Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

I've never ever played an underwater nation before, but will shortly be playing Atlantis in the big Armadillo game.

If people have any general tips on Atlantis they would be much appreciated. I'm also a bit stuck with my pretender design at the moment. Because the map will be crowded, I thought it would be a good idea to take some kind of SC pretender. But the build I've been trying for e.g. the kraken just get killed really quickly. What's the trick?

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

Haven't tried it myself llamabeast, but would it be worth it to bump your dominion up to get 'Awe' for your kraken? Might really help keep him alive and help with early expansion.

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

Can't go wrong with a Dagon, and they are amphibious, unlike the Kraken.

You can get a decent water bless with an awake one, too. Not sure if MA Atlantis has the sacreds to take advantage of the bless, though.

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

I have a suggestion for you. Hot/Cold scale does not have an effect on underwater income (If I am wrong on this, please correct me). So you may consider taking an extreme hot/cold scale to help free up points for your SC Pretender.

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

I like Dagon, although I think it would be cool if he had some kind of weapon, like either a massive ship's anchor that could do damage to an area, or some kind of mystical pillar he dredged up from R'lyeh.

Trample's fine, but it doesn't quite do him justice.

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

I suggest you take a Monolith, so the Lawgiver can carve a throne out of you http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

For MA atlantis, (Armadillo is MA isn't it ?)you can rely your early expansion on your war lobsters if you start in a large pool of water. The manual contains good advices on how to use them efficiently.
In the afterthought game it worked surprisingly well. I had one of the best expansion with them mixed with the cheap and efficient reef dwellers.

So you can take a dormant or imprisoned pretender.

An awaken SC will give you even more provinces but IMHO the challenge with MA atlantis is more mid & late game. Therefore the pretender should be designed for these parts of the game.
You may also use your pretender to diversify your magic and/or be sure to summon late game monsters, forge magical items etc.


Scales I'm sure you need :
- cold 3 (water provinces are not affected/water spells are cold related)
- prod 2-3 (prod is the effective limit to your number of units)
- magic 1 or 3 (to get out the water)

Depending on your playstyle :
- order 3/Misfortune 1-3 ---- or ---- Turmoil 3/luck 3
- growth/death depending of the size of the map.
For atlantis I prefer order and growth to negate some of the effects of cold on my land provinces.

At midgame, you can have a good bunch of sacred units. But I don't find them very appealing. So I'm not sure if a bless strategy is the way to go. Try it and tell me http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

If you are going for thug/SC pretender with an underwater nation, you have to go for amphibious. I have set up a couple of great SC before and dominated the ocean, only to find it tough to get them on to land for the mid to late game. Sure, SC are more vulnerable late game, but you want to be able to raid as an underwater nation. An SC that can eat PD on land is a nice threat.

I lean towards a dormant pretender who will be able to use the high level magic later (after you have researched them) and provides good scales. Getting them out of the water is not an issue, since they will mostly stay at home.

Going for the Monolith and teleporting into Mictlan’s home province does a have a certain ring to it, don’t you think?

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

Are you playing that one? If so, wouldn't it be more appropriate to chop such a monolith up and use the blocks to build an outhouse? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

The Lawgiver doesn't [censored], so he prefers a throne to sit on http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Edit: The Lawgiver doesn't condone of censure. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif When He has ascended He will change the laws so that His Voice can be heard evewrywhere. Even if he says 'defecate'!

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

Alternatively, you could go with the efficient multi-purpose path, and carve a throne with a big enough hole in the seating. (Which could then be covered with some suitably ornate wooden carvings obviously. Be sure to a) Fill your throne room with sweet-smelling flowers or b)have a strong insence burning. )

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

I have discovered a slight drawback with taking cold-3 as a water nation.

If you cast living water or summon water elementals you instead get ice elementals. Ice elementals are very annoying they like to mill around your battlefield mages freezing them in place. I have lost 1 or 2 important battles due to this.

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

A Dagon is a great SC pretender(with enough reinvigoration) and can provide a minor bless to your sacreds(or a good bless if you took W9 on him).

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

A throne with a hole in it is a throne with a hole in it. The Lawgiver doesn't need a hole in his throne. The Lawgiver doesn't defecate. Especially not in his throne. Also he doesn't like flowers. Burning stuff on the other hand is sweet. Minute holes could be drilled in the upper parts of the false pretender for the purpose of burning incense.

All hail the Lawgiver, Enemy of Darkenss!

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

I regularly drill small holes in the bodyparts of every false Pretender I defeat.

Infact, I've recently defeated Velusion's ghost-king Pretender and fashioned it's bones into a ship-in-a bottle replica of the 1872 brigantine, 'Mary Celeste' http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

Must have been an expensive ship http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

A ghost king has bones?

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

He was a Pretender. A real Ghost King would not have hip bones.

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

Hmm. Don't get too cocky Badger. I saw that battle. His Ghost King was standing there alone without even a bodyguard (or at least one that didn't run away). A troop of barbarians could probably have killed him. I expect he'll be better prepared the next time you meet.

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

It's not my fault he was standing there all alone. I didn't put him there. I just put him dead.

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

Hmm, I'm sorry if I hijacked your pretender design thread Llama. I hope you got some ideas before the pretenderbashing took over http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

Kristoffer, I don't know how Llama feels about the direction the thread is taking, but for my part, it's nice to see you socializing more http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

I agree. Yay Kirstoffer http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

Guys, guys, you're taking my thread completely off topic! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Thanks very much for your advice (those of you who gave advice http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif), it was very helpful indeed.

Now Archaeon, God of Atlantis, will lead the exiled frogs of Atlantis to victory! Muwahaha!

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

You are aware of the fact that Archaeon, Lord of Darkness, will lead the frogs to damnation.

All Hail the Lawgiver, Enemy of Darkness!

Prophets have forseen that the frogs will arrive in the deep forests of Mictlan and serve the Lawgiver. Of course, the Lawgiver will have to go through a change in heart first. The Lawgiver does not condone of Blood Magic. Also, the Lawgiver does not condone of Frogs. Frogs have unnecessarily long youths.

All Hail the Lawgiver, Persecutor and Destroyer of Youth!

Re: Building a pretender for Atlantis
 

On the upside, they're not too bad with a nice garlic sauce.

But then again that might say more about the garlic than about the frogs...