0. 2 Description 3 Credits
Download 5.74 Mb.
|
| Man's drain tolerance makes drain seem like free points. Knowing your research will be roughly the same whether you have drain 3 or neutral magic scales makes taking magic 1 seem like it costs 160 design points rather then the usual 40. Most other factions will get magic scales and pay for them with heat or cold scales. If Cealum gets magic 1, then their cost effective researchers go from 4 to 5. With only 40 design points, Caelum now forces Man to buy yet another castle in order to match their research. That's 5 castles to their 2.
Personally I think this is okay. Man should build more castles and be making more magisters anyhow. Even those magisters without any magic skills are a great resource. Besides, Man's best researchers only require a castle. No lab and no temple. Simply build a castle in walking distance to the nearest laboratory and start the research machine. If done right, the slow beginning that Man suffers, and the national research disadvantage they have, should be countered by their massive commander output. 8.23.2.1.5 The Third Weakness of Man: Magic Skill --- When it comes to Magic, you must get use to the idea of doing a lot with very little. You will have a lot of judges and magisters and likely a handful of magister arcanas. It would be nice to have a lot of mages like the magister arcana, but they are in many cases a huge liability. They are old, frail, slow, and have a large upkeep for very average research. To top it all off they are easily killed off with Magic Duel (Evocation 3). 7 out of 8 magisters will have just enough astral to engage in a duel with the least possible chance of winning. For me, every time I make a magister arcana it becomes a big deal as I just sunk 250 gold into a unit that might get instantly killed in battle or who might just up and die on his own. Magisters and judges on the other hand are cheap and should be in abundance. The problem is none of these plentiful mages will have more then one skill level in any magic path. Aside from forming a massive communion (Thuamaturgy 1), your spell options will be very limited. Finding mages for a communion is also problematic as only 1 in 4 magisters can actually participate. What about boosting? Well the paths on the magisters and judges are so low that battlefield boosting is extremely limited. Judges can't cast Phoenix Power (Conjuration 3) and there is no magic spell for boosting death. As for the magister, they can't use Summon Earth Power (Conjuration 3), they can only boost air during a Storm (Evocation 5) with Storm Power (Conjuration 3), which runs counter to longbow and crossbow effectiveness, and though they can use Power of the Spheres (Conjuration 3) to boost all their paths, the wasted round, gems, and fatigue does make it very unappealing. If your casting Power of the Spheres, you are likely to be unable to cast anything else. You could scrape together a communion and then apply the boosting spells. In truth though I don't think that Man can afford to field several dozen communion mages with every army. The real problem is that Man's strength doesn't really offer an easy solution to this problem. Instead I would say that this problem falls on your god and your research more then it does on anything else. As Man you have to choose your research path carefully and go immediately for army killing spells. Spells like Earthquake, Wrathful Skies, and Rain of Stones (Evocation 5, 6, and 7 respectively) can be cast with just one magister arcana and a handful of magisters in a communion. The trick is that you'll need to guard these mages from their own spells either with items or with buffing spells. Buffs cost rounds and items cost gems, but both cost additional research. 1 in 8 magister arcanas can cast Seeking Arrow (Enchantment 3). Yet, as far as assassination goes, seeking arrow might be the weakest ritual one could cast. Enhanced with a Crystal Coin and Starshine Skullcap (Construction 4 and 6 respectively) 1 in 8 magisters can Mindhunt (Evocation 6 and Thaumaturgy 2/5). Against a handful of thugs you can cast Aim (Alteration 1) and Gifts from Heaven (Evocation 5). If you need a lot of artilary you can improve everyones aim with the classic Man spell, Wind Guide (Alteration 4). In truth the magister arcana in a communion can cast a great number of spells, but, as I said, large communions are difficult with this nation and so it is best to stick to spells that you only need to cast once or twice so you can keep the communions as small as possible. The one agreement I have with the book is that the magister arcanas are versatile. Yet, as I' have explained, they are more often then not a liability. They also aren't nearly as good on their own. This starts to show when you face up against nations like Vanheim. You've got archers and knights and they generally have skinshifters. You cast Aim and they cast both Mist (Evocation 3) and Storm. Try to match them Thunder Strike for Thunder Strike (Evocation 4) and you will lose. If their units close with yours, you will generally lose. This is just a fact of Man. In my opinion it is better to have your main force side-step nations like Vanheim, have a small communion meet them on the defense,and cast rain of stones several times and retreat. In my opinion Man needs to play dirty. They need to avoid confrontation and deal with problems using battlefield damage spells and army killing ritual spells. Man's primary forces, after side-stepping, should strike at unprotected provinces and use sneaking magisters to help capture forts quickly. The one helpful thing about the strength of Man is that you can afford to let the enemy stomp around in your own lands more then he can allow you to stomp around in his. This allows you more time to devise a solution to the problem. Even Ermor is limited in what they can do. Though they can still create ghouls, raise taxes, patrol, and preach their dominion in a province with your castle, what they can't do is pillage, which is the fastest way to ruin your province's population with