Sacrifice FAQ/Walkthrough Written by l / ______ __ l l/ l / \ l l ___ l _______ /____\ _____ l l\ l l l l l l /______\ l l l \ l__l__ l l l l / \ l l . Katman (cgalliher@cablespeed.com) (I REALLY need some new ASCII art...send in yours TODAY!) Table of Contents: 1. Introduction 1.1 Review of Sacrifice 2. Unit Overview 2.1 Persephone 2.2 James 2.3 Stratos 2.4 Pyro 2.5 Charnel 3. Spell Overview 3.1 Persephone 3.2 James 3.3 Stratos 3.4 Pyro 3.5 Charnel 3.6 Generic 4. Walkthrough (UNDER HEAVY CONSTRUCTION!) 4.1 Persephone Missions 4.2 James Missions 4.3 Stratos Missions 4.4 Pyro Missions 4.5 Charnel Missions 4.6 The Final Battle 5. Hints and Tips 6. Credits/People I Don't Like (PIDL) 7. Other Katman Projects/About the Katman Version List: 1.0 It's the first version! Dear God, what a GENIUS that Katman is, to make 1.0 the first version! 1.5 The SECOND version! This one adds everyone's first mission, officially making it an FAQ/Walkthrough. 1.7 No new walkthrough information - if you want more, ASK FOR IT!! However, I did add a lot of new creature information by Mike Pureka, who wrote me a long, nitpicky e-mail...Kudos to Mike Pureka! Yay for nitpicking! Oh, and remember how in my Cloudkill info I mispelled absolutely? Of course you don't, but in THIS version, it's spelled correctly! Kudos to ME! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 1. Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Hi again! It's Katman, and you might remember me from such stunning exploits as Katman's Fallout 2 FAQ, Katman's Sanity: Aiken's Artifact FAQ, and Katman's Azure Dreams GBC FAQ. Well, now I'm going back into my roots with another PC game FAQ, this one on Interplay's newest action/RTS game, Sacrifice. Sacrifice takes place in another universe (?) where a wizard named Eldred has performed dark experiments to become powerful. He obtains a familiar (a creature that aids a wizard) named Zyzyx, who leads him into the Ethereal Realm, where he meets 5 gods - Persephone (Godess of Life), James (God of Earth), Stratos (God of Weather and Air), Pyro (God of Fire), and Charnel (God of Death). He is offered service with any of the five gods, and is allowed to choose which one he performs missions and tasks for - changing allegiances as he wishes. However, if he does too many missions and ignores a certain god, that god can refuse to allow Eldred to join with them anymore. Later, Eldred learns that a former rival of his, the powerful demon Marduk, is planning to take over the realm Eldred now inhabits (having destroyed Eldred's home realm), and Eldred must find a way to gain the aid of the five gods in defeating Marduk. All in all, I'd have to say Sacrifice is one of Katman's 5 Best Games of All Time (The others being Fallout 2, Silhouette Mirage, Master of Orion, and Azure Dreams). Get it! NOW! Well, that's only if your PC has the awesome horsepower needed to handle this graphic-intensive game, but most PCs nowadays can easily take care of it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 1.1 Review of Sacrifice ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Sacrifice is one of only 4 action/RTS games I can think of - the rest being Myth, Magic Carpet, and Battlezone (the update version, shmuck!). The awesome blend between the two genres, and the awesome replay value, make it a worthy addition to any gamer's library. Graphics: 10/10 This game's graphics are, simply put, the best I've ever seen. They beat the Playstation2 and Dreamcast single-handedly. The units (while often disgusting - the Abomination uses its own intestines as a projectile!) are varied, with no two looking alike. The assorted spells are simply amazing - one spell has a massive volcano firing lava 20 feet into the air, AND firing lava rocks around at creatures, AND it lasts for an incredibly long time, defacing the sky with fire. Of course, those gamers with slow PCs can expect a slide-show, as the framerate is reduced to 2 or 3 FPS without at least a 400Mhz Pentium II. Sound: 10/10 The units all have thier own voices, and some of the things they say are quite funny. The spells all sound like they should, and each god has excellent voice acting. I particularly liked Stratos and Charnel. Excellent sound. Gameplay: 10/10 This has to win the Game of the Year award from at least a FEW sources. You are a wizard, and your goal is to defeat your opposing wizard by desecrating his Altar. If you just kill the enemy, he can be brought back to life by his god. To this end, you have an assortment of minions and magic to aid you. Summoning minions requires the souls of creatures. Obtaining these is simple - you find some villagers and kill them, then take the souls. Spells (and minions, to a lesser extent) require Mana, magic energy, which is replenished quickly by Mana fountains around the battlefield, as well as certain creatures called Manahoars (think armless, two-legged puppies with crystals in their heads). When you defeat an enemy's creature, they lose their soul. You can't just take it - it is allied with another god. You can convert it, but this takes quite a while, as it is performed by a slow-moving creature called a Sac-Doctor. These Sac-Doctors are easily killed, so they must be protected at all costs, else the creature they were converting will be resurrected! All in all, the gameplay strikes the perfect balance of resource management and combat. People may complain that it gets too hectic - they're weenies. Ignore them. Yay for hecticness. Also, you might hear that the closest game to this in terms of gameplay style is either Magic Carpet or the updated version of Battlezone. That's also from weenies - this game is all Myth. It's basically Myth in true 3D, with a crapload of extras, and that's in any way a bad thing. Replay Value: 10/10 There's quite a few different paths through the single-player campaign, due to the fact that you take different quests depending on which god you side with. The god you side with also determines what spells and creatures you obtain, since each mission grants you a new creature and spell. Once you've beaten the single-player game, you're still not done! Sacrifice features a fully-functional Skirmish mode, for those of us without an Internet connection on their only fast PC, as well as a full- fledged Multiplayer mode. There's a simple Deathmatch mode, where the goal is to be the last man standing, as well as Capture-The-Manalith, Soul-Gathering, and Highest-Deathcount-Wins modes. THEN, even when you're done with the 20 or so maps that Sacrifice ships with, it also comes with Scapex, the program the developers used to make scenarios for the game! It's great! Overall: 10/10 GET THIS GAME! NOW! BUY IT! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 2. Unit Overview ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- The god you side with in Singleplayer determines each unit you get individually. In Multiplayer, the god you side with determines ALL your units, unless you've beaten the Singleplayer game at least once, in which you can use the units and spells you got from whatever path you chose in Singleplayer. This really helps Sacrifice's replay value! Also, remember that Melee units can easily beat equally-leveled Ranged units. Air units, however, will beat any Melee unit, since Melee units can't reach them. Ranged units can beat equally-leveled Air units. Certain big Air units, like the Dragon and Silverback, can actually be hit by Melee units when they're not moving, however this is very rare. Ranged units need Mana to attack, but this isn't something you should really worry about, since they'll absorb Mana from any nearby Manahoars or Manaliths, just like you do. The ONLY creature that can be used by wizards of all the gods are Manahoars, little armless teddybears with Mana crystals embedded in their heads. They're vital for any wizard, since they provide Mana when one is not standing near a Manalith or Mana Fountain. They have NO offensive capabilities, and are sorely lacking for defense as well. It's great to have them around, since they provide Mana for your creatures with ranged attacks and special abilities as well. However, they can only draw Mana from Manaliths belonging to you, and NOT Mana Fountains. The more Manaliths you have, and the more Manahoars you have, the faster your Mana will recharge. I reccomend making 3 Manahoars at once, since 2's recharge rate is a bit too slow, and 4 is definately overkill. Put them in Phalanx formation, and order them to guard you. They'll stay out of the way. Sac-Doctors appear as a result of the Convert and Desecrate spells. They are technically creatures, and they belong to whomever cast the spell, but they refuse to respond to orders. They're the puniest creature in the game, as 1 hit from anything will kill a Sac-Doctor. Guard your Sac- Doctors well when they're taking a Red soul to be converted, as if they are killed while carrying the creature the soul belongs to, the creature is resurrected and comes back for revenge! Make SURE to bind the "Use Creature Ability" key to something easily pressable, like B. This way you don't lose valuable time clicking on it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 2.1 Persephone Units ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- ALL of Persephone's creatures will regenerate health naturally over time, just like Charnel's units. Persephone's forces are mainly suited for defense, as you'd expect from the Godess of Life. They do well when Guardianed to a Manalith, especially with higher-level creatures. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- DRUID (COST: 1 Soul) The Druid is Persephone's basic Melee creature - you can make them right from the beginning of any game, as long as you're with Persephone. They're OK, as far as basic Melee creatures go. They have the special ability to make a Lifeshield around themselves, but it doesn't really last that long, and they're very frail without it. Not the best at all. Not to mention that they look a bit dumb - they're just normal humans with Zorro masks on :-) Mike Pureka says that the Druids are also Persephone's faster Melee unit. By gosh, he's right! Kudos to Mike Pureka! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- RANGER (COST: 1 Soul) These are Persephone's basic Ranged creature. They're guys with bows and arrows, that's it. BOOORING! In their favor, however, is the fact that they sound like the Marines from Starcraft and that they have a special ability called Divine Sight. This, when used, sends a ghostly eye out to find the nearest enemy or neutral creature. This makes it immensely useful at the beginning of the game, since you can use it to make rush assaults on enemies that are still building a force, or to scoop up villagers or zombies for a quick soul or two. Rangers themselves are average Ranged units - just like other Ranged units, huge groups of them will work best. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- SHRIKE (COST: 1 Soul) These are Persephone's basic Air creatures. Apparently, they're Persephone's songbirds, but if it weren't for the manual and their (funny) quotes, I doubt you'd be able to tell. They fire a green sonic blast at enemies. It's not very strong, but it does knock the enemies down for a moment, allowing your other troops to move in for an assault, or giving you time to retreat. This is especially annoying if you send your Shrikes against an enemy wizard, since getting knocked down lasts quite a while with a wizard. Shrikes can also use the Lifeshield, just like the Druids. They definately need to, as they really can't take many hits without dying. