Caelum vs. T'ien Ch'i

[Cainehill]

Arryn said:

Get used to it. I got tarred by Zen months ago as a "confirmed Jotun player", only because I played it twice in MP games he was in, and I wrote an AAR based on Utgard. My preferred nation (at the moment) is actually R'leyh, though I also have some fondness for Caelum and Ulm.

If I was going to try to nerf Caelum, I'd consider making *both* seraph types capital-only, leave their costs alone, and make the random pick (or one of them in the case of the high seraph) elemental-only. To balance this and make the use of mammoths more viable beyond the early game, I'd make wingless recruitable at any fort.

I think you haven't played Caelum lately. The baby seraph doesn't have a random, the daddy seraph has a single random, and making them both capital only leaves Caelum with ... no mages recruitable outside the capital. That'd really put a crimp in their style, having to find independent mages to get any research going. "Ooooh! We have found illusionists, and the nation is rejoicing!"

Making the high seraph's random elemental only would limit Caelum somewhat, although it'd also make getting A4 or W3 easier for them - probably a weakening overall, since getting death or nature on them is so handy.