C'tis strategy

[Cainehill]

Nagot Gick Fel said:

Vorkosigan said:

Yes.

I believe it all depends on whether or not the Ghost Riders defeat the forces in province A. If they fail, the province remains as a safe haven for the retreating forces in B.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Cainehill said:
I believe it all depends on whether or not the Ghost Riders defeat the forces in province A. If they fail, the province remains as a safe haven for the retreating forces in B.

True.

Whats SoS, sry but ima newb.

[Jurri]

SoS = Staff of Storms

[Jurri]

One thing you might consider with C'tis is researching enchantment 1 first. It gives access to animate skeleton, with which your empoisoners can conquer most indies.

[The Panther]

I am currently playing Miasma C'tis on turn 90 in what was (at the time it started) my third MP game ever. That theme is far stronger than I ever thought possible.

I took dominion 10 in my pretender design, but really only needed 9. Even 8 might do, but that is the absolute minimum for this theme. The extra income from the dominion will rock your socks off.

The biggest drawback in your pretender design is the watchtower selection. The problem with that is that people in MP may be inclined to take you out early to avoid the troublesome disease spreading action later on. In a 1-on-1, this does not matter. But in a true MP game with many opponents, you could easily die early to annoyed opponents ganging up on you. With the lack of mobility for C'tis, watchtowers just do not delay enough.

I went with the Hill Fortress in my game. Those 250 defense things are extremely hard to take out. And no enemy wants to sit on them without disease immune troops and commanders for the many turns it takes to drop the walls. Put city guards behind every fortress and it will truly hurt them while crashing the gates. If they eventually win, their troops are likely already dying.

So, how did I get the pretender points to do all this?

Simple - I did not use an SC pretender. I choose the immortal saurolich, who seems exactly designed for a Miasmi theme with high starting dominion. I gave him only death 4, researched the raise skeleton/dead spell, and never once lost him to indy 9 neutrals. Of course, I never sent him in alone either. Several times, he was the only troop left after my lizards routed, but he never lost a battle. I even three times crashed on a neutral at the same time as an opponent and won every single time.

One of the things to worry about is finding the correct summons to match this theme. Demons and undead do not catch the disease. Cold blooded folks like lamias and draconians do not either. I tested a lot of summons over the course of the game to see which died and which didn't. There are plenty that don't, so it turned out to not be that big a problem.

Anyway, the Miasma sauromancers are extremely cool. They all come with 1 water for quickness. The 2 death, 2 nature base magic seems very strong. The one random is incredibly useful. And the best thing about them? You can recruit them in any castle.

[Tuidjy]

Yes, Miasma is extremely powerful. I do not understand why C'tis isn't more
popular in multiplayer. I have won every single MP game I have played with
C'tis (and intend to win the one I'm currently in) even if I made a lot of
mistakes the first time.

A couple of things that I want to add to the advice above:

The shaman is an awesome researcher, and great for casting 'Astral Probing'.
In battle, you can have them use communion for 'Relief', 'Charm', or even an
old fashioned Astral barrage ('Mind burn', 'Soul Slay', 'Enslave', etc). Left
on their own after their scripts run out, they will cast 'Curse' and 'Healing
Light' which are very useful in prolonged battles.

The empoisoners are great at taking indies out with 'Animate Skeleton'. They
are also dangerous to anyone if they start with 'Swarm' and eventually attack.

Deathmasters' random picks make them specialists:
Fire: Use them to forge fire skulls, fever fetishes and rune smashers, to summon
Bane Archers, and (with a fire skull) cast Augury.
Air: With a cheap thistle mace, they can cast 'Healing mists' or 'Summon
Sprites' in combat.
Water: Clams and Boots of Quickness alone make them valuable
Earth: Jade armour is very nice for mounted commanders and non-flying thugs.
Astral: Use shamans as communion slaves, and enjoy higher Nature/Death levels.
Death: Give them a staff, and you have the deadly 'Drain Life'/'Raise skeletons'
uber-combo. Or use them to cast 'Ghost Riders'.
Nature: In battle you cannot go wrong with 'Relief' and 'Charm'. With a cheap
thistle mace, you can cast rituals like 'Kelp Fortress' and 'Gift of Reason'.
Blood: Blood hunters. If there are no blood nations in the game, you have a
good chance to snatch a few Ice Devils.

And do not forget that with some triton bait, marshmasters can take underwater
provinces without too much trouble. Once the skeletons start flowing...

On top of everything, the troops do not suck. Hell, they are actually very
nice - you have defenders and you have heavy infantry as damage shields. Who
needs more? The nice priests are just icing on the cake.

One thing about a high domain level - it will piss your neighbors a bit too
early. I prefer a lower domain level - six, as a matter of fact - so that I can
get a decent supercombatant. Later, when you can afford to push people around,
building temples will take care of your domain.

But still, C'tis is not one of the top nations, because it has no mobility to
speak of. I was given a few turn files in which Vanheim demoralized an
arguably stronger C'tis empire not by defeating him on the battlefield, but by
airdropping, sneaking, and basically jumping in his rear until he resigned.

In my games I avoided that by fortifying heavily, but with a top nation, you
have cheaper ways to defend.