PC PowerPlay 11

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ PC PowerPlay 11 / PCPP11.iso / faqs / mom.doc < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1994-11-12 | 64.3 KB | 1,466 lines

Welcome to the Master of Magic (MOM) FAQ and Strategy Guide. This is version 1.02 of that guide. It is mostly made up of material that was posted originally to the internet by various authors. Thanks to all who contributed. You should be aware that some editing has been done on the articles as submitted by the original authors. Any mistakes this may have introduced are the responsibility of the editor Dave Chaloux. The information in this document follows this outline: 1. What is MOM? 2. Frequently asked questions 2.A What is the latest patch? 2.B Where can I get it? 2.C When is the next patch coming out and what will be in it? 2.D. Why can't I build Dwarven Steam Cannons? 2.E Why does my Strength 7 hero get butchered by Strength 4 Swordsmen? 2.F When is Alan Emrich's Strategy Guide coming out? 3. What bugs are known to exist? 3.A Program Hangs or Crashes Occasionally 3.B Breaking non-existant pact 3.C Raiders and Non-rampaging monsters 3.D Elven Lords with Demon Wings Bug 3.E No final War! 3.F NightStalker Bug 3.G Trade Goods Bug 3.H Controlling Enemy Units Bug 3.I Guise Display Bug 3.J Twelve Units in a Stack Bug 3.K Subversion Spell Bug 4. Strategy Guide 4.A Building Strategy 4.B Comments on the races (general) 4.C Comments on specific races 4.C.1 Dark Elves 4.C.2 Gnolls 4.C.3 Halflings 4.C.4 High Men 4.C.5 Klackons 4.C.6 Lizardmen 4.C.7 Trolls 4.D Comments in general about magic 4.E Comments on specific colors of magic 4.E.1 Chaos Magic (Red) 4.E.2 Death Magic (Black) 4.E.3 Life Magic (White) 4.E.4 Nature Magic (Green) 4.E.5 Sorcery Magic (Blue) 4.F Starting Combinations 4.G Allocation of Spell Points 4.H Miscellaneous Ideas 4.H.1 Flying Warships! 4.H.2 How to deal with Flying Warships. 4.H.3 The Best Way to Dispell Enemy Incantations 4.H.4 The (almost) worthless unit tactic 5. Cheats 5.A Artifact Cheat 5.B Bypassing Planar Seal 6. Tables 6.A Hero List for Master Of Magic 6.B Expected Combat Results Table ================================================================================ 1. What is MOM? ================================================================================ MOM is a game of exploration, research, and conquest based on magic. It is programmed by SIMTEX for MicroProse. Their other game is Master of Orion and many things are loosely based on it (for example diplomacy). It also has similarities with such games as CIV and Warlords II. Its magic system is color based and reminds some of "Magic: The Gathering". You start the game with just one hamlet. You need to manage your resources to produce and maintain armies, research magic, increase your skill in magic, and have mana with which to cast spells. You eventually need to get rid of all your competitors. You can do this either through conquest or by casting the Spell of Mastery. Of course, the other Wizards in the game are trying to do the same to you. Like MOO it has a great deal of replayability because their are 14 different wizards to play against with various strengths and weaknesses. At the same time, you can design your own wizard or play one of the ones they have provided. There are also various races you can be and again they have various strengths and weaknesses. Elves, for example, are good at magic but they don't reproduce very quickly. A fair amount of micromanagement is involved if you like that sort of thing. For example, you can control the buildings that are produced in your cities as they grow. You can also control tactical combat. On the other hand, you can let your Grand Vizier do the micromanagement of the towns for you. You can also have the computer take control of the tactical combat. This is a complex game and is probably not for the 20 minute at a sitting, hack and slash crowd. Contributed by: Dave Chaloux ================================================================================ 2. Frequently asked questions ================================================================================ 2.A What is the latest patch? The latest patch is version 1.1. 2.B Where can I get it? This patch is available from the following places: 1) The Microprose Bulletin Board. The # is (410) 785-1841. You need settings of 8,N,1 and it supports up to 14.4 Kbs. 2) It is on ftp.netcom.com in /pub/game-patches and is called momv11.zip. 3) It is on wuarchive.wustl.edu in /pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/games/patches and is called momv11.zip. 4) It is on bell.ecs.soton.ac.uk in pub/pc/games/patches. 2.C When is the next patch coming out and what will be in it? The version 1.2 update is tentatively scheduled to be available Nov 11th... Coming in version 1.2, a scoring system will be implemented in the game. In other words, when you finish the game, you will be told how well you did - and we'll probably deflate some egos along the way. ;-) Contributed by: MicroProse This week, Steve Barcia and the MOM team are hammering in lots of new stuff for the AI. When the next patch makes its way out there, it will be known as "The AI patch." Steve promises no more easy military victories for MOM players. Cities and, especially, enchanted fortresses will have tough nuts to crack. He promises that most games will be won in the future, not through military conquest, but by casting the Spell of Mastery. Frankly, I can't wait. :-) PS - That patch will also make gold much more scarce. Better watch your budgets in the future, too. Contributed by: Alan Emrich, MOM book coauthor 2.D. Why can't I build Dwarven Steam Cannons? Get the patch. Also, you need a miner's guild. 