[Renojustin]

Right, I always use Ladies as they only require D1N1 to summon, same as the Centaurs. The Lords require N3D2 I think, which is awfully hard to pull off, and as you say, not as efficient for 25 gems/3 carrion/turn as the Ladies are for 16 gems/2 carrion/turn.

As far as what to use to summon the Ladies, it's certainly not a bad thing to allocate that job to a Pan who is useful by his mere existence, partying and debouching Maenads into existence. I'd rather have 2 extra carrion per turn than 10 RP for THAT turn only. In 10 turns you can create 10 Carrion Ladies who will produce 20 carrion monsters per turn for the low price of 160 nature gems.

The Carrion Ladies themselves are probably your best bet for leading your carrion into battle, as they can buff them and control 120 each at 0 experience.

At first glance, carrion doesn't seem too impressive at all. However, they can make a solid wall of defense for your battlemages. They don't rout, they use Sleep Vines which puts the front lines of your enemy to sleep, preventing them from attacking or even retreating so the next wave of enemies can attack you. They're immune to poison and they can be buffed to quite tough proportions by your national priest spells. Quickened, protected, regenerating Elephant carrion, or any others for that matter, are not to be sneezed at by any troop. And they just keep piling up like a compost heap, not taking any upkeep or supplies.