Spheres poll

[Zomgmeister]

Simple as that. Choose one sphere you can't live without, you love more than others et cetera.

Comments and explanations are welcome.

Basically I'd like to know what people do think about spheres in general, are there any "useless" for most strategies, and are there some "uber" for warmongering/building.

 

[Blackmantle]

Given the polls design and its intentions you might reconsider.

4-5 Picks might yield some insight into what you want to know.
One is just way to few. And whould result in most spheres being seen as "useless". Which they are not.
Also you always start with at least 3 from palace and nearly always at least one node near to grab. So its never the case that you are utterly limited.

*refuses to decide for just one sphere*

For a 4-5 pick Choice i whould chose:
Mind (for all 3 Tiers),
Death (for all 3 Tiers),
Air (for Tier2 and 3),
Chaos (for Mutation. That alone is good enough to justify. So versatile. If Chaos 2 can be gained from another Source like Gaelan i whould chose Enchantment. More than one Mutator is not nedded usually)
Law (for XP beyond the cap and rage + lunacy without drawbacks as well as a serious decrease to maintanance).

In about that order.

Spirit (for Courage mainly, but all 3 offer nice utility if you can spare those promotions), Life (Sanctify) and Water (Spring) are at times also hard to live without.

That said i use most of the spheres since i like late game and nodes + Shrines are usually around at that stage. Only really dull ones like Earth or Entropy (which is really bad right now and also has a big drawback diplowise) i usually don't use.

And Metamagic should be taken out of the equation since its possible to "pick" it from tier 2 + without actually blocking a node. Whatsoever. So i guess most people get some Mages with dispel without having a metamagic-node around long-time.
Also it sorts of makes the question moot for later Stages of the game where the number of nodes is far more important than the favorite spheres. There you can just get what you want. If enough nodes are provided.

 

[smjjames]

Speaking of the magic spheres, which elemental is probably best suited for the Amurites? I'm trying to decide what to convert my mana nodes to. It's still early in the game though and I beelined for KotE early, so I had two adepts by the time Orthus fatally decided to attack my territory.

I didn't use the adepts to kill him though as they were still low level (no fireball). I did include them in the battalion of swordsmen I sent at Orthus as backup.

 

[uberfish]

I'm going to pick air as overall best for maelstrom, but it's really situational. I almost always get mana nodes of many different types rather than try to stockpile affinity/free promotion bonuses.

 

[KillerClowns]

Shadow, for mistforms to pillage my "friends" and shadowalk to render defenses insignificant. Fire's useful as well, but for that, a catapult is fine to.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

When the next version of my modmod is released, I'd probably say that Ice is the best of the elemental spheres. Ice 1 (Frost) lets you turn enemy lands (temporarily) to the less productive tundra or snow (with a small chance of destroying/ downgrading forests/new forests/ancient forests/jungles), Ice 2 (Summon Frost Giant) has one of the stronger summons (which can only be summoned on snow or tundra, and can't move on other terrains or features), and Ice III (Blizzard) is a cold damage version of Maelstrom which also turns all nearby tiles temporarily to snow. (This includes water tiles, so you can ignore the navy and just march your armies over the ice, which might melt before your rivals can follow you.)

If you mean of the current ones, I'd probably go air. I believe Maelstrom is the only level 2 spell that deals direct damage, so it is the only one that Metamagic really boosts. Air elementals are one of the better summons too.

 

[Pyr0mancer]

Metamagic, because it means that I can pick any sphere I want when I want it

For actual use on my casters, Air, Death, and Mind are my usual picks for my nodes. Air for Maelstrom, Death for Lichdom and mass summoning, and Mind for all-around usefulness during war or peace.

 

[onedreamer]

I didn't vote because Like Pyromancer said, all you need is Metamagic. After you have a Mage with Metamagic II, you can get anything. They are all useful, of course it also depends on your game situation, although the one that lost more points in my book after the last changes is Nature.

 

[hbar]

Speaking of the magic spheres, which elemental is probably best suited for the Amurites?

That's why I picked metamagic, because I love the synergy between Djinn's and the Amurites. They are the only civ that gets a bonus for having as many different mana types as possible (cave of ancestors), and the Djinn's +1 affinity for all mana types can get really strong with some lucky node placement.

BTW, please no flaming. I know that fire elementals have +2 yadda yadda chalaid ftw, etc., but this is *my* favorite, not yours.

 

[wicshade]

I chose body because ATM I am playing the barb civs and I have found that stacks of axemen with 2 mage casting haste and regeneration, is a prety cool way to invade several nations at once, You kinda also need fire balls and shadowalk. I will also upgrade my entire stacks to mobility I that way I have my army has 3 moves.

Body might be a weak shpere if you rely on a few heros and some archmages, but it is necesary if you r going have axe stacks and such. The only problem is horsemen, I have to set adepts at checkpoints along my warpath inorder to get the full use out of haste

 

[Verily]

Air and Fire. Together, they are almost enough for a self-sufficient army of Mages/Wizards. Obviously Archmages are nice, but they come pretty late. It's better to be conquering earlier on with an army of Air II/Fire II Mages augmented by heroes and Horsemen and maybe Swordsmen/Champions.

Part of this is because I love the Ljosalfar and have thus fallen out of using siegecraft much.

 

[InternalShadow]

I like mind for the extra tech.

 

[Slvynn]

Divine Magics for Divination Tower, + Metamagic if possible.
Law for Archmages - Hosts are awesome. + Low maint.

 

[Ecofarm]

1. Mind
2. Shadow
3. Haste (I haven't bothered with flesh golems yet)