2.E Why does my Strength 7 hero get butchered by Strength 4 Swordsmen? The answer is that there is strength in numbers. The 4 "swords" that it shows in the upper right combat window represents the strength of one swordsman in the unit. Humans typically have 6 humans in a unit. Here comes the math. Each "sword" represents a 30% chance of doing one "heart" of damage to an opponent. Each "shield" represents a 30% chance of blocking a "heart" of damage. When all "hearts" are blacked out the unit is dead. Let's assume that this hypothetical hero has 7 "swords", 5 "shields", and 8 "hearts" (this would make hime pretty close to The Rogue in stats). Let's also assume that the swordsmen are Highmen Regulars. This will give each figure in the unit 4 "swords", 2 "shields", and 1 "heart" a piece. Now the melee starts. All melee combat is simultaneous. The hero swings and typically does around 2 "hearts" damage (30% x 7 "swords" = 2.1). All of the swordsmen swing and typically do around 7 "hearts" damage (30% x 24 "swords" = 7.2). After the damage is calculated each side gets to shield itself. The hero typically stops around 2 "hearts" (30% x 5 "shields" = 1.5, we'll round this up to 2). This means that he will be taking around 5 "hearts" damage this round. He only has 3 left. The swordmen take their damage one figure at a time. Each figure typically will shield 1 "heart" (30% x 2 "shields" = .6). So the first figure rolls his saves and stops 1 "heart". Unfortunately, there are 2 "hearts" of damage to apply so he takes the unshielded "heart" and dies. Now there are 5 swordmen in the unit and one hero who has taken quite a beating this round. If he goes another round he will most likely die. I guess it wasn't a good idea to attack those swordmen. This example showed one round of combat with no modifiers. Typically, there will be quite a few modifiers due to experience of units, special abilities of units, and the use of magic and items. Contributed by: Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM) I did a little playing around with numbers to see if I could gain some insight into the combat system. Here is some of what I learned. 1) Given Identical Stats (corrected for # of units), the unit with the fewer # of figures will on average win. Say that we have a unit of six skullcrunchers with each unit rated 7 offence(Swords), 3 defence (Shields), and 2 hits(Hearts). This gives a total ability of 42 offence, 18 defence, and 12 hits. Say it is fighting a unit of browbeaters with only 1 figure with stats of 42, 18, 12. Who will win? The browbeaters have it hands down. Here is why. First round Both do 12.6 hits. 5.4 of those hits are defeated. This means the units take 7.2 hits. The skullcrunchers just lost 3 figures and one of the remaining figures is half dead. The browbeaters still have their one figure they started with. Second round Browbeaters do the same amount of damage and the skullcrunchers die. The skull crunchers hit for 6.3 hits but 5.4 of those hits are defeated. The browbeaters lose another .9 hearts but the unit survives. 2) The way advancement works, it heavily favors the units with more figures. This is because you can one sword and one cross when you advance a level. However, remember that swords and crosses are multiplied by the number of figures in the unit. 3) Plusses in the too hit are extremely significant. Say we have the same two units we started with but this time the skullcrunchers have +1 to hit (40% chance each sword hits instead of 30%). The browbeaters do the same damage as was originally calculated. However, the skullcrunchers now do 16.8 hits - 5.4 defeated = 11.4 hits actually landed. About half the time, the skullcrunchers will blow away the browbeaters in the first round of combat. NOTE: The above is over simplified since defence is done one figure at a time. This favors the single figure unit even more than show above. Thanks to Brian Wade for pointing this out to me. Contributed by: David Chaloux 2.F When is Alan Emrich's Strategy Guide coming out? ... So far, it's shaping up to be 28 chapters (my usual books are about 15!), plus appendicies. We've got a ton of hard data and formulae, plus a zillion strategy tips. I think it should hit the shelves around January, with any luck. Contributed by: Alan Emrich ================================================================================ 3. What bugs are known to exist? ================================================================================ How much time have you got? Seriously, in its current form (v1.1), it still has quite a few bugs but it is playable. Some of the known bugs with this patch follow: 3.A The programs still hangs or crashes occasionally. Some specific instances are detailed below. 3.A.1 Has anybody else noticed that casting flame strike crashes the game with a "not a valid sound file" error? I was sure they would fix such an obvious bug in v1.1. Contributed by: sungod@worf.infonet.net The problem of the "missing sound file" only occurs when I have sound turned off. If I re-enable the sounds, then the problem goes away. (I checked with a save file) Contributed by: Paul D. Walker 3.A.2 Last night I discovered another annoying lockup - whenever the opposing wizard cast ice bolt, the sound bite would play, but no spell animations would be shown, and the combat screen would lock up. The mouse could move, and ctrl-alt-del would reboot, but nothing else. Contributed by: Tyson Tu 3.A.3 Well, where before I would have random crashes and crashes related to hitting the Plane button, now I seem to have crashes when somebody casts an overland enchantment - usually "Death Wish". Contributed by: Jason Woods 3.B A wizard I had a pact with asked me to break my pact with another wizard...but I didn't have one. Contributed by: Ron Pepper 3.C MOM v1.1 introduces a new annoying bug. The raiders and rampaging monsters can no longer move around to attack city or unit. Contributed by: DKurniawan 3.D My chaosed elven lords with demon wings could not attack some gargoyles. Both sides showed wings. fortunately I had enough archers. Contributed by: Daniel F H Kassiday 3.E I just played a game out, casting the spell of mastery. What ever happened to the "final war" once you start casting it anyhow? My relations stayed good with all the computer opponents up until the spell completion. Contributed by: David Pugh 3.F Last night