Lanka: unit stats, comments and tips

[GrobRIM]

You will find the stats for all Lanka units (recruitable troops and national summons) attached to this post as an Excel file.

Sunray, you are welcome to include it in your units.xls file.

Lanka is a great nation, and it had been a long time I had not played a Blood nation; I am really enjoying it at the moment.

Below are some comments and humble tips to those who would like to give it a try.

Broad lines

• Lanka is an Early Age (EA) nation, based on Bandar Log’s EA Kailasa, so you’ll get most of the regular Markata, Atavi and Bandar units and commanders; but instead of being ruled by Yakshas and Yakshinis, they’re ruled by Rasksharajas and Rakshasis (rulers of the Rakshasas, who are demon ogres mastering Air, Death, Blood and Holy magic);
• Lanka is definitely a Blood nation: cheap blood-hunting troops (Raktapata: 90 gold, sacred, BH, which compares to Abysia’s Sanguine Acolyte) and 9 (yes, nine!) national Blood summons;
• Lanka is a demon nation: best recruitable troops and commanders, as well as all Blood-summoned troops and commanders, are demons;
• All demon troops (recruitable and summoned) are sacred, so you will want to carefully plan a suitable bless strategy;

Advantages

• Powerful demon troops (recruitable and summonable);
• All priests can reanimate Undead;
• National archers with strategic move 2 and forest survival; Bandar archers have long bows (20 gold, 7 res), Atavi archers are stealthy (9 gold, 3 res), and Markata archers are really cheap (5 gold, 1 res);
• Great national Blood summons (troops and commanders);
• Lanka prefers Heat+2, so you get 80 free design points (or 120 if you go for Heat+3);
• Access to Air, Death, Nature and Blood magic;

Other nice features

• Summoned commander with blood vengeance! (Dakini, Blood-6)
• Summoned assassin (Samanishada, Blood-7)

Weaknesses

• You demons eat lots of supplies: they’re all size 3, and most of them have gluttony (eg, all Rakshasa units have gluttony -4!), so you’ll either need to take growth scales, or forge many Endless Bags of Wine (Cons 4, N) / Enormous Cauldron of Broth (Cons 2, N3) with your Yoginis (DN2B), or set up NNE-only (Need Not Eat) armies (most of these gluttonous demons also happen to need not eat, which means they won’t starve if supplies are missing, but other troops will starve because the demons will eat all available food!);
• All your best troops are demons, so watch out enemy priests; you might consider going for an Astral bless to bestow them a bonus to their MR;
• Poor Province Defence (Markatas and Markata archers);
• No Fire, Water, Earth or Astral national mages.

Recruitable troops – quick walkthrough

• Markatas and Markata archers: small potatoes (5 gold, 1 res, HP 5, Prot 0, morale 7); they form the core of your PD (province defence – or maybe province defenceless?); they are not powerful, they are not courageous, they die like lemmings… but they can nevertheless (theoretically) swarm big enemies thanks to their small size, and are definitely good arrow fodder for the price;
• Atavi infantry and Atavi archers: they are cheap stealthy units (9 gold); and are a better bargain than the more expensive Bandars in time of dire need;
• Bandar warriors (20 gold, 13 res) and Bandar archers (20 gold, 7 res): just as Man’s longbowmen, the Bandar archers are invaluable in taking enemy archers;
• Kala-Mukha warriors, Asaras, Anusaras, and Palankashas: these four are Lanka’s elite troops; they’re all sacred, have 24-30 HP, and Att 12+; the latter three are demons and are capital-only; in the game I’m currently running, I have not used the less expensive Asaras and Anusaras because I felt they had a too low Protection (3 and 4 respectively) for the price (35 gold), and I had no bless effect to help it; the Kala-Mukha warriors (50 gold, 24 HP, Prot 13, Att 13, Def 12) and the Palankashas (45 gold, 30 HP, Prot 14, Att 13, Def 12) are powerhouses, and a bunch of them with the proper blessing can take most armies; Palankashas are a better bargain for the price than Kala-Mukha warriors, but they are capital-only.