an army. There is some other good news, magisters and judges are not completely useless. In my opinion, magisters with air or astral, and judges with death are your best support mages. Magisters with air can cast lightning orb (Evocation 5) for short range AN damage support. The astral mages can buff mounted knights with Body Etheral (Alteration 3) and Luck (Alteration 4). The judges with death magic can spam Frighten (Thuamaturgy 1) against regular units and Dust to Dust against the undead. They can also stop most anything else with enough castings of Ghost Grip (Conjuration 5). The magisters with earth can also lend support with short ranged debuffs like Earth Grip and Armor of Achilles (Alteration 1 and 2 respectively). Though I prefer to have them remain as researchers. The judges with fire magic can eventually be real useful once Blindness (Alteration 6) has been researched. If you manage a judge with both fire and death, then you can use a Skull of Fire (Construction 6) to boost a judge to fire 2. After casting Phoenix Power (Conjuration 3) and using 2 fire gems, Man can naturally cast Flamming Arrows (Enchantment 4). If you manage a magister arcana with fire magic, then you can do the same or communion to cast the powerful archery buff spell. The remaining options that Man has in order to deal with invading armies is mostly left up to their god. 8.23.2.1.6 Pretender Design --- I'm not one for telling people what they should use as their god. At the same time I understand that some people just want to be told what works. The book has suggested that Man can use a stationary god if given good scales. I personally think that Man benefits best from a god that is mobile. The more mobility the better. The reason is that Man's god should add battlefield options that don't come naturally to the nation. Spells that your magisters can cast won't always do the job or the enemy might have powerful astral mages and can pick apart your communioned magister arcanas. Now a stationary god can support by casting some of the nasty army killing spells from afar, but, more often then not, it becomes more cost effective on your gem income to show up and cast spells in battle. I will continue to insist on taking Order 3 and Growth 3, yet that's because I prefer to take the money aspect of the strategy to it's extreme, thus taking the castle aspect as far as it can go. A rainbow god, or simply a god with a few strong magic skills, is what Man really needs in my opinion. This means avoiding gods like the Wyrm and Manticore. I generally avoid designing a bless around Man's sacred units. The wardens are great at stealth raiding, but they are also slow and capitol only. You could amass a lot of the sacred hounds, but I'm not a fan of the bless options for these units and I think the gems could be spent elsewhere more effectively. Death and nature gems are always in short supply and could be used to make powerful magic items and powerfully diverse mages to supplement your national ones. Yet, while I'm talking about nature and death, I will say that I am in favor of a small bless that aids your magister arcanas via Shrouds of the Battle Saint (Construction 4). A nature and death bless, even at it's lowest levels, are both a great boon to the magister arcana. The nature bless can help them avoid getting diseased and thus extend their usefulness. The death bless is the only bless capable of adding effectiveness to damage spells by having them cause greater affliction. A death bless can make Rain of Stones horribly effective against unarmored opponents and even a ritual like Seeking Arrow can be transformed from a lame assassination spell into a reliable long range affliction spell usable on any SC. It would likely be wise to place some nature magic on your god anyhow as independent nature mages can sometimes be hard to find and most aren't capable of much. Man is probably the only nation that gets gem income that doesn't correspond to the magic skills that have available. Nature is also a good magic paths all around. An once of air magic combined with death magic could also provide greater mobility via Cloud Trapeze (Enchantment 4) and increase the number of effective battlefield spells your god can have at his/her disposal. If your desire is to bolster the magister arcana and keep them from being Magic Dueled to death, you could also take a powerful, yet mobile, astral god. Every magic skill has something to offer, but I think it best to focus on ways your god can cripple invading armies and bolster your national mages. 8.23.2.1.7 Tips on Expansion --- Now I've said that production, as a scale, was an option. By the mid-game you will have an abundance of castles and, therefore, little need for high levels of production. As you fight off other factions you will want to exercise the full spectrum of your units, and so you shouldn't always be buying the highest resource units anyhow. That said, their is no doubt in my mind that some level of production will speed up early game expansion and remain helpful later on. An expansion army of a dozen or more defenders, backed by just a few longbowmen will defeat almost any indy province. The late age variety of indies is bland. Barbarians are easy to deal with and the defender can hold a line against heavy cavalry and win. Just remember to place your defenders in the middle, place your longbowmen behind them and your commander out of harms way. Your starting army will not have any defenders in it to start with. I find that for this army it is best to hold a turn, declare the Castellan your prophet, and hire as many longbowmen as you can. For the first few rounds you should target lightly armored provinces. Place the longbowmen a bit back and have the spearmen hold and then attack from midfield. Finally I just script the prophet to smite every round. This army should only need to be supported once during expansion. Just have a judge deliver several defenders in a round or two and have the remaining spearmen take the flank. Expansion should flow smoothly barring any disaster. You can