Why didn't/doesn't Basium get a unique weapon?

It's been bugging me for awhile now.

It seems like most unique weapons/items come with a hero: not all, but most. Some of great effects, others just boost a little bit. Even Hybie gets his evil lance of whatchamacallit. But Basium gets none.

Hybie is, like Basium's twin. (Not literally, but you know what I mean.) They're mechanics and extremes mirror eachother. So why does Hybie get a weapon and Basium not?

He seems like the kind of guy you'd expect to get one. And isn't there some obscure lore point that Basium's hammer/club traps the souls of demons? That would seem to be a pretty handy game-effect: anyone killed by Basium's weapon can NOT be reborn as an Infernal.

So, was there a reason really?

 

Yes, every hero should have their own little special weapon. That way I can kill them all and get 30 different weapons for my one unit. That really makes them special and cool.

 

I found it ironic that you said Hyborem is like Basium's twin considering that Basium is the one character represented in the game that actually does have a twin, his sister Gyra, the Archangel of Death.


Basium traps the souls of demons somehow, and it is implied that his War Hammer is involved, but I don't think the mechanism of their imprisonment has actually be revealed.

I just got to thinking that his weapon may operate just like The Netherblade (which Laroth may have made as a copy of the weapon Basium used in the Godswar), but instead of binding souls to the Netherworld it might bind souls to the Vault of Life. This would be the heaven whihc Nemed created, but then abandoned in order to become the first man. Nemed never ceated any angels and quite possibly left his vault unfinished. I imagine it as an infinite empty plain of bright white light, filled with enough life mana that it causes the demons' yearning to return to Erebus or their gods' vaults to be so strong that no physical torture could compare to it.

(The lore says that every god except Dagda had made himself a vault before the work on Erebus began. However, the vault of nature is now ruled by Cernunnos and it is implied that Sucellus did not move on to Nemed's vault when he took up the precept of life but instead continues to move through Erebus as an invisible, incorporeal spirit. I guess the agreement made in order to let him confront Mulcarn here means that he alone among the gods can make Erebus his home.)




I would love to see the Malleus Vindex (as I typically call Basium's War Hammer) prevent souls from returning as manes (/Mokka's Caulron demons/power for the Soul Forge), but I'm not sure the code allows that. It would be possible to prevent units killed by the Mercurians from returning as Manes, but that function does not keep track of the actual unit that kills something.

 

I find that Basium charges into certain death on his own, usually 5 turns after the gate has been built - so he tends to have zilch impact in my single player games. Shouldn't he get March from the start to make him last a few turns longer?

 

Wait, you mean he actually fights in yours?

In mine he does nothing but sit in his capitol.

 

Yes, he's pretty much the reincarnation of Orthus: bangs head on wall, repeat until dead.

Most likely reason is that I'm usually in a war when the gate is finished, Basium seeks out my enemy without gaining XP the peaceful way, then goes into a fight without support and without promotions.

 

Are you running the latest patch?

 

.41j

I'll try to recreate, maybe my memory is clouded with past versions?

 

Hyborem has a twin, too: Cernunnos.

 

Hyborem is less Cernunnos's twin than he is his clone or counterfeit. Cernunnos is much older than Hyborem, and after ascending into godhood may no longer bear much resemblance to his old doppelganger.

 

how perfectly was he copied and mirrored into Hyborem? as in, all his memories? feelings? etc?

 

That is not really clear. All we really know the event is here:

 

Irrelevant and failing at being sarcastic. I agree with the OP, Basium should have an item, e.g. something with Law or Life affinity.

 

I wonder if there'd be a way that only members of a particular race or maybe even unit type could use (or I suppose, cast the spell to pick up) a particular item or weapon? Like a Paladin, Confessor, Prior, or any member of the Angel race (Brigit, Sphener, Basium, lots of Mercurian units, I guess even a Host of the Einj.)? In case there was a concern about one unit collecting twenty different items and having ridiculous affinities.

 

Equiping two affinity items is seldom much more powerful than just equiping one can be. For example, if you have 4 nodes and two affinity items then you can format the nodes so that the items give:

+4 / +0
+3 / +1
+2 / +2
+1 / +3
+0 / +4

IE, +4 total, the same as if you had only one affinity item. Of course static mana sources (Palace mana, religious wonders, special features, trades and tribute) can change this equation, but in typical situations that will only result in a minor increase. In any event, it is the mana from nodes that really makes affinity items strong; static sources, except in the most unusual of circumstances, will only provide a bonus on par with that provided by other (non-affinity) items.

So, I don't think there's any need to limit affinity items to only certain units. The important thing is not to provide items with affinity that matches an affinity that already exists on another item or unit, since this would produce a stacking affinity.