I was playing a later nighter when I summoned a Nightstalker and sent him running across the countryside to a town of mine on the front lines. As this unit passed enemy units the enemy units would engage in battle with it (even though it's supposed to be invisible but only seems to be once in combat), *but*, once in the battle screen the enemy units, no matter what type or how large a stack, would simply FLEE because, I'm assuming, they couldn't see any units because they Nightstalker was invisible. In the process of fleeing they would lose half their stack. So, with this tactic it's possible to take out incredibly large armies with *ONE* Nightstalker. Bug! Contributed by: Pigdog from SF Bay 3.G Trade Goods Bug Anyone else have the problem with getting so much income with the trade goods setting in ver 1.1 that one acquires negative $? My main city is getting so much money that i can't set it to producing trade goods because it goes negative. it's really weird... Contributed by: Warren Mjollnir Ransom 3.H Controlling Enemy Units Bug This is likely a bug: whenever I can not move my units (magic sleep etc...) I can control the enemy units instead! Contributed by: salend@aol.com 3.I Guise Display Bug Guise doesn't work completely from the City display screen. if you are next to an enemy wizard's city, and right-click on it for a city overview screen, the units will still appear in their guise. but, if you pass the pointer over them, the correct name of the unit will appear. recently, Jafar's capital city had a Hell Hound unit, a Djinn unit and a Skeleton unit all of which were Swordsmen under Guise. but, using this city display cheat, made it pretty clear that Jafar wasn't just getting lucky with his mercenaries. "gee, why isn't that Djinn using its fireball attack?" :-) Contributed by: Eric Siebert 3.J Twelve Units in a Stack Bug [I] went to kill 3 rampaging monsters in a stack. But they happened to be on a node square that had 9 other creatures. This violates the 9 unit stacking limit. Contributed by: Admiral (brubaker@expert.cc.purdue.edu) 3.K Subversion Spell Bug The black spell Subversion is actually the blue spell Spell Blast when it is cast in version 1.1 of MoM. Contributed by: Dave (sungod@worf.infonet.net) ================================================================================ 4. Strategy Guide ================================================================================ 4.A Building Strategy My build strategy is always Builders Hall, Granary, Shrine, Smithy, Marketplace, Farmers Market & then either Temple or Library. If it is the main recruitment centre I may build stables as well. Contributed by: Bill Soo The suggsted order is fine for late (although depending on situation I might go for smithy/marketplace sooner) but the first city needs to make a few military units and/or a settler before all those buildings get done. Contributed by: Drew Fudenberg If you have any mines nearby, build a Miners Guild soon. If you left click on the gold on the City Screen, it will tell you (in version 1.1) how much gold you are getting from a mine. If you get any, build a miners guild. Contributed by: Bill Poitras 4.B Comments on the races (general) One place is to look in the appendix in Table B. It gives you overview. A few observations: - Races which produce warships (High Men, Barbarians, possibly others) are pretty 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 (I've very few opponent warships). I also have found that Berzerkers make good ground troops. - Lizardmen can swim, making them great for exploring anywhere. They can produce Dragon Turtles pretty cheaply, and they are good fighters. - Although Krackens don't seem like much, they produce engineers and Stag Beetles, the latter a very good ground troop (though probably expensive) - Halflings aren't too bad because they produce population very fast, and have a decent missle troop: Slingers. In MOM patch 1.1, all missle troops only sling one missle per round instead of two, but that balances troops better. - High Elves produce Elven Lords (powerful ground troop) and LongBowmen (good missle troop) and also can produce Magicians, which are pretty powerful. - High Men (humans) are a great balanced race. No special abilities, or strange troops, but like in many fantasy games, humans can pretty much produce all "normal" fantasy troops (Paladins, Magicians, Priests, Warships) but nothing "fantastic" like Stag Beetles, or Griffins or stuff like that. Contributed by: Bill Poitras In 1.1 they made the barbarians better and they made the hammerhands a bit better. I consider the barbarians and dwarves on par with the other races now. The hammerhands are the toughest thing this side of summoned units. However, 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 halbardiers, but the dwarf halbardiers are better. To make the gnolls balanced, I would give each of their units an extra hit. Then their halbardiers 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. Contributed by: Dave (sungod@worf.infonet.net) One should start out planning to take over cities manned by other races. Indeed the starting race determines how you play -at the start- but no more. Contributed by: Drew Fudenburg I'm starting to wonder if the way I've been thinking about a starting race is really a valid one. The race that you pick only seems to matter for the first portion of the game, after which you end up conquering so many other race's cities that you have your pick of unit types to build. Based on this, I'm not sure if the slower growing ones are really worth it. I still like dark elves though, that extra mana that you pick up is really worth it. Based on growth, however, the barbarians are pretty darn fast, and their berzerkers aren't too bad either. I haven't played the orcs yet, but they seem to be on par with barbarians. The gnolls seem pretty pathetic, as others have noted before me, but the wolf riders are worth it if you happen to pick up one of their cities. The high men do produce those cool paladins, but it takes so long to produce the buildings necessary that I'm not sure they're worth it. The high elves were nice too (extra mana) and the elven lords can take on much of Arcana. Except for the dragon turtles and stag beetles, I didn't really like the lizardmen or klackon, but they do have one thing going for each of them - water travel for those of you who like to explore without having to wait till the magic develops, and that bit about two less rebels in klackon cities if the capital is klackon. 