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- SCARAB (COST: 2 Souls) Scarabs are really big, pink, purring (yes, PURRING) spiders, pretty much. They have no attack capability, instead they shoot a healing blast at friendly creatures (technically, this makes them Ranged creatures, as they require Mana). The AI for this is extremely intelligent, so a force with a Scarab or two will last a lot longer than one without. Order them to GUARD a specific creature if you want them to focus on healing that creature, which is useful when used on powerful creatures or Heroes that you must protect in a scenario. Also, when order to GUARD ME they'll focus healing on you, which is quite useful. They can also take quite a bit of punishment for a bug, as well, though since they can't fight back it's not recommended to put them into a dire situation on purpose. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- TROLL (COST: 2 Souls) Trolls are big, stupid Melee attackers, just like you'd expect them to be. They have hilarious quotes (Troll happy! Troll scared! Troll confused!), and they're very good in big groups. They don't move very fast, though one-on-one they can take most other 2-Soul creatures in the game. Also, they regenerate health about 3 times as fast as any of Persephone's other creatures. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- GNOME (COST: 3 Souls) These are Ranged creatures. They have the funniest quotes in the game, IMO (I'll call it...an invendibulator! You know, for kids!), but aren't that great in combat. They use guns, which allow their attacks to instantly hit the target. This is all well and good, but they have a big cooldown delay between attacks. Used in big groups, they can be pretty good, but otherwise they lack any particularly unique qualities. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- GREMLIN (COST: 3 Souls) These are Airborne creatures, and pretty good ones at that. They do pretty good damage (though they don't use projectile attacks like most Air creatures), and have the special ability to trap things in a web and drag them over to them. This can work well when used with enemies that hide behind others, like Manahoars. If you can get them out of their protective area, you can cut off an enemy wizard's supply line. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- MUTANT (COST: 4 Souls) These are disgusting Ranged creatures. They're really hideous, with one eye situated in the middle of their shoulder, and their method of attack is even worse - they pull chunks of meat off of themselves and fling them at the enemy! This can do quite a bit of damage to a bunch of creatures, since the meat chunks explode on contact. Also, when a Mutant is killed, it heals all the friendly units nearby quite a bit. This makes it useful to send a Mutant in with some Melee attackers. Make sure to grab the souls the Mutant leaves behind, however. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- ENT (COST: 4 Souls) This critter isn't mentioned in the manual. He's a four-legged spider with his head under his belly. Ents have a special ability called Protector, which is similar to Druids' and Shrikes' Lifeshield. The difference is that this also affects all the creatures standing near the Ent, as well as the Ent itself. They're very powerful Melee fighters, and have a cool, demonlike voice too. If you send in a group with Protector activated, they can take out most anything (except Air units) that stand in thier way. The only problem is that they're very expensive Soul-wise, and very slow. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- DRAGON (COST: 5 Souls) Persephone's strongest creature. The Dragon is an Air creature (though it DOES stand on the ground when it's not doing anything else) with a rather intresting special ability, called Breath of Life. This, when used on a friendly Blue Soul, will revive the creature the Soul used to belong to. The Dragon itself is ridiculously powerful, tearing though 1- Soul enemies like a hot knife through butter with wing-smacks and bites. It's VERY expensive soul-wise, and is quite slow (though not as slow as the Ent), but remains an excellent power unit. Have some Scarabs back it up, along with an Ent to cast Protector and destroy Ranged units, and you've got a pretty good SWAT team! This is probably the best 5-soul creature, BTW, so try to take it in the Single-player mode, unless you have been banned by Persephone by then... Mike Pureka adds that the Breath of Life can possibly be the best creature special ability in the game, due to the fact that it's much faster than gathering the souls yourself. -I- add that the above also keeps you out of the line of fire (or smash, or eat, or such..) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 2.2 James Units ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- James' units don't naturally heal like Persephone's, but they have a huge defense power (since most are just rocks anyway!), as well as useful special abilities. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- TROGG (COST: 1 Soul) Troggs are pretty much just cavemen, but they're probably the best basic Melee attacker out of the 5. This is becase they are immune to magical damage from enemy wizards, making them useful wizard slayers. They are a tad slow, but do quite a lot of damage with clubs. Make a bunch, just like any other basic creature. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- EARTHFLING (COST: 1 Soul) James' basic Ranged unit, these have an intresting special ability. This ability allows them to turn into a boulder - while enemies can see this boulder, it's invulnerable, making it a great sentry! Earthflings attack by spitting dirt at enemies. This is pretty effective, since they're very accurate. Earthflings make great Guardians, due to their high natural defense. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- GARGOYLE (COST: 1 Soul) Gargoyles are James' basic Air unit, and they're pretty good. They attack by tossing a hail of pebbles at the enemy, which, while a good attack, doesn't do quite as much damage as other basic Air units. They don't have a special ability, which sorta limits their usefulness later in the game. They, like all other basic units, are great in hordes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- BASILISK (COST: 2 Souls) A Ranged unit, the Basilisk fires a ray at foes that turns them to stone for about 5 seconds and does a minor amount of damage. These really aren't worth the soul cost - they can't take many hits, and do so little damage it's really not worth it, not to mention that a petrified enemy takes about half damage from everything! Make 2 Earthflings instead, or wait until your next level-up. Mike Pureka - yup, that guy again - says that Basilisks can be good for 'repetrifying' an enemy wizard. No wizard means no spells! No spells means a longer lifespan for your critters! Yay! Kudos! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- TAUROCK (COST: 2 Souls) Taurocks are great Melee troops. There's really not much to say about them - they hurt when they attack things, and they can take a huge beating. They don't have any special abilities or anything, so what you see is what you get. The only notable thing about them is the fact that as they take damage, they get better defenses, so killing one is a huge chore. If you find yourself facing a herd of Taurocks, use Explosion, a Vortick, or some other ability designed to throw something off of a nearby cliff. This'll instantly kill the Taurock, and you won't have to go to the trouble of worrying about its defense power. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- BOULDERDASH (COST: 3 Souls) The Boulderdash is a Ranged unit, and it's pretty darn good for 2 Souls. The Boulderdash spits out three rocks in a spread attack, so it can hit more than one critter at once. If you're close to something, all three rocks will hit it at once, and you'll get a triple-damage hit on it. This works great against non-moving Manaliths and Guardians. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- IKARUS (COST: 3 Souls) The Ikarus is a powerful, slow Air unit, and it has a (rather useless) special ability. It can throw glue on things and slow them down. Whee. Big deal, it throws so slowly you'll never hit anything anyway. Instead, use it like a basic Air troop - make a bunch and wreak some havoc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- FLUMMOX (COST: 4 Souls) The mountain lummox is a big critter, something like a bear, that can throw stuff with its tail. James, Stratos, and Pyro each have their own version of the lummox, and the Flummox is James' creation. It throws massive boulders with its tail, and while it hardly ever hits what it's aiming at (the rocks fly reeeaally slloowwwly), its attack does a huge radius of splash damage. As you'd expect, if a boulder hits an enemy instead of just the splash damage, you get a lot more for your money, so Flummoxes are good with destroying Manaliths, which can't move, and Guardians, who have been slowed down considerably. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- JABBEROCKY (COST: 4 Souls) The Jabberocky, is, well, kinda hard to explain. It's like a three- legged spider with an elephant trunk. The Jabberocky is a Melee unit, with the special ability to create a miniature earthquake around itself. That's pretty useful, but it works best as a straight fighter. They're very expensive, but like any other Melee fighter, it helps to make a bunch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- RINOK (COST: 5 Souls) Rinoks are Ranged fighters, and they attack by shooting spikes of stone up through the ground at enemies. If you've ever played Starcraft, and seen what the Lurkers and Spore Colonies do, well, you have an idea of what Rinoks do. Rinoks are ridiculously hearty, they suck up damage like a sponge, and are quite fast for a huge rock creature. They can also cast the Halo of Earth spell as a special ability, but it works better for you. Instead, just have them fight normally. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 2.3 Stratos Units ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Stratos' units, as you would expect from this god, are primarily concerned with speed. They're rather frail, so don't expect them to last long. With Stratos' creatures, you'll want to be focusing on collecting any dead souls and resummoning creatures during combat instead of casting spells. In hordes, Stratos' forces can be extremely effective. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- FROSTWOLF (COST: 1 Soul) Stratos' basic Melee fighters, Frostwolves are, in one word, FAST! They can blaze around, slicing up foes, with the best of them. Not to mention the fact that they can use their special ability, Run Away, to move even FASTER! They can take very little punishment, so be extremely careful with them. (Also, Frostwolves have a funny Russian accent :-) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- SYLPH (COST: 1 Soul) Sylphs are Stratos' basic Ranged combatants. They fire a bow at enemies, and can use their special ability, Stealh, to go invisible until they attack. This can be extremely useful in setting up ambushes, except that Sylphs crumble in the fact of a Melee assault. Protect your Sylphs with a wall of Frostwolves, to avoid getting stuck with Sylph chowder. They're also cute ("La la la!") :-) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- BRAINIAC (COST: 1 Soul) Braniacs are Stratos' basic Air unit. They're OK, as far as Air units go. Basically, they're the same as Persephone's Shrikes (Brainiacs have more health and lack a special ability), so use them the same way - get hordes of them to fly in for an aerial strike. Make sure to back up Braniacs with Frostwolves, to protect the Braniacs from Ranged attackers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- VORTICK (COST: 2 Souls) The Vortick is a huge Ranged-attack bug, that creates a big vortex of air to fling creatures around. It doesn't do much damage, but if a creature is thrown off a cliff it is instantly killed (Wizards are sent to their Altar) and the soul from it is gone forever. This is useful when used against hordes of Scythes or Cogs, since they're light and eay to throw around. The Vortick itself can't take much damage, so be careful with it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- SQUALL (COST: 2 Souls) Squalls are also Ranged fighters, huge flightless birds that fire a wind blast. This blast shoves foes backwards, so it is good against Melee troops that could otherwise hurt the Squall. Make sure to hide the Squall behind a stronger troop, just like you would the Sylph. