Hi, I'm just getting to grips with this game. I think I've got most of it down, but I'm still confused about summoning monsters.
Am I right in thinking that each summon spell can only be cast once at a time? I'd imagined that it might be possible to specialise in summoning to the extent that you could summon significant forces if you invested enough mana. But if you can only cast each one once then practically you're only likely to ever have a couple of summons - even as Procipinee! Have I missed something? Thanks!
Yes each champion can only cast each summoning spell he has once. So he can only summon 1 Ice Elemental and 1 Earth Elemental if he has those spells. He can cast those spells before the battle or during the battle if he has not already used the spell.
The AI tends to use its summons strategically and cast the spell before the battle and drags them around all the time, but that is not how I use them except in the early game when mana is short. Casting before a battle is good in that it saves spell casting time and another spell can be cast / action taken. Also elementals and the shadow warg can gain exp and will level up like any other troop. But they are slow, most only move 2 tiles per turn, so they slow your troops strategically once you use horses and wargs for your other units. Tactically they are slow and start with your other troops so they take a long time to get involved in many battles if they are in the starting army and of course they take up an army slot replacing another trained unit or champion.
So once I have plenty of mana (in the middle / late game) I use summoning spells tactically and cast then in battles rather than before. This means I can have more troops in a battle than my number of slots, which is a huge advantage when attacking a well defended city or fighting a powerful monster like a dragon or wildland Boss. The summoned elemental can be placed on any tile on the battlefield and I tend to put them right in the action, next to enemy archers or next to the dragon to act as a distraction. The AI units will tend to deal with the summoned unit first and so this saves a lot of damage on my trained units which can use the time to get in position or deal damage. The Ice Elemental is particularly useful againt big monsters if it gets a hit as that slows it by 3 initiative and that effect stacks with the slow spell.
That said, however, I do not use Summoning as a major theme and only use it as a useful support spell in tough battles. Other spells are often more useful or cost effective. So I don't often pick the summoning promotion for champions. Most of the elementals get a boost from adding shards and towers (each water shard adds 1 level to your Ice Elementals etc.) and I rely on that to increase the power of the spell as time passes.
JJ
