Nation Guide (in progress): LA Ulm

[Horst F. JENS]

Hi, this is my first attempt to write an nation guide.
I would love comments and ideas because i lack good long-term strategy for this nation.


Nation overview

You have stealth crossbowmen Ranger_of_Ulm and archers, various heavy infantry and units that summon free chaff Wolfherd -> Wolves and Vampire_Count -> Thralls.

Your mage-priest have an weak forge bonus, you have cheap S1 Communion Slaves and Blood-Astral Mages, both of them very stealthy.

You have the already researched national spell Sanguine Heritage (B3D3) that summons immortal Vampire_Counts.

Your sacred cavalry is captial-only and expensive.

25% of your H2 priests have an Astral random, making it possible to reach H3 with 2 communion slaves or even H4 with 4 communion slaves (Illuminated_One)

In your captial you can recruit undead heavy infantry that is special effective against enemy sacred troops.

Your province defense is at least competent (Shortbows and Pikes / Halberds).

You have good magic diversity (all paths except water) but you lack mages with several picks of one path. You will get:

* 100% chance of S2
* 25% chance of E2
* 2.5% chance of S3
* 2.5% chance of B2


Units

Villain 10 gold, 5res, morale 8, prot 6, Short_Bow, Mace, stealthy, forest survival, map movement 2.

Your only recruit-everywhere unit with normal magic resistance of 10 instead of 9. In late age, short bows are ineffective versus most units. Villain's have the same good map movement as your Rangers and are your only troop with mountain survival. Also this is your cheapest troop resource-wise. Use them to fire at closest enemies - your heavy frontline infantry should suffer less from friendly shortbow fire than from your Rangers crossbows. For 120 gold, you will get 10 Rangers or 12 Villain's. In most cases, you will recruit Rangers instead.

Pikeneer 10 gold, 20 res, prot 14 magic resistance 9, map move 1, Pike

buy this unit to repel low-morale troops like lizards.

Halberdier 10 gold, 22 res, prot 14, magic resistance 9, map move 1, Halberd, castle defense bonus (1)

a good troop to buy if you don't know exactly what you need. The defense bonus will help you against unexespected castle sieges and the halberd, together with the above-average strength of 11 packs a punch. Use this unit behind a screen of Tower shield infantry with orders to attack closest or attack largest.

Infantry_of_Ulm 10 gold, 23 res, prot 14, magic resistance 9, mam move 1, Morningstar, Tower_Shield

your basic arrow sucker. The morning star ignore shields defence but does less damage than a halberd or a great sword. Put those troops near the front as shield wall and script them to hold and attack or guard commander. A part from your cap-only cavalry, this unit has your best defence value (12).

Ranger_of_Ulm 12 gold, 8 res, prot 6, stealthy, magic resistance 9, map move 2, forest survival, Crossbow, Axe

There is nothing not to love about this über-cool unit. Buy as much Rangers as you can. If kept save from enemy arrow fire the Rangers can even engange in melee with their high-damage axes. Also note that Rangers have base precision of 12, making the armor-piercing crossbow fire even more deadly.

Zweihander 14 gold, 36 res, prot 20, magic resistance 9, map move 1, Great Sword

The next cool unit of LA Ulm, and the main reason to take a positive production scale. If you manage to mass enough of this troops you can tear into your enemies like a knife into butter. Do not use this unit as missle or lance fodder, use chaff or tower shields instead.

Ghoul_Guardian 20 gold, 28 res, cap-only, prot 19, castle defense bonus 2, undead, Black Halberd

A recruitable undead heavy infantry. The Black Halberd fatigues enemy sacred units. Being undead means poison resistent , and no need to eat. The biggest problem -a part from massing them- is the slow map move, so you will need Gateway or other means to send them into action. In contrast to the Black Templars, this unit is not sacred so resource in your captial is the only limiting factor.


Black Templar 80 gold, 68 res, cap-only, 15 hp, prot 20, sacred, mounted, Lance, Morningstar, Hoof, Kite_Shield

Too bad this unit is cap-only and so exensive. For the price, you get a good heavy cavalry (prot 20!). With the right bless this unit can be even more impressive. Note that Black Templars have magic resistance of 10 instead of your nation's usual 9.

