[llamabeast]

I had a chance to have a nice long play with the nation this evening, so I have a number of comments.

Firstly, once again I really like this nation, it's one of my favourites. You've given it a really nice feel.

I think the overall power level is slightly below average. Everything is okay but you have no standout strong points. With that in mind I think you can afford buffs where you fancy them.

To start with your first question, I think dervishes are great. I actually think they are slightly overpriced - 20 gold might be better. As you say they are potentially powerful but will always be niche, as you simply can't stop them from dying like flies. E9 doesn't help at all, and S9 will help but they'll still be short-lived.

I think the beduins are greatly overpriced. For comparison, Sauromatian light cavalry cost around 20 gold (in CBM; vanilla light cavalry are horribly overpriced). I'd suggest 20 gold would be a good price point for the beduins as well (perhaps 18 for the archer one?). Incidentally why do they have 12 hit points?

The camels similarly are very overpriced. I'd suggest maybe 25 gold for the heavily armoured one and 20 for the archer. I'd love to think of some special ability to make them stand out but it's hard to think of one. I think the animal awe and "long" camel bite are good moves, as is putting elite troops on their backs. I think with a reduced price they would see usage.

Also with the camels, I think they would look better if you added a little shadowing on the camelskin under the legs, to make them look more like the legs are actually on the camel's back rather than superimposed on it.

I also reckon the Mubarizun is a tad expensive. Maybe 15 gold?

I like all the mages. The Mystic is definitely useful - please leave him in! A cheap communion slave alongside all your astral-bearing Viziers is a fun unit. Also the fact that he's sacred allows you to put together big holy communions to get H3 or H4 casters in battle if you're facing lots of undead.

An additional beduin mage would be cool. Leave the mystic in, but the beduin mage you suggest sounds fun.

I tried out almost all the djinns (couldn't summon the high level fire one due to lack of suitable mages). I think you've got them about right. The little ones are powerful but easily killed (although it bugs me slightly that the ifrit are more powerful in pretty much every way than the marids - fire shield, better stats etc). The Beys are nice and this time there is a clear differentiation with the Marid being the "magicky" one, and the Ifrit being the "fighty" one. I didn't like the Sultan so much - I don't think the sprite is quite up to the standards of the rest of the mod, and it bothered me slightly that the Sultan had less magic overall than the Bey, but was suddenly very good at astral. I also tried the Ghul - seems cool. She will give the nation death access but I think that's fine, it will only be on a relatively small scale and it takes some effort to get there. Plus she allows Skulls of Fire to give you a handy fire booster. Anyway overall I think the djinns are good.