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VQ - Vampire Queen (Unit) W - Water (Magic Path) 5. Dominions I Strategy Guides 6. Dominions II Strategy Guides http://www.freewebs.com/sunraybe/ 6.1 ABYSIA In very short, Abysia has: # Extra nation points from the +3 heat scale. # A survival skill: they ignore the death scale. # Top notch mage/priests (but expensive). # Outstanding Infantry (but expensive). # Very good access to "summer lions", one of the best summoned creatures. # Extra income source with alchemy (fire gems can be turned into 75 extra gold/turn, or more in an alchemist lab site). # Automatic access to Flare, to which fortunately its own troops are immune. It is not a good nation for novice players (or the computer) as the harsh finances can stunt Abysia's growth unless monitored closely. Dominion design : Abysians prefer very warm weather: Heat +3 (what means 120 extra nation points). Abysia¿s income and supply are not dependent on trading or farming: you have no economic benefits or penalties for the Growth/Death scale, and your soldiers are not affected by the supply bonus/penalty. So you can take Death +3 (what means 120 more extra nation points) and it also will make you a difficult target, as invaders will suffer supply and income penalties in your lands... And it hasn't the same effect diplomatically as if you were Ermor (population still dies, but so slowly it isn't a concern to your neighbors). However, if you pick a Death scale, you will slowly lose population like everyone else. Any nation that takes a +3 Death scale really has to keep expanding quickly, as a nation that takes Growth +3 versus a Death +3 will be over 25% larger in just 20 turns, and will make 30% more gold from the start. And if you need blood slaves, you¿ll just be depopulating your provinces faster. So most Abysia players take a neutral or positive growth to remain competitive, especially for long and/or large games.
Predesigned Pretender : Solomon the Moloch http://www.illwinter.com/gods/Abysia.html Units :
Speaking of infantry, Abysia is one of the few nations that do not start with cheap patrol units. Try to grab a province with raptors or shortbowmen for that use. Lava Warriors are good too, but they're best used with other unit types. When flanked and backed by Humanbreds, or Humanbreds and Heavy Infantry, they do best than the same cost spent on LW alone. Notice that their encumbrance is high (14, or up to 16 in very cold provinces), so if the battle lasts more than 3 rounds they are likely to pass out and will get the armor penalty in just a couple of rounds. While they cost twice as much gold they have almost the same resource cost. Often Abysia can raise the same number of LW as they can raise Abysian Infantry. They are definitely better, so if Abysia wants the most punch in the quickest time, the LW are the way to go : they attack twice, turn berserk when wounded and have much better morale. But they are larger (size 3) and so do not exactly count as 2 HI each in battle since you can only place two of them where you could place 3 HI. Like most expensive units however, they lack efficiency when facing spells, since the loss of a single unit is a loss of greater value.
You could even make your Slayer a prophet, move him towards a choke point not too far away while spreading your dominion, slay the leaders (they have no bodyguards, btw), and then take the province by himself while your main army takes the lands around your capitol. Great way to insure a fast start. All Abysians are immune to fire: a screen of heavy infantry can bog down advancing enemies and allow your fire mages to decimate enemy ranks with no friendly fire losses. Last strategic information : it seems that when 2 or more nations attempt to invade the same province, Abysia always goes first. Magic :
But Abysia can also sacrifice blood slaves to pump their priests, something that most other nations cannot do.
