[Jondifool]

Originally posted by tinkthank:
I really like Machakian mages, and I like the "feel" to this nation a lot. Yet I fail miserably with them

I would like to know what you people who enjoy Machaka use for pretender builds.

Since their mages are not holy and their priests are not sexy and their only sacred unit is one I have never been able to afford, I have never made a build with bless effects, instead going for some order, production, and magic.

Things I dont understand include:
- what to do with their so-called "warriors". Fodder is nice, but what do I do early game? It seems all I have is fodder. Am I supposed to do lots of blindness/7-year-fever inducing hit-and-run attacks to weaken em up until I get juicier troops?
- My assassin seems very nice, I'd like to use him, but he's so expensive, capital only, and still dies easily to Indy normalo commanders without decent equipment (and he already starts with *bane blades*). What do I do wrong?
- PD. I know I like nations with stronger PD -- it is fun to see minor incursions / bad luck events stopped completely with PD alone (I have success playing Abysia). Machaka PD I dont understand -- should I just forget it completely? But then I feel so naked. How do you defend? Do you keep troops *everywhere*?
- How many spies do you use?
- Im not used to non-priestly mages (also play Tien S&A a lot); any tips?
- Hoplites seem nice, but they slow down my otherwise quick army. Any tips here?
- I love bowmen, but Machakian bowmen are the worst of them all, it seems. With their small range, they cant be all the way in the back, and then they have.... no protection. And 8 gold is not nothing, considering Marignon crossbows only cost 10, for example, ditto for Tien's compound bowmen. It seems I never have enough money for enough to mass a group which wont rout.... What do you do?

well I'll cut it short here
thanks very much!

I will give my advices! First there is some really good advices found when searching on "machaka". Actual good debate about to most off your questions. Have to say it as i just reread it

pretender builds.
if going for bless its either fire or earth, to have those spiders be really strong. But don't build them to early (to costly for that). I have failed to make a F9E9 scorpion pretender really work, but have not give up trying.

with the wide range of magic skills availble, there is no need for a rainbow pretender (maybe except the cash cow ). The reason is that A black sorcerer and a sorcerer with right randoms (water, air or astral ) would together find around 2/3 of all magic sites there is hidden. Not the best ones ofcause but enough to get a very good start in magic income.

Back is either a SC or a pretender to fill in the gaps in the magic. Virtue (air) or prince of death (death) or even a water one. Filling in gabs , does give room for really good scales.

What to do in early game! All this fodder.

Patroll is a good option (40 troops in first round). Tax can fast be really high. To give a very good economic start. (growth scale comes in handy here).
I build all the hopelite i can (maybe exsept one) and round up with archers (12+). The would join as patrollers until ready to go out fighting. Unless drowning in resources the goal is to get a second fortification ASAP. To be able to spit out hopelites! If have enough resources I would still build second castle very fast as there is alot of commanders there is nice to build and 1 for each turn is simple to restrickting in early game, as I want those patrollers, and a few scouting priest and....
(actual knowing that I would build second castle very fast means that low producktion scales can be an option for a non blessed pretender)

About assasin I can't really give advice as i find him decent against most opponents (exsept maybe ulm and jotun), and I haven't really used him against indies.

PD: I add archers and a lvl 3 priest and thats makes it reasonble better! Or I patroll with a lvl 2 priest with patroll bonus and archers/ hopelites. So Yes I keep troops every where. And milk the provinces for gold once in a while.

I sure use to few stealth units, with machaka- but thats why I want that second castle- to cranck out some preaching stealth priests.

The trick about the mages. What I have learned so far is to look close at the random magic pics on my sorcs and black sorcs. (Earth, Fire, and death for the black , and death , nature for the sorc, this open up for all the +1 items at construcktion 4 (and 6 later). so thosse are keepers not to put in danger before they have research and forged the needed + items.
Else i think its alteration 6 there is the target. (after flaming arrows alt 4) but thats in the topic here

But to make it short Mass protektion does wonders to my hopilites and does make my archers protekted as well!
Incinerate is the best fire spell , and invulnerbility is a nice thing for thosse mages
and....

And now getting into the talk about bowmen and how to proteckt them. Thats a nice job for hopilites , they are actual excellent at it, they laugh at friendly fire and doesn't break easyly. So this is a standard archer/heavy inf combo that machaka have. And very dependely
And am I wrong about that bows benefit more from the flaming arrows than crosbows , because of the faster fire rate or did I misunderstood that.

on final thought I think thats patrolling is whats make the difference for me in the early game, not that I overdo it, but to get those exstra gold early is simply what machaka needs, and the flexibility is nice as i am able to make my income alot higher if needed. And the PD does need thesse ekstra troops aswell. remember that Anything a patrolling priest finds would kill him unless he is in good compagny.


btw I like your wordings" Since their mages are not holy and their priests are not sexy and their only sacred unit is one I have never been able to afford, I have never made a build with bless effects" Made me laugh
But have you seen a sorceress turns into a spider- defently sacred after! (but sure not sexy)