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- STORM GIANT (COST: 3 Souls) Storm Giants are powerful Melee attackers, and they have an...interesting...special ability, Call Lighting. Call Lighting makes a big lightning bolt strike the Giant for minor damage. However, it increases its stats and makes it fling lightining bolts every which way. This is definately worth the trouble, so use it whenever possible. Storm Giants have a lot of both health and defense, so they make good commandos. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- SERAPH (COST: 3 Souls) Seraphim are Air attackers, and bear a big resemblance to Persephone's Gremlins. Use them the same way, to reel in Manahoars and such for easy kills and gibs, since Manahoars are girly little critters. Seraphim can also stand their own in a fight, since they can scratch an enemy with sharp claws. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- FLURRY (COST: 4 Souls) Flurries are actually Stratos' version of James' Flummox - big bear-like monsters that throw thing with their tails. These throw imploding crystals, that suck in anything near the blast zone. This can be used to toss things off of cliffs, just like the Vortick, and they do a goodly amount of damage on their own right. Flurries are slow, but they can suck up a huge amount of pain before croaking. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- YETI (COST: 4 Souls) The Yeti is a big bear-like monster with huge claws that acts a lot like Persephone's Trolls. It's a good Melee attacker, and doesn't have any special abilities, so it's easy to use, too. It's a great shield for absorbing missiles, too, due to its high health. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- SILVERBACK (COST: 5 Souls) This thing is really wierd, like a crossbreed of a bear, eagle, and dragon. It is an Air creature that spits frosty breath at foes. When the breath hits, the foes are frozen into ice cubes for a few moments, letting the Silverback breathe again and again. The Silverback is really, really, REALLY big, and can take quite a lot of punishment. Use it against a big group of low-level creatures, like Cogs, and watch the Silverback make ice cream :-) Silverbacks are slow, but they can use their Run Away special ability (the same as the Frostwolves') to move faster. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 2.4 Pyro Units ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Pyro is my personal favorite god, as his units strike the perfect balance between speed (Flame Minions) and power (Warmongers/Phoenixes), and his spells are incredibly powerful. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- COG (COST: 1 Soul) The Cog is Pyro's basic Melee creature, and is extremely similar to Charnel's Scythe. It has no special ability, but when it is killed it explodes into a cloud of steam that damages EVERYTHING nearby heavily. Try to send Cogs in big groups, and when one dies, they'll all explode in a chain reaction and take out a bunch of enemies. Don't forget to grab the soul again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- FLAME MINION (COST: 1 Soul) Flame Minions are the basic Ranged creature, and are just about the same as James' Earthflings. Similar looks and everything, they're even related in the manual. They have the Run Away special ability, like the Silverback and Frostwolf, so they can get into or out of a hairy situation when they need to. Make sure to keep Manahoars nearby to recharge them from all that shooting and running. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- SPITFIRE (COST: 1 Soul) Spitfires are Pyro's basic Air minion. If you've fought Sorcha in the Single-player mode, you've probably noticed that she summons a horde of these, and when you're with Pyro you should do the same. They fire a flame blast that adds up in damage when more Spitfires are attacking at once. Spitfires can't take much punishment, but the enemy will probably focus attacks on your Cogs, anyway. 6 or 7 Spitfires combined with a few Flame Minions and Cogs is just about unstoppable, especially when you can start adding in stronger units. These are probably my favorite creature in the game - it seems that the attack power of a flame blast doubles when a Spitfire attacks with another, and keeps doubling as the blasts add up. Enough Spitfires will make you a literally unstoppable force! Forget the Cogs and Flame Minions! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- TICKFERNO (COST: 2 Souls) The Ranged Tickferno is similar to the Vortick of Stratos, except that this shoots a heat ray at enemies. The heat ray pretty much obliterates all the Mana of whatever creature it hits as well as doing a goodly sum of damage, making the Tickferno great for fighting wizards or other Ranged creatures. The heat ray takes awhile to charge, so make sure to keep Tickfernos in groups of 2 or 3 where each can shoot while the other charges. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- FIREFIST (COST: 2 Souls) Firefists are mutated versions of Persephone's Trolls. They are good Melee fighters, but have no special ability. The only unique thing about them is that as they get weaker, their attacks get stronger. This is a bit dangerous to play around with, as 2 souls is a bit expensive for something you'll be sending into a suicide mission. Backed up by Cogs, a Firefist can easily take out a group of Druids and Rangers or such. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- PYROMANIAC (COST: 3 Souls) The Ranged Pyromaniacs are alternate forms of Persephone's Gnomes, and work about the same way, with one notable exception: Their attack sets enemies on fire, similarly to the Rings of Fire spell. This does hordes of damage against single enemies, so try to keep Pyromaniacs around for when your opponent starts bringing out the 5-soul creatures. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- PYRODACTYL (COST: 3 Souls) Pyrodactyls are Air units and are very similar to Spitfires. They don't attack at a range, however, instead they swoop down to claw the enemy. They have a special ability that allows them to dump oil on foes, and this makes the next fire-based attack that hits the oily enemy to set them on fire, like the Pyromaniac's attack. Also, oily enemies are blind, meaning they lose their current orders and are rendered useless until the oil wears off (it takes quite awhile), making Pyrodactyls useful against big, strong 5-soul creatures. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- BOMBARD (COST: 4 Souls) Bombards are Pyro's version of the mountain lummox, and these throw bombs at enemies. The bombs knock enemies around, and are great for throwing things off of cliffs. Bombards can take a lot of punishment, like the Flurries of Stratos and the Flummoxes of James, however since they're Ranged units you'll want to keep them behind Melee units, in order to get the most out of their attack. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- WARMONGER (COST: 4 Souls) Warmongers are very strange, like a clown with tentacled legs and a machine gun. They (and I SWEAR I'm not making this up) PRANCE around the battlefield, it's quite humorous really. They sound (and act) like commandoes, and they're Ranged units due to the gun. They do quite a bit of damage, but it's disappointing when you use just one Warmonger, so make a bunch, or don't bother. They can use their Firewalk special ability to teleport around, making them good for setting up ambushes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- PHOENIX (COST: 5 Souls) Pheonixes are Air units, and look nothing like you'd expect a Phoenix to. They are huge insects with spinning pink feathers surrounding them, and fire a heat ray similar to the Tickferno's, but a LOT stronger. This makes them deadly single-enemy fighters, which is useful when you need someone to hassle an enemy wizard as you desecrate his Altar. As you'd expect for a 5-soul creature, Phoenixes can soak up plenty of damage, so feel free to send them on the front lines. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 3.5 Charnel Units ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Charnel's units are made for hit-and-run attacks, which never were my cup of tea, so to speak. If you want to play a long, dragged-out game, then Charnel's your man...er...god, as hit units usually do poisonous damage that lingers over time. All but the Netherfiend regenerate health when they attack, making them very resistant to dying (again). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- SCYTHE (COST: 1 Soul) Scythes are skulls with spinning blades on their heads, and regenerate health as they attack (as do most of Charnel's other units). This makes them the longest-lasting basic Melee unit out of the 5, as they just don't seem to die! Like any other basic unit, and like I've constantly said, use them in hordes for best results. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- FALLEN (COST: 1 Soul) Fallen are dead versions of James' Earthflings, and are Ranged units which attack by spitting bugs at enemies. Fallen can play dead, essentialy the same thing as Earthflings turning into rocks. This lets them heal themselves, and also allows them to set up ambushes, as you'll see in some of the Single-player missions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- LOCUST (COST: 1 Soul) These are Charnel's basic Air units, and make great practice dummies in the Tutorial missions :-) They attack by vaccuming up blood from enemies, and drain life and Mana with each attack (giving it to themselves!) making them good in swarms against wizards. Then again, wouldn't you EXPECT swarms of Locusts to be useful? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- NECRYL (COST: 2 Souls) Necryls are Ranged units that fire a poisonous bile at enemies. This slows the foes (hey, that rhymes!), as well as constantly doing damage over a short period of time. Necryls are wimpy, and will fall after 3 or 4 hits from most anything, so keep them in the back line away from combat. Poisoning enemies is good for drawing out a fight while you summon in reinforcements or use spells to damage foes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- BLIGHT (COST: 2 Souls) The Blight is a big, icky rotting vulture. It's an Air unit, as you'd expect, and does quite a bit of damage per hit. Of course, since it's rotting away to begin with, it can't take too many hits, but if you're careful with them that shouldn't matter that much. It regains health when attacking, like most of Charnel's critters, and it has the Blightmites special ability. This heavily slows down an enemy, and last for a loooong time, so make good use of it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- NETHERFIEND (COST: 3 Souls) Netherfiends are strong Melee troops, and they can become even stronger by eating blue souls using their special ability. Personally, I think this is a waste of a soul, since an eaten one NEVER comes back, even if the hungry Netherfiend is killed! Other than their appetite, Netherfiends aren't really that special, aside from a marked lack of health that can get them killed real fast. