R\'lyeh Pretender configurations
 

What pretender configurations (path choices) have people been using with R'lyeh and have had success?


Has anyone been able to go strong with blood path? Like blood 4 of 5 and get a blood economy off the ground and complete with the other blood races?


From looking at all of the summonable creatures it seems that if you want to have uber summon creatures you need to go blood (with water or fire) with death being second best for SCs. (Sure you can go for wish and such but that seams more of an end game, "please don't come and kill me before I can cast wish", type strat which seems pretty sketchy.)


~msew

Re: R\'lyeh Pretender configurations
 

hm some small doubts :
- no blood hunt in the sea
- blood is no research priority for ryhleh
especially thaumaturgy + lowlevel construction + mid level conjuration ( accashic + bane lords ) are my ryhleh priorities
- at larger maps can be possible that you have to cross 3-4 sea provinces before you reach the coast and can go out of the sea

big pros of your strat :
-starspawn priests have for 150 gold sacred 1 random , so 1/8 are blood
-starspawns have 2 randoms , so 15/64 probability for 1 blood , 1/64 for 2 blood
-sages are pretty common , 1/8 are cheap lvl 1 blood hunters
-ryhleh are fast researchers + good castlers

with accashic + clams you will have a high gem income though . so i would chose death instead blood on my pretender .

bane lords with soul slay , mind burn , enslave mind , paralyze starspawn artillery will be pretty scary until you reach wish

taking 9-10 astral on your void lord could be cool too . he can wish without empowerment and he can kill off especially marignons , arco's and other races 1-3 astral magicians per mind duel pretty save http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
but beware of pythium communion arch theurgs . they can easily reach 6-7 astral via that .
you have to be 6 levels above to 100% win and never die .
with 5 levels above you still win 100% of the time but die with 2,8% probability too according to saber cherry's chart .

hope that helps http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: R\'lyeh Pretender configurations
 

R'lyeh, with good access to astral and some to water, with the protection of being underwater, has a better setup than most for clam-hoarding, so if Wish is a goal you can make an easier play for it than most.

I would personally not choose blood magic, as blood is rather hard to use underwater (cannot gather slaves, cannot cast any spells or rituals which require blood slaves); you can push for it later if you like on land using blood starspawns, sages, circle masters, Garnet Amazons etc but you won't be able to use it underwater.

If you want to fill in gaps, try Death, Air, Earth or Nature. Death will get you summons, including amphibious fodder (and R'lyeh will want fodder for those nasty Triton hordes) and magical versatility (spectres), Air gets you Storms (good for protecting your mindbLasters), Earth gets you hammers (good for clam hording) and statues, Nature gets you wine bags (good for hungry hungry illithids) and versatility (lamia queens). You have good Astral already and some Water, and you can't really use Blood or Fire all that well underwater.

If you want a bless effect, consider Water 9; extra-fast Greater Othernesses, Things that Should Not Be and Formless Spawn make rather frightening bulldozers.

Re: R\'lyeh Pretender configurations
 

Although he's semi-expensive i like the void lord alot for an SC because he comes with all the slots plus a bonus life-drain attack so he has other options for weaponry. SC's dont work well against tritons, but he can help with the land conquering quite a bit.

Re: R\'lyeh Pretender configurations
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Sure they do, just need poison res. and fair amount of HP/armour.

Re: R\'lyeh Pretender configurations
 

I was just referring to the inability to buff before they get to you, which makes them difficult for early game alteration 3 expansion with your pretender. i should have been more specific.