Master Of Magic Frequently Asked Questions
Editor: Bryan Lee Jacobson - bryan_jacobson@mentorg.com
Version: 2.3 - Date: 24 Apr 95
Welcome to the Master of Magic (MOM) FAQ. This FAQ is largely an accumulation
of "wisdom of the net" posted by various authors. Thanks to all who posted.
This FAQ also draws on an earlier FAQ, based on MOM v1.1, written by Dave
Chaloux. I salute Dave for his admirable work. Material from Dave's FAQ is
attributed with a "DC".
Because MOM 1.31 is fairly new, some of this FAQ is based on earlier versions
of MOM. I've tried to fix or remove anything not consistent with MOM 1.31,
but some pre-MOM-1.31-isms probably remain.
Note: Text is not identical to original posts. Often I merge similar ideas
from several posts, but may only attribute the primary source.
Many thanks to my great reviewers, including: Jay Barnett, Rob Buchner,
Dave Chaloux, Dan Hite, Nai-Chi Lee, Brian Wade, Rhonda Wilson, and "DriveBy
Billy" (spido@clark.net). Any mistakes in this FAQ are the responsibility of
the editor, Bryan Jacobson.
Sources are attributed in square brackets, and in the case of Dave Chaloux [DC]
and myself [BLJ], I just use initials.
Naturally, if you find a mistake, or have some information to add, send it to
me (bryan_jacobson@mentorg.com), and I'll slip it into the next version. [BLJ]
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1) Introduction
1.1) What is Master of Magic (MOM)?
1.2) What is the latest patch? Where can I get it?
1.3) How can I get the 1.31 patch onto diskettes?
1.4) How can I contact / e-mail MicroProse?
1.5) How can I get the MOM strategy guide?
1.6) Where can I get the latest version of this FAQ?
1.7) Anyway to play MOM multi-user?
1.8) How can I get the MOM saved game editor (EDMOM)?
2) Beginner's Guide
2.1) Picking Your Wizard And Race
2.2) First Build Granary and Farmer's Market
2.3) Use a Magic Spirit as a scout
2.4) Conquer Lightly Defended Lairs
2.5) Conquer Neutral Cities
2.6) Always Hire Heros
2.7) Build Experience
2.8) Harvest Minerals Through Colonization
2.9) Developing Cities (after the Farmer's Market)
2.10) Build High-End Military Units
2.11) When you meet a new wizard
2.12) Save game before every battle.
2.13) Keep a gold reserve when you can.
2.14) In the early game, try to maintain peace and explore ruins
2.15) How do I save a game?
3) Game Operations
3.1) What does F10 do?
3.2) What is the difference between the Floppy and CD-ROM versions of MOM?
3.3) The CD version is slow - how do I get it onto my hard disk?
3.4) Why are my ships suddenly moving at only half speed?
3.5) Why can my Trireme sometimes carry only 2 units, sometimes 4 or more?
3.6) What do the two numbers in spell skill mean?
3.7) How does the Spell Skill Bar on the Magic screen work?
3.8) I Have Spell X, Why Can't I Create An Artifact With Enchantment X?
3.9) How to get Summon Champion?
3.10) What can I do with a Death Settler? (Settler killed by life stealer)
3.11) How does the road "Trade Route" gold bonus work?
4) Strategic Info
4.1) Why aren't my bowmen, galleys, slingers doing any damage?
4.2) Jump the Ocean with Guardian Spirits
4.3) Why do Phantom Beasts do so much damage?
4.4) How To Get More Heros
4.5) How Does Multi-Figure vs Shields Combat Work?
4.6) Why does my Strength 7 hero get butchered by Strength 4 Swordsmen?
4.7) If a simple unit of swordsmen can beat a hero, what good is a hero?
4.8) Instant Champion Level Units
4.9) 8 Units Better Than 9
4.10) Phantom Warriors: The (almost) worthless unit tactic
4.11) Why can "Invulnerable" units get killed?
4.12) Missile, Magic and Weapon Immunity Can Be Penetrated.
4.13) Web - maligned, but useful
4.14) How can I cast spells in a node?
4.15) Dispel Removes Guardian Spirit Protection
4.16) Great Combo: Berserked Phantom Beast
4.17) Great Combo: Berserk and strong First Strike
4.18) Great Combo: Berserk and Regeneration
4.19) Great Combo: Invisibility + Confusion
4.20) Great Combo: Flier and Call Lighting
4.21) Which units are affected by Warp Wood? (Which are not?)
4.22) Cracks Call killed my hero. How do I defend against it?
4.23) How Can I Get Treaties Started? And keep them in effect?
4.24) Just Cause Reduces Unrest
4.25) I've built everything I can - what can I do about continuing unrest?
4.26) Do NOT neglect libraries, sages' guilds, universities, etc.
4.27) Build roads!
4.28) Roads can be used against you (and how to prevent it)
4.29) When a city has minerals, build a Miner's Guild early.
4.30) Get Rid Of Your Own City
5) Favorite Races
5.1) High Men - With Paladins Rule
5.2) Barbarians - Fast Growing, Axe Throwing, Berserk Hordes
5.3) Nomads - Tough Rangers, Horsebowmen, Flying Griffins and Extra Gold
5.4) High Elves - Extra Magic and Longbowmen
5.5) Dark Elves - Magic Power Incarnate
5.6) Lizardmen - Ideal for "Small" Land
5.7) Halflings - Mighty Midgets
5.8) Trolls - A Regenerating Army That You Can't Stop
5.9) Klackons - Kill them on sight? You decide . . .
5.10) Dwarves - Productive Workers, Deadly Hammerhands
5.11) Draconians - Flying Firebreathers
5.12) Gnolls - Least favorite!
5.13) Orcs - A Well-Balanced Race
5.14) Beastmen - Another Well-Balanced Race
6) Favorite Magic
6.1) Chaos Magic (Red)
6.2) Death Magic (Black)
6.3) Life Magic (White)
6.4) Nature Magic (Green)
6.5) Sorcery Magic (Blue)
7) Favorite Wizard Starting Picks
7.1) Chaotic Warlord with support from Sorcery and Life
7.2) Famous Sorcerer Wants Heros
7.3) Quadruple Power Nodes
7.4) Life, Nature, Node Mastery
7.5) Life On Myrror
7.6) Deathmaster Warlord
7.7) Rainbow, Warlord, Sagemaster, Nodemaster
7.8) Archmage Chaosmaster
7.9) No Spell Books Runelord
7.10) Buy Your Way To Victory
7.11) Cheap Heros Fast
7.12) Archmage Chaos Channeler
7.13) Alchemist Node Master
7.14) Charismatic Warlord of the Adamantium Slingers
7.15) Champion Crusading Warlord
7.16) Some Strange Combinations
8) Spoiler (Super) Strategies
8.1) 11 Death books - Wraiths or Shadow Demons
8.2) 11 Life books - Torin
8.3) 11 Life books - Stream Of Life
8.4) 11 Sorcery books - Flying Warships
8.5) 11 Nature books - Gorgons
8.6) 11 Chaos books (theoretical)
8.7) Free Sky Drakes (theoretical)
9) Cheats
9.1) Save Before all Battles - If Outcome is Bad - Restore
9.2) Healing the undead
9.3) Exception to Planar Seal
9.4) Determine a Computer Player's Spell Skill
9.5) Estimate Opponents Spell Knowledge
9.6) Invisible defenders throw off the computer...
9.7) Get Out Of Battle Free (Retreat Without Losing Units)
9.8) Avoid The Wizard You Hate The Most
9.9) Discount On Buildings
9.10) Recycle Artifacts For A Profit
9.11) Better treasure through save/restore
9.12) Better heros through save/load repeat
9.13) Use Strategic Combat
9.14) Artifacts With Spell Charges
9.15) Use Plane Shift To Get A Node Without A Fight
9.16) Super Powered Artifacts
9.17) Super Powered Heros
9.18) Change Computer Player Personalities
9.19) Instant Mana and Spell Skill
9.20) Reveal the whole map
9.21) Another "Magic" screen cheat.
10) Advanced Topics
10.1) Should I exchange spells with the other wizards?
10.2) Be Ready To Destroy An Enemy Wizard Whenever Necessary
10.3) Best Summoned Creatures
10.4) Mana allocation - advantages of allocating zero to storage.
10.5) List of known bugs (in MOM v1.31)
10.6) What are the "puns" in the weapon/artifact names?
10.7) What is a good score?
10.8) What advantages do the computer players have on impossible level?
10.9) Diplomacy: I can't keep peaceful relations with the other wizards.
10.10) How important is starting race on impossible level?
10.11) Hero List for Master Of Magic:
10.12) How can I get MOM to run on OS/2?
10.13) Manual Corrections
10.14) The Best Way to Dispel Enemy Incantations
10.15) MOM is too easy. Make it harder!
10.16) Hit Versus Shields Combat Table
10.17) Futility Combat Table
10.18) MOM improvement suggestions to Microprose/SIMTEX
11) War Stories
11.1) Any units with a harder punch than Killer Hobbits?
11.2) Time Stood Still
11.3) Those are some spearmen!!
11.4) I hope he named the outpost "Haroldville"
11.5) Jade, Queen of Darkness
11.6) Early 1.3 experiences
11.7) Another early 1.3 experience
11.8) Lo Pan - Can't Get Rid of Him
11.9) Fast Growing Races For A Better Start
11.10) Flying Invisible Warships!
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1) Introduction
This section introduces MOM, and provides basic information, such as where to
get the latest patch.
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1.1) What is Master of Magic (MOM)?
In Master of Magic (MOM), you begin as a humble wizard, ruler of a small
hamlet and a few soldiers. At first your magical powers are weak, but will
grow as you research spells and acquire magical resources. You send out
colonies to expand your borders. Your armies and magical creatures search
for treasure, expand your empire by conquest, and defend your realm from
rampaging monsters and enemy wizards. As your fame grows, powerful heros join
your cause. To win you must either defeat all the other wizards or become
powerful enough to cast the awesome Spell of Mastery. Of course, the other
Wizards are trying to defeat you.
There are 6 types of magic, and hundreds of spells. There are 14 races
to choose from, play against, and conquer. You can design your own wizard,
selecting types of magic and special abilities, or select one of 14 wizards
provided. You will be able to produce many different types of soldiers and
fighting units, and summon many different types of magical creatures. There
are more than 30 different heros with diverse abilities that may appear to
aid your cause.
MOM is programmed by SIMTEX for MicroProse. MOM and another SIMTEX/MicroProse
game, Master of Orion (MOO), have several features in common (diplomacy,
colonization, research, economic development). MOM also has similarities with
such games as CIV and Warlords II. MOM has a color based magic system that
reminds some of "Magic: The Gathering". [BLJ, DC]
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1.2) What is the latest patch? Where can I get it?
The latest patch is version 1.31. It's size is 1499642 and it was released
in March 1995. Previous versions of MOM were 1.0, 1.01, 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3. 1.2
fixed a lot of bugs. 1.3 fixed a lot of bugs, made the computer wizards
smarter and more aggressive and made the Impossible level a lot harder by
giving
computer wizards a additional production advantages. The 1.31 patch came out
soon after the 1.3 patch, and was a fairly minor revision. It fixed some
sound related crashes that severely impacted some people. It also fixed the
"auto-razing" of undefended hamlets. Finally, 1.31 can be installed on to
any MOM installation, while 1.3 was an incremental patch that required 1.2
to first be installed.
This FAQ assumes you are running MOM 1.31. Look in the Game Save/Load/Quit
screen. You should see 1.31 in small print at the bottom. If you don't see
1.31, you are not running 1.31. Get it! It is far better than the earlier
versions. This FAQ will not discuss problems in versions of MOM prior to 1.31.
The 1.31 patch is available in the following places:
A) The Microprose Bulletin Board. The # is (410) 785-1841. You need settings
of 8,N,1 and it supports up to 14.4 Kbs. Or 410 771-6240 for 28800.
Alternate numbers:
410 785-1841 410 771-1940 410 771-1941 410 785-0075
410 785-0351 410 785-0823 410 785-1410 410 785-1934
[DC, jmclaugh@uoguelph.ca (John J Mclaughlin)]
B) MicroProse FTP Site
ftp.microprose.com /pub/mps-online/new-versions/mom131.zip
[microprose3@delphi.com (Quentin Chaney)]
C) MicroProse WEB Site:
http://www.microprose.com [microprose3@delphi.com (Quentin Chaney)]
D) CompuServe in the Game Publisher's B Forum
[Tim Patterson <76004.2223@CompuServe.COM>]
E) America Online
The patch can be found on AOL by using the keyword "Microprose" and then
selecting the "software library".
[jay5941353@aol.com (Jay5941353 - Jay Barnett)]
F) The following FTP sites:
SITE DIRECTORY/FILE
bell.ecs.soton.ac.uk /pub/pc/games/patches/mom131.zip
cs.uwp.edu /pub/incoming/games/patches/mom131.zip
ftp.cdrom.com /pub/dresden/games/patches
ftp.netcom.com /pub/ga/game_patches? or /pub/games-patches?
ftp.uwp.edu /incoming/games/patches
moonbase.wwc.edu /pub/mom/momv13.zip
wuarchive.wustl.edu /pub/msdos_uploads/games/patches
[many posters...]
G) Various WEB Sites:
http://www.cyberspace.com/acroft
http://wcl-rs.bham.ac.uk/GamesDomain/games.html
H) Call MicroProse customer support, and ask them to mail you the update.
MicroProse Customer Support M-F 9am-5pm EST (410) 771-1151
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1.3) How can I get the 1.31 patch onto diskettes?
The 1.31 patch is too big to fit on a 1.4MB diskette. If you can download it
directly to your hard disk, that's not a problem. If you have to put it on a
diskette, here are some suggestions.
A) Use a diskette formatting utility (such as MaxiForm) to get 1.6MB
out of a 3.5" DSHD diskette.
B) Use the disk-spanning option (-&) in PKZIP 2.04G to split the file
across two diskettes. The command to use is:
pkzip -& -e0 a:mom_updt mom131.zip
On the destination machine, go into your MOM game directory and
reconstruct the original MOM131.ZIP file:
pkunzip a:mom_updt
And then install the patch:
pkunzip mom131
C) Use a file utility (such as ZipSplit or Cross) to break the zip file
into smaller chunks.
D) Extract and then delete some files from the zip file. For example:
pkunzip mom131 itemmake.exe
pkzip -d mom131 itemmake.exe
This will reduce MOM131.ZIP to just below 1.44MB. Just remember to
copy ITEMMAKE.EXE onto another diskette.
[ncl@philabs.philips.com (Nai-Chi Lee)]
E) If you are on a unix account, try "split":
split -b 1000000 mom131.zip m
This will create several files, all starting with "m", and having names
like "maa" "mab", "mac", etc. The syntax for "split" may vary so check
your man page. On some machines use: "split 3000 mom131.zip m"
The "maa", "mab" etc. files will be small enough to put on to diskettes.
When you get all the ma* files copied onto a PC's hard disk, type:
copy /b maa+mab+mac+(etc.) mom131.zip
Then: pkunzip mom131
[Travis@cs.wm.edu (Travis X. Emmitt)]
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1.4) How can I contact / e-mail MicroProse?
Internet microprose@compuserve.com
Delphi microprose3@delphi.com
America On-Line MicroProse
Prodigy XHFK15D
CompuServe 76004,2223 or GAMBPUB
MPS*BBS*US (410) 785-1841
Customer Support M-F 9am-5pm EST (410) 771-1151
(In future they will be going to 9pm EST)
[1.31 Patch README.TXT]
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1.5) How can I get the MOM strategy guide?
An excellent strategy guide is available from Prima Publishing. It should be
available where MOM is sold, and some book stores. Or you can order it from
Prima directly 800 531-2343 (FAX 800 582-8000), P.O. Box 629000, El Dorado
Hills, CA 95762. Cost is $19.95 + $4 shipping/handling, or + $7.50 for rush
shipping. It was co-authored by Alan Emrich who reads and posts to
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic. You can e-mail Alan at cgwalan@aol.com.
Got my copy - 462 pages! Now I can find out what Magic Immunity does and
doesn't do. How combat/shields actually work! There is a discussion of
Computer Player psychology (what they do, what their priorities are, how they
engage in diplomacy, etc.) Did you know your fame must be at least 40 before
"Champions" will show up at your door? Naturally there are dozens of tables
showing exactly how things work. The book is surprisingly complete with
information on every spell, every summoned creature, and every race. Many of
the internal mechanics of the game are revealed. The writing is clear and easy
to read, and a humorous, entertaining style makes it fun.
I love this book because when I have questions, I can get answers. How much
gold do you get from roads? Now I know. Often the knowledge can dramatically
improve your strategy. I knew Swordsmen were often surprisingly ineffective,
but I didn't understand why. Now I know that the defender's shields are
re-applied to each figure's attack.
I heartily recommend this book to all MOM players. It is top quality. [BLJ]
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1.6) Where can I get the latest version of this FAQ?
Since this is the first version, I'm just guessing. The following sources
have a lot of FAQ's, so they will probably have this one. The official
file name, for this MOM FAQ v2.3 is momfaq23.txt.
WWW: <URL:http://wcl-rs.bham.ac.uk/GamesDomain/games.html>
http://www.cyberspace.com
FTP: wuarchive.wustl.edu
ftp.uwp.edu
ftp.cdrom.com
NCTUCCCA.edu.tw:/PC/uwp/romulus
wcl-l.bham.ac.uk:/pub/djh/faqs
E-Mail: To: netslave@midnight.com.au
Body of message: get faq/master.of.magic
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1.7) Anyway to play MOM multi-user?
Jay Barnett has produced a multi-player shell that allows you to switch
between two human players (hot-seat).
Version 3.0 of the Multiplayer Shell I wrote for MoM may be found at
ftp.uwp.edu in the /pub/msdos/romulus/cheats directory under the name
"mmom30s.exe". I plan to upload future upgrades to this same site. I can be
reached at jay5941353@aol.com.
The Shell provides for hot-seat play between multiple human and computer
opponents, limited to 2 human and 2 computer opponents in the shareware
version, with up to 4 human opponents supported in the registered version.
This is accomplished via modifications of the saved game files--the Shell
alters no Microprose executables or other files, except for the saved files.
It should thus in no way affect normal single-player play.
The Shell features:
*Mouse-driven interface.
*Modem or email play is possible, provided you have a means of transferring
binary files.
*A special "address the council" sub-turn to allow speaking with all wizards,
whether you've encountered them or not.
*A resign function to allow the computer to take over the position of human
players.
*Automatically transforms a multiplayer game to a normal, single player one
when only one human player is left.
*Import wizards from other games, along with a city and up to nine non-heroic
units into multiplayer games
*A separate saved-game file system for multiplayer games to help keep your
normal slots free.
*Automatic backup on each player's turn to protect against lock-ups.
The only known abnormalities are:
Human players' exploration is shown on the same map--units are still only
seen if they are within range.
Diplomatic relations must be conducted through the "address the council"
sub-turn.
Rampaging monsters and raiders move once per human turn--i.e., twice per turn
for two player, thrice for three player, etc. Most users have actually
claimed to like this, as it makes monsters, raiders, sentries, and
garrisoning much more important elements of the game.
The total number of players is limited to 4, with a fifth "ghost wizard" who
serves as a buffer.
The Shell only allows pure hot-seat play--this means if you get attacked when
its not your turn, the computer will control your units for the duration of
the battle. It thus becomes strategically important to be in a position to
attack rather than defend, unless you consider the computer a good tactician.
The Shell requires Masters of Magic v1.2, v1.3, or v.131.
CHANGES FOR v3.0s FROM v2.xx.
*Speed increase of 65%.
*No longer necessary to manually exit to DOS between turns--the Shell now
uses hot-keys from within MoM.
*100% compatible with sound (though 45%+ faster if used with effects only).
*Requires only 500 bytes of free upper memory over MoM's normal requirements.
*The Shell now requires the presence of an extended keyboard BIOS to function
properly.
*Email and modem-to-modem play have been greatly facilitated, but still
require the use of third-party communications software.
*Minor bug fixes and additional features.
*Note: Microprose was in no way involved in its production or distribution,
will not support it or any changes it might make, and is in no way liable for
any damages it might cause.
[jay5941353@aol.com (Jay5941353 - Jay Barnett)]
Another possible location:
ftp.cdrom.com /pub/dresden/games/cheats/utility
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1.8) How can I get the MOM saved game editor (EDMOM)?
Edmom.zip is an editor for Master of Magic Version 1.2. It is Version 1.0 and
has: city/unit/spell/hero/item/misc/map editor. It is by C.k. (wolvy). Post
on csig for comments for now. C.k. 148306 bytes
Some problems have been reported using EDMOM with MOM 1.3 or 1.31. However,
there is a workaround. Create a directory and put MOM 1.2 in it. Move your
saved game file to this directory and run EDMOM. Apparently, the names of
spells, city enchantments, and attributes (retorts) are not written into
EDMOM but extracted from the MOM program itself. Use EDMOM to edit your
saved game then move it back to your MOM 1.31 directory. Voila!! Whoever
said "Cheaters never prosper" just never figured out how to give all of her
cities Prosperity. :)
Seriously, with this workaround you can edit city enchantments, spells known
and learnable, gold, mana, fame, retorts, experience, heros, artifacts, units
and add gems, gold, mithril, to the map. EDMOM is wonderful for trying out
tactics, unusual spells and units and combinations that would normally take
hours of play to get to try.
Located at:
cs.uwp.edu: /pub/incoming/games/edmom.zip
wuarchive.wustl.edu: /pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/games/editors
ftp.cdrom.com: /.14/dresden/incoming
ftp.wup.edu: /pub/msdos/incoming/romulus/edmom.zip
ftp.inf.tu-dresden.de: /.4.1/vol4/ms-dos/games/editors/edmom.zip
swcbbs.com
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2) Beginner's Guide
Here are some tips to help you have more success and less frustration in your
first few games.
[Many, including tommi@rama.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Thomas Stockheim)
jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King), Andrew B Potratz
<ap2a+@andrew.cmu.edu>, rhondaa@hpdml92.boi.hp.com (Rhonda Wilson), BLJ]
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2.1) Picking Your Wizard And Race
For beginners, Life, Chaos or Sorcery are the easiest. Death and Nature
are the hardest. You could choose one of the pre-made wizards: Ariel=Life,
Tauron=Chaos, Jafar=Sorcery, or Horus=Life and Sorcery. For a custom wizard,
you could choose Warlord, 1/2 Chaos and 1/2 Life. High Men are a good race
for beginners because they can build all the buildings you need.
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2.2) First Build Granary and Farmer's Market
In every city, follow this sequence: 1-Builder's Hall, 2-Granary, 3-Smithy,
4-Market Place, 5-Farmer's Market. The Granary and Farmers Market produce
population growth and food. Interrupt the sequence to build military units,
if needed.
