Pick Your Dream Caster Combo

[C9H20]

If the title isn't clear enough the idea is to come up with a combination of four casters, or less, that you think would be the best possible combo for winning/surviving in Erfworld.

Thinking about it I came to the conclusion that Fate is the most dangerous thing that can befall a side. So obviously a way to cheat fate is needed. But why stop there? Why not manipulate Fate to your advantage even when it has nothing to do with you or your side. Such high level magic would have to come from a link up, therefore a Thinkamancer is needed. To be able to flawlessly perceive and predict events a Predictamancer is needed. To be able to screw Fate over without getting boned too bad in return a Carniemancer is needed. Now there is the primary tri-link, but why not go further? Considering that Carnies break the rules, Predictamancers can find the perfect moment, why not throw in a Luckamancer to boost their odds. Their odds to form a quad-link that is. A quad-link of Thinkamancer-Carniemancer-Predictamancer-Luckamancer could work if all involved used their disciplines to predict the best moment to form the link, boosted their luck to do so and when done used Carnimancy to shunt all the resulting bad luck, mental damage and Fate-rage elsewhere.

Who knows what a quad-link could do, the possibilities are huge and if a quad-link is possible I feel this is the best way to attain it, and make it feasible for more then one shot tricks.

What is your Dream Caster Combo?

[0beron]

I think any combo would "require" a Thinkamancer to allow for links, and also because they have the biggest universal utility application by themselves. So Thinkamancer is a given for my list.

For the other 3, I have a few possibilities:

For General Utility: Look, Doll, and Rhyme. Access to superior "free" units, magic items, dance-fighting, and the obvious use of Lookamancy. Links could make dancing golems, or remotely use Rhyme-o-mancy to boost morale, lead dance fights, and do the general "meta-magic feats" effect Rhyme-o-mancy seems to have.

For Tilting the Odds: Math, Predict, and Luck. The uses should be obvious, you have the maximum potential to shift the odds in your favor by seeing the future, planning accordingly, and allocating your resources of Luck and manpower where they would be most useful. If you REALLY want to rig the odds, you might even swap out the Thinkamancer for a Carny instead, but you'd lose the potential to link that way.

For Building Strong: Turn, Dirt, and Heal. Build your cities strong and productive, Turn your enemies, and keep your armies healthy. Lends itself to playing defensively and making very gradual gains.

For Moneybags: Dirt, Money, Sign. Dirtamancer can dig for gems and upgrade cities cheaper, even sell their services to friendly sides for extra income. Money and Sign both could help you save money and run more efficiently. As a result you could either support a larger army, or buy off your enemies and make lucrative loans to allies.

[Shai_hulud]

Florist, Dirtamancer, Dollamancer, and Turnamancer. The first three are the ones we have seen so far that actually produce resources to reduce upkeep, and the last can move them to the people who need them.

Edit*
On that note, Haffaton seems to have been tailor made for growing into a super side, logistically speaking. Too bad they seem to have spent all their resources raping and torturing each other instead.

[tgriff02]

-Thinkamancer = Make the link up.
-Pridictamancer = Forsee which sides will decide to attack and when.
-Hippiemancer = Render the entire aggressive side incapable of engaging. If here is a way to do this and them still be open to GETTING attacked, then announce the "Open Season" to all of that side's current rivals.

I'm editing to specify that this is not the Chillaxe's "No Engagements in this Hex" effect, i'm going more for the direct version that Janis used on Jojo that targets a unit, only my target is EVERY unit on the side. We know Jojo can't engage, but it might still be possible for other units to engage him.

[Lamech]

Now first off, units can learn magic outside their main discipline. In fact, they can even get multiple disciplines if they try hard enough. But lets assume that they can only get ones from their main class since that seems most common.

Eyemancer, Naughtmancer, Stuffamancer= Uncroak dirt! Specifically the dirt that made up your uncroaked just moments before! Repeatedly cast your super-Trioxin to mass uncroak everything, even your uncroaked. As an added benefit you can double corpses or change them into new corpse types. Tertiary tricks include giving them shockamancy, veils, and enhanced scouting.