Blood slaves for instance will suffer if they stay close to their fiery master. Try to keep a non-fiery commander on the field that you can use to "store" blood slaves on (it doesn¿t have to be a mage). You just have to replenish the supply between attacks. Anathemant Dragons can summon Summer Lions after you research Conjuration 4. Summer Lions are ethereal, have good hit points and attack values, and never rout. It may be worth hurrying your research just for this spell. On the way, Lesser Fire Elemental is a great spell for Abysia too as it will ignite nearby enemies and your Abysian troops are immune. Do not use them with foreign troops! Anathemant Salamanders are cheaper and can summon Fire Drakes and Lesser Fire Elemental too (Phoenix Power will give them one more level in fire magic). Warlocks are very effective blood mages (in fact, with 3 levels, they are the most powerful national blood mages in the game). They have one random magic level, but no priestly power. Demonbreds are your only flying unit, and they can lead 10 devils. By flying over territory you can push your borders out early and skip the hard provinces. Come back for them later. Fire spells are harder to cast when it is raining, or under a Storm spell. To avoid the fatigue from rain, expand your dominion (it is normally not raining in deserts) or give some gems to your spellcasters (they¿ll use them to reduce fatigue). Abysia is obviously weak in the sea early on (unless you got an amphibian pretender). As the game advances, your blood summons and in particular the amphibian types can change this. National Heroes: * Rago the Rage Lord, a super Lava Warrior, has a description that says that he is rarely seen without a bodyguard of his Lava Warriors. But in battle, he doesn't actually get any, and he doesn't make free ones or anything. "Rago is a young and very strong warlord. He has been trained as a Lava Warrior but has since fought his way to warlord status. He is a hero among the Lava Warriors and is rarely seen without a body guard of his former friends. Rago is called the Rage Lord, a title given to those rare Lava Warriors who survive long enough to become Warlords". * Ba¿al Chozron, the Anathemant Warlock, has the power of an Anathemant Dragon and the Blood Magic of a Warlock, but no Astral power (Fire 3, Blood 3, Holy 4). "Ba'al Chozron begun his career as a young initiate deep within Smouldercone. He soon rose to power and was entrusted with the training of the demonbreds. He left the warlocks after he was nearly assassinated, and joined the ruling caste of the Anathemants. As an Anathemant he was entrusted with training the demonbreds as priests and fire mages where he earlier had trained them in blood magic. As the master of demonbreds Ba'al Chozron is respected and feared by Warlocks and Anathemants alike". 6.2 CAELUM Caelum is crazy potent if developed properly. It has many advantages (flying units, stealth priests, terrific mages) and, to top it all, Caelum has 620 points for its Pretender (+3 cold). However Caelians are weak in comparison to the troops of other nations, plus they eat more. On top of that the better troops have very high production costs, so Caelum ends up with both fewer and weaker troops. Flyers can often trounce independent nations however, since they rarely guard their leaders sufficiently, and can catch the unwise or unaware human offguard and defeat a much greater force. If all enemy leaders are killed, the enemy army will rout regardless of any other factors. When you ready yourself for battle, remember to give "hold and attack commanders" orders to some flying warriors... Flyers can also "jump" deep into enemy territory, to take unguarded provinces, cut off reinforcements and cause routed troops to disappear instead of retreat. They also move much faster within your own territory, or can strike a border province without warning by not having clear troop buildup. However, Caelum presents probably one of the most logistical challenges out of all the other nations because trying to make sure the mages have gems when they need it for battle can be quite a juggling act. If Caelum is starving on gems it's very difficult to fight effctively. Pre-researched spell: Wind Guide. DOMINION DESIGN: The population of Caelum prefers icy climate (cold +3). You could tolerate some turmoil too, knowing that most troops are flying (they count as 2 foot patrollers each), and you have easy access the spell Call of the Wind (the summoned hawks can be used to patrol and quell unrest too and their maintenance costs are less than on ordinary troops). Sure you can't cast CoW as soon as you take your first turn, but researching Conjuration 3 isn't that difficult. A positive growth scale is advisable, to feed your troops (each Caelian needs 2 supply points). Caelum is very dependant on its dominion however and must spend a lot of those extra nation points on a high dominion value. Inside cold areas, Caelums troops with ice armor gain protection. Outside the cold they lose protection, and population make much less gold. What you research in the beginning is very important (balancing magic research with expansion is crucial). Caelum is one of the few nations where a super combatant pretender isn't necessarily all that helpful. PREDESIGNED PRETENDER: CLOSEST TO THE THRONE, the Arch Seraph http://www.illwinter.com/gods/Caelum.html UNITS
Tip of the day: Caelums ice weapons are considered magic for purposes of hitting ethreals or mistformed creatures. The Mammoths are pretty darn effective, especially if they are backed up by some priests with Sermon of Courage. They trample, and have better morale than elephants, but when they rout they can do heavy trample damage to the friendly rear forces on their way out! At size 6, they are able to trample almost anything, and trampling is armor-piercing so it is useful versus very heavy infantry like Ulm's which most of your other troops cannot hurt. Since crossbows seem an obvious defense against mammoths, Caelum often protects them with Storms.