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2.3) Use a Magic Spirit as a scout
At 1 mana the maintenance cost is pretty low, and Magic Spirits can move
two squares per turn, and over water. Even better - cast Endurance on it.
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2.4) Conquer Lightly Defended Lairs
In the early game, this will bring in much needed mana and gold. Leave tough
lairs alone until your army gets stronger.
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2.5) Conquer Neutral Cities
Conquering neutral cities will rapidly grow your empire and tax base.
You will need a bunch of soldiers and helpful magic. Life: Heroism,
Lion Heart, Healing. Chaos: Fire Elementals, Eldritch Weapon, Flame Blade.
Sorcery: Phantom Warriors, Confusion, Counter Magic.
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2.6) Always Hire Heros
When heros show up, hire them. Mercenaries may help very early in the
game, but often later in the game, it is far cheaper to make your own units.
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2.7) Build Experience
Experience makes heros and fighting units stronger (spearmen, swordsmen,
cavalry, bowmen, etc.) Experience comes from winning battles. To build
experience put units in as many battles as possible (even if they aren't
needed!), and make sure they don't get killed. Experience is also gained at
the rate of one point per turn.
New heroes should be part of the attacking force but should be held back from
melee. It takes a few levels before heroes become effective combat units. Be
patient, they can eventually become the most powerful and coolest units in the
game.
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2.8) Harvest Minerals Through Colonization
Build new outposts near minerals. The outpost will turn into a hamlet faster,
and will produce more income. Also, use the surveyor (F1 key) to place your
outposts in locations with a high "maximum population".
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2.9) Developing Cities (after the Farmer's Market)
* When you see a rebel in the city's population bar, make a building that
reduces unrest: Shrine, Temple, Parthenon, etc.
* As early as possible, increase production with Sawmill, Forester's Guild,
Miner's Guild. That way, later buildings will be built more quickly.
* As you can, speed up spell research by building in every city: Library,
Sage's Guild, Alchemist's Guild (for mana), University.
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2.10) Build High-End Military Units
To win tough battles, build high-end military units and beef them up with
experience and magic spells. It is usually better to build one Pikemen or
Paladin than a horde of Spearmen.
You don't need military buildings in every city. Your capital will probably be
your main military production center. Build Barracks, Armory, Fighter's Guild,
etc. in the cities dedicated to military production.
In you military cities set farmers to a minimum. Use other cities for farming.
Your military cities also need an Alchemist's Guild. This gives newly created
fighting units "magic" weapons with a +1 to-hit bonus. This makes their
weapons 33% more effective!
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2.11) When you meet a new wizard
When you meet a new wizard exchange as many spells as you can, and try again
after you pick up new spells. Note: if you have no books in common they won't
even trade arcane spells. Don't attack other wizards until you are ready
for a lot of fighting.
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2.12) Save game before every battle.
While you are learning, save game before every battle. Whether you win or
lose, consider reloading and replaying interesting battles. Each time, try
something different in the way of tactics, spells or even summoned
creatures. Be imaginative. By fighting the same foes in different ways,
you get a feel for what tactics and spells are the most effective. If your
creative new tactic fails, just reload and try again. It's not whether you
win or lose - as long as learn from it.
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2.13) Keep a gold reserve when you can.
Merchants won't offer to sell magic items to a poor wizard. Also,
mercenaries and heroes check you bank balance before they knock on your door.
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2.14) In the early game, try to maintain peace and explore ruins
By exploring ruins and lairs, you will gain wealth, mana, spells, an occasional
enchanted item, and all important experience for your units and heroes. If
your scout reports something really difficult (Death Knights, Great Wyrms,
Drakes, etc) come back later when you have the right units to deal with the
attackers. Nodes are generally harder than ruins but when you can conquer them
the treasures are greater and (using Magic Spirits) they produce mana income
every turn.
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2.15) How do I save a game?
You have to click in a slot, and then type to name the saved game. Then a
Save button will appear and you can click on it to save. After there is a
name in the slot, just click on the slot to get the Save button.
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*******************************************************************************
3) Game Operations
This section addresses various mysteries about how MOM operates.
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3.1) What does F10 do?
Auto-save your game to the "continue" file. [sisquash@netcom.com (Simon Chiu)]
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3.2) What is the difference between the Floppy and CD-ROM versions of MOM?
No difference in the game play. The CD-ROM version saves disk space. [BLJ]
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3.3) The CD version is slow - how do I get it onto my hard disk?
The 1.3.1 README.TXT has directions on how to do this. [BLJ]
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3.4) Why are my ships suddenly moving at only half speed?
Somebody cast Wind Mastery. Look in the Magic screen.
[bdb0004@jove.acs.unt.edu (Barry D Bloom)]
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3.5) Why can my Trireme sometimes carry only 2 units, sometimes 4 or more?
What is confusing you is that heros don't contribute to the total. Also,
any Fliers, Water-walkers, or non-corporeals in the stack do not contribute
to the total. Aside from that, the carrying limit is:
Carries Moves Costs Melee Range Shields Hearts
Trireme 2 2 60 4 - 4 10
Galley 5 3 100 6 3 (x8) 4 20
Warship 3 4 160 8 10 (x99) 5 30
Air Ships 0 4 200 5 8 (x10) 5 20
F. Islands 8 2 50 m - - 0 45
The carries column indicates the correct number. However, there seems to
be a bug that sometimes lets you exceed the load limit, especially if the
ship is a Galley and it also contains heros.
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3.6) What do the two numbers in spell skill mean?
If your spell skill is listed as 42(32), the number inside () is your actual
spell skill, while the number outside is your effective spell skill, augmented
by 1/2 of the spell skill of any spell casting heros currently residing in
your Fortress city.
Heroes only contribute casting skill if the spell you are casting takes more
than one turn. eg: if you have 105(60), then you can cast only one Change
Terrain (50) spell a turn, but Summon Hero (300) will only take 3 turns,
not 5. [v119matc@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu, BLJ]
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3.7) How does the Spell Skill Bar on the Magic screen work?
The three bars show how your powerbase mana is allocated. The first bar is
how much goes to mana reserve (storage), for spell casting later. The second
bar is how much goes to spell research. The total shown under the second
bar includes the mana you put in plus Libraries, Sage's Guilds, etc. You can
put in 0 from your power base and still get research done, if you have
Libraries, etc.
The third bar improves your spell skill. Mana from the third bar goes into a
pool, and when the pool gets to 2 times your current skill, your skill goes up
a point. Note: If the pool totals more than 2x, the excess is not wasted, but
carries over for the next increase. If your current skill is 30, you will have
to build up a pool of 60, to bump your skill up to 31.
Archmage gives you a starting 10 pt spell skill bonus, and a 50% bonus to the
mana added to your improvement pool. For example, if your powerbase is 60
and each bar is getting exactly 1/3, you are putting in 20 mana, but the
number added to your pool and shown under the bar will be 30. Also, the
starting 10 bonus points are in addition to the normal "pool" process. In
other words, if you are an archmage and your skill is shown as 30, that is
the 10 bonus points and 20 normal points. When the pool gets up to 40, your
normal points will bump to 21 and your spell skill will be 31.
[danhite@aol.com (Dan Hite), BLJ]
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3.8) I Have Spell X, Why Can't I Create An Artifact With Enchantment X?
In the Manual, Table M (p. 146) shows what you need for specific item
enchantments. It is controlled by how many books you have in a color, not
which spells you have researched. If you have 7 Sorcery books, you can create
an artifact with Haste even before you know the Haste spell. Haste is the
highest requirement, a lot of enchantments only require 2 or 3 books in a
color. On the other hand, to put spell charges in a Staff or Wand all you
need is to know the spell. [Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM)]
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3.9) How to get Summon Champion?
It is an arcane spell so you should always be able to research it, but it may
be late in the game. You will get it sooner if you have fewer spells to
research (fewer books, more retorts). Also, if you take Artificer you have
2 fewer spells to research. You may be able to trade for Summon Champion
with other wizards. [yl1@cs.buffalo.edu (Yong Xiang Li)]
It has also been reported that if you complete research on a spell, the new
spell that gets added to your research pages is in the same area. If that is
true, always researching arcane spells that turn up in your research area will
you to get summon champion as soon as possible.
[jderby@nevada.edu (Jerry L. Derby)]
If you do a no magic book set of starting magic picks, you will get summon
champion early on. However, with no spell books, you will have a limited
group of champions to draw on. Warrax requires at least one Chaos magic book.
Roland requires Life. Rayashack, Death magic. Alorra, Nature. [BLJ]
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3.10) What can I do with a Death Settler? (Settler killed by a life stealer.)
Nothing. (There was a small hoax on the net describing a way to get the death
settler to build a death city that would produce skeletons, zombies, etc. as
troops.)
PS. To: [tommi@kaa.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Thomas Stockheim)] for starting
the hoax, I salute you! [BLJ]
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3.11) How does the road "Trade Route" gold bonus work?
You get gold bonuses for rivers, ocean shore, and roads. The Surveyor (F1)
shows you shore and river bonuses. To calculate the road bonus. Suppose
City A and City B are connected. If City B has a population of 20, multiply
by 1% if A and B are different races, or .5% if same race. Lets suppose they
are the same race, so we get: 20 * .5 = 10%. This bonus applies to the
Base Gold Income, which is the total of taxes, and gem, gold and silver
mines. So if taxes and mines add up to 20, the road bonus would give you
20 * 10% = 2 GP.
The river, shore and road bonuses are limited to a maximum. The maximum
is 3% times city population. Suppose in the example above, City A
also had 20% worth of shore and/or river bonuses. In that case, the total
bonus would be 30%, but city A would only get the full benefit if City A
has at least 10 population.
Note: You get the shore bonus when shore squares are included in city limits
but you only get the river bonus when the city is built directly on the river.
[BLJ, p. 122 of the MOM Manual, MOM Official Strategy Guide]
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*******************************************************************************
4) Strategic Info
This section contains an assortment of strategy tips and suggestions.
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4.1) Why aren't my bowmen, galleys, slingers doing any damage?
Your missile firing troops (bowmen, slingers, galleys) have a to-hit penalty
at longer distances. If you are not doing damage, you need to get closer to
your target. The distance penalty is -1 for 3-5 squares of distance, and -2
for more than 5. (If a units has "Long Distance" (Longbowmen, Catapults)
the penalty is -1 for 3 or more squares distance.)
Note: Heros (and others with 2 movement) can move 1 unit toward an opponent and
then fire. [BLJ, jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
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4.2) Jump the Ocean with Guardian Spirits
A few guardian spirits can often go across the ocean and take a weakly defended
neutral city on another continent, allowing you to spread your empire across
twice the area you would otherwise have, without worrying about ships or flight
spells. Even better are nagas or sprites if you can get them.
[cbyler9312@aol.com (CByler9312)]
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4.3) Why do Phantom Beasts do so much damage?
They have illusionary attack that ignores defense (shields). In other words,
they attack as if your shields are 0. Solution: Phantom beasts and other
illusionary attacks will only have normal attack results against units
enchanted with True Sight, or anything with Immunity to Illusions. [BLJ]
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4.4) How To Get More Heros
As the game progresses make sure you keep some gold in reserve. A hero that
will require 300 GP to be hired, won't show up unless you have 300 GP. You
will attract better heros if you increase your fame, by conquering cities
and beating groups of 4 or more. Use F9 to see what your fame is. [many]
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4.5) How Does Multi-Figure vs Shields Combat Work?
Frequent question on the net: My Swordsmen unit, 6 figures, 4 swords. Is it
a 24 sword attack or six separate 4 sword hits? The answer is, the second.
This makes a big difference, depending on the number of shields the opponent
has. For example, a new Stag Beetle has 1 figure, a 15 attack and a 7 defense,
while new Swordsmen have six figures with a 3 attack and a 2 defense.
In a fight, each Swordsman has a .3 * 3 = .9 chance of scoring a hit. However,
on average, the Stag Beetle's 7 shields will block 7 * .3 = 2.1 hits of damage.
That means that the Swordsmen will only injure the Stag Beetle when by luck the
Stag Beetle's shield roll below average. Each attack the Swordsmen do make
6 attacks, improving the odds somewhat.
The Stag Beetle will, on average, score 15 * .3 = 4.5 hits, with Swordsmen
shields stopping only 2 * .3 = .6 hits of damage. The Beetle will tend to do
4.5 - .6 = 3.9 hits of damage each round.
This gives you a reason to play races with higher shields, such as Trolls,
Klackons, and Lizardmen. If you just look at figures*swords, Catapults look
pathetic compared to swordsmen. But against high shield opponents, they
are valuable. The same with high hit, low figure summoned creatures.
[jfardal@infinity.ccsi.com (John Fardal), BLJ]
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4.6) Why does my Strength 7 hero get butchered by Strength 4 Swordsmen?
The answer is that there is strength in numbers. Let's say we have High Men
Veteran Swordsmen with 6 figures, 4 swords, 3 defense, and 1 heart per figure,
versus a brand new Spyder The Rogue with 7 swords, 5 shields and 8 hearts.
Neither unit has any "to-hit" bonuses.
First round: Each sword represents a 30% chance of landing damage, for each
figure in the unit. Each swordsmen figures will average 4 * .3 = 1.2 raw hits.
But Spyder has 5 shields, representing five 30% chances to stop a hit of
damage, averaging 1.5 stops per attack. Basically, the Swordsmen have to get
lucky and roll a little better than Spyder to slip a hit past his shields. The
table in section 10.16 indicates that a 4 sword figure will, on average, manage
to slip .4 hits past a 5 shield defender. Given 6 figures, we could predict
6 * .4 = 2.4 hits of damage. Lets round to 3, and say Spyder takes 3 hits of
damage, leaving 5 hearts. Spyder's 7 swords against the Swordsmen's 3 shields
can expect to get in 1.3 hits of damage. Lets say Spyder gets 1 hit and that
will take out the first swordsmen figure.
Second round: Five swordsmen figures: 5 * .4 = 2 hits. Spyder is down to
3 hearts. He does the same attack as last round, doing another hit of damage,
taking out a second swordsmen figure.
Third round: Four swordsmen figures: 4 * .4 = 1.6 hits. 1.6 is closer to 2, so
lets take away 2 hearts, leaving Spyder just one. Let's say Spyder gets a
little lucky this time and round up the expected 1.3 hits to 2 hits. The first
hit takes out a third swordsmen figure. The second hit goes on to figure
number 4, but figure 4 gets to roll his shields. Each of 3 shields gives a 30%
chance of stopping the hit. Let's say one of them does, and figure 4 survives.
Fourth round: Three remaining swordsmen figures: 3 * .4 = 1.2 hits. Spyder
only had 1 hit left, and dies. But first he gets to swing at the swordsmen,
killing 1 figure.
The Swordsmen have 2 of 6 figures left, and Spyder is dead. Basically,
each Swordsmen figure had an uphill battle with 3 less swords and 2 less
shields, but the swordsmen unit had 6 figures to attack with. Also, it is
hard for Spyder to kill more than one figure per round because shields get
reapplied when extra hits are passed along to the next figure.
However, this analysis is a little biased against Spyder. At a couple of
points we rounded the Swordsmen's hits up. If we had rounded down, Spyder
could have been victorious. Also, we gave the Swordsmen 60 experience
(Veteran level), but Spyder none. Once Spyder gets 20 experience he will
get an additional sword, shield and heart, making him much tougher.
Finally, don't forget random chance. In the first round, the swordsmen get
6*4 rolls against Spyder. If the swordsmen's rolls are high and Spyder's
shield rolls are low, he can get killed right there. Another time Spyder could
roll high and the swordsmen roll low, with no damage to Spyder at all. [BLJ]
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4.7) If a simple unit of swordsmen can beat a hero, what good is a hero?
Here are some reasons why heros are often more useful than regular fighting
units:
* Heros can use magic artifacts that add to "swords", "shields",
movement, and can give special abilities. Most importantly, artifacts
can give additional "to hit" bonuses.
* Heros ultimately get more benefit from experience because regular
units only get 3 experience promotions, but heros can get 8
experience promotions. Elite regular units get a +2 strength
improvement, but fully promoted heros get a +8 strength improvement.
"To hit" bonuses are the most important. Unless you have Warlord
and/or the Crusade spell, a regular unit can only get +1 to hit.
But at the top two levels a hero has +3 to hit. This means each
"sword" has a 60% chance of doing damage. It is true that your hero
may not be too useful until he/she gets some significant experience.
* Heros can have powerful/useful special abilities such as Leadership,
Might, Prayermaster, Legendary, Spell Caster, etc.
* Defender shields are applied per attacking figure, so a beefed-up
hero hitting with 24 will do more damage than a 6 figure unit
hitting at 4*6=24.
* Heros have cool names and pictures.
[BLJ, MOM Official Strategy Guide]
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4.8) Instant Champion Level Units
If you cast heroism on a unit when you have the crusade spell active, it
immediately becomes ultra-elite. If you are a warlord, it becomes Champion
level. Can you say butt kicking time? This also applies to altar of battle
+ crusade + warlord = ALL your units start out Champion level. Fun!!
[jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
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4.9) 8 Units Better Than 9
I like to organize my units into 8-unit squads mostly consisting of home-
grown troops rather than summoned creatures. Why 8 and not 9? Sometimes,
when you take out a tower, you can get prisoners. When I have a squad
of 9, I never get prisoners. [mlee@thetis.royalroads.ca (Malcolm Lee)]
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4.10) Phantom Warriors: The (almost) worthless unit tactic
In my latest game I have been playing a sorcerer/life combo. One of the early
(and cheap - 10 mana) spells you get is Phantom Warriors. These guys do NOT
hold up very well against better units. However, I find myself using them a
lot (even though I have much better things I can summon now). Why?
Because, the enemy AI will often target them instead of your better
units for destruction! With the missile attacks, etc. going at these
hapless creatures, it lets your better units close and get the job done
with minimal casualties first.
Just because a summoned unit is no good does not mean that it is worthless!
[David Chaloux, DC]
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4.11) Why can "Invulnerable" units get killed?
Invulnerability gives two benefits. First is Weapon Immunity, which simply
increases shields to 10 for normal weapons. The second benefit is the negation
of the first 2 hits of damage that make it past the unit's shields. For
example, suppose a 30 strength Fire Bolt hits an Invulnerable unit, and does
the statistically predicted 30 * .3 = 9 hits of damage. Say the unit happens
to have 9 shields, and they do a little better than average, this time stopping
4 hits of damage. 5 hits remain, but Invulnerability negates the first 2. The
remaining 3 hits of damage take out 3 hearts.
[schafer@walleye.network.com (Martin Schafer)]
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4.12) Missile, Magic and Weapon Immunity Can Be Penetrated.
Magic Immunity offers complete protection against magic spells except for
Doom Bolt, Web, Warp Wood and Cracks Call, Black Prayer, Dispel, and
Disenchant. It provides a 50 shield defense against magic ranged attack.
That will typically stop 50 * .3 = 15 hits of damage, but very powerful heros
with lots of to-hit bonuses can punch through that much defense. Also, Magic
Immunity does not help against Doom/Chaos artifacts or Doom Gaze. It is a
subtle point, but Magic Immunity also doesn't work against invisibility.
Not checked, but suspect Magic Immunity does not work against: Blur, Warp
Reality, Mind Storm, light/darkness spells and possibly Disintegrate.
Missile Immunity protects from arrows, slings and javelins, but not rocks
(Giants, Catapults, Steam Cannon, War Ships and Air Ships). The protection is
also 50 shields, but very powerful heros and Champion slingers with many
to-hit bonuses can punch through.
Weapon Immunity is pretty wimpy. It doesn't apply to attacks from fantastic
creatures or magic (alchemy), holy or flaming weapons. Even against "normal"
weapons it only offers 10 shields of protection. If a unit has 10 shields
already, weapon immunity adds nothing.
[BLJ, MOM Official Strategy Guide, danhite@aol.com (Dan Hite)]
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4.13) Web - maligned, but useful
The Web spell may be almost worthless while attacking a city, but it is quite
useful for attacking monster lairs. Especially with ranged attacks. Your
archers/mages hit them, they can't hit back. And early on, it helps you take
nature nodes with sprites in them; the web lets my foot units hit the sprites
without waiting for the sprites to finish their magic attacks off. Even after
the web is gone, a flying unit is grounded for the rest of the battle. Web can
also be useful in delaying, say, a behemoth (move 2) for a turn; it is a low
cost spell for caster heros (like the Beastmaster) to cast, while you cast
something more powerful. [Aaron P Teske <at2u+@andrew.cmu.edu>]
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4.14) How can I cast spells in a node?
Nature spells don't fizzle in nature nodes, and sorcery and chaos spells don't
fizzle in nodes of their type. Node fizzle is like a 50 mana dispel, so a
5 mana Fire Bolt has a 5 / (5 + 50) = 9% chance of success, while a 50 mana
Air Elemental has a 50 / (50 + 50) = 50% chance of success.
[BLJ, MOM Official Strategy Guide]
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4.15) Disenchant Area Removes Guardian Spirit Protection
(From someone's news post:) Casting Disenchant Area on a node can wipe its
Guardian Spirit meld defense. [danhite@aol.com (Dan Hite)]
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4.16) Great Combo: Berserked Phantom Beast
For combat summoning, nothing can beat the death/sorcery combo of a BERSERKed
Phantom Beast. [umblazew@news.cc.umanitoba.ca (Dennis Andrew Blazewicz)]
On the other hand, Berserk costs 30, and Phantom Beasts cost 35. If you have
enough Death books to get a good discount, this combination may be good.
Otherwise, you may be better off with 2 Phantom Beasts, especially if you
get a discount on Sorcery. [BLJ]
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4.17) Great Combo: Berserk and strong First Strike
The Berserk spell is a good combination with strong first strike units such as
Death Knights or Paladins. Your attack strength doubles, making it possible to
kill almost anything with first strike. When you kill on the first strike, the
0 defense doesn't matter. [wagnere@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE (Erwin Wagner)]
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4.18) Great Combo: Berserk and Regeneration
Another great combo - Berserk + Regeneration. Your suicidal unit dies, but as
long as you win, it comes back! [Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM)]
Also, invulnerability, luck, prayer, high prayer or blur will make your
killer berserk units last longer. [danhite@aol.com (Dan Hite)]
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4.19) Great Combo: Invisibility + Confusion
Because of his special invisibility ability, ShinBo is my favorite hero...
I send him into ruins, temples etc., then all I do is cast confusion on one of
the monsters, then press "done done done..." until the monsters (always
basilisks, earth elementals and various others) are all dead in a "repeated"
operation. I found that that is a great way to get good treasures.
Of course, with 5 sorcery/2 and 2 of any thing else and runemaster
+ artificer... I can create any good artifact I want fast enough, but that 's
another story. [blood@jolt.mpx.com.au (Edward Chan)]
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4.20) Great Combo: Flier and Call Lighting
If the node has no flying units, missile units or web-casters, just tough
ground units such as Great Wyrms, send in a single flying unit and cast Call
Lightning. This will work against most neutral cities too. Instead of Call
Lighting, Wrack might also work, but not against death or high resistance
creatures. Magic vortex might also work.