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- DEADEYE (COST: 3 Souls) The Ranged Deadeyes are undead versions of Persephone's Gnomes, and thus they work in much the same way. These shoot poisonous needles that, well, poison things. This poison does damage initially, and also throws off Ranged units' aim. This is very effective, and if that weren't enough the poison also stops the target from being healed for a time! These guys are great, use them whenever possible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- ABOMINATION (COST: 4 Souls) Abominations are Ranged units with a rather icky method of combat. They reach into their stomachs and throw their own intestines at the enemies! These globs will explode when they hit something, and shower the area with splash damage as well. These guys have crummy aim, and the globs can seriously harm your own creatures, so they're best used in pairs or such, in order to avoid killing your own units. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- STYX (COST: 4 Souls) The Styx is yet another Ranged unit. It throws bombs. LASER bombs (you need to see it to understand it...). The bombs it throws do a goodly amount of splash damage, making them useful in groups, as they don't seem to overly harm your own creatures. They also have cool voice samples. "I WANT YOUR ENERGYYYYY!!!!!" While I DID say that the Styx eats souls, I was wrong. That happens to me often (being wrong)... Instead of eating them, the Soul Rend ability causes a huge EXPLOSION OF DOOM!! FIRE! DEATH! KILLLLLL!!! Er, OK... Anyway, this EXPLOSION OF DOOM will most likely kill anything within, er... 3 or 4 Manaliths range, more if there is a 2, 3, 4, or 5 Soul bunch. Careful with 4 or 5 Soul bunches, since this will usually kill your Styx as well as anything nearby. Kudos to, you guessed it, Mike Pureka for bringing my error to my attention. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- HELLMOUTH (COST: 5 Souls) Hellmouths are Air units, and incredibly powerful ones at that. They shoot some sort of brown glop out of their mouths, and this does incredible damage for about 5 seconds to any one enemy. They can eat souls, just like the Styx and Netherfiend, but you see the most improvement here, making them the best gourmet cantidates. These guys are great, use them whenever possible. These guys have cool voice samples too. "NO MORTAL FORCE MAY HINDER ME!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 3. Spell Overview ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Each god grants their wizard a new spell each level, except at level 1, when the wizard starts with Heal, Speed Up, and that god's basic Attack spell, and level 8, when the wizard is awarded the 2 strongest Attack and Effect spells for that god. Spells cost Mana. It's that simple. I'm not going to list the Mana costs, as they're simply not important. You'll regenerate mana so fast that it doesn't really matter how much a spell costs. The Structure spells are all the same for each god. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 3.1 Persephone Spells ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Persephone's magic focuses on more non-lethal abilities (well, except possibly for Meanstalks, which impales enemies messily!), so it works well in dire defensive situations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- WRATH Wrath is Persephone's basic Attack spell, and it's really nothing special. You create a glowing light bullet, and throw it at an enemy. It homes in on foes, and it goes through obstactles, something no other basic spell does. Like all the basic spells, it works great for defeating enemy Sac-Doctors. If I'm not horribly mistaken, this spell's damage potential is just barely below Fireball's, making it the second-best basic Attack spell. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- ETHEREAL FORM Notice how, when you die, you essentialy become invincible? Spells and creature attacks go right through you! That's what this does, without the messy bit of dying. It's a great protection spell, even if it doesn't last as long, as, say, Protective Swarm. It's cheap, too, at 500 Mana! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- GRASPING VINES This spell holds a target in place. It's actually quite similar to Stratos' Freeze spell, except that this doesn't wear off when the target is attacked. Use it on creatures that tend to be a bit cowardly, like Manahoars. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- RAINBOW This spell causes a pretty rainbow to bounce between up to five of your creatures, casting the basic Heal spell on each one. This is awesome, since it costs the same 300 Mana as the basic Heal spell, and works EXTREMELY quickly. Use it often in huge battles. As the Rainbow only heals five creatures, make sure that the critters you wish to cure are extremely close to each other. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- RAIN OF FROGS Yes, that's right, Rain of Frogs. It does just what you think it does - summon a horde of ribbity vengance on the disbelievers! DIE, HERETICS! The frogs slow down the enemies they hit, but be careful, as they will also go for your creatures too! After about a minute of slowing folk down, they explode doing a goodly sum of damage to any enemy that they're touching. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- HEALING AURA This spell enchants a creature (including yourself) to heal themselves as well as any creature near it. This works best when cast on yourself or a tough or unique creature (like Sirocco) as they will last the longest to spread the healing to as many folk as possible. Healing doesn't affect enemies. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- VINEWALL This is similar to a wall of the Grasping Vines spell, and works about the same way. Anything it touches can't move for quite a bit of time, giving you a good chance to attack or retreat. Put a Vinewall in an enemy's path as they try to retreat for some fun, as well as a horde of free hits :-)! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- CHARM This spell converts an enemy to your side PERMANENTLY (well, as far as I can tell)! It's wonderful, making Persephone a great choice for Multiplayer. The only problem with this is that it takes about a minute to trigger after you select a target, but it will go through obstacles to reach the selected foe. Focus your efforts with this spell on the enemies 4- or 5-Soul creatures for best results, as there is no way to avoid the spell's effects (unless you are knocked out of your casting!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- MEANSTALKS This causes 4 beanstalks (about 20 feet tall each!) to grow out of the ground. Any creature that gets nearby ends up IMPALED on a Meanstalk and flung into the air (if getting impaled didn't gib them to begin with!). Try to avoid getting your own creatures near this, as it affects you also. If YOU get impaled on a Meanstalk, get ready to gain some frequent flyer miles... Oddly, the Meanstalks are rather docile to have such a painful means of attack, so if they're busy attacking your enemies, you shouldn't have to worry too much about them. My friend Jesse loves this spell, but he has the annoying habit of casting it too close to himself. Learn to avoid this, and cast it only when your foes are far away (a difficult task, as the spell doesn't have a long casting range!). I remember in particular a time when all 4 of Jesse's Ents were turuned into Ent-ka-bobs on some Meanstalks when he mistakenly cast it on himself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 3.2 James Spells ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- James' magic is mostly concerned with area-effect attacks. They're quite damaging to the terrain, leaving texture scars EVERYWHERE! With James' spells, you're pretty much aiming for a group of enemies, and you don't really care what happens to your own guys in the process. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- ROCK This is simple. You wave your hands and chant. You make a rock. You fling it at the enemy. Any questions? This is probably the least convinient basic Attack spell, since unlike Wrath, Insect Swarm, and others, the Rock is a physical object, meaning it can hit your own creatures. With flying creatures, you'll likely end up smacking yourself more times than you can count, so it's best to cast this when you're alone. The damage is somewhere between that of Wrath and Lightning Bolt. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- STONE SKIN A powerful protection spell, Stone Skin pretty much cuts all damage to you by 3/4 of the original damage! It's great, and lasts for a long time, and it doesn't take a long time to cast, and it's CHEAP! Follow the computer players' example, and try to keep this on at all times, especially when your altar is being desecrated, since it can keep you in the game long enough to prevent the desecration. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- SOUL MOLE Immensely useful. This spell sends out a burrowing mole to grab the blue soul of your choice. What the manual doesn't tell you is that the mole doesn't nesescarily have to burrow through LAND - you can easily get souls from creatues who were killed over one of those huge pits you see everywhere. This is great in "Always Gib" games, where any killed creature yields a blue soul. The mole is FAST, too (as long as you're standing a good distance away from the targeted soul), so don't worry about the "soul stealing" that the manual warns about. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- ERUPT This is the first scarring spell you get. It causes the targeted area to swweelll up like a volcano, then SLAM down, causing a shockwave to literally RIPPLE the nearby area and leaving a crater. It knocks over any creature near the shockwave, and enemies near the point of impact take quite a bit of damage. If an Air unit is near the center of the spell, they'll take damage too, but otherwise, they're immune to the effects of this spell. This spell works great when used in a big group of Cogs or Scythes or such, but be careful, since if you don't move away from the point of impact, you'll likely get yourself with the shockwave! If an enemy wizard is casting a spell and is knocked over, the spell fizzles out and all the Mana involved is wasted. This is a great use for Erupt, especially with spell-happy foes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- HALO OF EARTH Just like it sounds, this brings up some rocks to orbit your wizard's head. It makes about 5 or 6 rocks, and each one does approximately the damage of the Rock spell. The rocks fly off at any enemy that gets nearby. If no enemy gets close within about two minutes, the rocks disintegrate and the spell is wasted. I didn't find this spell especially useful, but it can make a good defense against Air attackers in certain situations. James' Rinok can cast this too, although his version is notably less powerful than this. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