Also remember that wingless are still susceptible to the cold and numbing effects of the cold, unlike other Caelians. Before you have access to storm (or should you still wish to use archers), actually you have an easier time dealing with enemy archers than some of the other nations. Use Caelum flyers to harrass the archers instead of jumping on your opponent's commanders/mages. The archers will have to resort to hand-to-hand combat and will not have their ranged attacks, and will give a chance for your beefier units (mammoths and wingless) to close the gap and deal some real damage. Normally you can clear most of the indies with 3 mammoths and 20 winglesses (with the usual exceptions, like knights). Since morale is a blended rate, this usually gives the mammoth/wingless squad a average morale btwn 13-14. Bring the archers with you and some air gems for 'wind guide'. Archers will either cut down enemy archers or mages, while the mammoth/wingless team are set for the commanders (on a flank). Most indies mass their infantry in the middle of the battlefield very close to the boardside. Try to set up your units so to get a "first strike" - meaning the indies run up to you and then you trample them (you don't want them to run up and actually strike your units first!). It's the transition of building other troops to use as you reach further from the capital that becomes a real challenge as the game progresses - there is a tricky transition between the caelum high seraphs being support units to being the primary offense units, and the other units playing a more supporting role. MAGIC
- they fly - they have very low cost for the excellent skills (the high Seraph is even the cheapest 6-pick mage of the game), - they can go underwater. - high seraphs can lead 25 units.
Quickness, available to all mages, makes those spells twice more deadly. But this strategy is countered if its opponents cast Thunder Ward, and to a lesser extent Winter Ward. Fire magic, on the other hand, is very weakened during the storms or rains that Caelians can cause easily. The Staff of Storm is a terrific weapon for Caelum. It makes its archers and most flyers useless but : - protects its mages (no need for anti-missile gear), - gives more punch to Air Elementals and Storm Guards (bonuses in attack, defense and AP), - gives its mage a +1 bonus in air magic (Summon Storm Power), - protects its heavy troops (Temple Guards and Mammoth) so they cannot be countered with crossbows - does not affect Storm guards, Storm Generals, Air elementals, Pazuzus, Spring hawks, Sylphs and Queens of the Air at all. Wolven Winter (Alteration 4) is a great asset to Caelum too, that make heavy use of ice armored troops. An iceclad has a nominal armor value of 18, that raises to 24 in cold+3 provinces. Quite a bit of a difference. The freezing will also cause a temperate province to lose 30% of its taxes (depending of the cold/heat preference). Either of these is quite huge if you use it on the big provinces, and it will take a couple of turns for it to reset even with strong dominion there. And the offensive possibilities are many. Besides the bonus for Caelian Ice armors and Winter Wolves, the cold will tire most normal units and is devasting to Abysia and C'tis soldiers. Using Wolven Winter followed immediately with a Murdering Winter (Evocation 7) will greatly increase the number of troops killed by the blizzard. Illwinter (Blood 6) is devastating also and has less affect on Caelum and its native troops (increased unrest still hurts Caelum, but everyone is treated equally so Caelum does not lose anything relatively to others. Less, actually, as Caelum can deal with unrest easier than most). PRIESTS
NATIONAL HEROES * Zaelinys the Harab Seraphine has 2D and 3 Holy powers : "he is one of the few descendants of the Harab Seraphs remaining in Caelum. Her ancestors aided the High Seraphs against the raptor rebellion and have served the Seraphs with their dark magic. Zaelinys has learned the dark arts of her family, but is also trained in the temple as a Seraphine". * Caelos the Sacred One : "he is the Commander of the Temple Guard. He gave up his wings after losing his ice clads in a battle against infidels. The event ignited his religious fervor and he has since fought harder and braver than any of the storm generals against the enemies of the faith. He was recently promoted to the status of commander. His fanaticism has given him priestly training otherwise restricted to women". 6.2.1 Caelum's blood guide by Patrik Nyberg. Why Caelum should use blood magic By Patrik Nyberg, bopatriknyberg@hotmail.com. Caelums is in my opinion the strongest nation on almost all maps and setups. However, opponents will be aware of Caelums powerful air magic, and since all players will have access to Storm, they will also be able to counter (at least partly) your air magic with Thunder Ward. Blood magic will provide Caelum with the fighting power their own troops lack. There are three great benefits in using blood magic for Caelum - Ice Devils (Blood 4), Illwinter (Blood 6) and Robe of the Magi (Cons 6, requires 4 in air and 4 in blood). Illwinter will cause worldwide temperature drops (excellent for you) and unrest, which you can easily counter with Call of the Winds or flying archers (if you are short on air gems). Robe of the Magi increases all magic paths with one, eventually giving your Arch Seraphs access to most high level spells. The most important goal however is the Ice Devils. They have awesome stats that are further boosted by your cold dominion (+3 in protection, strength, attack, and defense. Also they