What if you haven't discovered Call Lightning, but you really want to take over
those nature nodes on Myrror? Send in a Draconian spearmen, and cast Cracks
Call to take out those pesky Great Wyrms one at a time. Use save/load cheat if
you are really *really* desperate. [ncl@philabs.philips.com (Nai-Chi Lee)]
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4.21) Which units are affected by Warp Wood? (Which are not?)
Effects: Bowmen, Longbowmen, Horsebowmen, Javeliners, Slingers, Rangers,
Centaurs, Pegasi, Heros with bows, Galleys. Does not effect: Rocks, as in
Catapults, Steam cannon, War Ships, Airship and Giants that throw stones. [BLJ]
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4.22) Cracks Call killed my hero. How do I defend against it?
Cracks Call is quite difficult to defend against. Here are some ideas
that might help:
* Note: Magic Immunity doesn't help.
* Flight: Spell or artifact. However, you are still vulnerable to the
combination of Web and Cracks Call. Any wizards that has Cracks Call
is likely to have Web. Also, enchanted flight can be dispelled.
* Invisibility: If they can't see you, they can't Crack you. Again,
if enchanted, vulnerable to combination of Dispel and Cracks Call.
* Counter Magic: Reduces further the chances of a successful Cracks
Call, but it still is possible. Given a 50 power Counter Magic,
chances of success per cast are: .25 * 20/70 = 7% chance of success.
* Wraithform protects you from Web and Cracks call. There are 8
artifacts which grant Wraithform, so you might be lucky enough to
get one of those. Wraithform is a rare Death spell, so you probably
won't have it unless you have a lot of Death spell books.
* Check how much mana the wizard has. If it is not too large, take
a stack of spearmen and attack one by one, until the wizard has used
up there mana. They can't get more until it's there turn, so you are
safe from Crack's Call, and other combat spells. Strategic combat
is even better for this because it uses up the wizard's full spell
skill every time. Of course, it will do the same to you, so only do
it if you have mana to spare, or you have alchemy and can turn your
mana into gold first.
* Stack of invisible units. The computer players usually don't have
a very high mana balance. You can use the Magic screen + right click
on their picture. If the balance is fairly low, send in invisible
units one by one. Each round the computer player will cast spells,
you just hit done. Bleed the computer player down to zero. They won't
get more mana until their turn. Now you are safe from Crack's Call
or other spells. This won't work if they have Flame Strike or other
non-targeted damaging spell (Wrack, maybe others).
* The mana leak spell will drain 5 mana per combat round from the wizard.
If you can make the battle go for the maximum 50 rounds that is 250 mana!
For example, if you have a flyer to attack a city with only non-flyers.
When the mana is gone - no more Cracks Call. [BLJ, Drew Fudenberg, DC]
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4.23) How Can I Get Treaties Started? And keep them in effect?
A note on diplomacy. The stronger you get, the more difficult it will be to
maintain good diplomatic relations with the other wizards and the more likely
they will be to declare war on you. They will not allow you to grow strong
unchecked. [from the v1.31 patch README file]
See 10.9) Diplomacy: I can't keep peaceful relations with the other wizards.
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4.24) Just Cause Reduces Unrest
Just Cause does more than increase your fame. It reduces the unrest level in
all of your cities by one. I cast it as soon as I can and move my tax rate up
to 1.5, and rake in the gold. [disney@cybernetics.net (Dennis Disney)]
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4.25) I've built everything I can - what can I do about continuing unrest?
1. Reduce taxes (if you don't need the money)
2. Ignore it (it won't kill you)
3. Cast Just Cause (reduces 1 unrest in every city!), or Stream
of Life or Gaia's Blessing on the restless city
4. Garrison troops in that city. Every 2 units reduce 1 unit of unrest. This
makes Halflings a joy to conquer, since local riot police (aka spearmen) can
cheaply pacify the populace permanently. They only cost one food to
maintain, and every pair of them brings a rebel into line to produce three
food and pay taxes. Actually, any race has this advantage when the city
has have an Animist's guild.
5. Kill Klackons on sight (raze Klackon cities...)
[gunzler@netcom.com (Mitch Gunzler)]
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4.26) Do NOT neglect libraries, sages' guilds, universities, etc.
Do NOT neglect your 'civilian' sources of research: libraries, sages'
guilds, universities, and wizards' guilds. These sources will often give
you twice as much research as you have powerbase, from these sources alone.
An advantage in spells is decisive - a small number of invisible or flying
units with ranged attacks can wipe out a much larger stack of units without
magical aid. And it need not be said that call lightning plus a flying unit
is absolutely devastating against non-flyers . . . just sit back and wait,
they'll die sooner or later.
[jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
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4.27) Build roads!
Build roads! Even better, if you have sorcery magic, make all your
roads enchanted roads (zero movement cost). You can defend your whole
kingdom with one stack, and get units to the front line instantly.
Always put 4 engineers in a stack and have them build together.
They'll build one square of road every turn on most terrains, the
fastest possible rate. [Andrew B Potratz <ap2a+@andrew.cmu.edu>]
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4.28) Roads can be used against you (and how to prevent it)
Enchanted roads on Myrror can be used against you. If you make a road
grid that connects all your cities, rampaging monsters can get on it
and scoot to some undefended city. [jbrown@u.washington.edu (Jeffery Brown)]
Solution: place Paladins or other troops along the roads in strategic locations
so that troops must go around off the road or attack that unit. They are
slowed down by one turn <min> allowing forces to be brought up to protect
nodes and/or cities. [spido@clark.net (DriveBy Billy)]
Nightblades make good invisible sentries. Enemies can't just go around
because they don't know the Nightblades are there. [bing@its.bldrdoc.gov]
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4.29) When a city has minerals, build a Miner's Guild early.
If you have any mines nearby, build a Miners Guild early. If you left click
on the gold on the City Screen, it will tell you how much gold you are getting
from a mine. If you get any, build a miners guild. [Bill Poitras, DC]
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4.30) Get Rid Of Your Own City
There is a way to get rid of one of your own cities. Perhaps it is blocking
a mineral deposit, or perhaps it is a Klackon city that wish you had razed when
you had the chance. Just set it to produce "Settlers". Each Settler will
reduce the population by 1K. When the population drops below 1K, the last
Settler gets up and goes, leaving nothing behind! You can either use the
settlers or disband them. Note: Sell off all the buildings in the city first.
The smaller the city, the quicker this process goes. You will need to buy part
of the production of the last settler or two. You have to admit, this is more
humane than simply killing Klackons on-sight, Also it doesn't reduce your fame.
[BLJ]
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*******************************************************************************
5) Favorite Races
This section covers various people's favorite races, and why they like them.
Look in Table B at the back of the Manual. It gives you an overview.
Of course, one should plan to take over cities manned by other races. The
starting race determines how you play at the start. Later in the game the
choice of starting race has less impact. [Drew Fudenburg, DC, BLJ]
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5.1) High Men - With Paladins Rule
Paladins are great! Their innate immunity to magic, generous shields, first
strike and armor piercing capabilities make them excellent offensive weapons.
Paladins can destroy a lot of lesser units without even taking damage. Adding
a little magic can make them even better. Missiles can hurt them, so Guardian
Wind is a great addition to any paladin. They can't first strike what they
can't hit, so if you can, cast Flight on them (in or out of combat) or cast Web
on their opponent. Paladins have to fight "negate first strike" enemies, such
as Pikemen, on more even terms, so be careful. With a few precautions, your
Paladins can mow down just about everything.
The building capabilities for High Men allow them to make very advanced cities
that produce a nice cash flow, be sure to use it. (bank, mechanicians guild,
merchants guild, etc...) [Matt Carlson, DC]
Races which produce warships (High Men, Barbarians and Orcs) are good if you
decide to rule the sea. 2 warships together are good enough to keep the
opposition from landing troops on your soil, unless of course they are escorted
by Warships (for some reason the computer almost never produces warships).
High Men (humans) are a great balanced race. No special abilities, or strange
troops like Stag Beetles, or Griffins, but like in many fantasy games, humans
can pretty much produce all "normal" troops (Paladins, Magicians, Priests,
Warships). [Bill Poitras, DC]
One thing bad about Paladins is they take a lot of buildings to produce, and
also quite a few turns just to build one unit. If you're up against someone
like Tauron who is constantly destroying your buildings and reducing your
production rate, you find yourself unable to reinforce/replenish your armies.
Paladins also don't do very well against Griffons or other flying units, I'm
unable to take advantage of first strike.
[rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner)]
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5.2) Barbarians - Fast Growing, Axe Throwing, Berserk Hordes
These guys reproduce quickly, and benefit immensely from experience gains.
Both normal and thrown attacks increase with level.
[jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
Berserkers make good ground troops. Barbarians also produce Warships, good
for ruling the sea. [Bill Poitras, DC]
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5.3) Nomads - Tough Rangers, Horsebowmen, Flying Griffins and Extra Gold
Don't forget Nomad griffins (flying, first strike, armor piercing) and
pikemen (negate first strike, armor piercing)! And don't forget about their
rangers! That PathFinding ability is ever so nice. Put it all together,
and Nomads are one fine race - they're my fave.
[fishkin@parc.xerox.com (Ken Fishkin)]
HORSEBOWMEN! Their cost is only 60 production points, and they have both
a decent ranged attack and melee attack. Now they are toast against High Men
Magicians, or ultra-elite slingers or Longbowmen, but against most normal units
in the early going, they rock! Since they have a speed of two, they can move
just beyond melee range, and then unleash their missiles, to avoid the range
to-hit penalty.
I find that on Impossible level, fast development is imperative. A stack of
eight horsebowmen and one ranger can move four spaces over any land terrain
every single move. Horsebowmen are available with stables, and Rangers only
a bit later. And you can build eight horsebowmen and a ranger in the same
time it would take to build 3 Paladins or Elven Lords.
If you start off with a Nomad city, you should be able to explore and
overrun your home continent pretty early on. And this is really important
at impossible level, when your opponents get so many advantages. Finally,
nomads produce 50% more trade revenue. [cox@tachyon.unx.sas.com (Jim Cox)]
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5.4) High Elves - Extra Magic and Longbowmen
Elven longbowmen have nice range, and can really impact the early and middle
games, especially when going after magic nodes early in the game). However,
they have the drawback of taking a loooong time to produce, so expect rough
going at the start. [dbe@crl.com (Dale B. Elliott)]
High Elves are cool. They're the only Arcanus race that gives you mana simply
by existing (based on the size of the population), and longbowmen are EXTREMELY
deadly, and VERY cheap. All you need is a sawmill and a barracks to start
making them. [icarus@titan.oit.umass.edu (DOUGLAS W HIGGINS)]
High Elves produce Elven Lords (powerful ground troop) and LongBowmen (good
missile troop) and also can produce Magicians, which are pretty powerful.
[Bill Poitras, DC]
They tend to rebel a bit in the late game due to the lack of parthenons,
cathedrals, & oracles. Still, this is tolerable, and the innate power makes
up for lack of upper religious buildings to a considerable extent.
[jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
Actually, the magic bonus isn't that great in the late game. Since a High
Elf city can only have a max (and unlikely to get that high) of 25 population
the max magic from population and religious buildings is 15. The magic
produced from any city that has a cathedral is 10, no matter what the
population. The fact that you can't produce "purifiers" means that you are
subject to Corruption. In addition, you don't get the riot suppression.
Counter-point, to my previous statement. The +1 to hit and Forester is great.
[Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM)]
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5.5) Dark Elves - Magic Power Incarnate
The Dark Elves are just too good. Once you have a wizards guild you can get
Warlocks - 8 or 9 fireballs in ranged attack! Plus defense ignoring Doom Bolt!
You also have healers. Their fantastic stables produce Nightmares which are a
somewhat rare combination of flying and ranged attack (but they only have 2
figures). Dark Elves are just too good! [Jacob Jonsson, DC]
Even Dark Elf spearmen are pretty tough. With 8 figures and a ranged attack
of 3 (Elite), you get a 24 ranged attack. Not bad when the maintenance is
only 1 food! [BLJ]
A single Nightblade is a good city defender - too good! Since the computer
can't see anyone to attack you can just click on AUTO and wait for time to run
out. Then you win by default. [mbarnes@cs.montana.edu (Michael Barnes)]
Dark Elves are pretty tough, but you use up 3 picks to get them. Also, they
cause high rebellion rates in enslaved races. [Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM), BLJ]
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5.6) Lizardmen - Ideal for "Small" Land
Swim for early exploration. Especially beneficial on "Small" land. Also,
surround a land mass with Dragon Turtles and kill every ship that ventures
out. [dbe@crl.com (Dale B. Elliott)]
Lizardmen are rather restricted in their buildings and units, but early on
swimming settlers are great, and dragonturtles come online sooner comparable
units (eg Stag Beetles). Contrary to the v1.31 readme Lizardmen can build
Armorer's Guilds and in fact need to do so to enable Dragon Turtles, which,
btw, cost only 100 not 120 as stated in the MoM manual.
[danhite@aol.com (Dan Hite), Drew Fudenberg, DC]
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5.7) Halflings - Mighty Midgets
Halfling farmers produce 3 units of food (other races, 2). That makes it a
lot easier to support big armies. (Races that can build Animist Guilds
can get this advantage late in the game.)
Due to their Lucky attribute, Halflings inflict a -1 to hit on opponents trying
to damage Halflings. Lucky also makes shields 40% effective instead of 30%,
lifts the base To-hit from 30% to 40%, and adds an extra resistance (cross).
Halfling slingers have numerous advantages, and can be the best range attack
regular unit. Unlike Paladins, they require only a few buildings and can be
available very early in the game. They are lucky, giving a plus one to hit,
defend and resist. Most important, they have 8 figures, so each enhancement
produces 8 hits of benefit. Elite Slingers typically do 4*8*.5=16 hits
damage. By comparison, Elite Longbowmen, another contender for best range
attack regular unit, do 6*6*.5=18. But, if you add in Lion Heart (+2),
Mithril (+1), and Warlord to get Ultra-elite, you have Ultra-elite Slingers
with 7*8*.6=33.6 and Ultra-elite Longbowmen with 9*6*.6=32.4. With Crusade,
Adamantium, Flame Blade, or Giant Strength the slinger's get further ahead of
the Longbowmen. Because they both get +1 to hit, Slingers and Longbowmen are
better than just about any other missile attack regular unit.
[cptstern@Cyberquest.com (CaptStern) and BLJ]
Slingers at recruit level still have 8 figures and the lucky bonus. But don't
expect them to single handedly take out powerful monsters until they have at
least *some* of: ultra-elite or champion rank, mithril or adamantium weapons,
lionheart, flame blade, Giant Strength, holy weapon, leadership or holy bonus.
Slingers with a lot of enhancements can punch through the 50 shields of
missile immunity. Halflings and death magic do not make a strong combination.
[BLJ, wagnere@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE (Erwin Wagner)]
Slingers are nice, but not by themselves enough of a reason to choose
Halflings - Halflings have many other disadvantages compared to more advanced
races such as High Men, Nomads, or High Elves (lack of university, and all
that is derived from it, can really hurt), and all three of these races have
a rangestriking troop comparable to slingers. (It need not be mentioned that
a unit of High Man Magicians, which are missile immune, will wipe the floor
with slingers.) [jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
A side comment, missile immunity against a beefed up slinger unit is not good
enough. Not to mention I'm killing one magician unit per turn via magic
spells. Slingers are also highly resistant. Not to mention when I close the
distance magicians die of fright (no defense, no hearts). You can counter
missile weapons, you can counter magic range attacks (mana leak, resistance
spells, defensive bonuses, magic immunity, etc). But when all is said and
done, slingers have a pretty good secondary attack, ie melee combat. Not true
for magicians. [rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner)]
I'm just about convinced Halflings are the best starting race. You don't
realize how convenient the food production bonus and the unrest reduction is
until you play any of the other races. Indirectly this compensates for any
mana/research shortcomings. Halflings translate into more gold, more troops,
faster production, quicker expansion. And the clincher is that 4 slinger units
can just about defend a city against all attacks even without the support of
Life magic. It is such a joy not to constantly lose back captured cities.
And finally, slingers can be built quickly and easily with minimal support
costs. I can expand my empire at a faster rate. This means that halflings may
even have a mana/research advantage, through faster conquest. At least any
shortcomings are minimized. [rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner)]
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5.8) Trolls - A Regenerating Army That You Can't Stop
TROLLS RULE. They regenerate ever turn in combat, so if the enemy moves the
same speed as you you can just outrun him and heal. Even if its a full stack.
Also computers in cities usually jsut sit there and wait for you to approach,
so your troll can fight them one by one and heal in between. War Trolls are
especially powerful because their 2 movement allows them to outrun most units
while healing.
I started recently with trolls and with the 2 trolls that I started the game
with I was able to take over half of Myrror. They are extremely powerful.
Note that trolls get 4 HP instead of one the spearmen usually get and also
+attack. Trolls also come back to life if they die in a battle but you win
the battle. [Mike 'Krazy' Donais, DC]
And just think what you can do with an invisible Troll or two. Hit, run
away, heal, repeat. [bing@its.bldrdoc.gov -- Bill]
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5.9) Klackons - Kill them on sight? You decide . . .
I like Klackons too; sure they can't build much, but they don't need to!
Stag Beetles are even stronger than Dragon Turtles, and since unrest in
Klackon cities is reduced by 2 if you have a Klackon capital you can scooch
the tax rate up at the very beginning of the game. [Neal Dutta, DC]
In article <D4tLy5.5AH@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>,
jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King) writes:
> except Klackons, which I raze on sight.
Bad move!
1) Klackons are one of the few races which can build engineers.
2) Switch Klackons to 'trade goods', and you'll be swimming in money.
3) The Stag Beetle is a very decent little unit.
[fishkin@xerox.com (Ken Fishkin)]
Jeffrey Robert King replies:
: 1) Klackons are one of the few races which can build engineers.
High Men and Orcs - better, and can build engineers. To say nothing of
Beastmen and Dwarves.
: 2) Switch Klackons to 'trade goods', and you'll be swimming in money.
Nomads. And money isn't that much of a problem, and less of a solution.
Rebellion, lack of powerbase, no research - those are problems.
: 3) The Stag Beetle is a very decent little unit.
No match for a dragon turtle (same stats, swims, same building required), to
say nothing of high-end units like Pikemen, Paladins, 6 figure High Men
Magicians, etc.
And finally, Klackons rebel like crazy, and there's nothing you can do about
it. 50% rebels with tax on 1.5 is typical for me - the city can hardly keep
itself fed, let alone feed a garrison, support armies in the field, and
actually produce something.
As for using them as a capital race - you'd have to be crazy. Without any
religious or academic buildings worth mentioning, you will have NO power base
or research, and ruling other races with Klackons is ridiculously unfeasible
(only Dark Elves inspire more rebellion in subjects, and that not by much.)
Suggestion to make Klackons workable: Allow them to build Temples, but not
Parthenons. (This would also allow Animists Guilds) This would reduce their
rebellion to the point where they might be comparable in usefulness to
Lizardmen or Gnolls - i.e. decent slave races, but you wouldn't want them in
charge. [jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
I just sit in my city until I can make Stag Beetles. Then, I send them out to
take over the world. Early in the game not many units can kill a Beetle. I
can make an army of Beetles very early in the game (I just need Amoury and
Stables). Early on, one beetle can take out an enemy city. Later, I need to
gang up four or five of them.
If the game drags on too long, I have to put a hero into each stack of
Beetles just to make sure they pack the wallop they should.
One Stag Beetle can pretty much guard any newly captured city against the
original owner trying to take it back. Typically, when I take someone's city,
they don't come back at me with fire in their eyes. They counterattack like
lambs, attacking my Beetle with 2 or 3 Halberdiers. This is version 1.31,
usually on hard level, sometimes on impossible. Of course, I understand that
if I let the game go on too long, they would attack with big nasty magic
critters and the one-Beetle defense wouldn't work. The key is speed. Plus,
if I take a stack of nine Beetles and hammer a city, I leave the most injured
Beetle to defend the city and move the eight remaining ones onto the next city.
The enemy is so engaged defending his next city that he has no spare troops
to send out to retake that first city. I rarely even get challenged in those
cities.
I can take out any city with mortal units. And I take them fast. I avoid
the ruins and nodes that have nasty magic critters and concentrate on taking
cities. The one time I needed to take over a city that had Death Knights,
I just stacked 27 Beetles next to the city and went in in 3 waves. I lost
the first wave, but the second wave won, even though it had heavy casualties.
[bing@its.bldrdoc.gov]
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5.10) Dwarves - Productive Workers, Deadly Hammerhands
Or how about the dwarves. Hammerhands are probably the best hand-to-hand
unit. Steam cannon can inflict some heavy casualty and Golems are great
against Halflings. Plus they get a 50% production bonus, and build roads
real fast. [swang@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu (Ben Wang)]
Dwarf Swordsmen have an unique property: they require *no* gold for upkeep, so
you can post them in cities to reduce unrest. They can even be good
city-defender units if you build them near an Adamantium mine.
[ncl@philabs.philips.com (Nai-Chi Lee)]
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5.11) Draconians - Flying Firebreathers
Their flying regular units (Spearmen, Swordsmen) really give you an advantage.
If a ground based invader (without missile attack) tries to invade your city,
you can just wait for them to leave. If you want to attack, you only attack
when and where you decide. Also, the breath attack gives an added punch.
Draconian Halberdiers are a GOOD melee unit. What with flaming breath
and a decent attack they are even better than the Doom Drakes at elite
level because they come 6 to a unit.
Draconian Bowmen and Shaman are a rare combination of flight and ranged attack.
Also, Draconians can build most high-end buildings such as University, Bank,
War College, Wizard's Guild, etc. Finally, Air Ships are cool.
[Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM), BLJ]
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5.12) Gnolls - Least favorite!
The gnolls are still the most pathetic things I've ever seen. They get no
city upgrades, they grow slowly, and their wolf riders are nice, but can't
even beat pikemen, which are only the second best unit for humans and nomads.
They have nice halberdiers, but the dwarf halberdiers are better. To make the
gnolls balanced, I would give each of their units an extra hit. Then their
halberdiers would be as good as pikemen, and their wolf riders would be as
good as Wyvern Riders or Elven Lords. Come on, gnolls are supposed to be
badasses, not wimps on the level of humans. I couldn't believe it when I
looked at their units and saw one little heart.
[Dave (sungod@worf.infonet.net), DC]
I like gnolls. Sure they're low-tech, that's what subject races are for. You
need engineers? Conquer the Klackons. You need magic? Conquer some Elves.