WALL OF SPIKES

This makes a wall of rock spikes that's about 5 Manaliths wide (for lack 
of a better measuring unit :-). These actually impale any creatures that 
get neaby, including your own. Once again, they don't affect Air units, 
so birds and such can easily get by. This is a useful spell for when an 
enemy wizard is trying to prevent your desecration of his Altar. Simply 
barricade yourself in with a Wall of Spikes!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

BOMBARDMENT

This is an incredibly damaging spell, not just to the enemies, but to 
EVERYTHING nearby! It pulls up rocks from the ground and launches them 
at the targeted enemy (or area) for about a minute and a half. 
Ironically, the rocks hurt your creatures and you too, and the rocks 
that get pulled up always happen to be right where you're standing. 
These are very painful to anything they hit, and since the rocks all are 
concentrated in one area, this spell is great to use on a Manalith with 
a few Guardians. It'll usually seriously damage or kill most of the 
Guardians (as well as most of your force too! Use with caution!)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

BOVINE INTERVENTION

No, I'm not kidding. This summons, yes, a COW to fly through the air and 
obliterate the target area. Think of this as a mooing mortar. A really, 
really, REALLY powerful mooing mortar. It leaves a huge scar-crater 
where it hits, and delivers a TON of splash damage to anything near the 
area of impact. While this works great on computer opponents, humans 
will probably see the cow flying toward them (it does backflips and such 
as it dives!) and perform evasive actions, so try to get an element of 
suprise in with this spell. Manalith Guardians can't move, making them 
excellent target practice :-)!
Apart from the long time before the cow actually hits the ground, this 
is a generally ridiculous (as well as ridiculously powerful!) Attack 
spell, and should be put to good use against Manalith Guardians.

Mike Pureka says that Bovine Intervention gibs things, and, as usual, 
he's right...

