Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightypeon
-Enemie should use superior map move to interedict Ulms reinforcement routes. Ulm is forced to use Map mvoe 1 guys for the most part, make them pay for it
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Everyone has mapmove 1 when it comes to offensive moves. Except Caelum, I guess. Since reinforcement routes are by definition within Ulmish territory and behind the frontline, it's not really feasible for most nations to disrupt them until they have access to flying thugs (which Iron Angels eat for dinner anyway).
The exception would be stealth troops (and to a lesser extent sailing troops), but they don't affect Ulm particularly worse than they would other nations, in fact you could even say they affect it
less since the Ulmish reinforcements only ever move 1 space anyway. By comparison, cutting off the province a mapmove 2/3 reinforcement party was planning on skipping through costs them 3 turns since it cancels the original move.
On top of that, Ulm has some of the best PD in the game, so good luck light stealth troops.
It's also not true that Ulm has to wait for Army of X to counter Destruction/Iron Bane: Marble Warriors works fine, so does Wooden Warriors (N indies are a dime a dozen), and if you have a lot of mages in the field then Iron Warriors can do in a pinch too. Also, Mechanical Men, Living Statues, Iron Angels again.
Besides, outside of Shinuyama (which can rain acid and banefire on Ulm anyway), which serious Earth powers are you talking about ? Agartha, Pangea, Arcoscephale, Atlantis don't have any national archers, and if they're recruiting some indies while on the warpath with Ulm it's a dead giveaway what they're aiming for. Bandar can summon Yakshas, but there again you see them coming from a mile away. If you get caught with your pants down by Destruction, you can only blame yourself.
As for MR spells, Tempering the Will comes even earlier (Thaum 1) and brings the Ulmish MR to a respectable 13 (14 in dominion), battlefield-wide. It's MR resist, but since Ulm has crap MR before it goes off, it typically only takes 2-3 casts to affect the whole army.
Look, nobody's saying Ulm is positively unbeatable. Of course they are. But they're much tougher to beat than anyone else in the first 30 turns or so. Which puts them in a great place when they shift gears and start drowning the world in thugs. They're pretty weak in the late game when counters abound for large infantry armies and the Iron Angels start getting outclassed by self-buffing SCs... but by that time any decent Ulm player will already own a sizeable piece of the pie. And nothing precludes Ulm from having said self-buffing SCs either - Cyclops & Mech Men are a given, but F4D on your god also puts you in Ember Lords and Zmeys ; W3 is enough to find the W to empower a smith and give him boosters for Grendels ; A4 gives you self-summoning Asynjas.
Plus unlike many other nations, for the most part you don't need to spend gems on battlefield casting. Your dudes don't need Darkness, or Army of Lead, or Antimagic, or PotS/LotNS, or Relief, or Mass Regen, or Storm... to lop heads and fill the air with cold iron day in, day out.