Hippie, Eye, Stuff= Basically turn every hex into a farm. Preferably one that produces crap tons of "magical" plants in addition to a crap ton of money. As an added benefit you can look through the plant eyes, and everything is veiled.

Eye, Spook, Naughty= Dollamancy+Croakamancy? Can anyone else say, "Mummies!", they probably don't decay, and have built in new abilities from the weirdomancy. Alternatively steampunk/clockpunk zombies.

Naughty, Hippie, Eye= Rot golems. They don't decay, or at least they only decay into something stronger. They probably produce edible shrooms as well.

Stuff, Spook, Eye=Turn whole cities. Make your cities and structures run on clockwork. Clockwork super golems. Golems with built in dollamancy items and new weirdomancy abilities.

[Wild Card]

I would have a Predictamancer on the side, to know where to direct my three other Casters:

A Thinkamancer (for the link), a Hippiemancer and a Carnymancer. I would then cast the Hippiemancer spell that cancel engagement possibility on one given hex, but thanks to the Carnymancer, I would make it so only my opponents are affected. I can then move my armies through the enemy, picking one by one any special unit (Casting, leadership) to kill or to convert later, and then destroy their army one stack a time.

[0beron]

I would then cast the Hippiemancer spell that cancel engagement possibility on one given hex, but thanks to the Carnymancer, I would make it so only my opponents are affected.

Given all the Fate stuff and "balance" that seems to come with Luckamancy and Carnymancy, I suspect this strategy would seriously backfire. Seriously rigging the rules seems to require making trades.

[Vanvidum]

The problem with any ideal caster combination is that there will be gaps in a side's capabilities, and conventional wisdom says you can't have it all.

...But!

We know that the casters of the Magic Kingdom put themselves out for hire and produce scrolls for sale. Contracting a caster would surely be expensive, presumably at least upkeep, but scrolls could be continuously accumulated provided a side devotes a portion of their cashflow to that. So my idea of a caster "Dream Team" revolves around obtaining the provisions, cash, and upkeep necessary to accumulate scrolls, subcontract to the Magic Kingdom, or even have MK casters available 'on call' in order to meet whatever my side's needs are for the next few turns.

This means two sets of casters, plus a Thinkamancer. A Florist and a Dirtamancer to boost the output of, or create farms and mines, and for construction. The other set being a Turnamancer and a Dittomancer, to reduce the time necessary for farms/production to pop, and to ditto the output double or more. If it isn't actually possible for a Dittomancer to do that, even in a link, then I'd swap in a Moneymancer instead for similar purpose. Without a Moneymancer in the group, I'd definitely want to have one on long-term contract from the MK--both to improve income and to act as a purchasing agent for scrolls.

The key here is that magic is available for money, provisions, etc if you've got them to trade. It might be a little inflexible to be so economy-focused, but scrolls can greatly improve on-the-spot caster capabilities from what we've seen, and building, commissioning, or purchasing magic items can do a lot more to spread the quality around. If nothing else, a strong income means being able to afford a larger/better military... And if some of the speculation about Natural Allies is correct, having a good reserve in the treasury could improve numbers quickly.

[Wayson]

This started off with me going "Hm easy!" and then rethinking my choices. Here's what I settled on.

Turnamancer, to speed production and forcibly turn high-level enemy units - including casters and warlords.
Lookamancer, to check hexes ahead of friendly unit movements and spot for hostile troops.
Foolamancer, to veil friendly units for either opsec purposes or to prevent detection when confronted with a superior enemy force.
Dirtamancer, to produce golems and handle upgrade logistics for cities.

A Thinkamancer would definitely be my choice for a fifth caster, but I could always just hire one from TMK until I could pop one or turn an enemy one.

[thegoofromspace]

Thinkamancer, for the communications capability, link possibilities, and spells to enhance the thinking of your own units. One of the entries said intuition is a quality that can be boosted, and Maggie cast that spell to reduce Parson's fatigue. I'd probably like my Thinkamancer to do more along those lines than what Maggie is doing right now.

