectres, ten summoning Vamps.

Spectre spam can be deadly. Skeleton spam.. not so much. Add Wraiths in there from your Vamp Lords, with +Death Affinity and Liches summoning Wraiths.. and Mages summoning more Spectres... etc, etc..

The only living units you'll have to fight with your production built Vamps will be the occasional barely living city defenders after being munched on by a hoard of summoned undead.

 

[SolkaTruesilver]

Death mana = Win.

Stack Death mana. Get buildings that have +Death mana. Create Vamps that can summon Spectres and double the effectiveness of your production to boot.

Spectres have Death Mana affinity. The more Death you have, the stronger they are. So, if you have a stack of ten spectre summoning vamps, that's 20 units... Ten summoned Spectres, ten summoning Vamps.

Spectre spam can be deadly. Skeleton spam.. not so much. Add Wraiths in there from your Vamp Lords, with +Death Affinity and Liches summoning Wraiths.. and Mages summoning more Spectres... etc, etc..

The only living units you'll have to fight with your production built Vamps will be the occasional barely living city defenders after being munched on by a hoard of summoned undead.

Hmmm... thanks. Do a unit who gets Vampirised automatically get the Death-sphere spell access? Or I still need to train them properly?

(I will have to take a least 1 metamagic node for a few key Wizards to shuffle around. And later a Fire node so I can crack open cities. And then, Death nodes, unless I want to go for Masteries)

Ultimately, I could 100% skip death mana and simply go ahead with powerful Vampire footsoldiers Vampire Ritualists = cool.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Hmmm... thanks. Do a unit who gets Vampirised automatically get the Death-sphere spell access? Or I still need to train them properly?

No, the unit named Vampire gets death spell access. As well as some other Calabim UUs.

But the vampire promotion does not in any way grant you death spells. It's just a coincidence.

Ultimately, I could 100% skip death mana and simply go ahead with powerful Vampire footsoldiers Vampire Ritualists = cool.

Death is cool for the vampires because their champion units (called Vampires) can get death 2 and so you can effectively have 2 armies for the price of 1.

For the other spheres, I would advise you get 1 adept per stack and give him all sorts of crazy spells like Dancing Blades, courtesy of Metamagic 2 - Dispell, but only 1 mage per stack and no more.

Oh, and fire 2 for all your mages.

 

[SolkaTruesilver]

Blur, Dancing Blade, Enchant Weapon, etc.. etc...

Yhea, that'd be nice. And have my Archmage/Liches just keeping powering up while mass-feeding nonstop

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Also, as far as I know, you only need to have 1 magic unit for all the support spells.
They won't dispel as long as the mage is in the same stack as the other units. So you can have 1 high level mage with all the possible buff spells, have him cast those spells once and than just walk him around with the stack for maximum damage.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Base Fall from Heaven does not have the feature where promotions don't wear off while still in a stack with a unit that can cast the spell. That is a feature of Fall Further, and a few other modmods.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Oh, sorry for that.
I have not plaid base FFH ever since I was met with the fact that the scenarios did not work properly.

 

[SolkaTruesilver]

Oh, sorry for that.
I have not plaid base FFH ever since I was met with the fact that the scenarios did not work properly.

whatchamean?

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Well, the scenario screen tends to bug a lot including me not being able to load half of the dam things without the game crashing. It's a known bug.

And other than the scenarios, there is no reason not to migrate to something like RIFE.