Re: Mictlan , how to play it effectively
 

I play with v 2.02. I like it more than later patches.

I keep a separate install patched to 2.12 for MP purposes however. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Mictlan , how to play it effectively
 

Well, you've to choose *either* to play Mictlan *or* play effectively http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif !
More seriously, Mictlan is hard to play and not that powerful : it screams for some high Bless strategy with the were-warriors, and requires full power to Blood economy to get hordes of Devils. Blood and dominion management requires serious micromanagement, with eventual frequent mistakes ! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
Overall Mictlan is rather disappointing ...

Re: Mictlan , how to play it effectively
 

yeah i agree .
i wanted to try something new and now i play mictlan in my 3! new mpgames . was a serious serious fault http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
each with other pretender / tactics but so far none is satisfying .
the sacrificing for dominion is bad .
i think i like abysia more when i wanna play blood http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Mictlan , how to play it effectively
 

Mictlan is definitely the most challenging to play. Anytime Mictlan is setup in a game as a computer opponent he almost always dies early.

Re: Mictlan , how to play it effectively
 

easy strat 101 for Mictlan:

1. design a stanadard supercombatant for indy expansion
2. research alt 3 and enchant 1 (most probably)
3. research const 4 for dousing rods
4. cover as many 4-8k pop terrritories w/ packs of 3 bloodhunting priests w/ dousing rods
5. summon

or, if you're playing competitive MP, ignore construction, bloodhunt anyways, have blood and 3 water on your pretender, and rush the ice devils.

Re: Mictlan , how to play it effectively
 

Mictlan starts with the bind fiend spell, so no research is really needed to start conquering provinces, just a few bloodslaves. Conquer 1 province with troops, bloodhunt like crazy and summon fiends.

Re: Mictlan , how to play it effectively
 

Un-equipped Ice Devils are good, but not that good. Unless you intend to rush to them and then use em as researchers until you can equip them, I'd advise going with construction first.

Oh, and you really want to hunt in provinces with at least 5k population, not 4k, since there is a formula breakpoint that comes at 5k.

Re: Mictlan , how to play it effectively
 

well, the point of a rush is to grab them before someone else does. equipping comes later http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

and while above 5K is optimal, a 4K province will return 80% of what a 5K province does. Actually, a bit higher than 80%, if you hunt like i do, w/ 3 priests w/ dousing rods, since that will, on average, drive the unrest up slightly.

so 4K is ok, while 6K (since it can Last a long time), is optimal. But, for instance, in my current game I have no 5-8K provinces, so my choice is between doing 4K provinces or 9K http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: Mictlan , how to play it effectively
 

Been trying out Mictlan in a futile attempt to get it to work.

One tactic I hit upon is sending in your prophet/high level priest with your attacking army and immediately blood hunting the turn you take it. If you drop the tax to 0% that turn, you'll mostly do away with the initial resistance factor and get a 'free' bloodhunt, allowing you to up the tax to 100% next turn.

Can't quite get used to the non-spreading dominion though. I thought a 5th level priest was supposed to be able to sacrifice 5 blood slaves a turn? That doesn't seem to be the case in my experience.

Re: Mictlan , how to play it effectively
 

Why not patrol with 50 or so slaves wherever you happen to be bloodhunting? It doesnt take that long to generate a nice big whack of slaves, and patrolling with them will let you hunt with 2 or 3 blood hunters/province with essenitally no unrest.