always average 12 provinces before the first year is through. MP games have proven to me that 12 provinces by turn 9 is not all that difficult with only 2 levels of production. In my opinion, that's good for any human faction who doesn't expand on the first turn and who doesn't use an awake god. 8.23.2.1.8 Tips on Stealth Raiding with Man --- I have argued that the wardens aren't ideal for a strong bless because they are slow and national only, that of course doesn't make them useless. In fact, they might become your most useful secret weapon when done right. You still need your normal forces in order to defend yourself, but I prefer to use them as rouse. Your big army is a distraction from what they should really fear in my opinion. A small number of wardens, lead by lord warden make great PD killers. This is true even without a bless. Once I have researched some construction I find it helpful to forge Bows of War (Construction 6), and other cheap magical ranged weapons in order to increase their effectiveness. They can also be supported by magisters and thus gain magical support. Magisters with astral magic can help the stealth army avoid Mind Hunts as well If you need more power behind your stealth army, you can have them attack the current province while you Cloud Trapeze in mages. Normally a stealth army will attack the current province in normal attack rounds, but if a unit of yours starts a battle in the post ritual round, they will participate and you will have a fight before the unit can normally move. This is especially helpful when you need to support your magisters long enough for them to cast Gifts of Heavens against an SC. There is no doubt that Man has great options for surprise assaults and for exercising 'dirty tactics'. With enough judges casting frighten you can make a more powerful army run away while your wardens capture the surrounding provinces. The warden and the lord warden are your only national units, so you shouldn't be conflicted about purchasing them almost every round. Use them and abuse them is what I say. I would not place Man as the best stealth nation in the late age, but they are certainly not the weakest. 8.23.2.1.9 Conclusion --- Given the proper investment in judges, magisters, and national troops, Man can grow, expand, and build like no other nation. They can hold any province indefinitely and tear down the enemies infrastructure in a matter of turns. Invited into the cold arms of Man, every army that enters never leaves. If someone survives, they retreat only into lands no longer theirs. Lands thought to be safe from the enemy are instead assaulted by crossbows and great swords. Bit-by-bit the world is consumed by the agents of Man. Each province is processed to maximize profits. For Man, there is no excuse for an unprotected temple to their god. The dominion of their god pushes wide and far. In the end, Man pulls the world into their reality. A reality where nothing is certain, except for death and taxes. 8.23.2.1.10 LA Man - Castle Warefare This is a little add-on to the guide I wrote for Man previously called Death and Taxes. That guide primarily covered where to start with LA Man. In my humble opinion, that has always been the hardest part to figure out with this nation. This guide takes you the rest of the way by pointing out tactics, spells, and units you'll want to employ. If you don't want to read the other guide, the basic idea is that Man has a superior advantage in accumulating castles and in defending them with minimal resources. This is thanks primarily to the Judge and the basic Magister. The whole of the guide covers a lot of the machanics and details. That said, a lot of the tactics below revolve around using your castles as a part of your fighting force. If we are going to talk tactics then I'm going to suggest a build for our god. The most appealing to me is the dormant master lich with S4D5N4. This leaves us with enough for dominion 7, order 3, growth 3, misfortune 2, and drain 2. There are actually 42 points left after all that which can go anywhere. Production 1 is a good choice for jump starting our expansion. You can also go for a stronger dominion or for more magic. In truth, there are many more viable builds, but this one works for me and my play style. This build gets us all the money we need in a very reliable flow. Our dominion should also be enough to help keep nations like Ry'leh and Ermor from ruining our population. We will also have a powerful caster who is both reusable and can get around with teleportation. The Death and Taxes guide covers expansion and will easily get you through the first year. If things are going well, you should have about four castles by now and 3 on the way. You've likely started researching for real and your magister output should allow you to overcome the difference in no time. Now your god comes out. The best thing your god can do at this point is site-searching. Your goal is to be a late-game power and thats not going to happen if you don't have the most important gems for that purpose. The advantage here is that you have everything you need to obtain tartarians, the chalice, cast Gift of Health, build S4 mages, and so much more with minimal resources. Concentrate on your research, especially during war time. Your advantage is that you can choose to ignore most threats. Place a castle on every magic site because you can. Between your god, magisters, magister arcanas, judges, and a Skull of Fire, you can site-search everything to its fullest with exception to water magic. Even then, 42 points is enough to obtain water 2 on your god, though I don't think its going to be all that useful. For warfare my go-to guy tends to be defenders and/or tower guards. These units have good protection, good defense, kite shields, broad swords, and crossbows. In large numbers these units can output a lot of damage and hold a line. These units make you a viable threat to many of the human nations. Longbowmen are ideal against soft targets without shields and are also easy to make on demand. That said, until you have a target