MA Ulm - you called me a forge what?

[AreaOfEffect]

I felt that Ulm was an overlooked nation well before they were patched. The new stuff, to me, feels like it's over the top. I like Ulm because it is efficient and elegant. I think Baalz makes a point that I've believed is true the whole time. As Ulm, other players need you, not the other way around.

I do feel that the roll of blood magic for Ulm is underplayed a lot in this guide. Blood stones, in my opinion, move Ulm to a whole new level of dangerous. Not because of the gem income it produces, but rather because they are overlooked as an earth booster. Ulm doesn't need more then a few blood stones at home. The rest ought to be fielded on smiths moving with your armies. Combined with a pair of earth boots and summon earthpower you have an earth 5 mage who can use the constant supply of earth gems to great effect.

Another thing overlooked I feel is alteration. Sure, iron blizzard is a handy evocation spell, and magma bolts satisfies a player's hunger for mass destruction, but it just isn't the path I would choose if I was given a lot of earth mages. Armor destruction, immobilization, battlefield fatigue, and protection are just a few of the spells under alteration. One of the most overlooked spells in my opinion is petrify, most likely because it requires an earth 5 caster. Yet, I just pointed out how easy it is to generate one of these in battle. Later on you can support your thugs with Crumble, fortify your position with iron walls and wizard's tower. Finally you can field those living statues in place of mechanical men without much a draw back as you can then cast army of gold. That's just the earth magic, their is also spells like blindness and doom. Doom is a spell you only need to cast once. Have your god show up, cast, and then retreat or cast returning. The enemy units will never be the same. Will of Fates is just further down. If your fielding golems you can provide them with a starshine cap and crystal coin, now everyone of your armies are nearly unstoppable.