The key that people are missing on the Gnolls is not their high-end units
(wolfriders), it's their low-end units (spearmen and swordsmen). The gnoll
player should immediately go on the offense. Make enemies, conquer the raider
cities. The +2 strength on their cheap fighters makes them more than a match
fo the early opposition on Arcanus. Aggression, aggression, aggression.
(Warlord wouldn't hurt either). [Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM), DC]
Believe it or not, I play Gnolls. Willingly. Not only that, I play them
usually led by an all-death or all-sorcery spellcaster, cutting down
significantly on the offensive magic you can use to support the troops.
The reason why? Well, to be honest, the real reason was to try a
challenge :-), but I've found a pretty decent Gnollish technique:
build lotsa cities right away, and forget buildings. You can't build
them anyway. Maybe a stable or two. Crank out the troops. That's all
they exist for. You then use your endless Gnollish hordes to take over
the other races, whose slaves are quite happy to provide you with the
nifty buildings your master race just doesn't want to bother with.
Success? So far, I'm winning my fourth straight game on Impossible level,
with maximized opponents (varying landmasses, though). [David R. Henry, DC]
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5.13) Orcs - A Well-Balanced Race
Orcs is a good race to pick when you first begin to play MOM, because it is
the only race which can build *every* city improvement available. Orcs have
engineers to build roads, warships to rule the sea, Wyvern Riders to rule
the sky (well, not really), and so on. The only problem with Orcs is that
since they are such a well-balanced race, they lack those special elite units
(such as Paladins or Rangers) that are vital to the success of other races,
therefore you may get bored with this race after a few games.
[ncl@philabs.philips.com (Nai-Chi Lee)]
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5.14) Beastmen - Another Well-Balanced Race
I consider Beastmen the equivalent of Orcs in Myrror, because they can build
pretty much anything (except warships) just like Orcs. Beastmen's Centaurs
are good for their ranged attack and movement points, but I find their other
units to be rather ordinary and too costly.
[ncl@philabs.philips.com (Nai-Chi Lee)]
I like beastmen. They have good units (Minotaurs come to mind). They can
build their cities up with the best of them. And to boot, they are a magic
producing race. They have reasonable growth and unrest rates, and are a
good choice for a "conquer Myrror" strategy. Unfortunately, you have to use
3 picks to start with them.
[danhite@aol.com (Dan Hite), Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM), DC]
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6) Favorite Colors of Magic
This section covers people's favorite colors of magic, and why they like them.
Unlike race, you are fairly locked in with your starting choice of magic.
However, you can pick up additional spell books along the way (but your total
is limited to 13).
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6.1) Chaos Magic (Red)
I have been playing as a chaos wizard, and if its damage you want, then it is
here! Warp Lightning (better vs few shields) and Lightning plus 20 or 30 mana
(better vs many shields) are two of the most powerful spells in the game. Both
of them armor piercing. Few units can survive their power (and the graphic is
cool too...:) [Tom Franklin, rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner), DC]
Chaos: Combat. Combat combat combat. That's what chaos magic is all about.
Virtually all of the strategic weapons are chaos magic too. If you want to be
able to demolish enemy cities without actually sending troops, this is the way
to go. Hell hounds, in the early stages, movement 2 with breath attack, can
quite easily take out most cities. You can explore, capture a few nodes, go
through some ruins. It gets you a fast start which is important for learning
the more powerful chaos magic spells.
Doom Bolt is great against high defense or high resistance opponents. You've
got spells for resistance, you've got spells for high damage to take out spell
casters and missile units. You can focus on lots of units or single units.
Quite flexible. Even in early stages, things like flame blade and immolation
are quite adequate. If a city is tough, you can wear it down with chaos rift
or call the void. Not bad. Not bad at all. Chaos magic also has the best
combo of summoned creatures from early stages through the late stages. Take
hell hounds, chimera, chaos spawn, and great drakes against any other four from
each spell group, and you are an easy winner. Yes chaos does not have much in
the way of defense, but thats not its strength. If you've got offense, use it.
If you give the best offense a better defense, it would completely unbalance
the game. [rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner), Jason Skiles, DC]
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6.2) Death Magic (Black)
I was Myrran and playing dark elves so I had an advantage to start but,
skeletons: quickly summoned early garrison for cities...and they're free.
Black channels and darkness combo; this really gave me the power I needed.
all my units were undead (heros,etc) and its not mana expensive to do.
Zombie mastery absolutely essential. Creates an instant garrison any
time you take a city, and failed attacks only make you stronger (besides
the casting graphic is my favorite in the game).
Life Drain: For each hit point drained you get 3 mana added to your spell
skill pool. This make Life Drain the only way to increase your spell skill
other than pumping in mana from your powerbase.
Mana Leak: Cast it, and arrange for the battle to go on all 50 rounds. The
opponent wizards will lose 250 mana points. You can even do this several
times in one turn. Repeating this a few times should take any wizard down
a few pegs. It's particularly easy to have a long battle when attacking a
wizard's city because the defenders don't come out to engage you.
Black Wind: One of the few ways to kill opponents via overland spells.
Death Wish: Another way to kill via overland, on a grand scale.
Some cons:
Everyone hates you! Your undead units cannot be healed. Some spells like
Black Sleep never seemed to work enough times to make them worthwhile. No
direct damage (drain life is too slow, Death spell takes too long to get and
is only useful later in the game).
Your undead units are subject to banishment. This includes your heroes as I
found out to my dismay. I had Black Channeled a hero this worked out really
well (so he couldn't heal, he had a vampiric weapon and was pretty tough)
until a Dispel Evil spell banished him and his items forever.
Actually, the most difficult part of playing Death is surviving the early
stages of the game with skeletons and ghouls. They are very poor troops
because everybody seems to beat them. The cost mana to summon, they don't
heal, they move slow, so what if I don't have to feed them. And how many
Zombie troops are actually useful? Not very many. Having said that, I still
contend Death magic is quite awesome to play. Mana leak is a common spell of
enormous impact. When you can make combat drag on the maximum 50 rounds,
it drains 250 mana points from the opposing wizard. It also saps magic
range attacks by one per turn. Augment any starting selection with two Death
books, and no wizard can withstand you. Lycanthropy and Wraithform make you
immune to normal weapons including arrows and stones, which makes conquering
cities, particularly neutral ones, a snap. Wraithform also makes you immune
to webbing which is quite useful. Once you get past the common summoned
creatures, death can simply dominate. Taking them in order of cost, we start
with Shadow Demons. They regenerate, fly, have plane shift, magic range attack.
Who's going to kill you? No normal units that I could find. Paladins?
Griffins? Nope. Mincemeat. You can take over both planes with shadow demons.
And its even easier to do with Wraiths. With life-stealing attacks and minuses
on the saving throws (and add in Black prayer), they wade through everything
and self-regenerate. Death Knights are even stronger than Wraiths. I never
even bother with Demon Lords, which are supposedly the best units of all,
because of the cost factor. I don't really need them. All have high resistance
against magic which makes them difficult to dispel. There are cons, these
summoned creatures are not effective against the likes of sky drakes, great
drakes, great wyrms, etc. You best take out the other wizards fast. Also, life
magic can do lots of damage to your units. But thats what your normal troops
and heroes are for. [rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner),
danhite@aol.com (Dan Hite), BLJ, Peter G, Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM), DC]
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6.3) Life Magic (White)
Life: The ONLY way to go if you're playing a Warlord. Only Warlord plus
the Crusade spell give you champion level units. But not just because of
the Crusade spell. Life magic is by far the best at 'pumping up' standard
units: Heroism, Holr Armor/Weapon, Invulnerability, Lion heart... Amazing.
Prayer and High Prayer help a lot, too. These +1's start adding up in a big
hurry. Also, Life magic gives you all the cool city enchantments.
Inspirations is a must for any city, and don't worry about the upkeep. It only
costs 2 per turn, and it can easily earn you 40 gold on a city that's set on
Trade Goods, so these really pay for themselves, alchemy or no. Life magic
gives you the freebies for switching planes, and also the game-securing
Planar Seal. [Jason Skiles, DC]
Playing with all Life Magic spell books is the easiest way to start. You
get Heroism, Holy Armor, Healing and many other great spells from day one.
With those spells, it is possible to take over some neutral cities using your
very first swordsmen/spearmen units (especially if you start with Dark Elfs,
since they have magical ranged attacks). If you start with 11 Life books, you
can even pick a rare spell such as Incarnation or Stream Of Life. Either
spell will probably guarantee a winning game for you.
[ncl@philabs.philips.com (Nai-Chi Lee)]
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6.4) Nature Magic (Green)
Nature: My favorite. Lots and lots of critter summoning spells, plus
the extremely useful Change Terrain and Earth Lore spells. Short on combat
spells, but with Giant Strength, Stone Skin, Iron Skin, and whatnot, you
can get by. Earth to mud is great if you've got missile troops, and crack's
call can take out even the meanest bad guys. Regeneration is one of the
most powerful spells around. Although it's expensive, a few of them can
make a tough army unstoppable, because it's impossible to 'wear down' a
regenerating army. If you don't completely smash it, it's back to full
strength for the next fight. Water walking comes early. [Jason Skiles, DC]
Playing Nature Magic is tough, because you don't start with any good offensive
or defensive spells, just some land enchantment spells which are all useless in
the beginning. Be careful not to piss off any other wizards, or you will get
wiped out soon. On the other hand, your cities can grow faster and be more
productive through the use of those land enchantment spells. If you can manage
to survive long enough, you start to get those better spells such as Iron Skin,
Cracks Call, Call Lightning, Regeneration, Earth Gate, and so on. Now it is
time to make the other wizards pay! [ncl@philabs.philips.com (Nai-Chi Lee)]
Sprites are powerful early in the game. By using salami tactics, a single
sprite can conquer a large earthbound stack, one creature per turn. (Salami
tactics: Fly in, kill at least one creature with magic range attack, when out
of ammo hit "Done" until you retreat. Since you are flying and they aren't,
they can't touch you. Caution - this is extremely tedious.) One sprite can
often mop up neutral cities and some enemy cities. But on impossible level
the computer players have so many bonuses, one sprite will only be able to take
out enemy cities very early in the game. [????, BLJ]
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6.5) Sorcery Magic (Blue)
Sorcery: Neat. Neat neat neat. Confusion is one of THE all-time coolest
spells, and certainly your best price/performance combat pick. I've
successfully snagged everything from spearmen to storm giants with this
spell. It only costs 15 spell points (11 if you've got ten books) so even
early in the game you can throw two or three per fight. Phantom warriors
and beasts are really nifty too. Sorcerers get the flight spell, invisibility,
mass invisibility (another favorite) and (fanfare) Wind Walking. This is
an amazingly useful spell. It lets the target and everyone stacked with him
fly, AT HIS SPEED. I had Deth Stryke moving nine per turn and dragging four
heroes and four sky drakes with him. A real experience if you're used to
struggling with those damned airships. At the high end, Sorcery magic is
awesome. Suppress magic is too cool for words, and Time Stop would be, if
I could just figure out this mana thing. I have trouble keeping that spell
up. Spell Binding (steal enemy global enchantment) is a winner as well, and
the Sky Drake is the most impressive summoned creature I've ever seen.
Spell Blast allows you to stop high-powered unfriendly spells before they
happen. Spell ward protects you from summoned creatures in addition to
adverse magic. And spell lock protects any of your enhancements rather well.
Combine this with sorcery mastery and arch-mage, you can simply toy with
the other wizards.
[BLJ, rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner), Jason Skiles, DC]
Don't forget Guardian Wind and Magic Immunity separately or in combination
on a unit. Being immune to all long ranged missile and/or magic attacks is
great for any offensively powerful but defensively weak unit.
Note the high mana upkeep for summoned islands (4 or 5 mana). Depending on
your specials (summoning, lots of sorcery books, etc...) it may be cheaper
to just disband the island when its use is done and summon another one a few
turns later to the exact spot you need it.
I've only played one game w/ a custom wizard so far, and he had loads of
Sorcery. I LOVED it! Some people will claim flight and windwalking are
great and the best part, but I found that my favorite spell was:
Magic Immunity! Not only are you immune to all funky spells (except for
dispels, but I had sorcery mastery which made it hard to dispel), but
all ranged magic attacks are reduced to ZERO! Throw in guardian wind, and
for about a 5 or 6 mana upkeep nothing short of hand to hand combat can
touch the unit!
Invisibility can do the same thing, but there are always those Sky Drakes,
etc. that can see past invisibility. I preferred to cast invisibility only in
combat just to protect specific units at specific times. [Matt Carlson, DC]
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7) Favorite Wizard Starting Picks
One of the best aspects of Master of Magic is that your starting picks (race,
magic, and retorts) can dramatically change what you need to do to win.
This section lists several people's favorite picks, along with some discussion
of why they like them.
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7.1) Chaotic Warlord with support from Sorcery and Life
I usually start off with 6 chaos, 1 sorcery (just to get the confusion spell,
if I can), and 2 life..... and the Warlord attribute.
[dbe@crl.com (Dale B. Elliott)]
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7.2) Famous Sorcerer Wants Heros
Alchemy (good to drain money to summon stuff), artificer, conjurer, famous
and charismatic... plus 5 sorcery spell books. Sorcery is really neat,
all you need to do is to invest some time in artifacts creation and make
some Amulet of flying + magic immunity, then you are ready to roll.
[blood@jolt.mpx.com.au (Edward Chan)]
Alternatively, replace conjurer and charisma with 2 Life books. You don't need
to conjure anything. With 2 Life books, you can pick Healing, and that can
effectively double/triple the strength of your heros. They can fight longer
before being worn down. You can think of it as an insurance policy for heros
unexpectedly near death. [rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner)]
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7.3) Quadruple Power Nodes
Also note: Chaos/Nature/Sorcery Mastery + Node Mastery = Quadruple power from
the appropriate type of node (i.e. the abilities are fully cumulative). And
with sorcery mastery, conjurer, and lots of sorcery books it is possible to
get sorcery summons for about 1/2 cost, this works for other realms too I
think. (Except there is no life or death mastery. :( )
[jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
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7.4) Life, Nature, Node Mastery
Personally I like LLLLNNNNCS Node Mastery. It gives you a wide range of
spells, maximum, and enough researchable spells that most of the useful
common and uncommon spells will be available to be researched. Plus, the
wide range of spellbooks ensures that most non-death wizards will at least
be somewhat polite to you. [lewchuk@cs.ualberta.ca (Michael Lewchuk)]
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7.5) Life On Myrror
Right now I'm playing a Myrran Wizard with all spell books in Life,
with Draconians. Usually there is only 1 wizard to compete with on
Myrror, versus 3 on Arcanus. If you have problems from wizards on the
other plane cast Planar Seal, and build up an army. Then invade the
other plane through all the towers simultaneously. Regarding Torin, once
you get him, give him protective armor and invulnerability and you have
a medieval TANK! [shumburg@iplmail.orl.mmc.com (Stephen Humburg)]
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7.6) Deathmaster Warlord
My basic approach has been to use a Nine Book Deathmaster Warlord. With 3 or
4 werewolf units supported by a couple of heroes for the conquering army, the
game becomes easy (pre 1.3). Yeah, there are a few moments of hard fought
slaughter in the field on the second wizard's army, but the regeneration
ability allows for such indiscriminate mayhem it starts to be a little hard to
lose with some actual thought and avoidance of high powered node/tower fights
until your heroes are well equipped and able to punt the Great Wyrms etc.
[robert.trifts@canrem.com (Robert Trifts)]
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7.7) Rainbow, Warlord, Sagemaster, Nodemaster
Well, now i'm working on hard/small/4, with Node Mastery, Sage Mastery,
Warlord, Alchemy, and one of each book (i think). Race is Barbarians. My
Berserkers with Adamantium weapons kick butt, going through wraiths and sky
drakes as if they were paper dolls.
[umblazew@news.cc.umanitoba.ca (Dennis Andrew Blazewicz)]
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7.8) Archmage Chaosmaster
I had a grand old time (and kicked some ass) with a wizard that was
Charismatic, an Archmage, possessed Chaos Mastery and 8 Chaos Books, and
started off with the High Men race. [Wizard of Many Ways <lmize1@gl.umbc.edu>]
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7.9) No Spell Books Runelord
My best game (in terms of fun an winning) was on Impossible Level / Large /
4 Opponents. I chose the Merlin picture and named him something like Runelord.
Then I took NO spell books. Its possible to do if you are careful in choosing
your skills so as to be down to zero spell book picks. I then went with
Dwarves, built Golems, and killed every stinking thing that moved. I was
researching the Spell of Mastery extremely early :>, not that it does you a
lot of good. That was probably the most fun MOM ever was!
[Dobz@ix.netcom.com (Jeff Dobberpuhl)]
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7.10) Buy Your Way To Victory
Most abusive combination I've discovered: Fame, Charisma, Alchemy, Warlord,
Life 5, Halflings. This will ensure that you can buy your way to victory
with Ultra-Elite mercenary troops. [Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM), DC]
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7.11) Cheap Heros Fast
Only 8 spell books (all in chaos), but both Charismatic AND Famous. The
idea was to rack up cheap heroes fast, and it worked. For a while, all
I needed were my heroes. Only now that everybody wants to kill me (isn't
charismatic supposed to help, BTW?) do I even need to raise an army at all!
[ldm@sccs.swarthmore.edu (Ajacs the Confused)]
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7.12) Archmage Chaos Channeler
I usually like picking the attributes that you cannot normally get over
time. I like to choose Archmage/Node Mastery/Channeler/1 Life/4 Chaos/
1 Nature/1 Sorcery. This combo makes the most of your mana power. I like
Life for the Healing spell. Chaos is good for out and out destruction with
Firestorm and you get Chaos Channels which does not cost any maintenance
and is permanent when cast on a unit. I always did like having my Paladins
with breath weapon or flying or stone skin. Note that a Paladin with a
breath weapon can attack flying opponents! I like Nature for the Web spell.
Sorcery gives you Confusion when it works. Node Mastery gives you double
the mana from all nodes. Very powerful when you start capturing Myrran
nodes which normally generate double the mana of nodes on Arcanus. Channeling
allows you to cast spells at normal mana cost. This is very handy when you
have to cast spells on the opposite plane. Casting spells from Myrror to
Arcanus cost triple and vice versa. As well, Channeling allows you to
cast spells at node sites and any summoned creatures are maintained at half
mana cost. Archmage is good for the +10 spell casting bonus most evident
in the early game but is excellent for pumping up your spell-casting ability.
As well, it is harder for other wizards to cancel your spells. Well worth
the 1 pick to get this attribute. [mlee@thetis.royalroads.ca (Malcolm Lee)]
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7.13) Alchemist Node Master
I like Alchemy/channeler/node master, plus 2 life and whatever else
grabs me, with halflings being fun to play (slingers are nice and 3 food
per farmer helps, the "lucky" attribute helps early too) without being
too powerful. With alchemy I set my magic bars to 0% mana, 30% research
and 70% casting skill, using gold to make mana. With a high casting skill
and no range penalty (channeler) distant combat is not so bad (and node
mastery stops those spells fizzling in nodes).
[tjc@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Tim Chown)]
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7.14) Charismatic Warlord of the Adamantium Slingers
When I want to win, I play with alchemy, charisma, warlord, Myrran,
and famous. I then take 2 life magic and one sorcery. I play halflings.
Charisma keeps the computer fighting itself and lowers costs on the
merchant stuff that the famous ability attracts. By starting on Myrror I
can usually get a city by an adamantium mine. This gives my slingers plus
two stones from (nearly) the start. An experienced slinger with adamantium
weapons can kill even warlocks with one shot. (With other magical bonuses
I've killed every creature I've run across with one shot.) Even creatures
which are supposed to be immune to missile weapons die in hoards.
The game gets short when nine slingers can kill nearly anything they
run into. I find the enemy capitals and march a stack in paralyzing their
units. I then have a nightblade (if I have one) kill all the loose stacks
left around. (A stack of nine units will retreat from one nightblade.)
Use the excess production for trade goods. (It gets boring managing
20 - 30 cities.) Repeat until all opponents are dead.
Not much to it really, just a lot of blood.
I've not seen a game that lasted until I ran out of spells to learn.
(With only three books this isn't a long time I guess.) (pre 1.3)
[jeff@mercury.interpath.net (Jefferson W Rosenbury -- CBC)]
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7.15) Champion Crusading Warlord
No summoned creature beats a well equipped hero (hint: Artificer).
Second hint: Heroism. Third hint: Warlord. Fourth hint: Crusade.
Warlord will do far more for your ability to get and maintain powerful
heroes than either Famous or Charismatic, or both together. And it boosts
your normal units, too: champion Rangers are fun!
Ultimate combo IMX: LLLLSSS Alchemy, Warlord, Artificer.
(The Alchemy is for the normal units, and not having to worry about mana.)
You will be better off if you can trade with other users: due to your low
"concentration" of picks, you may have trouble getting rare/v.rare spells.
In fact, it might be worthwhile to broaden your base instead, with say
LLLSSCC, or LLLSSCN - using much spell trading to fill in the realms you
only dabble in.
Strategy: Get heroes, and keep them. Cast Heroism on them. (Also cast it
on normal units - U.E's with magic weapons are no joke.) Most valuable
spells = Summon Hero (obviously), Summon Champion (duh), Crusade.
Life/Sorcery has all the defensive stuff, and if you choose to add a little
bit of Chaos or Nature it will give you some offensive punch for combat
support. [jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
Hello, Fellow Warlords. I agree with all you said. Now let me take it
one step further ---> Warlord & Fighter Guilds & Crusade & Altar of Battle =
All starting units start at Champion levels. You will have to go one step up
to Armorer's Guild for special units like Paladins, but with this setup just
turn on your slinger factory <champion level>. It is the optimum setup on
Impossible level. Heaven help anyone if you get Mass Invisibility. A champion
level slinger has 3hp + 4hit Lucky +5 base stones and no creature can kill an
entire unit taking 2 attacks. Champion Pikemen and/or Barbarian Calvary are
the Vikings of old Norse Legends. [spido@clark.net (DriveBy Billy)]
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7.16) Some Strange Combinations
Fun things to try in MoM:
Lizardmen of Life (8+ spellbooks)
Dwarves of Death
Nomads of Nature
Klackons of Chaos
Svartalfs (Dark Elves) of Sorcery
Draconian Double (4+ in two magic types)
Troll Triple (3+ in three types)
Orc of all Trades (no more than two in any type)
Triple Mastery (Rune Master, Node Master, Sage Master)
Mana Maniac (Alchemy, Channeler, Mana Focusing)
Has anyone tried any of these, or anything similarly weird? Anyone can win
with halflings or high men and 11 life/sorcery books. I'd be very interested
in what _difficult_ combos people have tried.
[jeff@steamer.clam.com (Jeff Darcy)]
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8) Spoiler (Super) Strategies
These are strategies so powerful that they may make the game too easy, even
on impossible level. Or at least possible to win on impossible level.