Commanders


Commander_of_Ulm 40 gold, 24 res, 12 hp. 14 prot, leadership 80, map movement 2, Broad_Sword, Tower_Shield

Your standard troop ferry. A good commander and your only unit with a broad sword. The low magic resistance of 9 make him not very well suited as a Thug, despite all the forging bonus of Ulm.

Ranger_Captain 45 gold, 8 res, 12 hp, prec 12, stealthy (0), forest survival, map movement 2, Leadership 10. Crossbow, Axe

Expensive for an scout, but dirt cheap for an sniper. A stealthy sniper. Forge him an Sceptre_of_Authority if you want to make him an useful stealthy leader (and Flame_Bolt caster). If not leading troops or scouting, the Ranger Captain will snipe with any of the cheap forged Bow's and Crossbows at your enemies.

Black_Acolyte 45 gold, 1 res, H1 10%E, inquesitor

A cheap H1 Inquisitor with a little chance of an earth magic skill. This would make him an ultra cheap Iron_Darts / Iron_Blizzard caster.

Black_Priest 170 Gold, 1 res, H2E1 100%FAES 15% forging bonus, inquesitor.

The workhorse of LA_Ulm and a very versatile priest/combat_mage/forger. Depending on the random skill you can:

* Air gems: cast Aim to enhance precision and cast Iron_Darts, Iron_Blizzard or Orb_Lightning. Later, he can cast Rain_of_Stones if equipped with Earth Boots and after casting Summon Earth Power. In the lab, with two Earth boosters he can cast Enliven_Gargoyle.
* Fire gems: can cast combat magic like Fire_Darts, Combustion, Blindness and Magma_Bolts. Can forge some interesting items.
* Earth gems: can site-search for Earth sites with Gnome_Lore, and forge Earth boots and dwarfen hammers. Also can forge useful armor for your Thugs. In combat cast Summon_Earthpower followed by Tempering_the_Will to give all friendly units better magic resistance. Can also cast Blade_Wind or several Iron_Blizzards with less fatigue. Equipped with Earth boots he can cast Troll King's Court to get an E3 mage and some regenerating trolls.
* Astral pearls: lots of intersting items to forge, Golem_Construction possible with boosters and on the battlefield he can lead a communion as Communion_Master, becoming an H3 priest. When equipped with earth boots he can summon earth-power and cast Gifts_from_Heaven.

If getting an Fire Pick Old age is possible. Also look closely at the age before empowering a Black Priest.

Illuminated_One 80 gold, 1 res, S1, stealthy (25), RP 3, prec 10, spy

Your research and communion slave. cheap and dependable. Sneak this little fellow into enemy lands together with your Vampire Counts and Thugs. Spoil any Mind Hunter's day. In Combat if not acting as Dominion Slave, cast Star_Fires or Luck and Body_Ethereal to help your Thugs. Better yet, forge some Starshine_Skullcaps to make S2 mages and start some real combat magic. In the lab, site-search for Astral Sites with Arcane_Probing or forge some Ethereal_Crossbows for your Ranger Captains.

Member_of_the_Second_Tier 160 gold, 1 res, stealthy (35) S2B1 10%SBDF

Your main Blood Hunter. And your main communion Master. And a good combat mage even alone. Try to lead a communion and/or equip your MotsT with items such as Spell_Focus, Eye_of_the_Void, Starshine_Skullcaps and Crystal_Coin's. Anything to overcome your opponent's magic resistance, so that you can cast Mind_Burn, Paralyze or (with boosters/communion) Enslave_Mind. Against undead or massed troops the spell Solar_Rays is like an Fireball with less damage but 100% precision. In the lab you can (with boosters) Send_Lesser_Horrors. Every tenth mage will have an additional random skill, giving you either (2.5% chance for each):

* SSSB
* SSBD
* SSBB
* SSBF

If you are lucky enough to find an mage with random Fire pick that also is not too old, consider empowering him in blood magic. This will (with boosters) open the path to Soul_Contract (B6F1, constr2) and give you a free devil each turn.

Wolfherd 50 gold, 2 res, stealthy, Mountain & Forest survival, map-movement 2, cap-only

This unit can summon Wolfes.

