Warriors of the Five Elements.

[Renojustin]

These guys get my vote for Some Of The Toughest Sons of *****es In The Game.

I really love T'ien in every age; their military is extremely good and their magic is usually at least tied for best. But WOtFE... these guys beg for a W9 bless, F9, maybe a touch of astral thrown in for good measure, makes them pretty unstoppable. It's worth being Imprisioned over. It'd be great to see them against Vans. I think they're undervalued and underused.

They are VERY cheap, fast, two (shortsword) attacks with superlative ATK and DEF, and of course, best of all... resist resist resist (resist). Natural protection, low encumbrance, an extra point of strength. 15 base morale, they can even have huge hps when you time it right. Really I just wouldn't want to make one angry, let alone a nation of them.

They only have two weaknesses:

1) Arrers. Screen em with your Most Honorable Tower Shield Eunuchs.
2) Capitol-only combined with no survival skills makes me a sad coyote. The best you can do is pump out 10 every turn (pretty rough to afford scales-wise with a high bless) and start to laboriously ferry them to your fronts.

By the mid to late game, when their resistances really start to shine, they are hampered by the distances involved, and worse yet, your dominion is probably starting to suffer from all those points you spent on what ought to have been your pride and joy.

You'd think that with all the fighting in bamboo forests, praying in remote mountain shrines, and celibate, ascetic lifestyle in general, they'd have SOME kind of movement bonuses. I mean, if nimble warrior-monks can't move freely through a forest, what can? I hesitate to be so acerbic, but come on, haven't the devs seen any martial arts films of any kind over the last couple of dozen years?

Add forest survival!

[Dedas]

Yep, they are rad. I just love these guys. To keep it thematic I usually take an elemental bless (fire, water, earth, air).

They are indeed worth getting "Imprisoned over".

[Reverend Zombie]

I've often wondered--what is the fifth element supposed to be? (after fire, water, air and earth...)

[Renojustin]

it's Fire, Water, Air, Wood, and Metal.

[Dedas]

The fifth element would be Aether (perhaps astral in Dominions), if you believe Aristotle. Aether makes up the super lunar sphere (the moon and above), where all the celestial bodies rotate in perfect circles.

[Renojustin]

Chinese Taoism: Fire, Water, Air, Wood, Metal are the basis of the universe.

[kasnavada]

Hum yeah but aristotle was (probably still is) completly unknown in the eastern civilisation from which Tien'Chi is based.

[Dedas]

Yes, of course, silly of me.

I just thought it fit better with astral as metal as such is not represented as an individual magic path in dominions.

[sansanjuan]

The fifth element would be Leeloo (Milla Jovovich ) from... "The Fifth Element" Willis & Co. A pretty lass indeed.
-SSJ

[Renojustin]

Sansan multipass?

But really, yeah, I originally used to take W9A9 but it became apparent to me that it just wasn't necessary... just torment opposing archers with your excellent composite bows and cavalry, maybe chariots, and you have nothing to worry about.

It works but you'll wish you'd taken just about anything else later on; you do NOT have points to spare with a high Dominion on top of a bless for these guys. You can protect them in a lot of magical ways as well, and they have 10 base protection and 5 on head, so they're not quite as vulnerable as they seem.

They're not really all THAT prone to arrow fire when you keep them in mind. They wear leather cuirasses so you can buff them pretty easily, Arrow Fend, it's just not worth the points. When you meet high DEF or high protection units the ATK and damage from fire really comes in handy. My suggestion for the bless would be F9W9.