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. These little guys decimated a few cites (make sure that they're not defended by magician or shaman elite units) and took out a few magic nodes and monster lairs/temples/ruins. Sure they took a little damage, but they all healed and went on. I wonder what they could have been like if I had played Warlord. Super-elite rangers, what a concept. If you like to play the other side and start on Myrror (I did, but it gave too much of an advantage - cast planar seal and you get quite a bit of magic power to yourself), the dark elves are the best. The dwarves are cool too, since their golems are damn near indestructible (never used those steam cannons, so I'm not going to get into that discussion), and the hammerhands are good for city defense. The draconians are good (doom drakes) but they can't follow the damn roads. This is really annoying since all roads built in Myrror are enchanted, so normal units can zip around for free while these flying units are crawling across the landscape. Still, after all this analysis, my favorite game is still the hero conquest game. I haven't been playing as 'famous' lately, but IMHO, this is still the best starting characteristic since it gives you almost unlimited units to choose from, and good heros from the start. If you couple it with a fast developing race (for the money), you could have a really good power base in a relatively short amount of time. Ever notice the computer tries to copy this by casting True Cause all the time? Contributed by: Tyson Tu 4.C Comments on specific races 4.C.1 Dark Elves The darkelves are just to cheezy. Once you have a wizards guild you can get them Warlocks out. 8 or 9 fireballs in ranged attack! You also have healers. Their fantastic stabels produce Nightmares [2/3 wings and ranged attacks and above avrage melee] which makes it the most powerful allaround force. They are just too good! Contributed by: Jacob Jonsson They are pretty tough, but you use up 2 picks to get them. Contributed by: Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM) 4.C.2 Gnolls 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). Contributed by: Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM) 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). Contributed by: David R. Henry 4.C.3 Halflings Halflings are limited in what they may build. I played a game where I took over a nomad city in the beginning and without them I think that not much could have been done. Shamans and slingers doesn't stand much chance againts Hordes of bowmen and magicians and swordsmen. Contributed by: Jacob Jonsson I've had goold luck with halflings despite their lack of a good melee unit, lack of magicians, and lack of several buildings; They grow quickly and slingers are more powerful than bowmen or even longbowmen. so I can tke over a few cities and nodes quickly and grow from there. Contributed by: Drew Fudenberg 4.C.4 High Men Paladins are great! Their innate immunity to magic and first strike capabilities make them good offensive weapons. Only two things to remember: a) missiles can hurt them, so gaurdian wind is a great addition to any paladin b) They can't first strike what they can't hit, so if you can cast flying on them (in or out of combat) or cast web on their opponent, it is well worth the mana spent. Watch out for "negate first strike" enemies like pikemen and kill them off with supporting heros and/or spells. 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...) Contributed by: Matt Carlson In my opinion, Paladins are the toughest normal units available that you can start with on Arcanus. There are tougher units, but they are only available on Myrror. These units are 1) Nightmares (grossly outmatch the Paladins) 2) Hammerhands (mostly outmatch the Paladins) 3) Minotaurs (almost evenly matched) 4) War Mammoths (also almost evenly matched) The following calculations are based on a table of numbers I generated on my computer. I am including this table at the end of the post. For the combats, I assume both units are recruits and that each unit does the expected amount of damage. Due to the vagaries of the dice, it is possible that the combats will not go as described but this is what should happen on average. a) Airships: The airship cannot be attacked by Paladins since it is a flying unit. It can only be counterattacked if the airship decides to melee (a foolish choice). Until then, the Paladin must suffer through 10 rounds of 8 missile fire. With a defence of 6 (including the holy bonus) we can expect 1.0078 hits per turn (not counting any range modifier). After 10 turns, the Paladin has taken 10 hits and has 2 figures left, one of which is half dead. If the Airship then proceeds to melee, the Paladin unit (atk 7 vs def 2 (AP attack)) will inflict 1.5716 hits per figure (or 3.1432 hits) to the Airships 0.4485 (atk 5 vs. def 6). After 6 turns, the Paladin has been reduced to 1 figure while the Airship has taken 18 hits. The Airship now needs 9 more turns to kill the last Paladin but the Paladin will kill the Airship in only 2 more turns. b) Doom Drakes: Another flying unit. The Doom Drakes can refuse combat with the Paladin but if they attack, they will be slaughtered. First, the Drake has a breath attack of 6 vs. the Paladins defence of 6 giving .6148 hits times 2 drakes or 1.2296 hits. The Paladins return with 7 vs 1 for 4 * 1.8247 or 7.2988 hits, the drakes counter with their own melee of 8 vs 6 for 2 * 1.0078 or 2 hits. In the second round, one Paladin dies to a breath attack but the other three kill a