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

BORE

This spell is the ultimate kill-all spell in James' arsenal. It makes a 
drill appear and slice open a 5 Manalith by 5 Manalith (approximately, 
and once again, I lack a better measuring unit!) area, and that area 
becomes a huge pit as the earth there falls away. Anything that is 
standing on a Bored area is instantly dumped into the hole. Creatures of 
any level are removed from the game, as well as their souls, and wizards 
are teleported to their altar. This is really a last-ditch spell, as 
EVERYTHING within the area of effect is simply decimated. It can't be 
used near a Manalith, and any neutral structures nearby are exempt from 
the spell's effect, so the ground they stand on stays where it is. This 
makes them a good shelter :-)
The effect of this spell is actually rather similar to what would happen 
to a creature tossed off a cliff by a Vortick or such, though this is 
quite a bit more far-ranging!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

3.3 Statos Spells

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

Stratos' spells mostly have to do with air and cold, as you would expect 
from the God of Air. The freezing property is common with Stratos' 
creatures and spells (it's not really that great...), as is the ability 
to attack more than one creature at once, so expect stuff like that 
here.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

LIGHTNING

This is simply a basic Attack spell, with the useful twist of being able 
to fry any creatures or structures between the lightning and its target 
(though this is a rather rare occurence if the enemies are anywhere near 
being spread out). To get the greatest effect, aim for the creature in 
the back of a group, while at the top of a hill. The lightning will arc 
down the hill and zap quite a few members of the enemy group.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

AIR SHIELD

A pretty basic protection spell, this is very similar to James' Shield 
of Earth. It makes a, well, Air Shield around you for a while, which 
reduces damage by quite a bit. It comes in handy on the off chance that 
you become the main target for enemies in a heated battle. My only qualm 
with this is the pitiful amount of time it lasts. Shield of Earth has a 
much longer duration, so it can be cast before combat, while this wears 
off in about 2 minutes. Pitiful!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

FREEZE

This simply does what it says - freezes the targeted enemy in it's 
tracks. This works on ANY enemy, and never 'miises' or such, so you're 
gar-un-teed to get an ice cube out of anything you fire this at. If you 
shoot it at a wizard casting a spell, the spell fizzles and all the Mana 
they were using to casts it fizzles as well, making them a prime target 
for Freezing. It's funny to Freeze a wizard who is conjuring a Manalith, 
as the 'Lith explodes into a billion little pieces :-)
The problem with Freeze is that the slightest attack made upon a Frozen 
creature results in the creature being instantly released from stasis 
(though the actual effect lasts a rather pitiful time anyway!). Thus, 
you want to get in a strong attack before the effect ends, like a 
Silverback blast or such.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

CHAIN LIGHTNING

Chain Lightning is about the same thing as a Lightning spell, with the 
notable distinction of zapping any enemies standing near or next to the 
target. This comes in handy when used on a horde of weaker minions, but 
is rather ineffective on stronger creatures. Try this on a group of 
enemy Manahoars to make a big mess!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

SOUL WIND

This conjures up a tiny tornado that rushes over to a blue Soul, grabs 
it, and brings it back over to you. This is great (though much more 
expensive than it's James counterpart, the Soul Mole), however it comes 
with an even more useful function: As it rushes over to grab the soul, 
it blasts any enemies that get too close with Lightning!
This makes it a more effective way to get Souls than the Soul Mole, as 
it can defend itself from Soul thieves. Like the Mole, this is one of 
the few ways 
to grab the souls of creatures that were killed over chasms.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

FROZEN GROUND

Remember Zelda: Ocarina of Time? Remember how one of the bosses fired a 
beam at you? Remember how the beam made a big area of ice that froze you 
when you touched it? NO?! Well, that's what this does. Essentially, it's 
an area-effect Freeze spell, which makes it great as a combo spell. 
Simply freeze the ground around a group of foes, and cast Chain 
Lightning to make some havoc! Wheeeee!
Like the Freeze spell, this is cancelled if the foe-sicle is attacked, 
as well as thawing after about 10 seconds, so make your move quickly! 
The actual frozen area of ice lasts quite a while, so it's a better 
choice than Freeze against even single enemies.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

FENCE

OK, if you don't remember Ocarina of Time, than you HAVE to remember 
NetStorm! Remember how some of the buildings made a defensive barrier? 
Remember how the Thunder version of the barrier shot lightning at folks? 
NO?! Well, this is just about the same as that!
A big wall made of floating spheres appears. Any enemy that gets too 
close to this wall is zapped with a strong Lightning bolt. It lasts an 
abnormally long time, making it good to prevent enemy retreats, though 
it can cause friendly fire! Be careful!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

CLOUDKILL

This makes an odd void in the sky that absolutely CHARBROILS anything 
standing nearby with Lightning! It does a massive amount of damage to a 
huge radius of foes, so the only complaint you could possibly have here 
is the ridiculous charging time or the fact that the Lightning seems to 
hunt out your own creatures for destruction :-)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

TORNADO

Stratos' Ultimate spell, Tornado does just what it sounds like - it 
makes a tornado. This is a MASSIVE tornado (In scale, think of Pyro's 
Volcano spell. If you've never seen that, think Twister, only MORE so!) 
that gets anything within about a 6 or 7 Manalith radius and literally 
FLINGS them about 5 Manaliths away! You're almost garunteed to get 
yourself in this spell, as well as most of your minions, unless you 
order your troops into Semicircle formation, have them Guard you, and 
you start RUNNING as soon as your spell finishes. This spell actually 
does relatively little damage compared to, say, Meanstalks, but the main 
purpose of it is to throw folks into chasms, as well as dividing enemy 
forces in order to make them easier to beat.

Mike Pureka adds that if you cast Tornado further away from yourself, 
you won't catch yourself in it. Duh. Am I stupid or what? ;-)

He adds that if you catch up an enemy wizard in it, you can distract 
them for quite a while, making it good for Desecration.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

3.4 Pyro Spells

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

Pyro's spells, as you would expect from the God of Fire, all have to do 
with damaging the enemy. Even the Protection spell, Fireform, is more of 
a "keep-them-away" spell rather than a "less-damage-to-you" spell, know 
what I mean?

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

FIREBALL

This makes a meteor and flings it at the target. That's it. It, unlike 
Rock, goes through your own creatures in order to strike the target, and 
does minor splash damage. Most any 1-Soul creature will die from Pyro's 
basic Attack spell.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

FIREFORM

A Protection spell in only the strictest definiton of the term. You 
become surrounded by fire, and this does a huge amount of damage to 
anyone dumb enough to get close to you. Try setting this spell on, and 
then running into a group of puny enemies or Manahoars. This is a great 
way to 'soften up' enemy forces before a direct assault, but don't 
forget that if they kill you, you're just Desecration fodder!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

RINGS OF FIRE

This is sort of like a faster-acting 'Poison' effect. The target is 
surrounded by rings of fire which quickly drain away life at about 1/4th 
every 10 seconds to a normal foe. This will go on until the target is 
dead (for weak minions) or about 1/2 of the life is gone for a stronger 
critter. This is effective on things like Ents or Styxes, which, while 
strong, can't take too much punishment.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

DRAGONFIRE

A pretty flashy Attack spell that creates a dragon out of fire. The 
dragon then slams into an enemy 3 times before dissipating. If the 
target dies, it picks a new target.
I don't know why, but I never found this very useful. It just doesn't do 
enough damage to be worthwhile. Cast it at least once to see the awesome 
animation, though...

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

EXPLOSION

This makes 6 fire spheres appear in a ring formation. They grow, and, 
after a few seconds, explode. This flings any nearby creatures up, up, 
upppp into the air (and, if you're lucky, off a nearby cliff!). Manalith 
Guardians are tossed around like a Chihuaua in a wind tunnel (Good 
analogy, huh? Even if I DID spell 'Chihuaua' wrong), and that's just 
about worth the price of admission in itself! Add to that the huge 
amount of damage it does, and you've got a great often-used spell.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

RAIN OF FIRE

This is similar to Stratos' Cloudkill, except instead of raining 
Lightning, we get raining Fireballs. These are *PAINFUL* when used on a 
massed force of foes, and produce lots of gibbed enemies (and blue 
Souls!). Don't try casting this in a big fight - it takes too long.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

BLIND RAGE

The target enemy goes to work wreaking havoc on the nearest creature, be 
it friend or foe. Cast this on a Hellmouth or Phoenix or such and watch 
the fireworks! It's pretty quick, relatively, to cast, especially when 
you consider the time it takes to conjure up the next spell...

