Questions and Comments About the Improved MA Ulm
 

Just had a chance to work with these guys.

I'll be honest, I wish the devs decided to borrow the idea from the Black Steel of Ulm mod to give the Smiths a 20% chance of random picks instead of 10%. I mean, they have not much else going for them, and even with the 20% I rarely got a random.

What happened to the Smith sprite? He looks more suited to EA now than MA...I liked the powerful looking armored guy.

Also, what is the point of the new units? The Priest-Smith and the Black Priest are both ok, but don't they compete? I mean, they are practically the same. Why does the priest even have magic if they hate magic, wouldn't he technically be a priest-smith then? If he had to have magic it would have been nice for it to be something that wasn't earth http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif (astral, astral, astral...). I like the Priest-Smith because he's drain resistant, and can build temples and labs. But I can't find any use at all for the Black Priest...am I missing something?

I think the new Guardian Commander's anti-sacred ability looks really cool, but haven't had a chance (and probably won't likely be able to, as I'm playing against AI) to see it in action. Unless it's way overpowered, though, I don't see why ALL guardians can't have it. That would be really cool, a crack anti-sacred squad. As it is now, cool or not, I can't imagine a Guardian Lord taking down Van's or anything, that is, being in a situation where he can use his power before getting destroyed.

Anyone know what specifically the special ability "Bane of Heretics" or whatnot that the haldberds have does?

I haven't summoned an Iron Angel yet but am really looking forward to it. Nor have I seen the effect of the new battlefield holy/earth combo spells.

All in all, I rate this as a good improvement to MA Ulm, but I still think some of the things addressed in the Black Steel mod (Black Duke's as freespawn generating thugs, and the 20% chance of random) were better. But then again, I may have missed something, so I wanted to share my observations with all of you and see what everyone else thought.

Re: Questions and Comments About the Improved MA Ulm
 

The holy/earth spells are like Blade Wind x1.5. You should take advantage of the new priests and give them a try.

The Guardian Lord's strength lies in the fact that they don't have to land a blow in order to deal the AOE damage. When you mass them, the stun damage accumulates quickly. It's a decent anti-bless rush defense.

There's a thread somewhere that went into much more detail about the pros and cons of the changes, if you have the inclination to use the search function.

Re: Questions and Comments About the Improved MA U
 

I would like to point out that the normal, capital only guardians also get the same affect in a different way. Look at their halberds, they fatigue sacreds which is really powerful.

Also the advantage of black priests is something you are overlooking, they are holy2 which is a big deal for ulm which didnt have that before. And the Priest Smiths can cast very powerful versions of the new Ulm only evocations because + path bonus.

And The Iron Angels a great thug right out of the box, and any items you give it make it just that much better. Overall I would say these changes to make a difference. Explore more :p

Re: Questions and Comments About the Improved MA U
 

Haha, just read that thread your referenced. I'm sad the general consensus is that even with the improvements the nation is still underpowered.

I did like that Edi had basically the same suggestion as I did in regards to upping the random magic %. He's like a mod here so maybe his opinion will carry weight for the next patch.

One thing I'm still not sure of is if the new guardians are worthless against regular troops and just exceptional against sacreds, or if they are good all around to recruit?

Re: Questions and Comments About the Improved MA U
 

The new guardian still has an assload of protection so he's fairly durable. I also had the great misfortune in one SP game of running into an AI Ulm that had been massing guardians. I was running a bless based Eriu and encountering him on turn ten or thereabouts with hard research on and the impossible AI getting a 60% resource bonus on top of the 25% Ulm already gets, it wasn't pretty. My army was wiped out in a single battle against a foe they outnumbered two or three to one. And that was his secondary army...

Re: Questions and Comments About the Improved MA U
 

What about changing the starting army of MA Ulm? Currently, they start with 16 shieldless infantry, while most other nations start with mixed infantry/archer force. 9 pikeneers/9 arbalests would help them quite a bit IMO.

Re: Questions and Comments About the Improved MA U
 

I really think black priests are rubbish for MA Ulm. The only thing they have going for them is that they are holy 2, as pointed out. But they are also cap only and you will almost always want to build something else to rush your research, since Ulm needs its key spells in a hurry. Namely the priest-smith, who is alos cap only and for the most part is simply better than the black priest.

Black priests are great for LA Ulm though.

Re: Questions and Comments About the Improved MA U
 

Access to H2 is good enough, IMO. You won't recruit more than few, but those few for the early game armies not lead by your prophet help keep your units from suiciding. Retreating heavy infantry almost always dies before they get anywhere...

Re: Questions and Comments About the Improved MA U
 

The inquisition bonus is quite nice when sieging castles in enemy dominion.

Oh, and iron darts and iron blizzard is awesome against magic beings. Quite good on normal units as well.
What makes them good is the high precision, good range and "boostability". Iron blizzard is 30+ effects.

Re: Questions and Comments About the Improved MA U
 

Sure, but priest smith is your guy for those spells, not black priest, iirc.

The inquisition bonus on the very few black priests you might actually build is a very minor consideration. I guess they would be a unit you'd build every turn if someone was domkilling you, to preach in your cap. That's another very minor niche.