drake and inflict 2.773 hits on the survivor. They take another hit in return. After another 2 rounds, the drakes will be dead and the Paladins should still have 3 figures. c) Elven Lords: The Elven Lords are a close match in that both units have first strike and armour piercing attacks and 4 figures per unit. The Elven Lords 5 vs 3 attack (+2 to hit) yields 1.6745 hits per figure while the Paladins 7 vs 2 attack yields 1.5716 hits per figure. The difference is the Paladins have 4 hits per figure while the Elven Lords have only 3. So in the first round, 2 Elven Lords will die to 1 Paladin (plus 1 half dead). The second round will kill another Lord and Paladin and the last round will finish off the last Lord and leave one Paladin standing. d) Golems: The Paladins first strike will be at 7 vs 4 for 4 * 1.1386 or 4.554 hits. The Golem will return with 12 vs 6 for 1.9694 hits. The Paladins should lose a figure in 2 turns at which point the Golem is at 11 hits remaining. After 2 more turns, the Paladins lose another figure but the Golem is at 4 hits remaining. The last two Paladins will kill the Golem in 2 turns with first strike preventing the Golem from killing another Paladin. e) Griffins: Flying troops with AP and First strike; a good match. If the Griffins attack, they will go in at (9 vs 3) * 2 against the Paladins (7 vs 2)*4. The Griffins will inflict 3.7626 hits and receive 6.2864 hits in return. Assuming a Paladin died, in round 2 the Griffins inflict another 3.7626 hits and receive 4.7148. This may kill another Paladin and will probably kill a Griffin (and inflict a hit on the other). The Griffin now inflicts 1.88 hits per turn and the Paladins inflict 3.1432. In 3 turns, the Griffin will kill a third Paladin but the survivor will kill the Griffin. f) Hammerhands: The thing about these guys is their big attack times 6 figures per unit. The Paladin will attack at (7 vs 2)*4 for 6.2864 hits, killing a Hammerhand. The Hammerhands return with (8 vs 6)*5 for 5.039 hits, killing a Paladin. Next round, the Paladins inflict 4.7148, killing another Hammerhand and receive 4.031, losing another Paladin. The next round sees the Paladins deliver 3.1432 hits, killing another Hammerhand and receive 3.023, losing a third Paladin. We now have a full strength Paladin vs 3 Hammerhands, one half dead. This Paladin inflicts 1.5716 hits, possibly killing a Hammerhand and receives 2.0156 hits in return. In the last round, he will half kill another Hammerhand but die in the counter attack. g) Manticores: They fly and have a poison attack. Paladins resist poison with a strength of 90% (with holy bonus). Each attack will only inflict 0.6 hits on average, or 1.2 hits for the two figures in the Manticore unit. In melee, the Paladins inflict (7 vs 1)*4 for 7.2988 hits, killing an manticore and receive 5 vs 6 for 0.4485 hits. The second round will finish off the manticores and leave 4 Paladins, one of which is half dead. h) Minotaurs: The Paladins strike first with (7 vs 2) * 4 for 6.2864 hits and then receive (12 vs 6) * 2 for 3.9388 hits. If a Paladin was killed, then in the second round they inflict 4.7148 hits and receive another 3.9388 hits. If another Paladin was killed, then in round three, they inflict 3.1432 hits, killing a Minotaur and receive 1.9694 hits. In round 4 they inflict another 3.1432 hits and receive another 1.9694 hits. If the Paladin survives, then in round 5, they inflict another 3.1432 hits and receive 1.9694 hits, losing the third Paladin. The survivor then inflicts 1.5716 hits and receives 1.9694 hits, possibly dying but if he survives, then he attacks for another 1.5716 hits and possibly kills the Minotaur. In effect, if the Minotaurs don't kill a Paladin on the first round, they will almost certainly lose. If they do, then they will probably win. i) Nightmares: These are very vicious flying units with good numbers (4 figures per unit), excellent melee (8) and great hits (10). They also have a ranged attack but since it's magic, it has no effect on Paladins. In melee, the Paladins strike first with (7 vs 2)*4 for 6.2864 hits and receive (8 vs 6)*4 for 4.0312 hits, losing a figure. The next turn, they kill a Nightmare and receive 3.0234 hits. In round 3 they inflict another 4.7148 hits and receive another 3.0234 hits, losing another figure. In round 4, they inflict 3.1432 hits and receive another 3.0234 hits, losing a third figure. In round 5 the survivor inflicts 1.5716 hits, killing the second Nightmare and takes 2.0156 hits. In the last round he does another 1.5716 hits before dying. j) Stag Beetle: The beetle gets a 5 breath attack before melee. This does on average 0.4485 hits. The Paladins then melee with (7 vs 3)*4 5.3708 hits. The beetle counterattacks with (15 vs 6) for 2.7841 hits. The next round, the beetle breathes for 0.4485 hits and gets melee'd for 5.3708 hits. The return of 2.7841 hits kills a Paladin figure and mostly kills another. Round 3, the beetle breathes for 0.4485 and takes 4.0281 hits. The beetle then kills a second Paladin with 2.7841 hits. In round 4, after the breath attack, the Paladins inflict 2.6854 hits and receive another 2.7841 hits. On the last turn, the Paladins kill the beetle before it can melee. k) Steam Cannon: Great missile attack, zilch for melee. The Steam Cannon bombards with (12 vs 6) for 1.9694 hits per turn. In about 9 turns then, it should be able to kill a whole Paladin unit. However, since it has only a speed of 1 to the Paladins 2, it will get caught after about 5-6 turns. At this point the Paladins are down to about 2 figures but they now inflict 3.6494 hits per turn. Since the Cannon cannot run and fire, it is doomed to be melee'd to death. l) Warlocks: These powerful wizards are dead meat. Since Paladins are immune to magic, they can run up the Warlocks and melee them to death. m) War Mammoths: Excellent attack, defence, hits plus a first strike. These units do (12 vs 6) * 2 for 3.9388 hits and receive (7 vs 3) * 4 for 5.3708 hits. This can go either way. After 3 turns, a Mammoth should be dead as well as 2 Paladins. Probably, they