Arcane Omniscience

[Daelius Praal]

> Artificing allows for some nice stack bonuses and make Academy troops ultimately some of the most customizable.



"Most customizable" doesn't mean anything. All academy troops tend to die like flies. And when you get to that "final epic battle" that every heroes game is about you find that you have half the opponent's troops, and no defence, luck or leadership skills.



All you can do is summon. The only thing is that when the last real troop dies, you may have thousands of summoned creatures and any master resurrection spell you want, you loose!



Compare that to: nature's luck, necromancy or the insane resistance and attack of knights or even to the real spell casters that, surprisingly are not wizards but dark elves now.

[LordErtz]

Just to let everybody know, I beat the 2nd map of Academy final battle with 1/8 the troops that the castle had.



Summon elemental is your best friend. Wizards' creatures are meant to be supplemented by the strength of the wizard's spells!

[DaemianLucifer]

the real spell casters that, surprisingly are not wizards but dark elves now.

It was always like that:Academy had loads of spells and knowledge,while warlocks had spellpower and insane spell damage.

[LordErtz]

Wow, this is so stupid...yet again I cannot get arcane omniscience. I am playing the campaign with Zehir and I'm on the third map. All I need is basic attack. All I am ever offered is dark or destructive magic. What kind of BS crappy game does that? If there is an ultimate, it should make sure if you are on that path that youw ill get the abilities to get it!

[Qurqirish Dragon]

> Artificing allows for some nice stack bonuses and make Academy troops ultimately some of the most customizable.



"Most customizable" doesn't mean anything. All academy troops tend to die like flies. And when you get to that "final epic battle" that every heroes game is about you find that you have half the opponent's troops, and no defence, luck or leadership skills.



All you can do is summon. The only thing is that when the last real troop dies, you may have thousands of summoned creatures and any master resurrection spell you want, you loose!



Compare that to: nature's luck, necromancy or the insane resistance and attack of knights or even to the real spell casters that, surprisingly are not wizards but dark elves now.

No defense, luck, or leadership? Then have your hero with expert artificer make an amulet that gives +3 luck, +3 morale, and +6 defense (=15% less damage)
Or, especially for low-level troops, +4 HP each gives a much larger boost than 30% defense would.

The thing is that artificer allows you to give benefits to each troops similar to many of the skills and abilities. And you can customize them to each troop. With AO, you have all the basic magic skills and spells, as well as three other skill sets (plus one more skill slot that you can use to get those leadership, luck, or whatever skills you most need!)

I think that AO is one of the strongest specials, since you effectively have 9 secondary skills, instead of only 6 like other heroes.

[ThunderTitan]

"It was always like that:Academy had loads of spells and knowledge,while warlocks had spellpower and insane spell damage."

But this time the Wizards get too little SP.

[Daelius Praal]

> I think that AO is one of the strongest specials, since you effectively have 9 secondary skills, instead of only 6 like other heroes.



In case you didn't notice you can cast only one spell per turn.

I'll take the necromancers for an example:

- they usually get dark magic and all the master curses that will basically eliminate all artifact advantage you may have

- what is the wizard getting? a cleansing spell for one target. Yey... only 6 targets to cleanse by next turn... oh by the evil little necromancer just used his turn to cast yet another mass curse... cool, now I need to cast cleansing twice on the same target to get it cured... Evidently this is getting nowhere so you may just let the necro do his cursing stuff and don't stand in its way.



- and then the necro has the 3k skelly archers... cool the wizard gets a couple of titans, and summons like 70 elementals (on lvl 30 or something). I guess the skellies killing like 5-7 titans per turn or more than 70 elementals will get you very far.

- still you can resurrect right? way cool, only that the necro can to... level 3 summoning spell: raise dead. And for dead already troops the resurrection is for good.



So what exactly is the real fabulous spell you get with AO that helps you? And sure you can some better against AI with academy... however if you're playing against a human player, you'll probably not stand a chance if the other hero has his ultimate too. I would dare say, no matter his alignment.