Dirtamancy, for the upkeep-free units, incredible bonuses and healing to those units, and tunneling for retreats and surprise attacks.

Dollamancy, for the upkeep-free units, incredible bonuses and healing to those units, and awesome equipment. I'd probably like for every Warlord, and the units they're stacked with, to have access to some mean weaponry. Plus, raiment.

You can probably even link the Dirtamancer and Dollamancer together to get super-units, AND gem-studded raiment. Think about it: Elvis had those gem-studded outfits, and the Titans are Elvis impersonators. Pair your Dirtamancer with a Dollamancer, and you might get raiment that is truly Titanic.

Then there's the fourth one. I'm thinking Healomancy, Hat Magic, Dittomancy, or Signamancy, in that order.

It all goes back to my basic themes, in strategy situations: I like to strengthen and preserve my own forces as much as that's possible. To that end, in Erfworld I would like strong units, supported with healing and nice stuff.

So Healomancy is just the obvious fourth, for me: I can heal my golems, dolls, tchotchkes, and action figures, so why wouldn't I want to heal my other units? This is pretty much my style in every game; I like healing and defense bonuses to keep the units I already have alive. Basically, I like the idea of having an awesomely-powerful and well-equipped stack containing all of your casters and your Chief Warlord for insane bonuses and combat power. Consider: a Dollamancer and Dirtamancer giving bonuses to all the units they created, the Thinkamancer casting spells to boost everyone's insight and reduce fatigue (which we know is possible), and a Healomancer healing any injuries that might happen anyway. On top of that, the Healomancer linked with the Dollamancer can probably produce items for healing units. Maybe you can give all your Warlords and Casters something like a Ring of Regeneration? And didn't one of the updates mention Jetstone's Healomancer having a Wand of Cure Incapacitation? He must have made that himself, and THAT is some pretty nice stuff. Healing potions might be nice, too, but so far we've only seen a gin drink that he called a healing elixir.

Hat Magic is second on that list, and it goes back to that "nice stuff" and "free units" theme; we know that a Hat Magician can protect units from certain spell effects, and we know they can make snow golems, so they can probably make other units as well. Protect your units from Shockmancy and Foolamancy, and what will you have to fear? Plus, they can manage some awesome attack spells, giving them a way to do damage directly as an alternative to fighting. Not really my style, but I won't shrug it off if it's an option. After all, we've already seen what Dollamancy and Hat Magic can do together, even when they're not linked: they turned a scrub like Slately into a reasonably effective fighter. Imagine what a linked pair's equipment can do for an experienced warlord!

Dittomancy is third. You get free units, albeit temporarily, and again, I'd imagine you can get some pretty good stuff out of linking them. Maybe you can pair your Dittomancer with a Dirtamancer and get a permanent double of each unit the Dirtamancer produces? Maybe you can pair your Dittomancer with a Dollamancer to get equipment like the stuff Ace provides, only it's twice as powerful, or shoots twice as many shots? But, then, we don't know that Dittomancers can make stuff on their own, so it's hard to be very confident about this unit.

Finally, there's Signamancy. It's hard to say what Signamancy does, but from what I can tell, it must give the unit some manner of bonus. For example, people change their raiment to make dance-fighting easier (another reason for the Dollamancer I guess), and Slately asks for fearsome Signamancy before his big battle. That said, while I know that a Signamancer can do useful things out of combat, I'm not really sure what they do IN combat. I guess... giving the enemy BAD Signamancy, somehow? But that seems a bit weak. So, it's sort of the opposite of the problem I have with the Rhyme-o-Mancer and the Dittomancer.

Really, this brings another idea to mind:

Dollamancer, Signamancer, Rhyme-o-Mancer. Your Dollamancer and Signamancer give your units good raiment and Signamancy for dance-fighting, so they can own when your Rhyme-o-Mancer starts the dance-fight. I still like Thinkamancer/Dirtamancer/Dollamancer/Healomancer best, but this would fit my usual style somewhat, too.