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

VOLCANO

This spell makes the ground spell up under the target. After it gets 
about 1 Manalith high, it EXPLODES, firing a massive tower of liquid 
lave into the sky (which DEFORMS the sky, BTW!) and launching lava rocks 
everywhere. This causss carnage - there's no other way to put it. 
Anything within a 4-Manalith radius is dead meat. If there's anything 
actually TOUCHING the lava, grab a shovel and a priest - they're NOT 
coming back. Only the Phoenix and perhaps a wizard with full health can 
survive touching the lava for long. This is truly a last-ditch spell - 
put your units in Semicircle formation before casting it, have them 
guard you, and FALL BACK after the casting is over, if you want any of 
your minions to live through the havoc. Yay for havoc.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

3.5 CHARNEL SPELLS

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

Charnel's spells are mainly used for slowing down, poisoning, or 
'draining' health from enemies. Charnel mostly has to focus on using his 
creatures for direct damage.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

INSECT SWARM

This is Charnel's basic Attack spell. It summons up a horde of insects 
that run into the targeted enemy, and do a minor amount of damage. This 
teensy-weensy amount of damage is given to you as healing. Whoopee. This 
really isn't worth the time it takes to click on the icon.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

PROTECTIVE SWARM

This is similar to Insect Swarm, except here the insects are centered 
around you. Anything that gets too close has their health drained and 
given to you. Yay for extra health. This is a lot better than Insect 
Swarm, AND the shield of insects reduces damage given to you by quite a 
bit, and lasts a long time. Definately bind it to a hotkey or such.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

SLIME

This creates a glob of slime to slow the enemy down. This can heavily 
annoy faster creatures, and slows down already slow creatures to a 
crawl. Not only that, but it also heavily reduces the damage the target 
can do, and decreases their defense. Yay for reducing defense. Use this 
on tough foes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

ANIMATE DEAD

This does just what it says it does - when cast on a blue soul (and I 
mean a FRIENDLY blue soul - no cheating by gibbing enemies!) it bring 
the creature back to life. This is cheap mana-wise and usually saves a 
lot more time (well, as long as you used a hotkey to start up the spell) 
than resummoning the creature, so it can be useful in a big battle to 
bring back your more powerful creatures.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

DEMONIC RIFT

This makes a portal under you, which launches about 7 pink missiles 
(demons?) to attack the targeted enemy and anyone nearby. This is 
immensely painful when used on weaker creatures, and makes a huge mess 
even when used on tougher foes. The only (slight) problems with this bit 
of magic is the long casting and charging times, but that can be 
overcome with strategy. Use this often.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

WAILING WALL

This makes a big red wall in the targeted area. Anything coming into the 
wall has their health and Mana reduced by quite a bit. Lesser Ranged and 
Flying creatures often find themselves without ANY Mana to fight with, 
and wizards have a biiig problem on their hands if they happen to go in. 
It lasts for a long time, too, making it great for stopping an enemy 
charge or softening up a tough attacking force.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

PLAGUE

This opens a rift in the air above the targeted foes, out of which drop 
blobs of nasty red goo, doing initial damage heavily poisoning anything 
they touch, reducing it's health steadily. Unlike most games, there's no 
cure for poison here, making this a great choice for stationary Guardian 
creatures (who can't dodge the goo!) This affects your own creatures 
too, so be careful!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

INTESTINAL VAPORIZATION

I think I spelled that right. This is like a heavily charged-up version 
of a basic Attack spell. It does massive damage to one targeted 
creature, making it good on only tougher foes (anything less is a 
waste). For the damage it does, this takes wayyyy too much Mana and has 
too long a charging time. Use it as support in battles if you must use 
it.

Technically, this spell is closer to a supercharged Rings of Fire - it 
does direct damage, plus kills in about 5 seconds, no matter what. Guess 
who told me that? That's right - Mike Pureka. Kudos to him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

DEATH

This summons Death, who's a Manalith tall (bigger than any other 
creature in the game!). Death goes on a rampage, slicing enemies into 
tiny chunks. One hit from those scythes he has for hands is enough to 
kill ANYTHING! After Death finishes ravaging all nearby enemies, he then 
turns and attacks YOUR creatures, so watch out! Make sure not to be too 
close to Death when he's done! Death refuses to lay a finger on wizards 
or structures, however he WILL attack Guardian creatures. 
Death leaves after about a minute, which is more than enough to massacre 
a horde of enemies, no matter how strong. Do NOT try to use death on any 
small forces or such, since he'll decide your own guys are more tasty 
than the enemy, and go after you!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

4. Walkthrough

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

4.1 Persephone Missions

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

Mission 1

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

Persephone's starting mission places you in control of a small force in 
Elysium, Persephone's home plane. Your job is to take your little group 
and placidate the Gnomes, who are warring in a region called Pelannon.

To begin with, cap the Mana fountain nearby with a Manalith. Easy 
enough, no? Make 2 Manahoars, order them to Guard you, and go along the 
dirt road in front of the Manalith you just made. Eventually, you'll 
come across a village. There you'll meet a Gnome, who'll join you. What 
a pal. Gnomes are good Ranged fighters, especially at the moment when 
you can't get anything better.

Follow the path again, fighting off any puny Charnel creatures until you 
reach two fighting gnomes. You talk them out of fighting automatically, 
and they also join you. Now you're beginning to get a sizable army, and 
it'll be even larger if you Convert the red souls from Charnel's puny 
minions.

Continue, once again, along the path, until you get to the last village 
on the island. Feastus, the rogue Gnome, is there, and he decides to 
stop going rougue, so to speak, and rejoin Persephone. There's a minor 
fight with more Charnel critters here, but nothing that anything smarter 
than a lump of Brie couldn't handle.

Yay, you've won the first mission, possibly the most minor 
accomplishment in any game, ever!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
 
MORE COMING SOON!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

4.2 James Missions

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

Mission 1

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----


James' mission is my favorite of the 5, due to the fact that James is 
well, such a nice down-to-EARTH guy, and it's easy :-)

You begin with a little girlie army. Take these pitiful minions and cap 
the Mana fountain with a Manalith. Make 2 Manahoars for all your Mana 
needs, and move along to the EAST if the Manalith is SOUTH to reach a 
village.

Here, you'll meet some villagers who'll tell you about dragons attacking 
their village. Easy enough to defend them from anything that comes by...

When you're done there, head to the points of light. Those are the 
dragon dens the villagers were telling you about. It's a simple task to 
smash up the baby Dragons that attack and crush the dens with an iron 
fist.

When you've taken out all the dens, and after a short cinema scene, this 
mission's over, and you've won. Dance a dance of victory, and send me 
all the money that relatives send you as congratulations, since you KNOW 
I am what allowed you to do this.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

MORE COMING SOON!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

3.3 Stratos Missions

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

Mission 1

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

Stratos has the least combat-intensive mission - you only fight about 3 
times the whole time, and otherwiee you're either walking or talking. 
Easy enough.

You meet Sara Bella at the start of this mission, and she appears to be 
a giant, flying blue beehive with bat wings. Rather strange, if you ask 
me. Sara Bella is very annoying, as she will fly in the way of your 
camera at all costs to herself, obsuring your vision. Make her stay on 
point or something so you can see, or keep the view zoomed in and watch 
the framerate slow to a crawl.

Cap the Mana fountain with a Manalith, make 2 Manahoars, etc. etc. If 
you read the above missions, you'll note you're pretty much doing the 
same thing each time you start out. Whatever...

Now, our job is to go to the points of light and cap the Mana fountains. 
The capping of the fountains is actually unnescesscary, since all that's 
really happening is Sara Bella examining the ghost haunts that the light 
points indicate. The entire Manalith thing is just to occupy ourselves.

You might encounter some Scythes and Locusts on the way to each point, 
and maybe a Fallen or two. Don't worry - Sara Bella could take these out 
single-handedly, but doesn't need to since you start with a meager troop 
selection.

When you've finished looking at each ghost haunt, including the biiiig 
temple in the northeast, you win. Get some friends together and stage a 
gala ball congratulating yourself on this achievment.

If you finished this mission quickly, Stratos will grant you a boon - 
more Mana capacity, or more Speed. I'd take the Speed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

MORE COMING SOON!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

3.4 Pyro Missions

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

Mission 1

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

Pyro's missions, as you'd expect from the God of Fire, are pretty much 
entirely combat-oriented, and the first one is no exception.

Cap the Mana fountain with a Manalith, summon 2 Manahoars, and take them 
and your starting troops down the path. When you reach a bridge, a Druid 
there doesn't like the idea of you crossing. Politely chastise him, with 
a subtle method such as dismemberment, before he gets the chance to 
summon his friends, all their friends, all the extended families of 
those friends, and the population of Russia on you.

Blow up the Manalith here and recap it with your own. Don't bother using 
Guardians - it's literally impossible to lose this mission. Follow the 
path, slaying Persephone critters along the way, until you reach a 
village with the Daven Tree. As you might recall, your job is to BURN 
the Daven Tree.