Anyway I don't want to argue anymore

[LordErtz]

So I can't get AO with Zehir??? It will NEVER come up with Basic Attack? This sucks...if you try to get an ulti you can't be guaranteed? STUPID.



EDIT: UPDATE: I chose a crappy 2ndary skill after a reload and the level up after that allowed me to get attack. EEK! CONSUME ARTIFACT BLEH!
Edited on Tue, Jun 27 2006, 14:09 by LordErtz

[Bandobras Took]

>
In case you didn't notice you can cast only one spell per turn.

The same applies to your opponent. Except any Wizard who's got OA has expert Sorcery thrown in the bundle, while your example assumes a Necromancer with both Summoning and Dark Magic, but will they also have Sorcery? Which pretty much means the Necromancer didn't get their Ultimate, by the way. Oh, and the Wizard with Enlightenment will have the Necro beat out for stats and will have received a major boost to his artifact making capacities. Not to mention that Wall of Fog will be slowing a Necro's ranged units down, and . . . oh, well, let's not turn this into a tactics thread. I think you took a bit simplistic a view of the battle, though.

[Solace]

It's the same in any strategy games. Most are innately balanced, with few issues. People just tend to complain that the faction they play or would like to play isn't powerful enough.

Academy troops are pretty good, imho. If all else fails, just buy a knight hero (with some luck at the tavern) and run with him. Personally, I like the wizards. Nathir, the Flame Wielder guy is a pretty good destructive magic user too.. I mean, sure, they don't get many dest. spells, but his fireball is boss. Not to mention he starts with it, as well as 30 mana. On a heroic game, Nathir leads to a -very- good start.



My one gripe about Academy is about bad luck. In that, I mean I started with Nathir at one point, got to level 20 (there-abouts), and had 3 spellpower still... nearly EVERY level I had gained gave me knowledge.. 18 knowledge 3 spellpower... He could fling fireballs all day... ... He just couldn't kill a mouse.



Anyway, aside from the semi-mindless rambling included with this post (granted, it's 4:30 AM), I believe that the factions are very well balanced in this game. It's simply a matter of utilizing their strengths, and the speed of a start. (Djinns, by the way, have awesome damage... and far movement... they're just paper-thin for hp.. So hit first.. )

[DaemianLucifer]

It's the same in any strategy games. Most are innately balanced, with few issues.

Almost.Starcraft has no issues,its balanced perfectly

[Qurqirish Dragon]

> I think that AO is one of the strongest specials, since you effectively have 9 secondary skills, instead of only 6 like other heroes.



In case you didn't notice you can cast only one spell per turn.

In case YOU didn't notice, the wizard with AO also has exper sorcery, and so casts spells 30% faster - that's 3 spells every 2 rounds

Oh, and while your necro is casting curses, I am using mass damage spells, calling on phoenix, or whatever is most useful given the exact situation. With the magi (who have their initiate increased thanks to an artifact) casting extra spells, and a DASHing stack or artifact-buffed Rakshasas.

Anyway, the point is that we can argue strategy->counter->counter-counter->... a lot. The presence of AO just gives a lot of power.

And as I said before, you do have an additional skill available. If you are worried about sturdiness, take defense. I you are worried about curses, take light magic, and so on. The creature artifacts give you a lot more leeway on the skill to choose.

Don't forget the fact that I could instead be phantom-forcing whatever my strongest stack is (since AO needs expert summoning, I can PF any stack except the phoenix (if I summoned it))

[DaemianLucifer]

It just hit me,but is phantom forcing mages a good idea?When they are out of spell points theyll just shoot through the phantom image and kill it.

[Qurqirish Dragon]

It just hit me,but is phantom forcing mages a good idea?When they are out of spell points theyll just shoot through the phantom image and kill it.

Phantom forcing is much more useful on other units (depending on your skill level, of course). Using it on mages does get you another set of spells, however. You can sacrifice one attack by the original stack to move into a better position. The PF mages can use their spells, or normal attack, so if they get more than one action, you still come out ahead.

Personally, I prefer to PF on a strong stack already in melee range (artifact-boosted golems or rakshasa), or on master gremlins (extra ranged attacks, or keeping those golems running