Fortune_Teller 90 gold, 1 res, cap-only, 1S 100%SNDB, cancel bad event (10)

Depending on the random skill you can:

Nature gems: empower/ with boosters forge a Thistle_Mace to get N2. with N2 you can site-search for Nature sites with the spell Haruspex or summon Bears or Wolves (national spells). Together with a ring of wizardry it is possible to snatch enemy commanders via the Winged_Monkeys spell. Without boosters, only the Eagle_Eyes / Vine_Arrow combination or Curse springs to mind.
Death gems: Forge Banefire_Crossbow and Doom_Glaive. In Combat, cast Nether_Darts. With 2 Astral Boosters, cast Vengeance_of_the_Dead against enemy SC's.

Hochmeister 130 gold, 68 res, cap-only, mounted, prot 20, 17 hp, H1, inquisitor Lance, Morningstar, Hoof, Kite_Shield

A good chassis for an Thug or Prophet. Can self-bless and is quite durable.

summoned Unit

Thrall 10 hp, 0 prot, morale 17 Pitchfork

This chaff unit is auto-summoned by your Vampire Counts. Good for morale boosting and thanks to the pitchfork has a chance of repelling.

Wolf 8 hp, 2 prot, map-movement 3, stealty (0), Forest and Mountain Survival.

Summoned for free by your Wolfherds with the command Summon Allies. The wolves can outrun knights and make ideal lance fodder. The high map-movement is only matched by very few troops such as Lion_Tribe_Archers and Lion_Tribe_Warriors, who both lack the mountain survival. You still have to equip/find a commander with such an high map-movement. Use your wolves as patrollers and script them to attack cavalry

summoned Commander

Vampire_Count 44 Blood slaves, summoned by national spell Sanguine_Heritage Blood slavesBlood slavesBlood slavesDeath gemsDeath gemsDeath gems

immortal, regen (3), 25 hp, prot 0, BBDD, flying, undead, pois-resist, cold-resist, stealthy (0), enc 0, Life_Drain

Note that immortality only works in friendly dominion. If the Vampire_Count dies in friendly Dominion, he is revived in the capital the next turn. His items, however, are lost. If he got battle afflictions those will slowly heal.

With 2 boosters, Vampire Counts can summon more Vamprire counts. Use them to blood hunt, site-search for Blood sites (Bowl_of_Blood) and to defend your homelands. If fighting outside your dominion, equip them with good magic items, like an Black_Steel_Full_Plate.


Scales

Basically you are a blood forging nation. Growth and Order is good for you.

Your cap-only Fortune_Teller will help you taking a misfortune scale (good synergy with order), but your very cool heroes and your difficulty to search for elemental magic sites will be helped by neutral or positive Luck scale.

You have already production bonus in your castles. Your heavy infantry and cap-only cavalry will profit from a production scale. Nearly all your troops demand more resources than gold.

Magic: Your can recruit S2 mages everywhere and lot of the astral combat spells are negated by magic resistance. Positive magic scale will help you fighting in your own dominion with spells like Mind Burn and Soul Slay.

Most of your troops have Magic resistance of only 9, a drain scale will protect them somewhat.

Pretender Design

Design your pretender with Death and Blood to make use of the national spell Sanguine_Heritage B3D3, as you have no national blood-death mages. You can gamble and wait for an hero with the right skills to appear at your castle's gate.

You are a forging nation and need a ring of wizardry to boost paths. Give your pretender 4 Astral picks or more if possible.

Your vampire counts are only immortal in friendly dominion. Having a high dominion will help you. Taking dominoin 9 will also give your pretender the awe effect, good for an combat pretender.

High dominions will also help pretenders that auto-summon troops, like the Vampire_Queen, the Ghost_King and the Prince_of_Death.

You need some time to collect enough blood slaves to summon your first Vampire_Count so taking an sleeping Pretender will not hurt you.

Example:

sleeping Master Lich with D4B4S4 and good scales and dom6.

Tactic

Ranger_of_Ulm hordes are your first way to dominate the battlefield. Rangers are very mobile and easy to produce in masses. There only weakness is a lack of shield and armor, so put tower shield infantry in front of your rangers to suck arrows. Use Halberdier or Zweihander to deal damage. Do not tell your Rangers to fire at closest because that will hurt your own troops. Use troops with shields to catch arrows. Use wolves to soak up lance damage.

