Dungeon creature choices

[Metathron]

What creature choices do you folks make? How often do you choose one over the other (in %)? What changes, if any, should be made to make the choices more balanced/different but equally appealing?



Level 1 - Will choose Stalker about 90% of the time: I will choose the Stalker an overwhelming number of times, especially early & mid game, as invisibility is just insanely good. But the assassins are not at all bad, and regrading back to them later on when you've got a full-fledged army and invisibility cannot be (ab)used in the same way as earlier is really easy and the small fee you have to pay to regrade is not punishment enough.

Level 2 - Blood Fury 70% of the time: the higher initiative and slightly higher damage average is what matters more to me, though I will choose the blood sister sometimes for diversity.

Level 3 - Minotaur Guard 80%: Rarely use these at all, but the double attack cannot be overlooked.

Level 4 - Grim Raider 95%: Rider Charge is an awesome ability. The wheeling attack is sort of "meh", I think it should be improved from doing only 25% of regular damage to 100% to be any kind of competition for the rider charge. Thoughts?

Level 5 - Deep Hydra 55%: Rarely use these as well, but I will choose the deep hydra a bit more often, only because I don't like taking damage in the first place so the acid blood is rather irrelevant unless I'm fighting against them. But I will choose the foul hydras oftentimes for diversity's sake.

Level 6 - Shadow Mistress 60%: Again, invisibility tips the scales a bit, though not as radically as with the assassins/stalkers.

Level 7 - Red Dragon 60%: I'm a bit biased towards these guys (I'm rather peeved that the old blackies + armageddon combo can no longer be used), even though I'm not completely sure how incinerate works exactly. Someone care to explain?

[Mlai]

Ppl invariably started discussing Dungeon creatures in my mini-balance mod thread here:

http://www.celestialheavens.com/forums/ ... php?t=7833

[tb5841]

Level 1 - Stalkers early on, Assassins if defending against a seige or preparing to attack an enemy castle soon. The rest of the time I stick with whatever I currently have.

Level 2 - changes each time, haven't decided for sure yet.

Level 3 - Taskmasters for a small army/seige defence, guards for a larger army.

Level 4 - Grim Raiders evey time.

Level 5 - Deep Hydra for more magic based heros, or armies with more ranged units, Foul Hydra for larger melee-unit armies.

Level 6 - Matriarchs, I just love being able to shoot, and wasting a turn to go invisible is a huge cost when Dungeon kill so quickly.

Level 7 - Black Dragons every time, though I'd use Red Dragons if I had Resurrection/Arcane Armour/Vampirism.

[Metathron]

Ppl invariably started discussing Dungeon creatures in my mini-balance mod thread here:

http://www.celestialheavens.com/forums/ ... php?t=7833

I know, but I wanted a separate thread for each town's alternative choices.

[aaelgr]

Threads like these are quite handy for getting a few tips. From the Sylvan one I learnt how good Arcane Archers are...
Anyway, usually I'll pick:
Assassins: Dungeon has little in the way of ranged attackers (though admittedly Invisibility is quite a plus for Stalkers)
Blood Sisters: The only alternate I use regularly. Better health and defence makes up for the small reduction in damage and Initiative (Furies die too easily).
Minotaur Taskmaster/Guard: I'm not sure about the Minotaurs. The Guard's Double Attack can come in handy, but the Taskmaster placed next to Sisters and Assassins helps them attack more often.
Grim Raiders: Rider Charge is much more useful, as is Lizard Bite. If the Brisk Raider did more damage as it rode past other units then maybe (and if Sorgal made them better too).
Deep Hydras: Better damage and defence along with Regeneration makes them a better sponge (though Acid Blood is handy).
Shadow Matriarch: Same reason as for Assassins, though I've never tried the Mistresses (and didn't know until now that they have exactly the same spells as Matriarchs)
Black Dragon: Epitome of Dungeon. Better health and damage. Immune to Magic. What more do you need?

[Wulfstan8182]

where are the normal upgrades? i think you should make a poll out of this.

[Metathron]

There was no sense in including the non-upgraded units, because there is no competition between them and the upgraded units, simply put.

And a poll is not fitting for this kind of thread, because you would have difficulty deciding how to place the options on the poll since you can vote for only one option. One way would be to have a separate thread for each creature (much like the Zombie thread) but I think that would result in just too much clutter.

[parcaleste]

... I'm not completely sure how incinerate works exactly. Someone care to explain?

Same here And because of this I play with the Blackies Pity you can't play it Armageddon with them... even though the spells damage sux monkey balls in HV

[Metathron]

Would anyone care to explain how incinerate works? I have tried attacking from all possible angles without any (apparent) affect; I keep thinking there have to be two or more hostile stacks involved (in a tight formation) though I don't know why - I'm probably associating it with fire breath a bit too much.

EDIT: Ah, I just figured it out. For the incinerate special ability button to show up, your red dragons have to be positioned next to an enemy stack.

[Mirez]

assasin, it shoots so it is usefull in lategame aswell, it has no melee penalty so it's good for creeping slow walkers, but stalkers are better for creeping in general, especially vs shooters,

blood sister, it has slighty better stats, and I don't really care about their special's

minotaur guard's dubble attack and bravery is usefull when fighting againt the neutrals in the first mines, minotaur taskmaster's aura of bravery is more usefull in lategame since it's sole purpose is to protect your shooters, and it gives them +1 morale aswell

grim raider, rider charge is way stronger then wheeling attack, wich is pretty useless anyways

deep hydra, it regenerates and gets stronger cuz of enrated ability, wich I prefer over doing damage when your attacked

shadow matriach, it shoots and invisebility sux in lategame end of story

red dragon, incinerate deals massive damage, and the magic immunety is pretty useless anyways with the warlock's irresistable magic

[Dacarnix_]

Level 1 - Stalkers early on, Assassins if defending against a seige or preparing to attack an enemy castle soon. The rest of the time I stick with whatever I currently have.
Level 2 - changes each time, haven't decided for sure yet.
Level 3 - Taskmasters for a small army/seige defence, guards for a larger army.
Level 4 - Grim Raiders evey time.
Level 5 - Deep Hydra for more magic based heros, or armies with more ranged units, Foul Hydra for larger melee-unit armies.
Level 6 - Matriarchs, I just love being able to shoot, and wasting a turn to go invisible is a huge cost when Dungeon kill so quickly.
Level 7 - Black Dragons every time, though I'd use Red Dragons if I had Resurrection/Arcane Armour/Vampirism.

This pretty much covers my take on things. I like to try out the +1 Init of the Brisk Raiders or the Incinerate of the Red Dragons a little bit more than the original poster, but this is really close to my stance on Dungeon.

[Meandor]

1. Stalkers in early game. Mid/late game Assasins with few Stalkers in a free slot(if i`ll have such).
2. Blood Fury. Like someone is going to cast weakness on them, they`ll just kill them/reduce their numbers ASAP. Also Sisters kinda require light magic to be good killers...
3. Guard early game for double attack. Taskmaster mid/late game for giving morale bonus to my shooters.
4. Grim Raider. I see no reason why anyone should take Brisk Raider.
5. Deep Hydra early game. Fould Hydra late game, why? I want them to be attacked, otherwise they are useless in later battles.
6. Matriarch. For invisibility i`ll have Stalkers and tier 6 meele fighter with 5 speed isn`t cool.
7. Depends. If fighting against, for example, haven i would take Red Dragons because knight won`t cast(most of the time) anything big against Red Dragon while fighting against Necromancer i would use Black Dragons.