what's the deal with the calculator

[arcdragon9]

well, what is it. i've never had one nor fought one. so what do they do

[Pancaek]

A Calculator is like some kind of uber-mage. It can use most spells from the Wizard, Priest, Time Mage and Oracle classes in combination with Math Skill. Math Skill multiplies a value (experience, height, level or CT) with a number (prime numbers, 3, 4 or 5), and every unit that meets the requirements becomes a target. It's usually a bit sloppy (often both enemies and allies will be targeted, or not all the units you want will be targeted), so to prevent that you have to be very careful about height placement, or else be cheap and give your units Chameleon Robes while blasting everyone with Holy. =P Calculators themselves have crappy stats, so once you've mastered it it's best to give Math Skill to someone with better magic.

[Gregory]

Or MP Switch/Move MP UP combo works too. And do not forget EXCALIBUR/HOLY COMBO! Absorbs a major powered up Holy. Base your equiopment on Magic Attack bonuses. Magic Gauntlets work wonders later on. You can eitehr get a Deep Dungeon Excalibur or strip one off Cid. ....You know what I mean, jerks!... For Calculators, combos are your only source. Wave goodbye to those basic Black Mage skills... heh heh heh.

[Halenite]

Calculators (along with Beowulf) are great for turning enemies in the Deep Dungeon into chickens while trying to find the "path that leads further on"

[crono_logical]

If you're good at Maths, you can usually find way of targeting who you want without getting your own team members most of the time without being careful about where you place them or what they're equipped with etc., you just work out which combination need to be used in the Maths skill on the spot :p

[Nakor TheBlue Rider]

I usually can't be bothered trying to work out the math....

So i choose all the stuff I want and see who its gonna hit....

If I don't like who it hits I go back and Change the multipliers or somthing....

[Advent Child]

Math Skill multiplies a value (experience, height, level or CT) with a number (prime numbers, 3, 4 or 5), and every unit that meets the requirements becomes a target.
so.. what is it that the value has to equal? I don't quite understand.

[Mwork]

Whatever parameters you choose determine who gets targetted.

Exp. 3 Holy makes it so every unit on the board who has Experience that's a multiple of 3 becomes a target.

Level 4 Cure targets everyone who has a level that's a multiple of 4.

And so on.

[crono_logical]

Say you choose height, 4, Holy, that'll result in Holy getting cast on everything on a floor with height 4,8 or 12 (can't remember about 0, or if 16 exists) on the entire screen regardless of the team. Or experience, prime, cure will cast cure on everyone that has a prime number as their experience (not level), again ignoring which team they're on. I think I found going by experience tended to give the best selection of targets more often than for other things.


Edit: Freaky, we both chose Holy and Cure as our examples xD

[black orb]

>>> Is Better choose CT - 5/4/3, that way you can target all the enemies and your characters too, is useful if all your party absorb some elemental magic like fire3 or ice3 (youll make damage and heal all your party in each turn), with holy use CT-3 at the beginning, youll target all the enemies and just one of your characters, also at the beginning you can kill all the undead using CT-5/4/3+raise2.. also dont use Calculators for do Math (Calculators are too slow), use all chemist or white mage with "math skill" attached.. its like cheat :D

[Chzn8r]

Put them on auto battle and they calculate the best tactic (by AI standards, it may not be what you want) for you in seconds.