Most revolve around picking 11 spell books in one color, which lets you pick
2 Uncommon and 1 Rare spell. Most the 11 books strategies use that 1 Rare
spell to great effect, usually summoning a very powerful unit as quickly as
possible.
To get your super unit as soon as possible, do some fine tuning: Allocate
all your mana to mana storage (no research, no skill improvement until you get
your super unit). Start with High Elves to get more mana per turn. As gold
(taxes) comes in, convert gold to mana. Keep your two starting units at home
to quell unrest, and crank the tax rate up as high as you can without getting
rebels. If your starting city doesn't at least have a gold, or mithril
deposit, you might want to quit out of the game and start over, in hopes of
getting a deposit.
Even with fine tuning it will take many turns to get your super unit, but
the 40% casting discount you get with 11 books will help. Just keep pressing
Next Turn, and keep thinking about all the destruction you will do, once you
get your super unit. Your super unit may not be strong enough to take out
tough nodes, but it should be strong enough to take over most lairs, nearly
all neutral cities, lightly defended cities belonging to other wizards, and
some nodes. Use the wealth and power from your super unit's conquests to
take over the rest of the world.
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8.1) 11 Death books - Wraiths or Shadow Demons
For your rare spell, Wraiths. For uncommon I like Shadow Demons and Black
Prayer. Summon Wraiths first. Wraiths are great for several reasons. Wraiths
fly, move at 2, and have Weapon Immunity. Their -3 Life Stealing attack
creates undead defenders for the cities you capture. The undead do not need
food or money maintenance. Don't keep around undead summoned creatures
because they cost double mana maintenance. Maybe you have a fun suicide
mission for them. Note: Use Black Prayer to lower the enemy units' resistance,
making the Wraith's life stealing attack even more effective. Wraiths can be
hurt by magic ranged attack, magic weapons (but not normal weapons) by tougher
summoned creatures, and spells like Fire Bolt. But, when your Wraiths get
hurt, just go steal life from some low resistance target.
This is probably the easiest (and most evil) 11 book strategy. Wraiths in
most situations are harder to kill than Gorgons or Torin.
[rwatkins@crl.com (Ronald Watkins)]
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8.2) 11 Life books - Torin
For your Rare spell, choose Incarnation. For your uncommon spells you
will probably want True Sight and maybe Planar Shift or Prayer or Raise Dead.
Summon Torin The Chosen. Beef him up with Heroism, Lion Heart, Holy Weapon,
Holy Armor, and Invulnerability once you research it. March him around the
board taking over everything. [Many people ...]
You have to be very careful not to lose Thorin. In particular, watch out for
wizards with Nature books (Cracks Call).
[tommi@rama.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Thomas Stockheim)]
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8.3) 11 Life books - Stream Of Life
For your rare spell select Stream of Life. For uncommon, maybe Prayer and
Raise Dead. Cast the life spell STREAM OF LIFE on all your cities, this
doubles growth rate, causes all units to heal completely each turn, plus
unrest disappears. This means you can set your tax rate to the maximum, and
put ALL your mana into improving your casting skill, and use your alchemy to
buy more mana each turn.
This strategy is a little tricky to get off the ground. Stream of Life will
cost 8 in maintenance per city. If you bump up the tax rate, it goes up for
every city, so you need Stream Of Life in every city. It will take 16 gold
per turn to convert to mana for maintenance. Even with a tax rate of 4,
you will need a population of 4 just to break even. But, once you get your
population up, you will be rolling in money/mana. Since Stream of Life
doubles the growth rate, that won't be long.
[BLJ, cptstern@Cyberquest.com (CaptStern)]
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8.4) 11 Sorcery books - Flying Warships
You will need a race that creates warships. Create a flying, invisible, spell
locked warship. Magic Immunity and Wind Mastery will help to. In terms of
taking on passengers, Wind Walking may be better than flying. This isn't an
instant strategy - it takes time to build up to a Warship. Flying Warships
are very tough, but not unstoppable. A recruit level warship only has an
attack of 10, and that is not effective against 9 or more shields. Sky
Drakes slaughter flying warships (even if invisible). Shadow Demons are
very tough to kill (because each shot you don't do much damage, and they
regenerate). [wagnere@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE (Erwin Wagner), BLJ]
Actually, Flying Invisible heros or normal units with a range attack make the
game very easy. Also, Invisibility has most of the benefits of missile
immunity and magic immunity. It also confers -1 to hit on opponents.
[BLJ, rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner)]
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8.5) 11 Nature books - Gorgons
Summon Gorgons. Before v1.3 you could win quickly with this strategy. One
report of finishing off the other wizards by 1408. With v1.3, it won't be
that easy. The other wizards expand much more quickly now, and by the time
you have finished off 1 or 2, the others will probably be sending hoards of
Shadow Demons or even groups of Gorgons at you. Still, if you stay alive long
enough to get your Gorgons, they can do a lot. Once you get Regeneration
and/or Call Lightning, the tide should turn in your favor. Unfortunately,
most of the common Nature spells won't be much help at keeping you alive long
enough to research the more powerful ones. Nature is perhaps the hardest 11
book strategy. [BLJ, rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner)
schafer@walleye.network.com (Martin Schafer)]
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8.6) 11 Chaos books - Chaos Spawn
Another, theoretical possibility: An Efreet. This guy flies at 3, 9 magical
range attack, +2 to hit, Fire Immunity. 20 Chaos casting skill - he can summon
a Fire Elemental to help him out. One problem - 3 shields. As yet, no story
of someone winning with this. [BLJ]
You can win with the Chaos Spawn strategy. No basic normal unit can withstand
you. Early in the game nothing can stop you. You can make a lot of progress
and build a good base. You can even take out some towers, nodes, ruins. There
was only one problem. They move at a rate of 1 which is slow for exploring,
finding, and defeating all 4 wizards. The last two remaining wizards were
able to easily kill my Chaos Spawn. It amazes me how fast other wizards are
able to learn very rare spells. They even re-took many of my captured cities
before I stemmed the tide. Fortunately I was able to augment my armies with
regenerating Hydras. Eventually I won with Great Drakes, Call the Void, Magic
Vortex, and Chaos Rift. I rate this strategy a little better than Gorgons and
nature books. Chaos Spawn are not sufficient in themselves to win, you need to
survive until the later stages (readily doable) before cleaning up. Also, I'm
unable to translate playing chaos magic into a high score. You use up a lot of
mana which otherwise could go into research. You do a lot of destruction to
cities which effects your production rates.
[rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner)]
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8.7) Free Sky Drakes (theoretical)
Take 9 Sorcery books. (Pick all the common spells except Resist Magic and
Dispel Magic True, since they have the lowest research cost.) Take Sorcery
Mastery and Conjurer. Also pick node power High. Go to Myrror and conquer
Sorcery nodes until you have 13 Sorcery books. (To guarantee picking up
Sorcery books, you may have to save the game before beating a tough Sorcery
node, and then replay the battle if you don't get a book.) With 13 Sorcery
books, you get a 60% Sorcery Spell discount, 15% discount for Sorcery Mastery,
and 25% Discount for Conjurer discount equals:
100% fantastic creature summoning discount--they are ***FREE***.
And, now that you can summon them for free, what would be a good creature to
get? Sky Drakes. Go ahead, summon a half dozen of them. You still have to
pay maintenance, but just disband them when you don't need them. What do you
care - you can resummon them for free.
How do you get to Myrror and how do you take over those tough, high treasure
Sorcery nodes? That is left as an exercise for the reader. You have to work
pretty hard to get this "easy game". However, you will start with an 80%
discount on summoned Sorcery creatures. You can get Phantom Warriors for only
2 mana. Once you research them, Phantom Beasts for 7, Air Elementals for 10.
Those cheap combat summons should be pretty helpful.
I would really love to hear the story of someone making this work. Dan Hite
was able to verify FREE Sky Drakes by using an editor to give himself
additional Sorcery books. [danhite@aol.com (Dan Hite), BLJ]
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9) Cheats
Just remember: "Cheaters never prosper!" (See "*")
These are ordered roughly from the least to the most outrageous fracturing of
the spirit of the game. The first few aren't even "cheats", just little
abuses of the way the game works.
* Unless they use an editor to give all their cities prosperity.
[rhondaa@boi.hp.com (Rhonda Wilson)]
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9.1) Save Before all Battles - If Outcome is Bad - Restore
The Granddaddy of all cheats!! [Origin precedes recorded history....]
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9.2) Healing the undead
Undead units are not supposed to heal... but they do if they can Regenerate.
Cast Black Channels on any unit that has the Regeneration spell, or on any
Troll unit, and you get an undead unit that heals. I've done many nasty
things with armies of Undead, Ultra Elite, Troll Shamans. The problem is
waiting for them to get to Ultra Elite before you cast Black Channels,
because they never gain experience after you cast it.
[icarus@twain.oit.umass.edu (DOUGLAS W HIGGINS)]
IMO Not a cheat, nobody said the undead couldn't regenerate. [BLJ]
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9.3) Exception to Planar Seal
When planar seal is in effect, you can still get units to cross to the
other plane if you have a city on the other plane. Move your summoning
circle to the city in the other plane and use word of recall to bring
the unit to the city with the summoning circle. [Bill Soo, DC]
IMO Not a cheat, just a limitation of Planar Seal. [BLJ]
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9.4) Determine a Computer Player's Spell Skill
If you use Spell Blast two turns in a row you can usually deduce your
opponents' casting skill level. Another good use of Spell Blast is to check
how far along an enemy casting Spell of Mastery is to help you decide when
it is necessary to deal with it. [danhite@aol.com (Dan Hite)]
Note: To estimate the computer player's spell skill you can also add up the
spells cast in combat. [rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner)]
IMO Not a cheat, just an unusual way to figure something out. [BLJ]
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9.5) Estimate Opponents Spell Knowledge
Spying on an enemy by pretending to offer spell tribute and then escaping out
of it ("forget it") apparently doesn't make them get pissed and stop wanting to
talk. Therefore you can do it over and over and get a fair idea of what spells
that you know they do or do not have. [danhite@aol.com (Dan Hite)]
IMO Not a cheat, just an unusual way to figure something out. [BLJ]
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9.6) Invisible defenders throw off the computer...
I think Nightblades are cool. An enemy wizard will attack your city with a
large army but he can't see you. He is too stupid to cast anything that show
invisibility (I forgot the spell). So press about 10 times done and he will
retreat and you are victorious. Or click on auto. Nightblades make good
defenders because they have intrinsic invisibility - it can't be dispelled.
(No FAME) [C.W.G.M.Enders@kub.nl (C. Enders)]
IMO Not exactly a cheat. Also, if any of the computer's units have True
Sight or Immunity to Illusions, this won't work. [BLJ]
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9.7) Get Out Of Battle Free (Retreat Without Losing Units)
Free Retreat Cheat: If your units are faster than the enemy, you can get away
with no chance of loss while retreating by running in circles until 'all units
retreat exhausted'. Of course, it SHOULD be impossible for a faster unit to
be caught while retreating from a slower one, but normally, it isn't. This
won't work if the enemy still has ranged shots left, obviously. You can use
the same dodge if you fly and they don't.
Also, combine running in circles with the nature spell Call Lightning -
they will eventually die of it, unless magic immune.
[jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
Is this cheating? Well, like he said it should be impossible for a faster
unit to be caught while retreating from a slower one. [BLJ]
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9.8) Avoid The Wizard You Hate The Most
If there is one wizard that you really hate to meet, play with a custom
wizard, then select the picture of the wizard you hate. The computer will
never pick that wizard as one of your opponents. (Note: I always pick Horus,
not because I hate to meet him, but because it makes me so damn good looking.
My little boy says - Dad, is that you? (He's impressed.) [BLJ]
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9.9) Discount On Buildings
Cheaper purchases. A Marketplace is worth 100, and if you try to buy it on the
first turn, it will cost you 400. The way the games charges you is: If you
have none of the gold coins filled in, the cost is 4x, if you have some coins
filled, but less than 1/2 then the cost is 3x the unfilled coins. If around
1/2 of the coins are filled in, the cost is 2x. By buying cheaper items, and
then using the change button, you can reduce your cost.
Example: If you want a marketplace, change to spearmen and buy them. If you
can't buy spearmen because your city can make them in one turn, try temporarily
converting all your workers to farmers. You have no coins, so the cost is
4*15=60. (This is a beastman city, other races have other costs for spearmen.)
Now change to swordsmen which cost 30. You are 1/2 filled in, so the cost is
2*15 = 30. Now change to library, cost 60. You are 1/2 filled in, so the cost
is 2*30=60. Now change to marketplace. You are more than 1/2 filled in, so
the cost is 2*40=80. Total cost is 230, instead of 400. You saved 170!
[cptstern@Cyberquest.com (Capt Stern), BLJ]
Is this cheating? What if you *really* need the money? Nobody every said
you couldn't change your mind . . . [BLJ]
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9.10) Recycle Artifacts For A Profit
If you have runemaster AND artificer abilities, they are cumulative,
allowing you to build artifacts for 37.5% of normal cost (3/8). You can
then immediately break them on the anvil for 50% of normal cost, thus
getting 1/3 more mana then you put in. Repeat as necessary.
[jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
This is documented in the MOM Official Strategy Guide, and they don't call
it a cheat. [Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM)]
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9.11) Better treasure through save/restore
If you save game before a battle, fight the battle (win), and don't like the
treasure you get, you can load the saved game, refight the battle, and you will
usually get a different treasure. [BLJ]
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9.12) Better heros through save/load repeat
You can also save your game before summon hero or summon champion completes,
and then if you don't like the hero you get, you can reload, and when the
spell completes you will usually get a different hero. [BLJ]
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9.13) Use Strategic Combat
Strategic combat is resolved through a complex calculation comparing the
strength of each side, and doesn't involve fighting at all. Some situations
that are hopeless in actual fighting you can win in Strategic Combat. The
only way to know if it will help is to give it a try. Note: I believe
strategic combat assumes you cast spells equal to your spell skill in every
strategic combat battle. So it is hard on your mama reserve.
[BLJ, MOM Official Strategy Guide]
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9.14) Artifacts With Spell Charges
It is possible to make artifacts other than staves and wands that have
spell charges. Start the artifact as a staff or a wand and select the
spell charges you want. Then switch to the actually desired artifact
without un-highlighting the desired spell charges. Select four powers as
normal. When the artifact is finished, you'll have the four powers you
selected, plus the spell charges. Neat, eh? [Jeff (jeffrey729@aol.com), DC]
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9.15) Use Plane Shift To Get A Node Without A Fight
Move a Magic Spirit or Guardian Spirit to the point on the opposite plane that
corresponds to a node. Now cast Plane Shift on the spirit. You get a spirit
on a node, and you can do a meld, without disturbing the inhabitants of the
node. [joshua@warren-wilson.edu (Joshua Whealton)]
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9.16) Super Powered Artifacts
In the create artifact spell, give the artifact a very long name (maybe 40 or
more keystrokes - but not too many). You get an artifact with a bunch of super
powers, like maybe +67 attack.
[strategy@kom.auc.dk (Michael O. Akinde) and many others]
And then, for no reason, the game crashed. [BLJ]
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9.17) Super Powered Heros
When you name your hero, if you give them a very long name they will get super
powers, just like super artifacts. [zou@cs.buffalo.edu (Zhen Zhong Zou)]
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9.18) Change Computer Player Personalities
In the main movement screen Type <alt>-P. This gives the computer wizards new,
randomly selected personalities. [BLJ, MOM Official Strategy Guide]
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9.19) Instant Mana and Spell Skill
Go to the "Magic" screen and Type <alt>-PWR. You get 100 spell skill
and 10000 Mana reserve. So do all the other wizards.
[umblazew@news.cc.umanitoba.ca (Dennis Andrew Blazewicz)]
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9.20) Reveal the whole map
Go to the "Magic" screen and type <alt>-RVL. The maps of Myrror and
Arcanus are completely revealed. [CLA@UTXVMS.CC.UTEXAS.EDU (SimTex)]
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10) Advanced Topics
This section includes interesting discussions of advanced topics.
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10.1) Should I exchange spells with the other wizards?
Yes, it helps your score. I usually research the more advanced spells that
will take awhile, and get all the "small" spells from trades. This is a must
if you wish to max out your spells in a quick game (ending before 1430).
[benton@malibu.sfu.ca (Brent James Benton)]
Trading spells can be detrimental. Do NOT give that computer player Stream of
Life!). However, some spells seem worthless to the computer, like Enchant
Item/Create Artifact, or color-specific spells that don't affect you (ex.
Lifeforce if you're not playing Death), or Planar Seal (I'm usually happy when
the computer casts this one). Too bad you can't trade the Spell of Mastery.
It would be funny to give it to all your opponents the turn before you
finish casting it ;-). [dtebben@alumni.caltech.edu (Dirk Tebben)]
On the other hand, trading Stream of Life for Crusade or Altar of Battle
could be a good trade. I would never trade anything like Chaos Rift or
Suppress Magic. I'll trade all my Summoning spells even Incarnation if I get a
good spell in return like Nature's Wrath, Herbal Healing and/or Regeneration.
[spido@clark.net (DriveBy Billy)]
Giving the computer arcane spells can't hurt much because it could research
them eventually anyway. Also, Summon Champion is a good diplomatic overture
because the high research cost impresses the computer. Also, I would much
rather see the computer casting Summon Champion than Chaos Rift or many others.
[BLJ, MOM Official Strategy Guide]
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10.2) Be Ready To Destroy An Enemy Wizard Whenever Necessary
If any enemy wizard is kicking your butt with nasty enchantments, perhaps you
should put together your best stack and go to his tower and banish him. [BLJ]
One of the main strategy points in my games is making sure I have the ability
to quickly find and destroy any wizard should the need arise. That means
devoting a lot of resources into building and maintaining and magically
supporting a stack of units/heros which can move and effectively act on
possibly short notice. In other words I am ready when that spell of mastery
starts.
You can also help yourself by slowing down the most powerful wizard. Monitor
the wizard comparison graphs and you know who you have to focus on. Take
some/lots of preemptive action. [rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner)]
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10.3) Best Summoned Creatures
David Ross Thompson (dthompsn@is.dal.ca) wrote:
: What do people think is the best creature that can be summoned? I
: tend to think that it's the Sky Drake...the lightning attack and the
: magic immunity make them killer units. Hydras are pretty good too,
: though, as are Colossus (which I haven't yet seen in v1.3, come to think
: of it). Great Wyrms aren't very cost effective (huge upkeep in mana) and
: aren't of much use
: against flying units, and strangely both Demon Lords and Archangels are
: pretty easy to kill.
Archangels can cast Invulnerability on themselves, if you haven't already done
so from the overland, they should do so. Demon Lords have a life-steal
attack - use it against low-resistance targets - and can summon demons. I
don't find either of those easy to kill. Also, you are neglecting the
multi-figure summoned units, such as Gorgons and Chimeras, and the temporary
units, such as Fire, Air and Earth Elementals. This being said, I agree that
the Sky Drake is the best summoned creature, with the possible exception of
Torin the Chosen, if he has a lot of experience and good magic items. But I
think heroes weren't what you had in mind.
[jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
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10.4) Mana allocation - advantages of allocating zero to storage.
One of the decisions you need to make in MOM that can have a profound affect
on the course of the game is how you allocate your mana between mana storage
(for casting spells), spell research, and spell skills.
I personally have switched to a rather radical distribution. In particular,
I am allocating NO, NONE, ZERO points toward mana storage. I do this
even though I am NOT playing with the alchemy characteristic. If I need
mana to cast spells or for maintenance (of spells or units) I convert gold.
Once mana gets into the reserve, it cannot be spent on research or skill
improvement. Since I have found that gold is a relatively plentiful
resource and is easily converted, I prefer to do things this way. This
allows the fastest possible increase in spells researched and skill
gained.
If, in some future version of the game, gold gets harder to come by,
I might have to rethink this strategy. [David Chaloux, DC]
I would agree with Dave. I allocate zero mana to the reserve as well.
In addition, I also micro manage the amount of mana I put into research.
That is, I try to adjust the research amount such that the cost of the
spell you are researching is an exact multiple. For instance, if the
spell I'm researching costs 700 rps and my research setting is 300 rps,
then it will take 3 turns to research. But 3 turns at 300 is 900 rps so
you lose 200 points to wastage. Instead, I'll try to adjust it to either
350 rps (and get the spell in 2 turns) or reduce it to 175 (and get it
in 4 turns). Usually, the incremental bar won't let you get exactly what
you need but you can reduce wastage by a large amount. In addition,
I always check the amount whenever I capture (or lose) a node or build
a source of mana since these events will change the mana allocation.
BTW: This strategy is also used by each city when constructing things, excess
workers, who do not contribute to getting a particular item out faster are
converted into farmers. At least then, their output of food can be converted
into gold. [Bill Soo, DC]
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10.5) List of known bugs (in MOM v1.31)
In general, only bugs still in the latest version of MOM (1.31) will be listed
here. v1.31 is a major improvement over previous versions, and if you don't
have it - get it! To confirm you are running MOM 1.31 - click on the Game menu
button. You should see 1.31 in small print at the bottom of the Save/Load
screen. If you don't you see any print at the bottom, you aren't running 1.31.
As the number of bugs has piled up, I've decided to try to limit this list to
bugs so common that multiple people have reported them. That way the list is
better at warning you about what to watch out for, and contains fewer rare
problems that many people will never encounter. [BLJ]
A) !#$!?@*!! Crashes
Game crashes in a variety of ways, typically after hours of play. Solution:
Save the game a lot. Many times it won't crash when you replay. If it does
crash when you replay, you might try: using an even earlier save, if you have
one, or replaying with something different such as: turning sound on/off,
turning animations on/off, playing a different sequence of attacks, disbanding
some of your units, destroying some computer units, etc.
On the other hand, some people also claim that MOM 1.31 is very stable and
never crashes. Experience seems to suggest that the frequency of MOM crashes
is affected by:
1. The amount of RAM in your machine. 4MB systems typically crashes more
often than 8MB or 16MB systems.
2. Game difficulty and land size: HARD/IMPOSSIBLE games on LARGE land mass
are more likely to crash, because computer players generate hundreds
of units.
3. Length of each game session: If you play for hours without reloading
from saved files, you are more likely to suffer crashes compare to
those people who save/reload (i.e. cheat) a lot. Life is not fair...
[ncl@philabs.philips.com (Nai-Chi Lee) and others]
B) Game Crashes When You Capture Banished Wizards Last City If It Is An Outpost
Ran into a bug in the latest version of MOM. I had Horus reduced to a single
outpost. It was the last settlement that he had. He had no troops in the
outpost and so I just walked my Paladin into it expecting a victory parade.
Instead, the game just hung on me. Luckily, I had saved the game before that
point. Eventually, I had to wait until the outpost became a hamlet and then
I could take it and could officially defeat Horus.
