Thunderstike

[Fleshbits]

I heard all ths hub bub about thunderstrike being super effective.

However, it seems to have a cost of 50 fatigue and 1 target,so....my expensive mage is going to kill 2 or 3 inexpensive troops at most per battle, no?

[terve886]

Cast storm and then cast strom power. The fatigue is halved if you have 1 extra casting level past the required magic level and it will fall even further if you have even more.

[blackwizards]

No. The thunderstrike itself hits one square (as opposed to one person) with very high damage, which would typically result in 3 dead troops. Also, TS deals moderate damage and fatigues in a large radius around the actual impact - we're talking 20+ troops hit on occassion, depending on their density. You can also give air gems to your mage - using up magic gems temporarily raises your caster's level, which results in less fatigue sustained - this way, your mage may well be able to cast 4 thunderstrkes instead of 2. Many new players underestimate this option (so did I) - casting an extra thunderstrike or two is almost always worth the gems in a pitched battle. Also keep in mind mages typically don't have attrition unless you lose the battle altogether.

[Fortuna]

Even if you have a barely qualified mage at A2, 2 thunderstrikes killing 4 heavy cavalry and wounding several others is a BIG deal. That could be more expensive than your mage in just one battle. Thunderstrike is also very effective if you make troops like heavy infantry rout. If you are killing a few dozen militia or skeletons, or you are hitting chaff buffed with luck, then it isn't so great...

[Red_Rob]

Looks like the damage went up in Dom5 too, it used to do 1 damage across aoe 6, now it does 2

Originally posted by blackwizards:

Also, TS deals moderate damage and fatigues in a large radius around the actual impact

Actually, in Dom5 TS no longer fatigues - the various Lighting spells secondary fatigue damage has been replaced by the chance for shock damage to stun the target.

I think this is a slight nerf, as previously you could "soften up" troops with lightning spells, fatguing them so they were less effective when your troops got to them. Now they will recover from the stun before your troops get to them, however it will disrupt their line and allow your troops to fight them in a more piecemeal fashion, so it might still be effective. Unless you hit the enemy just as your troops are getting into them I don't see you getting to attack them whilst stunned too often though.

[Twogun]

massed thunderstrike is absolutely devastating. particulary vs heavily armored troops. i always felt it was borderline OP and complained a bit to the devs back in the dom3 days. they added 'ground troops' which helped nations with a bit of E who had been previously VERY vulnerable to TS and had no native counter(read Ulm, and others, to a lesser extent).

but you gotta really sling em. multiple mages plus the tips mentioned before this will make your TS so effective, your enemy will HAVE to build his strat around avoiding it or put every resource to countering it.

[terve886]

The fact that shock damage is armor negating makes it extremely powerful (althought unrealistic as metal armor would conduct lightning to ground instead of throught the human/giant/lizard wearing it).

This also means that while fire protection of 5 or 10 can block pretty much all fire damage when combined with some armor, the lightning damage is extremely hard to negate completely.

[DasaKamov]

Originally posted by terve886:

The fact that shock damage is armor negating makes it extremely powerful (althought unrealistic as metal armor would conduct lightning to ground instead of throught the human/giant/lizard wearing it).

Metal armor would conduct electricity to the ground in the same way grabbing hold of a lightning rod conducts electricity to the ground, but neither will protect a human/giant/lizard in direct contact with either. ;)

[berandro]

Other than what everyone already told you, another thing you might have missed. Normally you don't win battles by bringing one mage along, specially when the spells you want to cast are evocations -- you bring a big bunch of them to make it effective. Also, your big expensive mage will probably be casting Storm for your not-so-expensive-A2-mages cast Summon Storm Power and cast it themselves.

[boozermonkey]

Thunderstrike is not as effective as it used to be, but its still quite good. As others have pointed out, you dont bring just a single thunderstriker into a battle. You bring dozens.

[Red_Rob]

Something that trips many new players up is that a number of spells aren't really very effective unless spammed. A few Fire Elementals or Thunderstrikers won't have much impact on a battle, it is only with a decent gold and gem investment in mages that you will start to see them decimating equal-gold armies without any losses.

[boozermonkey]

Originally posted by Red_Rob:

Something that trips many new players up is that a number of spells aren't really very effective unless spammed. A few Fire Elementals or Thunderstrikers won't have much impact on a battle, it is only with a decent gold and gem investment in mages that you will start to see them decimating equal-gold armies without any losses.

Its actually quite funny to watch a dozen thunderstrikers with Storm active literally decimate a large army before they can even get half way to the backlines. Its so powerful in fact that you dont even need much of a screening force to shield your mages from the few enemy troops that actually get through the killing fields.

[meglobob1]

Nothing like a good massed thunderstrike in the morning, afternoon, evening...hell all day long...

Done properly thunderstrike is awesome to behold and probably one of the best spells in dominions, I have not had the pleasure of casting it yet in Dom 5 thou.

Originally posted by terve886:

The fact that shock damage is armor negating makes it extremely powerful (althought unrealistic as metal armor would conduct lightning to ground instead of throught the human/giant/lizard wearing it).

Would you like to test that theory in real life wearing armour in a thunderstorm and see what happens when struck?

True fact, any person struck by lightning has exactly 50% chance to live or die...isn't nature wierd? This fact finding mission was conducted on national park rangers who get struck by lightning as a occupational hazard.

[terve886]

Originally posted by meglobob1:

Nothing like a good massed thunderstrike in the morning, afternoon, evening...hell all day long...

Done properly thunderstrike is awesome to behold and probably one of the best spells in dominions, I have not had the pleasure of casting it yet in Dom 5 thou.

Originally posted by terve886:

The fact that shock damage is armor negating makes it extremely powerful (althought unrealistic as metal armor would conduct lightning to ground instead of throught the human/giant/lizard wearing it).

Would you like to test that theory in real life wearing armour in a thunderstorm and see what happens when struck?

True fact, any person struck by lightning has exactly 50% chance to live or die...isn't nature wierd? This fact finding mission was conducted on national park rangers who get struck by lightning as a occupational hazard.

Mythbusters tested the thunderstrike theory and the armor did safe the dummy used in the test.

[meglobob1]

Originally posted by terve886:

Mythbusters tested the thunderstrike theory and the armor did safe the dummy used in the test.

How can it save a dummy? The dummy wasn't alive in the first place and has no heart or brain. Would you volunter to be the dummy?

On 1001 ways to die the number of people dieing from electricity was 'shocking'...