Quote:
Miasma is really annoying, so I usually make Ctis my second enemey after pop-
killing nations if I have the choice to do so. That supports a mid-level domininon
score (7) and strong fortress in my view as well. Hill-fortress seems best
choice, but how do you build hill-fortresses in swamps? Seems a bit weird to me...
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I have never been attacked earlier than expected with dominion six. Yes, the
Miasma domain is annoying, but it is cheaper to fight dominion six with a priest
or two, rather than starting an early war. And as those who have played me know,
I always field a major supercombatant, which makes attacking me costly, at best.
It is true that an early coalition can be dangerous to anyone, which is why I try
very hard not to push my domain into other peoples' spheres of influence.
Sometimes, it just happens, but that means that the victim has very low starting
domain, which usually flags him as a newbie that should be easy to intimidate,
or failing that, eliminate.
Another thing that is great about C'tis is that their research priorities can
be tightly focused, which, added to great researchers available everywhere,
makes them a very high tech nation.
Note that I am talking about my built, here, which assumes a SC with Air, Water,
Earth, and Astral at a minimum, and my standard domain O3S3H2D2M2M3.
You go for Alt2, which lets your SC safely expand on turn three, searching
provinces which look promising. On turn four, you can launch a second strong
expansion force consisting of all the troops you have built and a level five
prophet with smite.
Then you go for Cons4, which will give you a wraith sword and boots of flight,
which go, of course, on your pretender and maybe on your prophet, if he luckied
out with one of the fighter perks from the Hall of Fame. Incidentally, you also
get clams, which, depending on your luck with randoms and searching, you may be
able to start cranking out.
By that time, you should have at least one additional castle, and be producing
two or more mages per turn. Go for Ench3 - it will give you 'Raise Skeletons',
and your pretender will thank you for 'Astral Shield' and 'Breath of Winter',
as by then, he will have items that give luck and armour, and thus have available
script slots.
With 'Raise Skeletons' and 'Quickness', expansion becomes trivial. Focus your
research on Alt6. Cons6(8) and Conj5(8) are also viable targets, depending on
what the political situation is. Your research will be matched only by Pythium
and Arco. Do you want to go for artifacts? Or do you want to roll over your
neighbors? Will you be facing SCs, or hordes, or battlefield targetting spells?
In any case, you have answers to any of these - in most cases the answer is:
Quickened 'Raise Skeletons' fueled by 'Drain Life' or 'Relief'...
The things to watch for:
Pythium, Arco, R'lyeh - beware of the mind targeting spells, which will bypass
the skeleton waves. Use cheap, but not mindless fodder (archers, militia)
Caelum, Abysia, Marignon, Man, Vanheim - Get the right immunity items.
The things that will kill you, and there is nothing you can do about it:
If you play a good player with a mobile nation: Vanheim, Pythium, Caelum, etc.
your powerful armies will be assaulted with remote spells, and avoided by the
enemy, while all other provinces will be taken over and pillaged... and if it
turns out to have decent gem income, you will see an instant castle poping
underneat the forces you sent to liberate it.
The moral? At turn 15 you should start taking out the powerhouses... Vanheim,
Pythium, and Caelum being the most dangerous ones. Except, of course, if I am
playing one of these... then it is not worth it, find someone else to beat on :-)