This is the only starting mission that introduces you to one of 
Sacrifice's more intriguing aspects - you can switch sides in mid-
mission in most cases. You are given a choice - burn the tree, or side 
with Persephone and protect it?

Siding with Persephone results in all of your Pyro creatures turning 
against you and getting teleported away. They'll be back, so summon some 
more to get ready. Also, the Druids and Rangers here will be on your 
side now. Kill your former minions to win.

Staying with Pyro is easier - kill the druids, burn the tree. It's 
really that easy.

If you stay with Pyro, make a point of killing all the Peasants here. 
Charnel will grant you a boon for such 'art', and you are given the 
choice of more Mana capacity or more Damage Resistance. I'd take the 
Resistance.

You win. Do the Macarana.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

MORE COMING SOON!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

4.5 Charnel Missions

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

Mission 1

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

Charnel's missions fall into two categories - "KILL SOMETHING" or 
"BANISH SOMEONE". Well, they have fancier descriptions, but it really 
just boils down to that.

In this mission, you need 12 Fallen to scare away a Dragon guardian the 
Ragman, and you need to keep a big Scythe named Gangrel alive to cut the 
Ragman's chains. Who the Ragman is, and why he's so darn important, will 
be explained later.

For now, cap the Mana fountain with a Manalith, summon 2 Manahoars, and 
move out with your minions. Any puny fiends that attack you will 
immediately meet Gangrel's business end, and will from then on cease to 
annoy you.

Charnel says that if you need souls to help with your 12 Fallen, to kill 
the Zombies. DON'T! Let them live for now! Trust me.

Instead, convert any and all enemy creatures. When you've got them all, 
that should be just about enough for the 12th Fallen, so take it to the 
Ragman's cave. In a Cinema scene, you DON'T watch the awesome battle in 
the cave, and later the Ragman appears unharmed. He thanks you, leaves, 
and since you showed mercy to the Zombies Persephone grants you a boon.

Persephone will give you either increased Life capacity, or a faster 
regeneration rate when you die. As you'd expect, the regeneration rate 
is more useful, so I usually take that.

You win! Call the relatives, we're havin' a hodown!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

5. Hints and Tips

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

*Manahoars cannot fight, period. Do NOT send them into ANY combat 
situation, period. Do NOT allow them to be targeted by magic, period.

*Most human enemies will not heavily use Guardians, and you shouldn't 
either. While they become very strong as Guardians, most creatures won't 
stand up to the punishment they'll take due to not being able to avoid 
enemy attacks. Also, the creatures' souls are pretty much wasted, as 
they can no longer fight for you. Guardian cannot turn the tide of a 
battle, but used carefully it CAN improve a winning situation.

*Basic Attack spells will kill Sac-Doctors instantly. Period. This is 
great, since killing a Sac-Doctor running away to Convert one of your 
creatures will instantly resurrect that creature with half it's max 
health and without you having to pay a heavy Mana or Soul cost. For this 
reason, it's good to cast Speed Up or such on your own Doctors to 
protect them from attackers, though it's not nescesscary to escort them 
to a conversion. If you feel they need an escort, order your creatures 
to Guard them by right-clicking on them. Set guarding you as a Waypoint 
with a shift-right-click on yourself, and they will return to you when 
the conversion is over.
During a Desecration, killing ANY of the Desecrating Doctors will stop 
the ceremony (but free the creature being sacrificed!) so go out of your 
way to protect your Doctors in such a situation.

*Speaking of Desecrations, ANY creature belonging to you can be used as 
a Sacrifice, even a Manahoar or such, but a stronger creature will cause 
the ceremony to finish faster. When a wizard whose altar is being 
desecrated dies, the ceremony finishes, and the more souls a creature 
has, the more damage the ceremony does to the enemy.

*If YOUR Altar starts being Desecrated (Heaven forbid!), you are 
instantly brought back to life if you are dead, so get to stopping it! 
If you die again, you're OVER, so be CAREFUL!

*You can't cast direct Attack spells on your own guys, but physical 
spells (like Rock) WILL hit them, so move them out of the way!

*It's better to have many 1-Soul creatures than one 5-Soul one, but 2 5-
Souls can kill at least 10 1-Soul ones, so try to get a good mix in.

*ALWAYS keep the Heal spell at the ready (H Key by default) in case a 
Desecration starts and you need to stay alive to stop it.

*NEVER allow an open Mana fountain to STAY open. Stick a Manalith on it, 
pronto, if only to distract your enemy for a moment while you can set up 
an assault!

*The Flummox, Flurry, and Bombard have attacks that'll hit ANYTHING in 
their way, so try to keep your own guys out of the line of fire (The 
Flurry can be particularly dangerous, as its attack tends to throw 
things off of cliffs!). Other Missile units usually won't hit your own 
creatures with attacks.

*I prefer keeping the camera zoomed out as far as possible. Not only 
will this improve the framerate on most machines, it gives you the best 
possible view of the battlefield.

*Vorticks, Tickfernos, and Scarabs, among other creatures, use a Beam 
attack that will hit any ENEMY creature (well, FRIENDLY creature in the 
Scarab's case) that gets in the way, but WON'T hit friendly ones (Or 
enemies for the Scarab)

*Send in your tips to cgalliher@cablespeed.com!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

6. Credits/People I Don't Like (PIDL)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

This FAQ was made by Katman (cgalliher@cablespeed.com). So says 
Nekomata, and Nekomata may always be trusted.

Mike Pureka contributed the largest amount ever to this FAQ, which isn't 
that big a milestone since no one else has contributed. I've said it 
before and I'll say it again - KUDOS TO MIKE PUREKA! His only fault is 
that he attempted to compare the Playstation2 to the Dreamcast, and that 
certainly angers Nekomata.

In any case, all my FAQs have now been 'adopted' by some frequent 
contributor. For Fallout 2, it was Ari. For Azure Dreams GBC, it was 
Steven Lai. For Sanity, it was Ben Harris and Deus Noctis, and here it's 
Mike Pureka. Kudos to all of them.

*I don't like Jay Leno, instead I like Letterman. If you want to discuss 
their respective qualities, feel free to write me!

*I don't like country music. Some people do - more power to 'em.

*I don't like Fear Effect or it's sequel. They're too hard.

*I don't like Saga Frontier 1, though 2 is actually pretty good.

*I don't like it when people bug me about my opinions of the Sega 
Dreamcast. If it's such a crappy system that they gave up producing it, 
am I not justified in saying it's crappy?

More later, assuming anyone gets on my nerves again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

7. More Katman Projects/About The Katman

------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

Katman is a 14-year old guy living in the vicinity of Spain. If you 
don't like the fact that he's 14, well, tough cookies, and don't bother 
writing him.

Katman has written FAQs on Azure Dreams GBC, Fallout 2, and Sanity: 
Aiken's Artifact. Read them.

Katman is working on FAQs for Persona, Robopon - Sun Version, Metal 
Walker, and Dragon Warrior Monsters. Await them with bated breath, 
assuming he ever gets around to finishing them.

Katman has a fan club called the Katkateers, which you can join if you 
ask nicely.

Katman's favorite games at the moment are Oni, Sacrifice, Silhouette 
Mirage (the best game of all time!), and Final Fantasy Tactics. Oh yeah, 
Persona 2 is awesome too.

Katman's least favorite games at the moment are Fear Effect, Dune 2000, 
and anything involving sports.

Katman has won the FAQ bounty for Sanity: Aiken's Artifact. Congratulate 
him.

Speaking of Katman's Sanity FAQ, do you suddenly feel a huge, crushing 
need to read it in Croatian? Go to 'www.gamenet.hr' to do so, though 
Katman himself can't read Croatian...

This FAQ is copyright Cory Garett Galliher, 2001. All Rights Reserved. 
If you post this without asking, you will be shot. Or I'll cast 
Intestinal Vaporization on you. If you ask, you will be approved with a 
smile. Now how much of a moral dillema is that?

Oh, one last thing... go to 'benjita.terrashare.com/dbzrpg.html'...I 
play as Nail, say 'Hi!'