[Valerius]

A few comments about my experiences playing TNN under CBM 1.83. I used the traditional E9N6 bless because I find it fun. But I planned on reducing my use of thugs because of the increased forging costs. Note however that TNN received some boosts in this release as well (lower encumbrance, better N battle magic, awe on Ri) so these comments are directed not towards them being nerfed but towards a change in emphasis and feedback on which units I used and which I didn't use.

Generally speaking, I thought Ri having awe balanced out the increased forging costs and I used them for thug duties. Of course it depends on the opponent - if your opposition doesn't care about awe then you're in the same boat as Sidhe Lords. And I think Sidhe Lords suffer most. I didn't recruit one the entire game and I can't think why I would. Bean Sidhe cost less, are better researchers and have better magic paths. I suppose if I wanted to send out a thug without equipment or maybe with just a frost brand I might recruit one. But these used to be a mainstay so the fact that I didn't recruit any really stood out to me.

I lean towards removing the awe on Ri/Tuatha and giving TNN/Eriu a forge bonus to help them with thugging. It could even be on a handful of unique summons in order to limit its use. And it's not unthematic if you look at the descriptive text on Lugh and how he had a variety of skills (including forging) that were already present in TNN (just not in one person).

I also recruited fewer Tuatha Sorceresses than usual since I was recruiting more Ri.

I also still don't find Cu Sidhe worthwhile. I want to use these because I like thematic national summons but they just don't seem worth it. Maybe reduce the cost a bit more?