will kill each other after about 8 turns. n) War Trolls: Interesting in that they regenerate. If handled correctly, they will win simply by fighting until they are low in health then running away to heal. Fortunately, the computer isn't that smart. The Paladins inflict (7 vs 2)* 4 for 6.2864 hits, killing a troll. They then receive (8 vs 6)* 3 for 3.0234 hits. The trolls regenerate a hit. In round 2 the Paladins inflict another 6.2864 hits killing another troll. The trolls counter with 2.0156 hits, killing a Paladin. They regenerate another point. The 3 Paladins now do 4.7148 hits, killing a third troll. The troll survivor does 1.0078 hits. Regeneration brings back a troll with 1 hp. The Paladins do another 4.7148 hits, killing the just revived troll and receive 1.0078 hits, losing another Paladin. The last two Paladins finish off the remaining troll with 3.1432 hits. o) Wyvern Riders: Flying units with poison. Similar to manticore except slightly better defence ( 2 vs 1) and more hits (10 vs 7). Paladins strike for (7 vs 2) *4 for 6.2864 hits and receive (5 vs 6) *2 for .897 hits plus another 1.2 hits in poison so about 2 hits. The Paladins strike again for 6.2864 hits, killing a wyvern, and receive 0.4485 hits plus .6 hits in poison, so another hit say. Finally, the Paladins kill the last wyvern with another 6.2864 hits, leaving 4 paladin figures, one of which is mostly dead. Contributed by: Bill Soo Oops. It has been brought to my attention that a few errors were included in my original post on the merits of Paladins. Specifically, the FIRST STRIKE capability is in ADDITION to normal melee combat (at least when on the offensive). Second, I erred in my calculations by multiplying the shields by the number of figures. Since all damage is applied to one figure at a time, only his shields count. For example, a full strength unit of Paladins will attack a nightmare with 28 swords vs 2 (halved for AP) shields. This will yield 7.8 hits instead of my previously calculated 6.288. If the damage is sufficient to kill a figure (not in this case), then the excess damage may be stopped by another set of shields. Also, I already know that Paladins do not start at recruit but neither do some other troops and I want to keep things simple. Gee, I guess I have to like Paladins even MORE now :) BTW: If the number of swords is greater than the number of shields, then you can simplify the equation for determining hits to (%to hit)*(swords) - (%to defend)*(shields). Contributed by: Bill Soo 4.C.5 Klackons I like Klacklons too; sure they can't build much, but they don't need to! They grow very quickly, produce stuff quickly, it doesn't take long to get Stag Beatles which are even stronger than Dragon Turtles, and since unrest in Klacklon cities is reduced by 2 if you have a Klacklon capital you can scooch the tax rate up at the very beginning of the game. Contributed by: Neal Dutta 4.C.6 Lizardmen Lizardmen ar even more restricted in their buildings and units [than halflings], but early on swimming settlers are great, and dragonturtles come online sooner than anything comparable (eg stag beetles.) Contributed by: Drew Fudenberg 4.C.7 Trolls TROLLS RULE. They regenerate ever turn in combat, so if the enemy moves the same speed as you you can jsut 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 there 2 movement allows them to outrun most units and heal. I started recently with trolls and with the 2 trolls that I started the game with I was able to take over half of Myrorr. 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 still win the battle. Contributed by: Mike 'Krazy' Donais 4.D Comments in general about magic Playing w/o sorcery or death spells leaves your heroes open to crack's call. this needn't be an absolute impediment to victory but one should keep it in mind. I won my latest game on hard (v 1.1) as Ariel- all life spells- but I was able to take out the one Nature wizard early. Otherwise it would have been tricky. Sorcery offers flight (which defends against cracks call) and also counter magic, good against all sorts of nastiness, like chaos spells. Contributed by: Drew Fudenberg 4.E Comments on specific colors of magic 4.E.1 Chaos Magic (Red): I have been playing as a chaos wizard, and if its damage you want, then it is here! I think that for killing a single unit Warp Lightning nay be the most powerfull spell in the game. I have yet to have a unit survive its power. (and the graphic is cool too...:) Contributed by: Tom Franklin 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. Contributed by: Jason Skiles 4.E.2 Death Magic (Black): pros: (key spells) 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) cons: 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). Contributed by: Peter G Additional cons on Death Magic: Everyone hates you! Your undead units cannot be healed. 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. Contributed by: Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM) 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 ellusive 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 Basiliks into slumber, can you imagine?? One think 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 you to start with Draconians, or, if you hate those 'bugs' of stacking air units, or air units cannot use roads things, take Beastmen. A Queen of Darkness does not consider Dwarves bizare enough. Drows were cool, but they grow too slow for my liking. Unless Simtex gives Drows more bizzare 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. Contributed by: Wishnu Prasetya (--Jade--) 4.E.3 Life Magic (White) Life: The ONLY way to go if you're playing a Warlord, and not just because of the Crusade spell. Life magic is by far the best at 'pumping up' standard units: Heroism, Holr Armor/Weapon, Invulnerabilty, 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. Contributed by: Jason Skiles 4.E.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. Contributed by: Jason Skiles 4.E.