Recruitable commanders – quick walkthrough

• Markata scout – just a basic scout;
• Atavi Chieftain, Bandar Commander and Bandaraja are the usual troop leaders (40, 80 and 120 regular troops respectively); note the Atavi Chieftain is stealthy and can lead stealthy Atavi infantry and archers into enemy provinces;
• Raktapata (90 gold, sacred, BH) is your basic blood hunter; he’s a big boy and can forge his own SDR;
• Kala-Mukha (160 gold, sacred, B?HH, ?=100%(ADNB)) can get you B2 mages which you can use to start blood hunting before you have access to SDR, or to cast Bowl of Blood when you have reached Blood-2; the other ones (ABH2, DBH2 and NBH2), I used mainly for H2 (Sermon of Courage), preaching, and occasional item forging;
• Yoginis (110 gold, DN2B): you will need a few of them to develop your Nature and Death magic, forge item, search for sites, etc
• Rakshasis (350 gold, sacred, ADNBHH??*, ?=100%, *=10%(ADNB)) and Raksharajas (270 gold, sacred, AADBBHH$*, $=100%(ADB), *=10%(ADNB)) are your demon army leaders; most of them can cast A3+ and/or B3+ spells/rituals; with a little luck (or empowerment), you can get A4 or B4 commanders and bootstrap the Air and Blood boosting items sequence; the Rakshasi is much more expensive than the Rakshasa because she has a hidden skill: she can change shape to a Manushya Rakshasi (bless you!), without loosing magic paths, and in that form, she can seduce enemy commanders [usage tip: as she cannot fly back with seduced commander like a Succubus, you must try and seduce an enemy commander in a province neighbouring one of your provinces, so she can walk back with him]

National summons – troops – quick walkthrough

• Gana (x20, Conj 2, 12D, needs D1): inexpensive ethereal undead troops with spectral weapons (don’t hit if target rolls MR), nice for swarming the battlefield with fodder;
• Rakshasas (x5, Blood 1, 10 slaves, needs B2 – Sacred, demon, 28 HP, Prot 5, Att 14, Def 11) and Phragasas (x15, Blood 2, 50 slaves, needs B1N1 – Sacred, demon, 35 HP, Prot 4, Att 13, Def 10) I have not used much because of their low Protection and no bless effect to help it;
• Asrapas (x5, Blood 3, 11 slaves, needs B2 – Sacred, demon, 19 HP, Prot 1, Att 12, Def 13) are berserk(+3) and wield Athames (magical partial life-draining weapons), but again, I have not used them much because of their very low Prot;
• Rakshasa Warriors (x5, Blood 4, 25 slaves, needs B2 – Sacred, demon, 30 HP, Prot 14, Att 13, Def 10) are the units you want to summon en masse in mid game to replace the capital-only Palankashas;
• Sandhyabalas (x3, Blood 5, 30 slaves, needs B2D1 – Sacred, demon, 30 HP, Prot 14, Att 14, Def 13) are even better and more expensive warriors who are stealthy and wield Moon Blades;
• And finally, the Davanas (x3, Blood 8, 75 slaves, needs B5 – Sacred, demon, 92 HP, Prot 12, Att 12, Def 11) are four-armed huge (size-6) demons who wield three unholy weapons (with the “Halt Sacred” effect); though I have not tried it yet, they look like a very nice target for the Gift of Reason ritual.