[Malcolm Lee <mlee@thetis.royalroads.ca>]
C) Super Powered Galleys
Sometimes all your Galleys turn into super mutants with invisibility, spell
casting, regeneration, flight, and many other properties. This bug is similar
to its lesser-known cousin: the super mutant catapults bug in version 1.2.
If you ignore this problem and continue to play, other units (including heros)
may also start to mutate, and your game will eventually crash. Solution: save
immediately, quit, and reload the game. This should bring everything back to
normal for a while. However, sometimes you may have to dismiss all galleys in
order to proceed. [ncl@philabs.philips.com (Nai-Chi Lee)]
D) Undefended Hamlet Razed If You Attack It (Fixed in v1.31.)
If you take over an ungarrisoned hamlet with only 1 population, the city is
always razed (and you lose 1 fame). Solution: wait until you see an army in
the city, then invade. Now fixed. [yun@Glue.umd.edu (Yun Choi)]
E) Dispelling Guardian Wind Doesn't Remove Missile Immunity
Computer players appear to still have missile immunity from guardian wind,
even after guardian wind is dispelled. You don't see it in their stats, but
missile attacks never hit them. [spido@clark.net (DriveBy Billy)]
F) Chaos Channels Flight Doesn't Work Right
I've also noticed that flight type spells are fickle. Chaos Channel flight
doesn't allow normal units to engage flying creatures, but normal non-flying
creatures can't engage CC Flying units either . . . sort of a Semi-Flight??
** TBD: Reproduce in MOM v1.31 ** [cptstern@Cyberquest.com (Capt Stern)]
G) Raise Dead Brings Passengers Into The Fight
Perhaps not a bug, but an unusual feature. Normally, transported troops can
not fight in naval battles. I was fighting a war on Myrror when I saw two
Triremes loaded with Dark Elf Priests approaching. Good, I thought, just sink
those triremes with my Draconian Bowmen and those Priests will be shark-food.
But the very first spell enemy wizard cast was "Raise Dead" - which brought
his Priests into the battle! I have not yet tried to exploit this bug/feature
myself. [ncl@philabs.philips.com (Nai-Chi Lee)]
H) Gold Overflow
Normally, when you allocate more people as farmers in a city, you get more
food and less gold. However, for a super-rich city (large, fully developed,
with prosperity/inspiration cast, set to Trade Goods), allocating more
farmers may get you more food and *more* gold. Looks like some integer
overflow error has occurred internally. Note that in earlier versions of MOM
(v1.0 - 1.2) this bug was worse: once the gold income from a city exceeds 255,
it warps back to zero, so you end up losing lots of money if you over-enchant
a rich city. [ncl@philabs.philips.com (Nai-Chi Lee)]
I) Experience Help Text Wrong When You Have "warlord" or "Crusade spell".
Help text describing unit levels is not correct if you have "warlord" or
"Crusade". This is because the help text is always the same, but the
experience needed for the next level changes when you have "warlord" or
"Crusade". Solution: use the manual, remember warlord and crusade each give
you one more level than is "normal" for a given amount of experience.
J) Torin May Have "Arcane Power", But It Is Useless
Torin and other heros that do not have ranged magic attack can get "Arcane
Power" even though it does them no good. Reportedly, Arcane Power does make
Alorra's, (The Elven Archer) bow shots more powerful.
[jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
K) Engineer Pops Back To Wrong Plane
This is the old pop-through-the-planes bug, an engineer moves through tower
to Myrror, next turn he's told to start building a road towards my halfling
colony (you know, the one over by the adamantium...) anyway, the following turn
our engineer appears, very confused, in the ocean back on Arcanus, directly
"under" his Myrran coordinates. (fortunately he was able to swim back to
shore, and is now recovering nicely thanks to lots of herb tea.)
[fudenber@fas.harvard.edu (Drew Fudenberg)]
I like this bug very much. It allows you to build "bridges" over the ocean,
which even other ground units can use. Haven't tried ships on roads, yet!
[wagnere@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE (Erwin Wagner)]
L) Max of 1000 units allowed, Computer Players Can Get Practically All Of Them
There are only 1000 units allowed in the game, and CP wizards and neutral
cities may have a lot of units. You can run into the "Max # of units exceeded"
message when you have just a few units. While not a bug per se, it isn't nice.
Solution - go kill some CP units.
[marius@noc.tor.hookup.net (Marius Wejman), and cgwalan@aol.com (CGW Alan)]
M) Computer Turns Can Take A Long Time
Several people have reported MOM v1.31 getting slow - the computer's turn
taking 30 seconds to a minute. When you think about the computer doing
strategy, movement, and at times combat for almost 1000 CP units, I'm
surprised it doesn't take longer. On the other hand, often on Impossible,
the computer turns seem oddly slow, even in the first 10-20 turns.
Note: Some people never see this problem. [BLJ]
N) Dispelling Flight Over Water
If you have a hero with Flight, and you want to dispel flight because now the
hero has an artifact with flight, and that hero is over water, wait until the
hero is over land. If you turn off flight over water the hero dies (drowns)
even though the artifact should allow them to fly.
[cfb4@po.CWRU.Edu (Christopher F. Byler)]
O) Gaia's Blessing Makes A Chaos Node Look Like Hills
Gaia's Blessing turns <ALL> Volcanos into verdant hills over time even Chaos
Nodes. I have two in a saved game. The square still has Chaos Node
properties, but it looks like hills. [spido@clark.net (DriveBy Billy)]
P) Suppress Magic fizzles Lo Pans spell of Return, sort of
BUT he is in the game in SPIRIT form but no tower and no restored Face gem.
I know since if you attack any of his forces he casts magic against you. I
am going to forward this one to MPS. I don't think they intended suppress
magic to fizzle a SOR. I have a save game. [spido@clark.net (DriveBy Billy)]
Q) Slow Sounds
MOM gets into a mode where every sound is preceded by several seconds of
silence. Sometimes there may be a faint clicking sound. Usually saving,
exiting and reloading fixes the problem. [BLJ]
R) Unearned Fame
Occasionally, for no apparent reason the computer will give you 400 extra fame
or an entire spellbook for one of the colors. This makes a big difference
in your score. We have run into this locally, the resulting score: 191%.
[George Tertysznyj (whatthis@hookup.net)]
S) Helper Ships In Naval Battles
Occasionally, in a naval battle you will get extra ships. After the battle
they are gone. This used to happen more frequently, but has still been seen
in v1.31. [danhite@aol.com (Dan Hite)]
T) Word Of Recall On A Ship Strands Passengers
Word of recall on a warship leaves its passengers behind in the ocean where
they do not immediately drown. I wonder if you could build roads with ocean
engineers this way? (No. [BLJ]) [danhite@aol.com (Dan Hite)]
U) Not Able To Cast Spells
In three of my games I've gotten into a position where the computer won't let
me cast spells during combat in my fortress city, despite plenty of mana. I
have a working theory, that it occurs after some point where I've exhausted my
mana reserve to zero and restored some mana via alchemy (gold exchange).
[rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner)]
V) Not Actually Bugs
* Some enchantments don't take effect until the next turn. One example:
The food production increase from Gaia's blessing. So you may think you
are seeing a bug when some benefit doesn't occur. If so, check at the
beginning of the next turn, to see if the benefit shows up then. [BLJ]
* All creatures immune to illusions (ie. undead) are immune to many
sorcery spells. If you try and cast such a sorcery spell on an undead
unit, the computer will report that the creature is immune. Immunity to
Illusions, True Sight, and Undead (Wraiths, Skeletons, Ghouls, Death
Knights, Zombies, Werewolves, Black Channels, etc.) give immunity to
the following: Blur, Confusion, Creature Binding, Invisibility, Mass
Invisibility, Mind Storm, Psionic Blast and Vertigo.
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10.6) What are the "puns" in the weapon/artifact names?
Here are the ones we've noticed:
Jan's Hammer wrote songs for Miami Vice and Beverly Hills Cop.
Protection of Ramses Don't leave home without it!
Gauntlet of Eastwood One of his movies.
Shield of Brooke Her relationship with Michael - purely platonic.
Monster Masher Remember the song?
Bow of Hazard Have to be a Duke to use it.
Mail of Diversity Politically correct!
Purple Rain of Death Have to be formerly known as a prince for this
Vans Shield Oddly vulnerable to flying pebbles.
The Wind Shield Ditto.
Suit of Power Dress for success.
Mail of Pobox It delivers.
Kraken Wand Don't stand down wind.
Idspispopd Doom cheat that lets you walk through walls...
Peppermace of Gates (Something to do with Bill? I don't get it...)
[BLJ]
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10.7) What is a good score?
Note: All scores here are using MOM v1.31.
Hard, Four, Halflings, using Adamantium slingers and Heros with Summon
Champion, scored 67%. [sca@advge.magwien.gv.at]
Impossible,4,normal magic,medium land. Halflings used mostly for slinger
troops. Alchemy for mana. Artificer to equip my heroes. Sorcery Mastery
for bonuses. 3 life books, 5 sorcery books. Score:
81 spells + 81 848 people + 424 (could have done more here)
4 wizards ban. + 200 322 fame + 644
year 1433 +1190 spell of mast. + 250
TOTAL = 2789*3 = 8367 (/8000 =) Score: 104%
Impossible,4,powerful magic,large land. Halflings used mostly for slinger
troops. Artificer to equip my heroes. Sorcery Mastery and Archmage for
bonuses. 3 life books, 5 sorcery books. Score:
89 spells + 89 1045 people + 522
4 wizards ban. + 200 463 fame + 926
year 1442 + 980 spell of mast. + 250
TOTAL = 2967*3 = 8901 (/8000 =) Score: 111%
[rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner)]
Impossible, 4, powerful magic, large land. High Men, 11 Sorcery, Flying
Warships. I survived the early stages of the game only because I ended up on a
sub-continent by myself, while the other 3 Arcanus wizards shared the main
continent. They fought among themselves and I ambushed Myrror. Taking over
Arcanus was then easy with 2 stacks of 7 War Trolls and Sorcery. Impossible
level helps your score because you get a lot of fame defeating the numerous
large stacks your opponents throw at you. Could have finished years sooner but
I like to take out every node and lair. Had to make some Adamantium Paladins
to get four tough nests of Sky Drakes. Built a lot of Halfling cities, because
I wanted to have a population over a million.
67 spells + 67 1084 people + 542
4 wizards ban. + 200 288 fame + 576
year 1430 +1276 spell of mast. + 250
TOTAL = 2911*3 = 8733 (/8000 =) Score: 109%
Score improvement tips:
Always try to hunt out all the opposing stacks with 4 units or more.
(Defeating four or more units gives one fame, worth 2 score points.)
Legendary Heros contribute to your fame, and every point of fame converts to
2 points of score.
With Nature magic you can really get your population up there, if you take
the time. However, it is incredibly tedious.
The score for the year starts at 2000, then two points are deducted per turn.
Each turn is the equivalent of one month.
Lastly, the scoring system is such that you'll probably never get 100% at
normal level, or hard for that matter. Each level has a multiplier:
impossible: 3, hard: 2, average: 1, easy: 0.75 or simple 0.5. The point total
times multiplier is then divided by 8000 to get the percentage.
[rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner), BLJ, MOM Official Strategy Guide,
benton@malibu.sfu.ca (Brent James Benton)]
Many people don't care about their score and do things that hurt their score
(raze cities they don't like, don't bother with Spell of Mastery), or don't do
things to improve their score (build every city possible). There is a lot of
fun in experimenting with new things, hard fought battles, bitter revenge,
amassing awesome power, etc. If you're having fun, why worry about the score?
[BLJ]
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10.8) What advantages do the computer players have on impossible level?
* Computer players automatically know where your fortress is.
[cinnamon@one.net (R. N. Dominick)]
* Rampaging monsters will go right past a computer player city and
head for your city.
* Computers players get an extra, "unearned" powerbase of 20 or
30 mana.
* Computer players are able to have large armies without the food
necessary to sustain the army.
* Computer players have spell skill and mana reserves that are higher
than should be possible. (Might have been a bug - I don't think
this always happens????)
* They also may be able to buy more units than they have money
to buy.
* Enemy wizards get extra starting picks (more than the 11 you get).
On hard they get 13 picks, on impossible 15.
* Computer player outposts turn into cities at 3x the normal rate.
* Computer players only pay 50% maintenance on units.
. . . and others . . .
The MOM Official Strategy Guide contains a lot of information on this topic.
[BLJ, others, MOM Official Strategy Guide]
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10.9) Diplomacy: I can't keep peaceful relations with the other wizards.
Then kill them. Seriously, though . . .
On impossible level, diplomacy is an utter waste of time. Giving spells to
your opponents accomplishes nothing except advancing their research. The
Charismatic retort is basically worthless.
[dtebben@alumni.caltech.edu (Dirk Tebben)]
[Note: Pre 1.3, diplomacy may be harder now...]
Well, I'm playing a game currently where I've had 'peaceful' relations with
two of the other wizards, and constant warfare with the third. The main
factors seem to be that I share no continents with any of them, Rjak, the
one I'm at war with does Death magic while I do life (although mostly sorcery).
The other two (Merlin, Horus) also are at least partial life magicians. One
thing I've done different this game is pay pretty regular attention to the
diplomatic situation: any time one of the other wizards ceases to be at war
with Rjak, I convince him to attack and resume the war, before Rjak gets him
to attack me. Has worked for quite a long time now. In past games, I haven't
paid much attention to their relations, but I think I should. Don't let them
get too friendly (if you can have any influence) and perhaps they won't talk
each other into attacking you. Then again, maybe it s a fluke...
[jeffl@hood.pcx.ncd.com (Jeff Longueil)]
A note on diplomacy. The stronger you get, the more difficult it will be
to maintain good diplomatic relations with the other wizards and the more
likely they will be to delcare war on you. They will not allow you grow
strong unchecked. [The 1.31 README.TXT File]
Actually, Diplomacy seems easier on v1.31. Unless I am playing heavy Death
magic I can usually stay at peace with my (non-Chaotic) opponents until I'm
ready to start (and finish) a war. [Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM)]
Stomping on an enemy outpost apparently incurs no diplomatic penalty!
[MOM Official Strategy Guide, danhite@aol.com (Dan Hite)]
You can maintain diplomatic relations with other wizards if you make no troop
movements (or make sure you don't tread on enemy ground or near enemy troops,
and that does include them approaching you), build no cities which compete for
land, and keep your troops inside your city. Spell exchanges also help,
especially if you give a spell that costs more research than the one they give
you. In the early stages, they'll ignore you. This gives you time to build
the troops you want, equip your heroes with items, or learn some crucial
spells. Meanwhile the other wizards are greatly increasing in power, so you
better have a good strategy to counter their power increase, otherwise it's not
worth the price of maintaining diplomatic relationships. You need to expand
to increase power. If you're lucky one or two wizards will have peaceful
non-expansion tendencies, if you don't attack them, they won't attack you. Just
stay away from them.
If you can't handle the constant warfare right from the start with your initial
selections, try playing on small land masses. It will take a while before
you're in conflict/touch with any of the other wizards. Plus it slows down
their fast expansion. Since they start off with such advantages, this
minimizes the multiplying effect. [rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner)]
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10.10) How important is starting race on impossible level?
Choice of starting race isn't all that important, since you'll often
immediately get 2-3 other races from neutral villages. Therefore, my #1
criterion for choice of an initial race is growth rate, which puts Barbarians
on top. Of course if you're playing Life, Halflings can be awesome simply
because of slingers. [dtebben@alumni.caltech.edu (Dirk Tebben)]
I disagree: I often find that all or almost all the neutrals are the same
race! Furthermore, sometimes the neutrals will be something like klackons,
or lizardmen: while they may have some use, you won't want to found too many
new cities with them. Therefore, it is important that your own race be one
that you are willing to play out by itself. The few games that I played
Barbarians, I lucked out and got High Men or Nomad neutrals - but I could
just as well have gotten Gnoll or Klackon neutrals and been royally screwed.
[jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
An island/continent has a default race. Each city has a 75% chance of having
that race. [BLJ, MOM Official Strategy Guide]
Starting race is quite important. If I take a race which can't produce
missile units or magic range attacks, I quickly become a tasty lunch morsel.
A flying unit is also rather crucial. Growth rate is totally insignificant,
if you can't build troops to defend your outposts and hamlets, you'll lose
them. If you get lucky, a neutral city may fill the troop void. But if you
get unlucky... [rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner)]
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10.11) Hero List for Master Of Magic:
I have found out that some characters get the super ability at the
cost of a random 'pick' (choice of Lucky, Noble, Con, Might, and
others). Some characters get a lot of free picks. On the whole most
characters get 1-3 set abilities, and 2 picks. There are a few other
characters with no picks but the same chance to get the super
without loss of abilities, they are on the upper end and lower
end of the Upkeep scale.
Some of the 10 upkeep Heroes require at least ONE spell book of the
given color, I have listed them as a color after the number of random
picks.
I do not know if the picks vary because of Starting Race, or Spell Books,
I think they are just random (makes more sense to me)
The Uk column indicates gold upkeep (or mana in Torin's case).
The Upkeep 10 heros are the champions.
Name Title Uk Me Ra Df Re HP Specials
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Brax Dwarf 2 5 - 4 10 10 Const, Mount
Gunther Barbarian 2 5 - 3 6 10 Might, Thrown 3
Zaldron Sage 2 1 6m 4 6 5 Sage, Cast 7.5
B'Shan Dervish 2 4 4a 4 6 6 Noble
Rakir Beastmaster 2 5 - 4 6 7 Cast 5, Scout 3, Forest
Valana Bard 2 4 - 5 6 6 Cast 5, Leader
Bahgtru Orc Warrior 2 5 - 4 6 8 Mount, Thrown 3, [1 Pick]
Serena Healer 2 3 6m 5 7 5 Cast 7.5, Healer, [1 Pick]
Shuri Huntress 2 5 4a 3 6 7 Blade*, Pathf
Theria Thief 2 5 - 6 6 7 Agl +1, Charmed
Greyfairer Druid 3 1 8m 5 6 7 Cast 7, Scout 3, Purify
Taki War Monk 3 6 - 5 6 6 Agl*, [1 Pick]
Reywind Warrior Mage 3 4 4m 5 6 7 Cast 5, [1 Pick]
Malleus Magician 3 1 7m 5 9 5 Arcane, Cast 10, [1 Pick],
Flame Strk Spell
Tumu Assassin 3 3 - 5 6 6 Blade, Poison 5, [1 Pick]
Jaer Wind Mage 4 1 6m 5 6 7 Cast 7, Windw, [1 Pick]
Marcus Ranger 4 6 5a 5 6 8 Scout 2, Pathf, Might, Cast 5
Fang Draconian 4 7 - 5 6 8 3 fly, Fire 5, Might, [2 Picks]
Morgana Witch 4 1 8m 5 6 5 Charmed, Cast 5
Aureus Golden One 4 6 6m 7 6 6 [2 Picks]
Shin Bo Ninja 6 6 - 5 6 7 Invis, Blade, [2 Picks]
Spyder Rogue 6 7 - 5 6 8 Leader, Legend*, [1 Pick]
Shalla Amazon 6 7 - 4 6 8 Charmed, Thrown 4, Might, Blade,
[1 Pick]
Yramrag Warlock 6 1 8m 5 9 5 Cast 5, [1 Pick]
Mystic X Unknown 6 5 5m 4 9 8 [4 Picks]
Aerie Illusionist 10 1 6m 4 6 5 Illusion, Cast 10, [2 Picks], BLUE
Deth Stryke Swordsman 10 5 - 4 6 10 Arms, Const, Might, Leader,
Legend,
[1 Pick]
Elana Priestess 10 2 7m 5 6 5 Heal, Purify, Cast 10, Pray,
Charmed, Noble, Arcane, [1 Pick]
Roland Paladin 10 9 - 5 6 8 Magic Im, AP, First Strike, Heal,
Legend, Pray, Might*, [1 Pick],
WHITE
Mortu Black Knight 10 9 - 5 6 10 Magic Im, AP, First Strike, Might
Might, Const, Blade, [1 Pick]
Alorra Elven Archer 10 5 8a 6 6 6 Forest, Arms, Charmed, Blade,
[3 Picks],GREEN
Sir Harold Knight 10 8 - 5 6 10 Leader*, Leg*, Const, Noble,
[1 Pick]
Rayashack Necromancer 10 1 8m 5 6 5 Arcane, Cast 12, Life Steal,
[2 Picks],BLACK
Warrax Chaos Warrior 10 8 8m 5 8 8 AP, Cast 10, Arcane, Pray,
[3 Picks],RED
Torin Chosen 10 12 - 7 12 12 Cast 5, Magic Im, Pray*, Might*,
Const, Leader*, [2 Picks], Summon
by rare White Incarnation spell
[Dana Huyler c569836@cclabs.missouri.edu, DC]
Speculation on Heros' Races:
Hero Race
---- ----
Brax Dwarf
Gunther Barbarian
Shalla Might be a Barbarian - she has a thrown attack and a helmet
Alorra High Elf
B'Shan Nomad (assume "Dervish" is Nomadic)
Malleus Beastman???
Yramrag Dark Elf???
Rayashack Dark Elf??? (He seems to have Vulcan ears...)
The rest appear to be High Man ... [spido@clark.net (DriveBy Billy), BLJ]
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10.12) How can I get MOM to run on OS/2?
Open a DOS full-screen window, type PROMPT $p$g (to get rid of the
legend that blocks the top line of the screen), try to run MAGIC.EXE, and
see what error message you get.
Chances are it will say you don't have enough expanded memory. You need
at least 2700KB of EMS.
If that's what it says, go to the DOS settings in the program object
that you use to launch MoM and set the EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT to, say, 3000,
to give yourself a little leeway. Try again.
If it says something else, post another article telling us what message you
get, and we'll try to think of a possible fix.
[dww@world.std.com (David W. Walker)]
DOS_FULLSCREEN=ON
DOS_BACKGROUND_EXECUTION=OFF
DOS_HIGH=ON
DOS_RMSIZE=640
DOS_UMB=OFF ; exception-if you run into a rare game that will use UMB's
DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT=0
EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT-2048 ; exception- make this 0 if your game
; does not require
or will not use EMS
HW_ROM_TO_RAM=ON
HW_NOSOUND=OFF
HW_TIMER=ON ; exception- Colonization did not seem to like this setting.
; I also have it OFF, because I run a BBS in another
; session. This setting appears to negatively impact the
; BBS
IDLE_SECONDS=10
IDLE_SENSITIVITY=100
INIT_DURING_IO=ON ; this is -required- for decent performance of most
; multi-media games
KBD_ALTHOME_BYPASS=ON
VIDEO_FASTPASTE=ON
VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION=OFF
VIDEO_ROM_EMULATION=OFF
XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT=64 ; exception- if your game will use XMS but not EMS,
; make the EMS setting 0, and this setting 2048.
; For games that use either, XMS appears to work
; better.
Here's a line to add to your config.sys. It's probably already there, just
change the setting to no.