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. Contributed by: Jason Skiles Don't forget Gaurdian Wind and Magic Immunity seperately 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. Contributed by: Matt Carlson 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 dispells, but I had sorcery mastery which made it hard to dispell), 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. Contributed by: Matt Carlson 4.F Starting Combinations 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. Contributed by: Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM) 4.G Allocation of Spell Points 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. Now, if as Alan says, gold actually becomes somewhat hard to come by in the next version of the game, I might have to rethink this strategy. Contributed by: David Chaloux 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 (contrary to at least one poster, it DOES work, at least in v1.1). Contributed by: Bill Soo 4.H Miscellaneous Ideas 4.H.1 Flying Warships! I tried out my "flying warships" idea, and on the whole it worked out fairly well. In fact, I'd say it was possibly even a bit unbalancing. The warships do not deal well with passengers, though. They will try to make any friendly normal unit in the same stack a passenger, but will then refuse to move at all. The only way out of this situation is to have the normal unit move out of the stack - then the flying ship can proceed. (this is v1.1). To carry out this strategy, it's easiest to put 11 spellbooks into sorcery magic, so as to get a researched flight (or wind walking) spell right away (and pick a race which can build warships, of course). Dropping the casting cost of flight to 75mp doesn't hurt, either :-). BTW - if there is one thing more obnoxious (and unbalancing) than a flying warship, it's an invisible flying warship. (Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, you can't start out with both flight and invisibility as "freebies"). (... where ARE those rocks dropping from, anyway? Bonk. Aieeee! <grin> ). Windwalking works with warships too, but due to the stacking problem so far the only thing I've seen which works is to cast windwalking on one warship and stack it with a bunch of others. The other warships can't move or maneuver in combat, but are reasonable and fairly tough (and not overly expensive) cannon fodder. 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 once dispelled.) Contributed by: Bronis Vidugiris Yes, the Flying Invisible Warship is the closest thing to a truly unstoppable unit this game has. 'Sok, though, because since I discovered this fact (about a week after getting my copy) I have carefully abstained from building them -- just too good. Of course, if the AI really does skyrocket in v.1.2 I may rev up the shipyards again... 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. Contributed by: Daniel Starr 4.H.2 How to deal with Flying Warships. 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) 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 Approach 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 you 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, and Wrack, and those spells which can weaken the opponents attack such as Black Prayer and Terror. g. Wall of Darkness - This will prevent the warships from using thier 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. Zombie Mastery is great for this as you can get undead versions of most any unit. In addition, Sky Drakes should be able to easily deal with the warships. j. Toughen them up - Use tough creatures or magically toughen your forces defenses. The warships will typically have 10-15 "rocks" damage. 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. There are probably other techniques that don't fall into one of the above categories that will work as well. Contributed by: Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM) 4.H.3 The Best Way to Dispell Enemy Incantations In my games, the question has come up on frequent occasions as to whether I would 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 (Dispell_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. A possible disadvantage is you may need to get rid of that opposing spell NOW. The cost of failing may be disasterous. In that case, load up and hope for the best. I have done the math in the general case but it is messy. Just remember the results; when you have time, break up your attempts to dispell into several smaller tries. Contributed by: Dave Chaloux Other things to consider are: 1. The Sorcerors "True" versions of the dispels get two points towards dispelling for every mana point spent. In the above examples, you would have only needed to spend 100 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 preventative 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 good alternative to Disjunction is you are a really good Sorceror. 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. Does anyone know if these bonuses are cumulative? Contributed by: Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM) 4.H.4 The (almost) worthless unit tactic In my latest game I have been playing a sorceror/life combo. One of the early (and cheap - 10 mana) spells you get is Phantom Warriors. This 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! Contributed by: David Chaloux ================================================================================ 5. Cheats ================================================================================ 5.A Artifact Cheat 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? Contributed by: Jeff (jeffrey729@aol.com) 5.B Bypassing Planar Seal I found a way to bypass Planar Seal in MOM v1.1. I went through a tower of Wizardry to Myrror to see what Sss'ra was up to. As it turned out, he had pretty much colonized the main continent, although he had left the nodes alone. So I sent in a few heros and Paladins to take some nodes and treasure (I was particularly interested in spell books). Along the way, I took a few of Sss'ra's cities (hey, he started it by casting corruption by my fortress). A few