How works Necro Call?

[ArkhanTheBlack]

I read in some threads that the level of the raised undead creatures is the same like the dead creatures. Well at least on hard I can definitely say that this is not the case. Maybe it's the max level but certainly not the same. I got too often a bunch of lousy skeletons from level 3 creatures. Does the magic level influence the chance for better creatures? At the moment the spell seems quite worthless to me.

By the way, is the chance of the lightning spell for book of evil spell level 3 reduced in hard mode? The book is quite powerfull with this spell, but not if uses it just with a 20% chance or lower. There other good spells, but the chance of garbage spells like reduced defense seems exceptionaly high compared to my first game in normal mode, even if my hero is quite the brainiac for his level (14) with Int 24.

[Vilk]

Necro call can be very handy to use against a hero that cast himself necro call or can be useful if opponent has many necro stack. Other than that I didn't use it a lot.

The level of raised creatures isn't the same but dependent of the dead creatures level. For example all Archer will involve undead Archer. I didn't notice any random there, once you know what type will be raised you can predict what you'll get for a given dead stack. For what I quote the spell level only increase the max leadership raised.

Book of Evil is worthless for me because of spells like lightning, that's very unpleasant to see your book kill many of your creatures.

[ArkhanTheBlack]

The level of raised creatures isn't the same but dependent of the dead creatures level. For example all Archer will involve undead Archer. I didn't notice any random there, once you know what type will be raised you can predict what you'll get for a given dead stack.

Yes, in some cases it made sense, like spiders and archers. Is there somewhere a list of what creatures are transfered into which undead?

Book of Evil is worthless for me because of spells like lightning, that's very unpleasant to see your book kill many of your creatures.

Well, I summon them at the start and let their spells off. At the moment the lightning spells from the books are more powerfull than my own damage spells. If the enemy gets too close, I can still use them as 'fight books'. A level 3 book is quite powerfull although they get problems with real killer stacks. However, if they cast some nonesense at the start in important battles, it can be really annoying. Otherwise, they can easily win battles for me with minmal or even no losses. The power of the book depends extremely on the intelligence of the hero.

[Vilk]

I don't know such list but also didn't search through the net of through this forum.

I don't see how you use the book because you need cast it close to one of your unit so you need sacrifice it somehow or the book will be too close to your other troops.

Are you sure that the power of the book depends of the int? I hadn't quote that nor read it but I didn't tried much this spell.

[ArkhanTheBlack]

I don't see how you use the book because you need cast it close to one of your unit so you need sacrifice it somehow or the book will be too close to your other troops.

I move forward with one fast unit and then summon 1 - 2 books, dependent if higher magic is available. Often I don't use the max movement of the unit and then go back one field after the book was summoned. The book itself can also move one field forward before casting a spell and further books can be summoned at the side of another book. Since the books are immune to magic, the are not affected by their own spells. This way it's possible to summon book armies which move forward with a strong ranged army in their back. The lightning spell has a max range. Therfore I can predict very reliable if a lightning spell can reach my own units. The books are also powerfull fighters. If they don't mess with killer stacks, they can easily attack enemy stacks and get new spells. Sometimes I don't even use their newly gotten spells and just let them fight. In contrast to phantoms they don't vanish after 3 rounds. It's a great spell with lots of possibilities, but you have to know how and when to use it.

Are you sure that the power of the book depends of the int? I hadn't quote that nor read it but I didn't tried much this spell.

It's mentioned in the description of the book.

[Vilk]

Nice but I'm surprised that a book isn't killed in one turn when exposed like that, and that you never get hit just by moving back of one field. Is this in impossible mode? I'll definitely try around that to see by myself. For the int, lol, I had forgot this if I ever quote it.

[ArkhanTheBlack]

Nice but I'm surprised that a book isn't killed in one turn when exposed like that

A book of evil from a level 3 spell has a toughness which is comparable with a giant or cyclops. Against spells and magic damage, they are pretty much invincible.

and that you never get hit just by moving back of one field.

If your own units stay back and you target a ranged enemy stack at the other side of the battle field, there's almost no chance that you get hit. If all enemy units run forward and yours too, you probably only have one try at the start of the battle. It's simply situation dependent, and if you only target distant enemies you can't get hit too hard. Sometimes I've no problem to get by 100 - 200 damage if the opponent gets several thousand damage in exchange.

Is this in impossible mode?

It's in hard mode. Though the increased stack size are not really a big problem. If two summoned books cast lightning, and the enemy then sufferd about 10.000 damage in total, that can even reduce bigger stacks to a size that they can't kill a book anymore.
The problem is if the books use spells like sleep or reduced defense. That's just not enough for 30 mana. And on hard it seems more difficult to get real 'killer books'. In short words: The book sucks with low int characters and is great with high int characters. Though I can't give a precise min INT value to get good books or bad books since it seems to differ between the various difficulty levels.

[Razorflame]

i wonder how the hell u could get far with that strat such BOOKS are mostly useless
especially when fighting an opponent with high initiative

[ArkhanTheBlack]

i wonder how the hell u could get far with that strat such BOOKS are mostly useless
especially when fighting an opponent with high initiative

Well, I don't use it all the time. Like I said, at the moment my mage doesn't seem to be smart enough to get reliable books. Therefore, currently I'm using ice snake a lot. Especially when initiative is critical.

[Vilk]

The point is that books will get attacked before they can cast anything. What's their initiative level? I'll try anyway around this, in my current game I haven't get yet the spell yet and haven't yet chaos magic to level 3 (only distortion and order when chaos is level 2). I'll try with dragon as the fast unit with high initiative and speed and by casting 2 books.

But I don't think the books will survive against many army setup in impossible mode.