[Xietor]

I was going to wait until you were officially dead, but great game Darkwind. You did wonders with MA Ulm, and ultilized the new features that KO added quite well.

And you played a smart game. Triple teaming Evilhomer early on and taking out LA Mictlan likely saved MA Ulm, EA Ctis, and MA Ctis from early exits. Though it was not fun or fair for Evilhomer, That was a smart move to get rid of a powerful bless nation with an excellent player before they ever got rolling.

Attacking me likely was a mistake. As you got my attention for several turns before I got jumped by Atul and Admiralzhao, and you lost many armies and mages. Your better bet was likely to attack EA Ctis who was still recovering from LA Tien Chi's assault on him.

But it was your 1st mp game, and i do not think you realized that 2 baneloeds would be able to kill 150 of your best castle bought troops even with 20 mages backing them up.
So it was a learning expereince for you. Not many races have castle bought troops that you can rely on through the midgame. And just because your spells work well against some foes, does not mean they work well against all.

With your strong Earth Magic, for the midgame your best options to counter banelords(you had ea ctis, ma ctis, and la tien chi as neighbors-banelords were inevitable):

1. Alteration: petrify

2. conjuration troll kings-trolls. Can contact trolls for 1 e gem. Troll king can also with summon earthpower and earth boots cast petrify. Petrify will stop banelords and most everything else.

3. Mechanical men-construction

4. conj 8 Earth attacks. these are brutal.

Iron Angel-I do not like the Iron Angel so much because its special attacks are not inherent. You cant give it a fire brand and a shield. I think the penalty of not having magic or being capable of having magic is enough. It can never travel(cloud trapeze, teleport). It can never buff like a harbinger, who can also travel and fly, and cast battlefield spells(fog warriors, arrow fend, wind guide) and evocations(thunderstrike) in combat.

I also do not like how the new alteration (cheap at 2 water gems)green lion has a special attack that seems tailor made to cripple these iron angels, and not other magic beings. shrug. In fact I made a few just in case an iron angel ever made an appearance.

But conj 8 is still a high priority goal i think for Ulm for Earth Attacks.

In any event, thanks for playing Darkwind. It was great having you in Kingmaker. And take my advice on Ulm with a grain of salt. I realize Ulm is limited in its research capabilities, and you likely did the best you could to reach the spells you did get with the very hard research mod in place.

I do hope you used a ton of lightless lanterns though. Anytime you play a race with
research limitations, lightless lanterns are your friends. I realize skull mentors come earlier, but i just never make those unless i am playing pangaea and take 2 drain(a very very research challenged race). I can almost always find a better use for my death gems than a skull mentor.