turns later, he cast a Planar Seal. Now at this point, I was fairly well established so I didn't bother to disjunct the seal. Besides, Ariel had been making a nuisance of herself by sending in killer stacks via Planar Travel. But I did want to send in a few more units. So I transfered my summoning circle to a city in Myrror at a cost of 50 mp then proceeded to cast Word of Recall on selected units at a cost of 20 mp apiece. Contrary to what is described in the manual, the unit appears in the Summoning Circle, NOT the fortress. I even cast this spell on Warships (flying, of course). This is a far easier way to get to Myrror than Planar Travel, Planar Shift etc. It's cheap and easy to get (Summoning Circle is arcane common, Word of Recall is sorcery common) and is quite versatile in that units are transported not only across the plane (and planar seal) but vast distances as well. The only condition is that you have to have a city in the other plane first. This is not too hard to do if you can get a tower of wizardry early in the game. All it takes is one good unit across and you can capture a city (enemy or neutral). Contributed by: Bill Soo ================================================================================ 6. Tables ================================================================================ 6.A Hero List for Master Of Magic: Most of this is self explanatory. All of the abilities go from most logical to those that might vary from game to game. The only Excpetion is the Paladin/Black Knight. I am pretty sure their abilities don't change. I do not know if certain people always have super abilities or not, I think that each hero has a chance of getting the super ability, or the noble ability. Of course I might be wrong. Feel free to send any level 0 (that's Hero level) stats of heroes you find, If there is enough demand I'll print the Super Hero levels and the Demi-God Levels. Upkeep 2 Heroes Name Me Ra Df Re HP Specials -------------------------------------------------------- Dwarf 5 - 4 10 11 Const +1, Mount Barbarian 6 - 3 6 10 Might +1, Thrown 3 Sage 1 6 4 6 5 Sage 3, Cast 7 Dervish 4 4 4 6 6 Noble, Arrows*8 Beastmaster 5 - 4 6 7 Cast 5, Scout 3, Forest Bard 4 - 5 6 6 Leadership, Cast 5 Orc Warrior 7 - 4 6 8 Might +1, Mount, Thrown 3 Healer 3 6 5 7 5 Pray +1, Cast 7, Healer Huntress 5 4 3 6 7 Blade*, Arrow*8, Pathf Thief 5 - 6 6 7 Agl +1, Charmed Upkeep 3 Heroes Name Me Ra Df Re HP Specials -------------------------------------------------------- Druid 1 8 5 6 7 Cast 7, Scout 3, Purify War Monk 6 - 6 6 6 Agl*, Charmed Warrior Mage 4 4 5 6 7 Cast 5, Lucky, +1 Hit Magician 1 8 5 10 5 Arcane +1, Lucky, Cast 10, +1 Hit Assassin 3 - 5 6 6 Blade*, Poison 5 Upkeep 4 Heroes Name Me Ra Df Re HP Specials ------------------------------------------------------- Wind Mage 1 6 5 6 7 Cast 7, Windwalking, Noble Ranger 7 5 5 6 8 Arrows*8, Scout 2, Pathfinding, Might +1, Cast 5, Draconian 8 - 5 6 8 Flying (3 fly), Fire Breath 5, Might* +1, Legend +3 Witch 1 8 5 6 5 Charmed, Cast 5 Golden One 6 6 7 6 6 Spell *0, Agl +1, Pray +1 Upkeep 6 Heroes Name Me Ra Df Re HP Specials -------------------------------------------------------- Ninja 6 - 6 6 8 Invisibile, Agl +1, Blade Const +1 Rogue 7 - 5 6 8 Leader, Legend* +4, Noble Amazon 8 - 4 6 8 Charmed, Thrown 4, Might +1, Blade, Arms +2 Warlock 1 8 5 10 5 Cast 5, Lucky, +1 Hit Unknown 5 5 5 10 8 Spell*0, +1 Hit, Lucky, Legend +3, Arms +2, Agl +1 Upkeep 10 Heroes Name Me Ra Df Re HP Specials -------------------------------------------------------- Illusionist 1 6 4 6 5 Illusion, Cast 10, Charmed Pray +1 Swordsman 6 - 6 6 11 Arms +2, Const +1, Might +1, Agl +1, Leader, Legend +3 Priestess 2 8 5 6 5 Heal, Purify, Cast 12, Pray +1, Charmed, Noble, Arcane +1 Paladin 10 - 6 6 8 Magic Im, AP, First Strike, Leg +3, Heal, Pray +1, Agl +1, Might* +1 Black Knight 10 - 5 6 11 Magic Im, AP, First Strike, Leg +3, Might +1, Const +1, Arms +2, Blade Elven Archer 5 8 6 6 6 Arrow *8, Forest, Arms +2, Charmed, Blade* Knight 8 - 5 6 10 Leader*, Leg* +4, Const +1, Blade, Noble Necromancer 1 8 5 6 5 Arcane* +1, Cast 12, Life Steal, Pray* +1 Chaos Warrior 8 9 6 9 9 AP, +1 Hit, Cast 10, Arcane +1, Lucky, Agl +1, Pray +1, Const +1 Upkeep 12 Name Me Ra Df Re HP Specials -------------------------------------------------------- Chosen 13 - 8 12 13 Cast 5, Magic Im, Pray* +1, Might* +1, Const +1, Arms +1, Blade, Leader* Contributed by: Dana Huyler c569836@monad.missouri.edu 6.B Expected Combat Results Table The following is the table I used to generate my combat calculations. It assumes a to hit chance of 30% and a defence chance of 30% (I made another chart for the High Elves and their +1 and +2). At the top are the number of shields (per figure) of the defending unit. Each row lists the expected number of hits given the listed number of swords. Defence Chances 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ATK 1 0.2100 0.1470 0.1029 0.0720 0.0504 0.0353 0.0247 0.0173 0.0121 0.0085 ATK 2 0.4470 0.3318 0.2455 0.1811 0.1333 0.0978 0.0716 0.0524 0.0382 0.0278 ATK 3 0.7029 0.5455 0.4210 0.3233 0.2471 0.1881 0.1427 0.1079 0.0813 0.0611 ATK 4 0.9720 0.7811 0.6233 0.4942 0.3896 0.3056 0.2386 0.1854 0.1436 0.1108 ATK 5 1.2504 1.0333 0.8471 0.6896 0.5578 0.4485 0.3587 0.2855 0.2262 0.1784 ATK 6 1.5353 1.2978 1.0881 0.9056 0.7485 0.6148 0.5021 0.4078 0.3296 0.2651 ATK 7 1.8247 1.5716 1.3427 1.1386 0.9587 0.8021 0.6670 0.5515 0.4536 0.3713 ATK 8 2.1173 1.8524 1.6079 1.3854 1.1855 1.0078 0.8515 0.7153 0.5977 0.4968 ATK 9 2.4121 2.1382 1.8813 1.6436 1.4262 1.2296 1.0536 0.8977 0.7606 0.6411 ATK 10 2.7085 2.4278 2.1611 1.9108 1.6784 1.4651 1.2713 1.0968 0.9411 0.8034 ATK 11 3.0059 2.7203 2.4458 2.1852 1.9402 1.7124 1.5025 1.3110 1.1378 0.9823 ATK 12 3.3042 3.0147 2.7343 2.4653 2.2098 1.9694 1.7454 1.5385 1.3490 1.1768 ATK 13 3.6029 3.3107 3.0256 2.7499 2.4857 2.2346 1.9983 1.7776 1.5732 1.3854 ATK 14 3.9020 3.6077 3.3191 3.0380 2.7666 2.5066 2.2596 2.0267 1.8089 1.6067 ATK 15 4.2014 3.9056 3.6142 3.3289 3.0517 2.7841 2.5280 2.2844 2.0546 1.8394 Contributed by: Bill Soo