[ano]

Originally Posted by Gregstrom

Ano, thanks for the correction. As for your other points, I think it's down to a difference in play style.

Of course. Some people already know my playstyle here...

I like Rakshasa Warriors for a series of reasons over Palankasha (when I can summon them). They have an extra point of MR over Palankasha, helping against Banish, and they do fractionally more damage per hit. You can create more than a maximum of 10/turn, and you don't have to pay upkeep on them. This is quite nice, given that 20 Palankasha cost roughly the income provided by a blood-huntable province.

Absolutely true, they are better in nearly all aspects but shield absence and if I needed troops I would summon them. But my point was that Lanka doesn't need troops in midgame at all. Raksharajas and Dakinis rule nearly everything and by that point you should have enough of your early-game army if you didn't lose it obviously... Once again, I agree that Rakshasa warriors are very good but I can't find much use for them unless some specific situation occurs.

As far as Asara go, definitely a matter of personal preference. Javelins with a net precision of 6 at a range of 20 aren't to my taste.

Did you try it? Of course these arrows are not too precise but against non-shielded EA troops each hit with Damage 23 is always a kill. Also, I didn't suggest to recruit Asaras later on, I just said that they have their niche when you have enough resources and can switch to Palankashas. Early on they are quite good especially with S and N bless.

In similar vein, while I certainly summon a lot of Dakini I don't believe they're the only valid use of the hundreds of blood slaves I can pull in per turn. Sure, Samanishada aren't much use but Davana are a very nice SC chassis and possibly on par with Tartarians. They're not insane, for a start.

Davanas are good and can make very potent SC's. However, their magic paths are rather limited and they can't be use for magic diversification - the purpose tartarians are very often summoned for. Lanka definitely doesn't need tartarians as sc's.

And ignoring Mandaha is bad. A leader who halves the attack and defence scores of most enemy units in the game gets my vote.

Did I say I ignore Mandaha? Of course they are very cool and you need one for each big fight but it is also late game. They are very expensive to be used as sc's and have not too good stats.

As far as bless/scales go, I prefer the benefits of E9W9 over S9W6F4N4. It's a little difficult for me to compare the melee benefits of Twist Fate, +4 def, +2att and 2 hp of regen against those of +4 def, +4 armour, 50% haste and noticeably less fatigue.

Did you see how a legion of Palankashas stands against, say, 20 mictlan priests spamming Banishment? I did see, it was miserable. If not my Kala-Mukhas I wouldn't conquer that castle and please note that my troops had +3 MR. Rakshasas without S bless would die very fast there. That's why I prefer to have non-demons in every army.

I think in the late game my choice is better - Lanka's sacred SCs have 18 MR base and you can cast Fog Warriors, which is pretty much Twist Fate but effective against more than one melee hit. OTOH bless haste, armour and extra reinvig are gifts that don't stop giving.

Once again I say that bless I'm speaking about was aimed manly for sc's and it's hard to underestimate the meaning of these minor bonuses for Raksharaja or Dakini. Your bless is aimed mainly for troops, OTOH.
Enc of Lankan troops is rather low and I don't think they really need that bonus to reinvigoration and they don't need quickness because they don't have too many attacks. In the late game quickness can easily be cast, btw.
One more point here. Of all Lanka summons I find Asrapas the best for the late game. When you can cast some armor-raising spell on them (the best being Army of Gold) combined with Fog warriors they start shining. Their stats are very good, they are not vulnerable to fire and have life drain weapon meaning they don't gather fatigue and berserk. All that being said, they are VERY good troops for battlefield-wide spells.

My pretender build was a sleeping Cyclops, E9W9, with Order 3, Sloth 2, Heat 3, Growth 1, Misfortune 3 and Drain 2. I can only blame my newbie status for that, but it worked well enough. The scales are bad, but not quite catastrophic - I should perhaps have taken Sloth3/Misfortune 2 and suffered a few less barbarian attacks early on. Having a mobile sleeping pretender instead of an immobile imprisoned one is yet again a matter of taste - while Lanka may not need an SC god, one who can quickly site search for 2 paths you otherwise lack is a nice bonus.

Yes, a bonus they don't need. S9 Oracle is one of the best pretenders for the late game, btw.

I think Drain 2 is survivable for a heavy bless nation, because you don't need so much research early on.

Of coure it is survivable. Many things are. But why do you need it? Instead of rushing into const for rods, alt for buffs, thau, evo and conj for site searchings and at last blood for dakinis you invest into troops and heavy bless that will definitely leave you behind later on.

Oh yes - a minor perk of Drain 2 is the bonus MR for your troops.

Take astral bless instead. Also, you will mainly need bonus to MR in enemy lands and you can't really hope that your rather low dominion will be there to help you.

Your experience with Enchantresses matches my own pretty exactly. They seem to provice a huge boost for Lanka, and it seems that they're pretty likely to be available since Whispering Woods isn't a unique site.

There's another site that gives N1W1 and Enchantresses. Forest of thousand streams, IIRC.