PRIORITY_DISK_IO=NO
Hope this helps!! [microprose3@delphi.com (Quentin Chaney)]
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10.13) Manual Corrections
MOM has changed a lot since the manual was printed. Listed here are some of
the manual corrections. Many of these were lifted from the 1.31 patch
README.TXT file, which you should read. Note: To access the on-line help,
right click on the related spot on the game screen.
- We recommend that you not load games saved from a previous versions of MOM.
In other words, if you are running 1.31, we recommend not using a game saved
from 1.3 or 1.2 or earlier. They might work fine but we cannot guarantee it.
(p. 5)
- Your wizard's fortress generates magic power equal to the number of
spellbooks selected when the game begins (instead of the base 5). (p. 14)
- Changes to Wizard Special Abilities (pp. 15-17)
* Alchemist gives all of your normal newly built units +1 magical weapons, as
if an alchemist's guild were present in all of your cities.
* Archmage gains a 50% bonus on mana spent on increasing spell casting skill.
* Artificer reduces the cost of creating magical items by 50%.
* Channeling special ability now reduces maintenance for all summoned
creatures by 50%, in addition to eliminating the range penalties for
casting combat spells away from your fortress. The Channeling ability
costs 2 spell picks.
* The Chaos Mastery, Sorcery Mastery, and Nature Mastery abilities now give
the wizard a +15% bonus to his research and casting of spells of the
appropriate realm, instead of +10% just to researching.
* Conjurer's 25% bonus now applies to research of summoning spells,
maintenance costs of summoned creatures, and casting cost for all summoning
spells.
* Famous now starts you with 10 fame.
* Myrran now costs 3 picks. A Myrran's magic fortress produces 5 extra
mana.
* Node Mastery makes you immune to having your spells dispelled (fizzled)
while in a node.
* Runemaster doubles the wizard's chance to dispel another wizard's
enchantment, instead of making the runemaster's spells harder to dispel.
- Guaranteed spells have been eliminated. Instead a wizard may select one
common spell for each book he picked above one when the game begins. Wizards
who select 11 picks begin with all common spells, and can pick 2 uncommon
and one rare spell. (p. 17)
- If you "Quit" the game saves before Quiting. (p. 26)
- The surveyor will indicate what you have found out about the inhabitants of a
lair or node. It will also tell you the type of spirit (Guardian or Magic)
is inhabiting any owned nodes, and whether or not they are warped. (p. 36)
- The default tax rate is 1 gold per townsfolk with a 20% unrest rate. (p. 40)
- The Tax Rate (Unrest) display is different than what is shown on p. 41.
- A left mouse click on any resource on the city view screen will give a
complete accounting and breakdown of resource production. (p. 55)
- A note on diplomacy. The stronger you get, the more difficult it will be to
maintain good diplomatic relations with the other wizards and the more
likely they will be to delcare war on you. They will not allow you grow
strong unchecked. (p. 71)
- There is a limit of 1000 units allowed in the game. This means that if the
other wizards have managed to recruit 950 units, you can recruit at most 50.
When there are 1000 units, any attempt to build another unit will cause a
warning message to appear. (p. 75)
- An asterisk that follows a hero's special ability (in the hero's stat
display) indicates a super rating which typically gives 50% additional
benefit. (p. 81)
- Wizards lose 1/2 fame point per level of heroes slain in battle. (p. 82)
- Units with life stealing also attack with their normal melee attack. (p. 84)
- Non-corporeal units are unable to use the enchanted road bonus. (p. 85)
However, non-corporeals move over all at .5 cost per square.
- Pathfinding allows all units within the stack to move on land squares as if
they were roads. (p. 85)
- Teleport only costs 1 movement point in combat. (p. 86)
- Units may only fire 1 missile attack each turn. Firing a ranged attack ends
the unit's turn. (p. 98)
- A conquering wizard may now chose to raze a city, totally destroying the
town and slaying all of its occupants. The razing wizard then receives 10%
of the original cost of all buildings within the city, but loses 1 fame per
size of the city, i.e. 1 fame for a hamlet, 2 for a village, 3 for a town,
etc. (p. 101)
- You will be rewarded with either one or two spells for banishing an enemy
wizard. However, both of you must have similar types of magic for this to
happen. If, for example, you have only death magic and your vanquished foe
has only life magic, don't expect any spell discoveries. (p. 101)
- You are awarded 5 fame points for defeating an enemy wizard. This is in
addition to fame points gained for defeating his fortress city. Note: you
are not notified of this award in the game, but they show up on your
player summary F9 Info/Mirror. (p. 111)
- The manual talks about "all" wizards declaring war on any wizard attempting
to cast the Spell Of Mastery. However, this doesn't seem to happen. (p. 111)
- Draconian standard units now fly at a speed of 2. (p. 115)
- Gnoll units cost the normal standard unit costs for spearmen, swordsmen,
bowmen, halberdiers, and settles. (p. 115)
- Halflings standard units cost 150% normal. Halflings no longer have a +1
defense, but due to the Lucky bonus, each shield represents a 40% chance
to stop a hit of damage. (p. 115)
- Units with mountainwalk capability move across grasslands at half rate.
For example, Brax a hero with mountainwalk and a normal movement of 2,
can only move 1 square per turn across grasslands. (p. 118)
- Desert map squares cost one movement point to cross. (p. 119)
- Trade Goods do not benefit from bonuses from any other source (such as
Marketplace, Bank, etc. in a city. (p. 122)
- Changes to summoned creatures: (pp. 136-142)
* Angel defense is 7.
* Arch Angel defense is 10.
* Behemoth defense is 9.
* Chaos Spawn defense is 6.
* Chimera defense is 5.
* Colossus defense is 10.
* Death knight's now have a h-to-h attack strength of 9, and 8 defense.
* Demon lord now has a -5 save to life stealing attack, and 10 defense.
* Djinns now have wind walking, have defense 8, and are very rare creatures.
* Efreet defense is 7.
* Great Drakes now have a 30 hand-to-hand attack strength, a 30 strength
breath weapon, and a 10 defense (or 9?).
* Great Wyrm defense is 12.
* Sky Drakes are now very rare creatures, and have 10 defense.
* Stone Giant defense is 8.
* Storm Giant defense is 7.
* Wraith defense is 6.
- Changes to units: (pp. 131-135)
* Air Ships no longer take passengers. They are just weapons. (p. 131)
* Berserkers have a 7 hand-to-hand, 3 defense, 3 thrown, 7 resistance, and
cost 120gp.
* Dragon Turtles (Lizardmen only) require a stables and an armorer's guild to
build.
* Galleys have a 4 defense and an 8 ammo, strength 2 range (arrow) attack.
* Hammerhands now have a 4 defense.
* Magicians have a strength of 5.
* Magicians: High Men Magicians have 6 figures.
* Magicians: High Elf Magicians have speed of 2.
* Nightmares now only have 2 figures.
* Rangers have speed 2.
* Triremes have a 4 defense.
* Warlocks now only have 4 figures, and a strength of 7.
* Wolf Riders (Gnolls only) move 3 and have a 7 attack strength.
- Armageddon causes rebellions (unrest). However, the rebellions have been
reduced (not entirely eliminated) in MOM v1.31. (Spellbook p. 4)
- Clarification: all animated dead units cost 50% more mana to maintain than
the creature's cost before becoming undead, regardless of how the creature
become undead ( ghoul, demon lord drain, life drain spell, animate dead
spell, etc.). (Spellbook p. 4)
- The manual always said Corruption eliminates food production in the affected
terrain, but this didn't work until recently (MOM v1.31?). (Spellbook p. 9)
- Disjunction spell now has a base cost of 200. (Spellbook p. 12)
- The Dispel Magic True, Disenchant True, and Disjunction True spells all
dispel with a strength equal to 3 times the mana spent on casting the spell.
(Spellbook pp. 12-13)
- The Enchanted Road bonus does not apply in combat. Flying units can (now)
use the enchanted road bonus. Non-corporeal units are unable to use the
enchanted road bonus. (Spellbook p. 15)
- Gaia's Blessing won't increase city size above 25. (Spellbook p. 18)
- Great Unsummoning now has a -3 resistance penalty. (Spellbook p. 19)
- Great Wasting causes rebellions (unrest). However, the rebellions have been
reduced (not entirely eliminated) in MOM v1.31. (Spellbook p. 20)
- Guardian Wind has become a common spell and costs 10 mana to cast in combat,
50 mana overland. (Spellbook p. 20)
- Guises has been eliminated as a spell, and replaced by Blur. The Blur spell
is uncommon sorcery and covers all of your units in a veil of wispy
illusion, making it very difficult to see the exact positions of the
protected units. As a result, all hits inflicted against the blurred
creatures have a 10% chance of just missing. Blur is a global combat spell
and costs 25 mana to cast. (Spellbook p. 20)
- The Holy Weapon spell now costs 10 mana to throw in combat, 50 overland.
(Spellbook p. 22)
- Just Cause reduces unrest by 1 in all cities. (Spellbook p. 20)
- The Starfires spell only costs 5 mana to throw. (Spellbook p. 33)
- Volcanos have a 2% chance to revert to mountains each turn (with a 5%
chance of providing a mineral vein). (Spellbook p. 30)
- The Weakness spell is no longer automatic and requires a save, but the spell
does have a -2 resistance penalty. (Spellbook p. 37)
- Windwalking spell now has a maintenance cost of 10 mana. (Spellbook p. 38)
[MOM 1.31 patch README.TXT, cox@tachyon.unx.sas.com (Jim Cox), BLJ, others,
jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
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10.14) The Best Way to Dispel Enemy Incantations
In my games, I've often wondered: would I be better off trying one large
attempt at dispelling something or several smaller shots at the same thing.
The book gives your odds of dispelling as (Dispel_Cost/(Casting_Cost +
Dispelling_Cost). Since they were nice enough to provide the formula, an
answer to this question is easy to work out.
It turns out that in terms of percent chance of eventually getting rid
of the spell, you are better off breaking the attempt into several
smaller ones. For example, if the spell you are trying to get rid of
cost 200 and you try to get rid of it using 200 your odds are
200/(200+200) = 50%. If you break that into two attempts of 100 each then
each attempt has a (100/200+100) = 33.33% chance of working. Together,
this gives you a 5/9ths = 55.55% chance when the two are combined.
A further advantage is that if you happen to get it on the first attempt,
you save all that Mana.
Four attempts at 50 equals 59% (20% + 16% + 13% + 10%). Based on probability
alone, smaller is indeed better. On average you will spend less time and
less mana. All in all, the more mana you throw into the dispel, the less bang
for the buck you get on that attempt.
Another factor to consider, your spell skill. If your spell skill is 50,
a 200 dispel ties up your spell casting ability for 4 turns. If instead you
do four 50 dispels, your odds are better, you may save mana, and the odious
enchantment may be gone sooner. One last factor. Little spells can't be
blasted. [rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner), BLJ, Dave Chaloux, DC]
Other things to consider are:
1. Sorcery's "True" versions of the dispels get three points towards dispelling
for every mana point spent. In the above examples, you would have only needed
to spend 67 mana if you had the "True" versions to get the same results.
2. Dispel Magic and company will often remove more than the enchantment
you were really concerned about (but it will never be detrimental to the
caster). Say the target had 5 enchantments on it and you really wanted to
get rid of one of them. The dispel may fail to get rid of the one you really
wanted removed, but may get rid of a few of the others.
3. Spell Blast always works (in my experience, anyone beg to differ?). The
catch is you have to blast it before it is finished casting (Detect Magic
comes to mind).
4. The Area versions of Dispel Magic (Disenchant Area) will affect all units
and city (if there is one) in the target square or the battlefield. This can
be a real bargain. Remember that it only works on spells detrimental to your
cause (beneficial spells on enemies, detrimental spells on your units).
5. Think creatively. Dispel Area can strand or incredibly weaken a whole
enemy stack.
6. Protect yourself from dispelling (and banishment) by Spell Lock.
This is a continuous 150 (I think, check it yourself) point dispel magic field
against dispelling magics (did that make sense?).
7. Countermagic and related spells (Tranquility comes to mind) are preventive
Dispel Magic spells and can be quite useful.
8. Nightshade is a free Dispel Magic (I'm not sure how many points) for your
city. When possible build your cities near it.
9. Spell Bind is a good alternative to Disjunction is you are a really good
Sorcerer.
10. Some special abilities make your spells harder to dispel (Sorcery Mastery,
Archmage, etc.). Take this into account when you guess how much mana to spend.
These bonuses are cumulative.
11. If you are a Runemaster, the mana you put into a dispel counts double.
Abusive dispeller: A Runemaster casting "True" dispels at 6x the mana spent!
[Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM), DC, BLJ]
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10.15) MOM is too easy. Make it harder!
Haven't heard this complaint much since 1.3 and 1.31 came out. But, just in
case MOM is getting too easy, here are some suggestions.
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10.15.A) Don't use heros, mercenaries or monsters
No heros, No mercenaries, No summoned monsters.
[LeeCole@cybernetics.net (Lee Cole)]
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10.15.B) Hard race - lizardmen
I'm working towards playing with the lizardmen (klackons might also be good
here) and life books. Good because you don't have any good summoned creatures
to fight with, and the only troops you have worthwhile are the spear-chuckers.
But they seem to do okay with experience (maybe too good?). Charismatic is a
good retort here. Maybe famous too (I must admit that I'm playing with
Alchemy now and Mana Focusing, but I'm working toward Charismatic in later
games). I figure if you can win an impossible level of 1.31 with such a
setup, you're doing something right besides just choosing a fortuitous setup.
[Cory Czarnik <czarnik@engin.umich.edu>]
To make a hard race harder - raze all cities that do not belong to your
starter race. [jfardal@infinity.ccsi.com (John Fardal), BLJ]
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10.15.C) Harder race: Klackons
Klackons seem tailor made for a hard game. They inspire unrest in everything
you conquer. They can't build a research building better than a library
or religious institution better than a shrine. No units with a ranged attack!
They even grow slowly! [BLJ]
And give them Infernal or Divine Power. [Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM)]
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10.15.D) Harder magic: Marginal talents and Death
Pick a bunch of marginal talents such as Runemaster, Mana Focusing, etc and
then go with death magic alone. Your only real talent with Death Magic is to
mess up his cities a bit (cursed lands, famine, evil presence, pestilence).
Your combat spells are weak since they seldom work on the tougher units the
computer will field in the middle game and beyond, and you can't improve your
citys or troops as much as the other spell types.
[cptstern@Cyberquest.com (Capt Stern)]
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10.15.E) Even harder: Marginal talents, Death, and Gnolls
Try 6 Death books + useless wizard skills (not Warlord, Alchemy,
Myrran etc), choose Gnoll as main race, play on impossible level. Now
that'll be a challenge if you happened to miss the Wraith spell! :-)
[hkchan@hkchan.pc.my (Chan Hoong Keong)]
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10.15.F) Even Harder: Nature
Death magic is not that bad. Life drain and mana drain are powerful common
spells. Death also has awesome summoned creatures, in particular shadow
demons, wraiths, and death knights (in concert with black prayer). They steal
life and regenerate faster than taking damage. Lycanthropy and Wraithform are
also quite useful spells, particularly early in the game.
If you really want a hard game - pick Nature with useless retorts instead of
Death. And just try to Web your way to victory.
[rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner), BLJ]
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10.15.G) Very Hard: Cast NO SPELLS AT ALL
I'm expecting to win a game (4/Impossible) with Barbarians (and I captured
some High Men) in which I am casting NO SPELLS AT ALL. I do have alchemy and
use it, and I let myself conquer cities, but I only let myself take over
enemy capitols when they are down to two cities. I've banished two
wizards this way - they both cast SOR so I'm leaving them each a city to
see if they make it back. Note since I cast no spells I can't meld with
nodes or un-meld them from theirs. Also, I don't allow myself to build
Paladins. Just Berserkers, Bowmen, Barbarian Swordsmen, and a few
Pikemen, engineers, etc. I have a couple of leader heros, and I let them
use captured magic items (most are real lame). Of course I have no
fantastic creatures or creature enchantments. I'm winning quite handily
with Berserkers and Bowmen, thank you.
[skarg@eskimo.com (Peter VonKleinsmid)]
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10.15.H) Very Very Hard game: limit yourself to one city
Anyone else up for a challenging style of play?!?! Don't know how many of
you do this, but I find that playing with only ONE city is a good way to
challenge yourself - on the levels other than impossible that is... The
only cities I keep are those that contain a wizards tower, I.E. a banished
wizard. Although this is difficult, it is also advantageous. You have one
heckuva stronghold! Anyone (everyone) else tried this?
[jharmon@Mesa.Colorado.EDU (jack harmon)]
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10.15.I) Fantasy Hard Game
Limit yourself to one city. Your race: Klackons. Impossible, 4, large,
on MOM 1.31, of course. No Heros, mercenaries, or summoned creatures.
The talents that do you no good: Charismatic, Artificer (cruel since you
can't use heros), Channeler and Conjurer (cruel since you don't cast spells
and summon creatures), Alchemy (cruel since you are not using magic).
If you have any spell picks left, put them in Nature. Cast no spells at all,
except Spell of Mastery. Now if you can win with this setup, yes MOM is just
too damn easy. (Note - I'm kidding! But now I'm wondering - just how far
could you get?) [BLJ]
While you're at it give them bugs Infernal Power. (Hint, 1.5 x Shrine = 1
mana and 1 rebel squashed, a real bargain for 2 picks).
[Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM)]
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10.16) Hit Versus Shields Combat Table
How to use this chart. To determine the expected damage from a melee round,
go to the row that begins with the number of swords shown for the attacker.
That is the per-figure number of swords. Then go to the column with the
number of shields shown for the defender. The number shown is the expected
hits per-figure. Multiply by the number of figures in the unit, and you
get the total expected hits. Note: this assumes no "to-hit" bonuses.
Note: The last two columns are 20 and 50. The 50 column represents the
defense level you get with various immunity enchantments. For example,
Magic Immunity gives you a 50 shield defense against magic ranged attack.
Missile Immunity gives you a 50 shield defense against missiles.
S
W
O
R Shields
D 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 20 50
1 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
2 0.6 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
3 0.9 0.7 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
5 1.5 1.3 1.0 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0
6 1.8 1.5 1.3 1.1 0.9 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0
7 2.1 1.8 1.6 1.3 1.1 1.0 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.0
8 2.4 2.1 1.9 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.9 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.0
9 2.7 2.4 2.1 1.9 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.1 0.9 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.0
10 3.0 2.7 2.4 2.2 1.9 1.7 1.5 1.3 1.1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.0
11 3.3 3.0 2.7 2.4 2.2 1.9 1.7 1.5 1.3 1.1 1.0 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.2 0.0
12 3.6 3.3 3.0 2.7 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.7 1.5 1.3 1.2 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.2 0.0
13 3.9 3.6 3.3 3.0 2.7 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.3 0.0
14 4.2 3.9 3.6 3.3 3.0 2.8 2.5 2.3 2.0 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.3 1.1 1.0 0.8 0.4 0.0
15 4.5 4.2 3.9 3.6 3.3 3.1 2.8 2.5 2.3 2.1 1.8 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.1 1.0 0.5 0.0
16 4.8 4.5 4.2 3.9 3.6 3.3 3.1 2.8 2.5 2.3 2.1 1.9 1.7 1.5 1.3 1.2 0.6 0.0
17 5.1 4.8 4.5 4.2 3.9 3.6 3.4 3.1 2.8 2.6 2.3 2.1 1.9 1.7 1.5 1.4 0.7 0.0
18 5.4 5.1 4.8 4.5 4.2 3.9 3.6 3.4 3.1 2.8 2.6 2.4 2.1 1.9 1.7 1.5 0.8 0.0
19 5.7 5.4 5.1 4.8 4.5 4.2 3.9 3.7 3.4 3.1 2.9 2.6 2.4 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.0 0.0
20 6.0 5.7 5.4 5.1 4.8 4.5 4.2 3.9 3.7 3.4 3.1 2.9 2.6 2.4 2.2 2.0 1.1 0.0
21 6.3 6.0 5.7 5.4 5.1 4.8 4.5 4.2 3.9 3.7 3.4 3.1 2.9 2.7 2.4 2.2 1.3 0.0
22 6.6 6.3 6.0 5.7 5.4 5.1 4.8 4.5 4.2 4.0 3.7 3.4 3.2 2.9 2.7 2.5 1.5 0.0
23 6.9 6.6 6.3 6.0 5.7 5.4 5.1 4.8 4.5 4.2 4.0 3.7 3.4 3.2 2.9 2.7 1.7 0.0
24 7.2 6.9 6.6 6.3 6.0 5.7 5.4 5.1 4.8 4.5 4.3 4.0 3.7 3.5 3.2 3.0 1.9 0.0
25 7.5 7.2 6.9 6.6 6.3 6.0 5.7 5.4 5.1 4.8 4.5 4.3 4.0 3.7 3.5 3.2 2.1 0.0
26 7.8 7.5 7.2 6.9 6.6 6.3 6.0 5.7 5.4 5.1 4.8 4.6 4.3 4.0 3.7 3.5 2.3 0.1
27 8.1 7.8 7.5 7.2 6.9 6.6 6.3 6.0 5.7 5.4 5.1 4.8 4.6 4.3 4.0 3.8 2.6 0.1
28 8.4 8.1 7.8 7.5 7.2 6.9 6.6 6.3 6.0 5.7 5.4 5.1 4.9 4.6 4.3 4.0 2.8 0.1
29 8.7 8.4 8.1 7.8 7.5 7.2 6.9 6.6 6.3 6.0 5.7 5.4 5.1 4.9 4.6 4.3 3.0 0.1
30 9.0 8.7 8.4 8.1 7.8 7.5 7.2 6.9 6.6 6.3 6.0 5.7 5.4 5.1 4.9 4.6 3.3 0.1
31 9.3 9.0 8.7 8.4 8.1 7.8 7.5 7.2 6.9 6.6 6.3 6.0 5.7 5.4 5.2 4.9 3.6 0.2
32 9.6 9.3 9.0 8.7 8.4 8.1 7.8 7.5 7.2 6.9 6.6 6.3 6.0 5.7 5.4 5.2 3.8 0.2
33 9.9 9.6 9.3 9.0 8.7 8.4 8.1 7.8 7.5 7.2 6.9 6.6 6.3 6.0 5.7 5.5 4.1 0.2
34 10.2 9.9 9.6 9.3 9.0 8.7 8.4 8.1 7.8 7.5 7.2 6.9 6.6 6.3 6.0 5.7 4.4 0.3
35 10.5 10.2 9.9 9.6 9.3 9.0 8.7 8.4 8.1 7.8 7.5 7.2 6.9 6.6 6.3 6.0 4.6 0.3
Example: An undamaged unit High Men Swordsmen (Regular) attack a unit
of War Bears. Swordsmen have 4 Swords, War Bears have 3 Shields. Looking
this up in the table, that gives ".6", which we multiply by 6 figures in
the Swordsmen units, to give "3.6" expected hits of damage.