Your mages are capable of some impressive battle magic and you can recruit your mages in every fort and also seldom suffer from old age. Enhance your mages by building a communion or forging Slave_Matrix and Crystal_Matrix.

Forge Bows, Crossbows and other Magic Items for your high-precision Ranger Captains

Try hit and run tactics: A Vampire count with an Death gem can fly into battle, cast Summon_Lammashtas (D2, conj4, 1D gem) and retreat or help fighting. Being immortal means it does not matter if he dies in battle or not, as long as he stay in friendly dominion.

Send Horrors to rout enemy Province Defense before combat.

Have stealth troops like Wolves, Rangers and Villains hide inside enemy lands and attack in the magic phase together with teleporting Astral mages.

Equip an Vampire Count with an black heart to have an immortal Assassin. Use his Blood skill to cast Hellbind_Heart and steal the commander.

Use the overland-assassination spell Infernal_Disease to kill enemy commanders before the move into your lands.

Before sieges, sneak one of your high-stealth mages with an stone-idol into enemy lands. Together with your very efficient inquisitor priests, you can lower or even push out the enemy dominion before storming the castle.

Have Astral on your immortal pretender or empowering your vampire count with astral let allow you to use Mind_Hunt without penalty, while you can protect your SC with stealthy Illuminated_Ones to feeblemind hostile Mind Hunters.

Use some Blood Slave to empower an E2 Black Priest with Blood magic. Give him 2 blood boosters and an dwarven hammer, and he can forge Blood Stones cheaper than everyone else (25% dwarven hammer bonus and 15% forging bonus = 40% bonus). The Blood Stones give one earth gem each turn.

Research Goals

Forging is what your nation can better than others, so race toward construction 2 for Dwarven_Hammer, construction 4 for Sanguine_Dousing_Rod Later, resarch construction 6 for Ring_of_Wizardry among others.

Hunt for blood slaves as soon as possible. Later, move your blood hunters to medium populated provinces (around 6000 pop) to not hurt your tax base in high-pop provinces.

Research the Socery Site-search spells like Arcane_Probing (Evoc 2) and Dark_Knowledge (Conj 2) soon. Research Bowl_of_Blood (Blood 2) at the same time as you have your first Vampire_Count ready.

It will take a while until you have your first E2 mage and it will need indy mages, Empowerment or an Ring_of_Sorcery to get a Fortune_Teller with N2 so you can wait a bit before researching Thau 2 (Haruspex and Gnome_Lore).

Evoc 2 will give you your first battlefield-spell Solar_Rays for your Member_of_the_Second_Tiers, followed by Evoc3 Iron_Darts for your Black_Priest. Later, research Evoc 6 for some Iron_Blizzard action.

Conj 3 will give your Earth mages the fatigue-reducing and Earth-boosting spell Summon_Earthpower and Conj4 will give your Vampire_Counts the very userful spell Summon_Lammashtas.

Thaum will give your Astral Mages good combat spells like Paralyze. Thaum 5 gives you Tempering_the_Will to help overcome your troops low magic resistance.

Alteration will give you some useful earth spells like Ironskin.

Blood 5 gives you the very useful Send_Lesser_Horror spell but you need at least one astral and one blood booster for this spell. Later Blood spells are even more interesting, like Send_Horror among others and Blood Combat spells like Leech and Blood_Vengeance.


Conj 5 will give you the a good Thug Chassis with the Bane_Lord, but you can of course try to equip an Black_Servant with an Black_Steel_Full_Plate to have an cheaper Thug.

Conj 6 will give you Summon_Spectre, one of the few ways to get missing magic skills like Water.

Long-Term Strategy

Your national troops are top quality, you enjoy an production bonus in castles and have archers, crossbow, stealth and Thugs availably right from the start.

Your main weakness is low magic resistance, so try to kill Astral/magic nations fast. At least, survive until you can protect your troops.

You can make max use of your blood economy and terrorize your enemies with Astral/Blood Spells like Horror_Seed

You can make most of your foging bonus by aiming at constr 8 Forge_of_the_Ancients and Golem_Construction.