National summons – commanders – quick walkthrough

• The Dakinis (Blood 6, 50 slaves, needs BBA – Sacred, demon, fly, blood vengeance(+0), A3D1B3H3) are more powerful than your capital-only Raksharajas and Rakshasis; they are powerful Blood mages, and can make good thugs or SC with a few Air buffs, Athame (partial life-draining weapon), innate blood vengeance, and a few buff items (like a ring of Regeneration forged by your Yoginis); plus they can Divine Bless (H3) your demons; definitely a multi-purpose commander;
• The Samanishada (Blood 7, 35 slaves, needs B3D1) is an assassin; I love assassins;
• And finally, the Mandaha (Blood 8, 133 slaves, needs B5D2) is Lanka’s best commander: this huge Rakshasa (size 6) is a mighty warrior (65 HP, Prot 15, Att 14, Def 10) wielding a Flesh Eater, as well as a very powerful magic user (A3D3B2) and priest (H3); moreover, he is constantly surrounding by a large Sleep Cloud, and, in combat, the battlefield is plunged into Darkness! So with this buddy, you get the perfect demon army leader: with H3, he can cast Divine Blessing on all your demons at the beginning of a battle, and with the permanent Darkness (which doesn’t affect your demons), your demons get a huge advantage on your opponent; this summon is definitely the best for investment for Lanka.

Tips

• Start early expansion using Palankashas; they’re expensive (45 gold), but for the price, you get powerful killing machines (HP 30, Prot 12, Att 13, Def 12) which will suffer very few casualties, if any, and will have grown to 4-star experience by the beginning of end-game; sprinkle with national archers (either Atavi archers, short bows, precision 10, set on fire closest, or Bandar archers, long bows, precision 9, set on fire enemy archers);
• Go for Blood! This school will give you your most powerful troops that you can summon anywhere on the map (remember, your gorgeous Palankashas are capital-only, and have the holy unit recruit limit) and some beautiful and unique commanders; I believe your main milestones are Blood-4 (Summon Rakshasa Warriors) and Blood-8 (Summon Mandaha);
• As far as research goes, I would advise you to first run to Cons-4 to get the SDR (Sanguine Dousing Rod), and then switch to Blood as you start up the Blood economy with your SDR-equipped Raktapatas (90 gold, sacred, BH); it’s no use starting right away researching Blood as you won’t have enough good blood-hunters (B2 or B+SDR) and not enough blood slaves flowing in; once you have reached Blood-4 and your research is running fine, you might consider spending a few points in other schools from time to time to unlock some spells: Air buffs and evocations for your mage commanders (Raksharajas and Rakshasis), site-searching spells for your DN2B Yoginis; but try and stick to Blood, it’s really worth it!
• Getting to Cons-4 first also gives you access to Skull Mentors (D2, RP+9) which you happen to have plenty of Death gems to forge with (+3/turn from initial sites + all death sites that you can find with your Yoginis);
• You might consider going for a Drain scale, as your researchers will be using Skull Mentors, so RP-1 (Drain -1 or -2) instead of the usual RP+1 (Magic +1) won’t have much impact on your research, and most of your magic (Blood) will be based on rituals, not battlefield spells, so the extra fatigue from the Drain scale won’t affect you much (less than your enemies hopefully);
• Have a couple Raksharajas cast monthly Bind Storm Demon; a dozen of them makes a deadly flying artillery (lightnings);
• Almost all your troops are sacred, so a bless strategy definitely is a must; I have tried an Astral-9 bless (MR+3 and Twist Fate): MR+3 is nice to protect your demons from Banishment, and Twist Fate is really great for short and violent battles (eg, against cavalry); but since your demons have lots of HP, going for Nature and Regeneration might be a better idea, especially if you intend to use the low-Prot demons; or then maybe Air (for Air shield), but the same effect can be achieved (in late game, though) with Arrow Fend (Ench-6, A3) or with Darkness-casting Mandahas (Blood-8); I don’t think Earth-9 (for Prot+4) is worth it (not enough for low-Prot demons, and not much a difference for high-Prot and high-HP demons); I think that Fire (increased Attack) and Blood (increased Strength) are not necessary as the demons already have great Strength and enough Attack (which increases a lot with experience, which they are going to accumulate a lot since they are very durable); Water surely would be a good bless, especially Water-9, for Quickness; if I was to start a new game with Lanka, I think I’d try a dual Water-9/Nature-4 or Water-9/Nature-6 bless.

Comments and advice welcome!

Meanwhile, I’ve got to find a way to fight back Oceania who has just come out of the water on the day I have declared war to T’ien Chi. Damned fish.