are unencumbered in cold +3). They can cast Quickness (Alt 2), and get one water gem for free each turn making them good support mages (Grip of Winter (Ench 6) and Winter Ward (Ench 4)). Surplus gems can be spent on Wolven Winters (Alt 4 - drops temperature 2 points in selected province), Winter Wolves (Conj 4 - +3 bonuses in cold provinces) and Murdering Winters (Evoc 7), With the right equipment Ice Devils are enormously powerful both against regular armies and other super combatants. I'd recommend not spending too much on equipment for each Ice Devil, but rather try to produce as many as possible. Try to give an antimagic amulet, some kind of armor (something cheap like black steel plate, fire plate or copper plate), winged shoes and a life draining weapon (preferably the wraith sword) to each Ice Devil. If you will have to take on other super combatants, go for high defense (shield, chain mail of displacement) and armor penetrating/negating weapons. So, how to pull this off when Caelum lacks 'natural' blood magic? Well, to get a jump start on the blood economy, pick the blood fountain as your pretender. The blood fountain will bring in about 14 slaves per turn with 5 in blood. To produce Sanguine rods, use Arch Seraphs. They are the cheapest mages with a random pick in the game (except for sages) and you will always want to buy at least one, preferably more, each round. As soon as you have one with blood, start producing Sanguine rods (and keep producing those!!) so that cheap commanders/priest can do the blood hunting. Hunt in low income 5000+ provinces with 4 hunters/province. Have your blood fountain produce Brazen Vessel (Cons 4) and Blood Thorn (Cons 6) to get one of your Arch Seraphs to blood 3, and use him to crank out IDs so that your blood fountain can keep capturing blood slaves. Possible Strategy for Caelum This is a coarse outline on how I would try to play with Caelum while investing in early blood magic as above. This strategy is probably less suitable for a small map (as in provinces per player), where Combat Pretenders can make a bigger impact and you have less 'safe' provinces in which to blood hunt. Nation design: Pretender - Blood fountain (blood 6, astral 3 (for mobility, and horrors)) Scales - Always cold 3, growth 3, production 3. To maximize my early economy, I go with order 3 (helps when blood hunting too), luck -1 and neutral magic. However, there are definitely options here, many probably take negative order with Caelum since flyers come so easily. I go with order to ensure a good income from the start. Castle - Wizard Tower Dominion 6 Early strategy: The possibility for early expansion for different nations depends in part on the number of available provinces per player. Caelum has two very powerful methods of beating independents; the first is the Mammoth/wingless combo mentioned in the guided tour, the second is massive lesser air elemental summoning. By the latter, each Arch Seraph can take out 15 infantry or 3 knights. If you combine the Arch Seraphs with ice clads on 'hold and attack enemy archers', the ice clads will take the arrows and you can take provinces almost without losses. These are my first moves: * Put all your initial troops on patrol, raise taxes to 200% (works most of the time with order 3) * Have your pretender research Conjuration * Buy one mammoth army (3 mammoths and 14 wingless), led by a Seraphine which is also your prophet (allowing fanaticism). * Thereafter, buy only Arch Seraphs, ice clads and independent commanders. Build a second Wizards Tower (with lab) as soon as possible. * As soon as you have Conj 3 (lesser air elementals), use your Arch Seraphs/ice clads to claim rich independent provinces that are away from your home province (assuming you have taken the neighboring provinces with your mammoth army). Start blood hunting with your pretender. Switch research to construction. Cast Call of the Wind on your capital to help with patrolling (blood hunting will increase unrest) and also on other rich provinces. If your feel rich in gold (you seldom do in Dominions) you might consider using flying archers to patrol instead. * I usually search captured provinces immediately, leaving one of the Arch Seraphs (preferably with death or astral as random) in the newly captured province. Using most of my Arch Seraphs for fighting/searching usually puts me back on research, but finding sites early can make a difference. * Research Cons 2 and start making Sanguine rods. If you feel safe from your opponents, continue to Cons 6 (Staff of Storms, and also Brazen Vessel, Blood Thorn and Water Bracelet, allowing your Arch Seraphs to summon Ice Devils. Also, you can forge the Robe of the Magi). If you expect to be attacked soon, go for Evoc 3 (Storm) first. * When you have secured and searched most available independent provinces, start probing your neighboring opponents. If you are lucky enough to have a neighbor without airmagic on native troops or pretender, and where the pretender is not a supercombatant, attack as soon as you have Storm (or better yet Staff of Storms). Otherwise wait for your Ice Devils. * Research Alt 2(Quickness), then start on Blood Magic. As you approach level 4, make sure you have two Arch Seraphs at Blood 3, Water 3. Have all equipment for the Ice Devils ready and crank our 4 Ice Devils in two turns (you should easily have enough blood slaves. Keep on producing at least one Ice Devil per turn while expanding your blood economy. Consider casting Illwinter. Go conquer the world. Download 5.74 Mb. Share with your friends:
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