Re: EA Ermor Guide
 

Well I don't know what else to suggest, take a phenix pretender and burn them all, PoD???
Or maybe take a minor bless, fill in the nature and water you need, say N4W4 and recruit a couple of sacred cavalry?

Re: EA Ermor Guide
 

Ha ha ha, tried all of the above twice over during testing :D
Lords of the Gates was an interesting one, as a handful of shades + 20 Principe's were semi-reliable with regards their attrition (mainly due to fear spamming mage). Only problem is that they need a top-end mage to lead them, so no early research. Plus LotG's is far from a good SC chassis. Starting to realise why EA Ermor firmly belongs in the 'Cripple Fight' game.

Many thanks for your feedback Executor. Helps to know I'm not missing anything obvious with regards the national units.

Re: EA Ermor Guide
 

No need to push research from the start with Ermor, their mages aren't capital only, so you're not missing anything.
They also have strong death(skull mentors) and can forge lanters later, however no starting death income so manual site searching is what I'd do from the start.
Lord of the Gates IS very interesting with all those free shades spawn.

Here's something that worked like a charm when I played EA C'tis, even weaker troops and couldn't use chariots due to bad scales(sloth 3 turmoil 3). I recruted holy 3 priests for the first 10 or so turns and just started smiting everything! A group of 3-4 smithers is ridiculously strong.
In this strategy you go against knights and other strong but few in numbers enemies.
It was an all era game, and I expanded the fastest of the 20 or so nations.

Re: EA Ermor Guide
 

Yep, I think you are bang on with the early smiting brigade being a very valid option. One idea I'm thinking then is make nothing but H3 priests for first 5-6 turns, and take an awake dom 9-10 pathless Wyrm. That should guarantee at least 2 provinces per turn for first few turns, then 3-4 provinces per turn thereafter. Also, if you lose the Wyrm you have plenty of H3 preists on hand to bring him back. Only downside is that this does nothing for EA Ermor's lack of high level Earth + Astral.

You are also right that EA Ermor doesn't need early research as it can tank it in mid game. I just had this dream of getting Tarts in play by turn 20 :rolleyes:

Should probably take this conversation private as well due to... me + EA Ermor + in 'Cripple Fight'. But useful to keep it all here for any other interested parties who will no doubt have the same problems in the future :D

Re: EA Ermor Guide
 

That's usually the problem when taking an awake pretender I guess, but it all depends on your play style and game settings,
high site frequency should cover the magic part, no score graphs should enable you to make a strong start and blitz someone before anyone realises it and thus cover more magic options. Sometimes it's better just to make a strong rush plan and figure things out along the way with empowerment, trading or indie mages with a little luck. :)

Re: EA Ermor Guide
 

I agree with most of the suggestions here.
The smiting works well for early game. I used it successfully with several nations that have H3 priests. I didn't try it with EA Ermor in MP, but in SP test games it worked great.

Another thing that worked well is a sleeping rainbow pretender that also gives four minor blesses: F4E4N4B4.
The E4 helps your sacred mages. Plus you can stick a shroud on the odd old age diseased mage.
The bless helps your sacred equites.

Perhaps an E10 bless on an imprisoned pretender would work as well. It will allow your A. bishops to smite forever and your sacred mages to last much longer. The protection bonus could be triggered by throwing an armor on those sacred mages that lack it and/or giving them bracers of protection.

All considered I think a rainbow pretender that complement's the national path is probably the most efficient choice.