for them, I suggest you hold off on them and stick to the crossbowmen. Spearman also work as a fast reacting unit, though they are less then ideal for holding any sort of line. I save tower knights for when I need a strong offensive push on the battlefield. Otherwise the tactic of Man tends to let the enemy cross the field of battle. LA Man is an archery machine. This is so true that they have access to all but one of the magic bows. It does seem appealing to want to use some of these items in combat. My suggestion is to look no further then the forester. Aside from an A3 magister arcana, he the only unit you have with 12 precision or better. Honestly, being magic archers is the only real use I've found for them. Indy scouts scout for cheaper, magisters scout better, and judges patrol better. Yet they are ideal for using a banefire crossbow, bow of war, piercer, or (my favorite) black bow of botulf. Their stealth and mobility is just a nice bonus. Against the undead you should have a number of death mages to start with. Indy priests are a nice addition, but you should have lots of castles, meaning you could instead recruit bishops. They provide more damage to more undead per every casting. The bishop is a cheap H2 priest and is useful as a moral booster as well. The magister of theology is nice, but with the bishop being as cheap as he is, and with the small protection that growth 3 provides against old age, I say he's not worth your time. If you've established a strong defensive wall and you know there is little your opponent can take from you by charging into your lands, I suggest you let them. Try your best to get your main force to sidestep their main force. Use that army of yours as a purely offensive tool. Use your magisters to hold up the walls and use wardens to take back lands without a castle. Dodge your opponent and make them frustrated. You don't need to fight battles you can't win, so don't. There will come a point where your opponent will try to take down one of your castles by moving all their units to just one of them. This can work to your advantage and is a sign that your opponent is getting desperate. Have a magister and company role in and cast Rain of Stones or perhaps your god can show up to cast Bone Grinding or Soul Drain. For the early game you can create a bane venom charm and stock it in your lab for such an occasion. Though usually used offensively, it works just as well as a defensive weapon when your willing to sacrifice a little population to see an army die of disease. Later on leprosy can easily fill its shoes. There is a little friendly fire in both cases, but you stand to lose less in my opinion. I think of it as an opportunity to clear house and rid myself of magisters without magic paths. One thing I like about the bane venom charm is that the common reaction from your opponent is to move away or disperse. It also makes them wary about ever consolidating like that again. Your going to want to dip your hands in blood magic either by using a mass of scouts or by trading with a blood nation. What you really want out of blood are boots of youth and black hearts. The boots of youth I'm sure makes sense. The black hearts might confuse you. Wardens aren't that good and neither are magisters. What you need to remember is that we are conducting castle warfare. Stealth is only good for getting you in and out of a province controlled by the enemy. Assassination doesn't actually care how you get there though. When an opponent sits outside your castle, the enemy controls the province yet your units are inside it as well. Any commander with assassination, regardless of being stealthy or not, can conduct assassinations against the commanders outside. Now you can teleport in a real mage and thunderstrike the opposing commander. Though personally I find orb lightning works better at close range. If that isn't appealing enough, you can use any unit you desire. How about your common bane or bane lord? How about your immortal god? For the purpose of defending a castle, the options become endless. There is no reason not to invest in winged shoes. Keep them stocked in your lab. You might need to air drop magisters in order to defend a castle. The added mobility will allow you to call in support from far away. That said its also important to know how many magisters it will take to reverse damage done to your walls. Just in case it wasn't obvious, I double checked and each magister will reverse 16 points of damage. Also keep in mind that it takes a turn to sneak into a castle and another to set the unit to defend. The shoes will also help you transport all sorts of magical support to. Eventually your going to want to swarm your enemy and go for the kill. Force multipliers like wind guide, flaming arrows, fog warriors, twist of fate, arrow fend, and antimagic are all at your disposal with a boost coming from either spells or items. Your god can lay out mass protection, mass regeneration, and relief to name a few extras. If you can't bring a lot of numbers for one reason or another, your going to want to stick with evocation instead. Learn to utilize gems in combat. My favorite thing to do is have a lowly magister or judge cast level three earth and fire spells after casting summon earthpower and phoenix power respectively. Bladewind, Falling Fires followed by Fireballs, Gifts from Heaven, or even Destruction and Prison of Fire when a situation calls for it. Have a problem with giants? A fire and death judge with a skull staff and gems equals banefire. That plus your other tricks will generally solve the problem. Just use what you have. Keep spells like Send Horror, Phantasmal Atack, and Ghost Riders in mind when defending a castle. They always attack the owner of the province and ignore the people inside. Avoid Manifestation as that should be allowed to attack either side. I can't think of anything else to add that isn't already standard. The strength of Man is having the flexibility of choosing when and where to fight in my opinion. Good luck. Download 5.74 Mb. Share with your friends:
|