The 0 shields column shows the raw (undefended) hits of damage. You can
use that to figure out the expected damage when the attacker has "to-hit"
bonuses. Calculate the raw hits using:
raw-hits = swords * (0.3 + 0.1 * (total-to-hit-bonuses) )
For example, if our Swordsmen make it to Ultra-Elite level, they will have
5 swords and +2 to-hit. Raw-hits = 5 * (0.3 + (0.1 * 2)) = 2.5. That
is almost the same as the 8 Swords Row (2.4 raw hits), so using that row,
agains 3 shields, we can expect 1.6 hits per figure, 9.6 hits per round.
Boy, those to-hit bonuses really help out! [BLJ]
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10.17) Futility Combat Table
Attack seems futile when you can't expect, on average, to do even 1 hit of
damage. This would be 1 raw hit for a 1 figure unit, .5 raw per-figure hits
for a 2 figure units, .25 raw per-figure hits for a 4 figure unit, etc.
The following table shows, for a given number of swords and to-hit bonuses,
the number of defender shields that make an attack futile. Of course, given
the luck of the roles, a futile attack may cause damage, and a non-futile
attack may fail to cause damage. (Note: Shields > 30 will be added later.)
Figs 1 2 4 6 8
To-Hit 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 0 +1 +2 +3 0 +1 +2 +3 0 +1 +2 +3 0 +1 +2 +3
SWRDS 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 2 3 2 3 4 4 3 4 4 5
2 0 0 1 1 2 1 2 3 4 3 5 6 7 5 6 7 8 6 7 8 9
3 1 1 3 4 5 3 4 6 7 5 7 8 10 7 9 10 11 8 10 11 12
4 1 3 5 6 8 4 6 8 10 7 9 11 13 9 11 13 15 10 12 14 16
5 3 5 7 9 10 6 8 10 12 9 12 14 16 11 13 16 18 12 15 17 19
6 4 6 9 11 13 8 10 13 15 11 14 16 19 13 15 18 21 14 17 19 22
7 5 8 11 13 16 9 12 15 18 12 16 19 21 14 18 21 24 16 19 22 25
8 7 10 12 16 19 10 14 17 20 14 18 21 24 16 20 23 26 17 21 25 28
9 8 11 15 21 21 12 16 19 23 16 20 23 27 18 22 26 29 19 23 27 31
10 9 13 17 23 24 13 18 22 25 17 22 26 30 19 24 28 32 21 25 30
11 10 15 19 25 27 15 19 24 28 19 24 28 32 21 26 30 22 27 32
12 12 16 21 28 30 16 21 26 30 20 25 30 22 28 33 24 29
13 13 18 23 30 32 18 23 28 33 22 27 33 24 30 26 31
14 14 20 25 32 19 25 30 23 29 25 32 27
15 15 21 27 20 26 32 25 31 27 29
16 17 23 29 22 28 26 33 28 30
17 18 25 31 23 30 27 30 32
18 19 26 33 24 32 29 31
19 20 28 35 26 30
20 22 29 37 27 32
Of course, 1 hit of damage may not be enough to affect a battle. But the
purpose of this table is to show when shields make an attack essentially
pointless. [BLJ]
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10.18) MOM improvement suggestions to Microprose/SIMTEX
Sometimes the computer takes over a node and doesn't bother to send a Magic
Spirit to meld with it. Maybe the computer player sends a Magic Spirit, but if
the Spirit gets killed, then the computer doesn't think to send another one.
[BLJ]
Stream of Life is unbalancing. It should reduce unrest by 3, 4, or whatever,
but it should not reduce unrest to 0, no matter how high the tax rate. [BLJ]
Give me a customizable build plan instead of that stupid Grand Vizier!
[sca@advge.magwien.gv.at]
Add extra quivers in misc item creation. Would help my 8 shot archer!
[jharmon@Mesa.Colorado.EDU (jack harmon)]
It would be nice if some special feedback (graphic or sound) indicated
when a death or disintegrate artifact killed by death or disintegration.
Then you would know the special property actually did something. [BLJ]
1) The ability to save a Wizard in a spot at the beginning at the
game. It's deeply annoying to have to rechoose name/spellbooks
each time you start a game.
2) Starting the game with a settler unit rather than a city. It's not much
fun to start a game with a city in the middle of the desert.
[duvaljc@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Duval Jean-Carl)]
What I would like to see changed, and what I think a big problem with
the diplomacy in MOM, is the personality setting. I've had *WAY* too
many encounters with a "chaotic" wizard (especially that stupid lizard
S'ssra), in which I went from calm relations to hate in one turn. The
game didn't allow relations to slide down, offering me the chance to
make amends for my transgressions and/or bribe him back to normality.
Also, why categorize a wizard as "expansionistic"? Shouldn't they all
be at least somewhat expansionistic? Otherwise, you get situations like
in MOO where 600 turns into the game the Alkaris still have their home
planet but no other and have this huge fleet of gnats flying around and
getting in my hair and stuff.
Personality ratings are fine, but they should be more accurately defined
(i.e. peaceful, warlike, distrustful, naive, etc.). Just a thought.
[bh093@freenet.buffalo.edu (Patrick Dare)]
Just once I would like to see the computer summon Torin. But only once. [BLJ]
Multiplayer MOM. [everybody]
Instead of sending 3 mediocre 3-4 unit stacks against your city, one at a
time, the computer should combine them into one killer 8 or 9 unit stack.
[bill@msi.com (Bill Poitras)]
Sometimes the computer attacks with settlers. It may be that when the settler
picked the destination or path nothing was there, but then it "blunders" into
a unit of mine that arrived after the settler started.
[bill@msi.com (Bill Poitras)]
Computer opponents just sit inside the city while I slaughter them with ranged
attacks. If sitting is hopeless they should come out and engage me. [BLJ]
When confronted with an invisible opponent, the computer players should march
around trying to find him. I know this would be hard to program, but just
think how much you guys will impress me if you pull it off. [BLJ]
Some wizards need to expand a little more aggressively. [BLJ]
Every human player know the value of Granaries and Farmers Markets. Every
well developed neutral or computer player city should have these. [BLJ]
It's disappointing when computer heros are weak and have no artifacts. At
impossible levels, the computer heros should get some sort of experience
bonus. It could just be 4 pts per turn instead of 1. Or - this would be
diabolical - every time one of your heros is in a battle and gets experience
points - some computer owned hero gets the same number of points. Or half as
many points. Also, maybe every CP wizard's turn there could be a 2% chance
that one of its heros gets a randomly selected artifact. [BLJ]
I may be in the minority on this one, but I'd like to see an option in
the settings screen to get rid of the Spell of Mastery. I think this is
the cheesiest aspect of the game, and would rather worry about foreign
conquest than lose my game just because an opponent cast the SoM and I
forgot to dispel it. i say make it an option, not remove it entirely
(though i'd always use the option to turn it off). Anyone else think this
is one cheesy spell?
[war@westnet.westnet.com (W. Mjollnir Ransom)]
When CP galleys are attacking they should close in so their arrows have a
better chance of hitting. Each round, move forward N-1 moves and then shoot.
[jrk3g@darwin.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jeffrey Robert King)]
Has anyone else noticed that MOM requires an excessive degree of
micromanagement in order to avoid wasting production or spell research.
The problem is that production above that needed to produce the unit a city
is working on, and spell research points above those needed for the current
spell seem to go into never never land. It is therefore necessary to change
all allocations every (expletive deleted) turn in order to avoid waste.
[b91926@fsgm01.fnal.gov (David Sachs)]
When a unit is on "patrol" and an enemy comes within site, the unit should
"wake up". In other words, you should get asked to move it during your turn.
[ykcho1@mdw024.cc.monash.edu.au (Mr YK Chong)]
When settlers are killed by a life stealing attack, you get Death Settlers.
They can't do anything. Wouldn't it be cool if their Build button worked,
and you got something like: "Your Death Settlers create a city of death.
The city falls into ruins." Then you would get a ruins their, similar to
what you get when a monster destroys a city. [BLJ]
Make the consequences of breaking a treaty severe:
Imagine this message:
"Your longtime ally and trusted friend Kali has just sacked your
city of London killing thousands of your citizens."
then:
"Roland has left the service of Kali and wishes to join your cause.
Hire/Reject"
or suppose the player betrays S'ssra whose capital is in a Beastman city:
"Enraged over your ruthless attack on S'ssra's city of Darkover, all of
your Beastman cities have reverted to neutral status."
[rhondaa@boi.hp.com (Rhonda Wilson)]
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*******************************************************************************
11) MOM War Stories
A lot of the fun I get from reading the net are hearing colorful tales about
other people's battles. Note: Some of these are with MOM 1.2 or earlier. [BLJ]
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11.1) Any units with a harder punch than Killer Hobbits?
Champion, Lionhearted, slingers with Flame Blade, Adamantium weapons, led by
Torin the Chosen Leadership 4, blessed by an Archangel (Holy Bonus 2), have an
attack strength of 17. That is 8 * 17 = 136 hits. [ai7141219@omega.ntu.ac.sg]
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11.2) Time Stood Still
I tried my first game on impossible level. My butt got kicked three times
before I got a reasonable start. It was a struggle from the start but I
survived as one of the computerplayers did not declare war on me. It is
quite possible to stand up to one computerplayer. Well I thought the
game was won when I got my paladin production going but then there
was an unexpected incident. Jafaar that I had not seen yet as he was the
sole occupant of the other realm cast Time Stop!. I sat with a long face
before my monitor watching the harddisk lamp blinking as he made his turns.
It became booring after ten minutes and I thus started pressing various
keys to try to stop the game but nothing worked. The stupid Jafaar
cast a lot of Time Stops and other enchantments so he eventually run out
of mana and gold. It would have taken forever otherwise as I suspect that
he had 30000 in both mana and gold when the first time stop was cast.
Now it "only" took 45 minutes on my DX33 until I got to move my units.
I then took a tower and moved my killer stack + flying scouts to Jafaars
plane and took out his wizards tower. The game was quite easy after that.
[e90mli@efd.lth.se (Marcus Lindberg)]
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11.3) Those are some spearmen!!
Incidentally, does anyone out there know how the computer decides whether
a computer controlled Wizard gets a node or not? In the game that I had
previously mentioned, there was a node right outside my fortress that was
guarded by four air elementals and two sky drakes. (It was on Arcanus
too!) Anyway, the computer wizard sent a force with 2 heros, a lot of
halberdiers, and a pair of bowmen to take over the node. They were
completely annihilated. However, a few turns later, the same wizard sent
a handful of spearmen and two halberdiers, and was successful in taking
that node! Even more surprising was that he didn't lose a single
unit...or take any damage at all. My only thought was... Wow, those are
some spearmen!! [edwong@uclink.berkeley.edu (Edmond Kar On Wong)]
Note: This is an example of "Strategic Combat" in action. Presumably, even
a weak stack has a non-zero chance of success in every situation. [BLJ]
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11.4) I hope he named the outpost "Haroldville"
I found a bug with with a champion I summoned. Using summon champion, I got
Sir Harold. He had most every possible benefit, including create outpost and
meld with node. He had an upkeep cost of 10 mana per turn. I decided to save
the game and see if he could really create an outpost. He made a High Men
city. A few turns after the city was made, even though Sir Harold was no
longer around, the Vice-roy mentioned that Sir Harold went up a level. When I
restored the saved game, Sir Harold went back to his normal boring stats and
upkeep cost. The extra "every" benefit did not make it to the save file.
[ahaas@holli.com (Alan Haas)]
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11.5) Jade, Queen of Darkness
I finally tried to play with Death Magic. I customized my wizard, took
Myrror and Archmage skills, and invested the rest in Death Magic. The
only reason that so far I refused to even take a Death book is that
its power is so vile, and it only brings destruction. Now I'm a person
who enjoys building and improving things. I waged war every where, but
I do not like to spread pestilence on others, or leading a horde of
zombies. Chaos magic is still okay, but Death: NO!
But, well, it's only a game, right? So for a change I become the Queen of
Darkness, for once. I call my capital Xaragoz -- those who read the Warhammer
books may recognize the name. The second city is Skullhaven, the third Rou
Extase, the forth is a mockery: Nirvana, and so on. Gosh, I am evil <sigh>.
The magic is cool, although I miss all those constructive spells of Life or
Nature, and the elusive spell of Sorcery. But the spells are so different in
nature that it's actually very fun to play it. Now in version 1.1 Phantom
Warriors have become useless, but look at Black Sleep! I put Basilisks into
slumber, can you imagine?? One thing you should bear in mind, is, since you
don't have that neat Change Terrain on the Nature Magic, that you will have to
chose the place of your new Outpost well. If you started on a tiny island,
well, it's your badluck. I recommend that you start with Draconians, or take
Beastmen. A Queen of Darkness does not consider Dark Elves bizarre enough.
Dwarves were cool, but they grow too slow for my liking. Unless Simtex gives
Dark Elves more bizarre units, I won't consider playing them.
All in all, I think you should try to play with Death Magic. It's quite an
experience. [Wishnu Prasetya (--Jade--), DC]
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11.6) Early 1.3 experiences
I don't quite know how to say what I'm about to say, but...I'm <gulp> losing a
game on the hard level. I'm losing and I'm having a blast doing it. This
patch is a _huge_ improvement (actually, I started on a small island, so I
didn't expand very aggressively in the beginning). The AI is very aggressive
and it's quick to make war if it feels it has an advantage. One very cool
thing is that when you ask an ally to go to war with an enemy, blood is really
shed and many cities change hands. I also noticed that the Myrrans colonize
both worlds now (there are actually two computer Myrrans in my game). The
computer players are *much* smarter, overall.
Simtex did a good job; MoM is much more interesting and a lot more fun to play.
I finally feel I'm getting my money's worth out of this game.
[wawrzon@sun4.cs.wisc.edu (Joel Wawrzon)]
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11.7) Another early 1.3 experience
Tell me about it. After puttering around on Normal and realizing that there now
seemed to be a brain behind the computer, I jacked a new game up to hard.
Gulp.
1. Wandering monsters are now a constant threat. They WILL kill you. Gone are
the days of a single spearmen garrisoning a city for much of the game
2. The computer puts a nice mixture of units in it's cities. And I have yet to
run into either a) the 9 stack of some expensive creature b) the city that HAD
a garrison 1 turn ago and now is abandoned or c) the stack of a half dozen
Triremes, empty, at that.
3. The computer now MOVES on your turf. Haven't seen the park-a-stack in a
clueless manner within striking distance and then do nothing maneuver (which
the AI used to be a pro at implementing).
4. The computer areas are much more built up. More roads, more varied units.
They actually fight one another and kill each other, as Joel noted above.
I've played about 4 hours total, to a decent midgame with the beginnings of
serious contact. Time will tell how bad my ass will get kicked in my current
game. But I wouldn't buy any real estate in my kingdom, if you know what I
mean.
It was becoming shelfware for me. Now, my marriage is at risk again :-) What's
cool is that waiting for this patch gave me just enough time to become rather
comfortable with operating the game and various color combos. Now I might have
to think to win. Life is tough that way, I suppose.
[Marc MadProg <madprog@raven.cybercom.com>]
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11.8) Lo Pan - Can't Get Rid of Him
Do wizards actually complete the Spell of Return in MOM v1.3?
Oh they make a return, like your worst nightmare. Time and again. It only
takes them a few turns, and keeps happening until they have no cities left.
Dozens of times. I mean, if it wasn't fun, it would be annoying.
When you get to the fourth and last wizard, he only takes three turns to
return. Extrapolating, I figured I had only about 10-12 turns to banish Ariel.
Each time Ariel came back he'd start casting spell of mastery again. This
cycle continued for about 15 times until he placed his fortress tower on an
island on Myrror which I couldn't get to. At that point it was a race to see
who would finish casting spell of mastery first. The outcome was in doubt to
the very last turn, wasn't sure who was going to win when the normal
upkeep/move screen cleared, but I indeed finished the spell first.
[rainbow@apxws48.ih.att.com (Rob Buchner)]
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11.9) Fast Growing Races For A Better Start
Your starting race matters at the beginning of the game. Later you have
conquered so many other race's cities that you have your pick of unit types
to build. I'm not sure if the slower growing races are worth picking.
Based on growth, barbarians are pretty fast, and their Berserkers aren't bad
either. High men do produce those cool paladins, but it takes so long to
produce the buildings necessary. Is it worth it?
These days, I've been playing quite a few games with nomads. These guys seem
average at best, but they seem to be able to build cities anywhere, and those
rangers! After building up my central city to the point that I could get
veteran units with magic weapons, I sent out three units of rangers to explore
and have a little fun. They decimated a few cites (avoid cities defended by
magician or shaman elite units). The rangers also took out a few magic nodes
and monster lairs/temples/ruins. Sure they took a little damage, but they
healed and went on. I wonder what they could have been like if I had played
Warlord. Super-elite rangers, what a concept. [BLJ, Tyson Tu, DC]
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11.10) Flying Invisible Warships!
Prior to 1.3 Flying Warships made the game "too easy". In MOM 1.31, they
are the kind of thing that can make winning on impossible level, possible.
To carry out this strategy, it's easiest to put 11 spellbooks into sorcery
magic, and start with Wind Master, Flight and Invisibility. Naturally,
pick a race which can build warships. 11 Sorcery books drops the casting
cost of flight to 75mp. Not bad.
Flying Warships go from 4 movement to 3, not too bad since you no longer
have to skirt around land. With Wind Mastery that goes up to 6! But if
you take on passengers, that is cut in half to 3. (With passengers and
no wind mastery, your speed is 1.5, which works out to 2.) There are two
ways to get back to 6 movement. 1 - Make all your passengers fliers (costly,
but helpful in battle), 2 - Cast Wind Walking on the flying ship.
BTW - if there is one thing harder to stop than a flying warship, it's an
invisible flying warship.
(... where ARE those rocks dropping from, anyway? Bonk. Aieeee! <grin> ).
Spell locks or invisibility are handy to keep the flight from being
dispelled (it's annoying and time consuming to recast the spell at 75mp,
and though your ship will not crash when flight is dispelled, it will
not move in combat or on the map until you recast it, and it stays
gone if dispelled in combat.) [Bronis Vidugiris, DC]
Sky Drakes have Immunity to Illusion and are a danger to flying invisible
Warships. However, with Haste and Wind Mastery you can run away from the
Sky Drakes and shoot them while you stay out of range. Elite Warships can
do damage against Sky Drakes 10 shields.
Some of the really heavily shielded monsters with lots of shields and hit
points will need to be mind stormed before the FIW can take them out but not
many.
Naturally most multifigure units get chomped pretty quickly. Of
course these warships are also great for giving a ride to your heroes and
mondo units [did you know you can have your heroes attack more than
once per game turn by picking them up after combat and carrying them
into the next one?] [danhite@aol.com (Dan Hite)]
Yes, the Flying Invisible Warship is close to unstoppable. At easier levels
you may want to abstain from making them.
The really nice thing is that it's in the spirit of the game: a flying
warship! Of course!
"My lord! My lord!"
"Fool! My incantation of Mastery awaits!"
"My lord, the Frigates of the Golden Horde loom outside our walls! They
shimmer in the air, their broadsides unseen reave our walls, our troops
fall as grass beneath the thunderhead!"
"What...? Wait -- no --- aaaaah!"
And, in fairness, a good True Sight or Disenchant or Dispel Magic _will_
make them quite vulnerable. So I don't think they're outrageous. But
flying warships are, IMO, the coolest unit in MoM. [Daniel Starr, DC]
How do I deal with those Invisible Flying Warships that Jafar keeps sending
against me? Okay, it isn't frequently asked, but the answer may provide
some strategy tips. People do frequently ask - How can I stop this or that
apparently unstoppable unit.
a. Flee - This is what the computer opponents will typically do. This
is not really a good idea as you will lose around half your forces and
the warships may pursue. It should only be used if there is no other
alternative.
b. Storm Jafar's Fortress - This is the preferred approach, but not really
applicable in most cases.
c. Cast Spell of Mastery - An even better approach than b, but even less
practical.
d. Disenchant Area - This is a good approach as it may strand the Warships on
land even if you lose the fight. Assume a base spell cost of 175 (this is
casting cost of Invisibility) in your calculations. See the section on
dispelling in the FAQ for more details. This brings up the question of "How
do I deal with Spell Locked Invisible Flying Warships?". This will be left as
an exercise for the reader.
e. Fight fire with fire - Turn your units invisible. Mass invisibility
will make all of your troops invisible. When invisible they can't be
targeted by ranged weapons.
f. Use non-directed spells - Some spells can be cast that don't require
knowing where an opponent is to be effective. These spells include spells that
directly damage the warships, for example Flame Strike, Magic Vortex, Call
Lightning and Wrack, and those spells which can weaken the opponents attack
such as Black Prayer and Terror. Holy Word is also a great non-directed spell
against summoned creatures, especially the undead. Extreme examples of
non-directed spells: Black Wind, Death Wish and Great Unsommoning.
g. Wall of Darkness - This will prevent the warships from using their ranged
attacks against units stationed in the city.
h. True Sight - Cast upon a unit, will allow the unit to see the warships. If
the creature is magic using, flying, or has a ranged attack it can attack the
warships while they are flying.
i. Use undead and creatures with Immunity to Illusions - Undead and a few
other creatures and heroes can see invisible creatures. If you've got them,
Sky Drakes have Immunity to Illusion and are a danger to flying invisible
Warships. However, with Haste and Wind Mastery you can run away from the
Sky Drakes and shoot them while you stay out of range. Elite Warships can
do damage against Sky Drakes 10 shields. [danhite@aol.com (Dan Hite)]
j. Toughen them up - Use tough creatures or magically toughen your forces
defenses. The warships will typically have 10-15 "rocks" attack strength.
Creatures and heroes with this many "shields" or more will be very hard
to kill. There are many, many spells that can help here. In addition,
Golems are naturally tough enough that they will be able to defend
indefinitely against the rocks from the warships, unfortunately they
can't attack back (unless they fly - hint, hint). Regeneration doesn't
hurt either.
k. Or, if you are playing with a custom wizard, pick Jafar's slot at the
start of the game. Then you will never have to deal with him at all.
There are probably other techniques that don't fall into one of the above
categories that will work as well. [Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM), DC]
Another example of stopping an "unstoppable" unit:
Against a nine stack of Paladins. --> add 1 Torin or ArchAngel or High Prayer
and 6 hammerhands. If they are equipped with adamantium weapons they are
greater than 2 paladins each. With Torin and an Archangel and High Prayer and
Metal Fires each unit has 20 swords and will slaughter anything and are very
magic resistant. [spido@clark.net (DriveBy Billy)]
Against any ground based "unstoppable" unit, a whole series of Cracks Calls
will eventually get it. [BLJ]