Ulm SP AAR- Swords Vs. Sorcery

[RedRover]

A Crusher will not be ignored (it may be swamped, but it won't be ignored). Enemy troops with Attack Rear orders may detach some units to go around it, but some will stay, and the Crusher will stump off in pursuit of the rest when it wins.

If you have never built a Crusher, I recommend building one, just so you can see it in action. They're slow, so consider putting it forward far enough that the rest of your shield gets up to it just before the enemy gets there.

If you are in a bad enough way that your forts are under siege, blocking the gates with several Crushers can brutalize the foe, especially if you have a long, narrow gate and a high rate of defensive fire. Unlike recruited troops, summons can appear directly in a besieged fort.

Likewise, sending in a Crusher or two directly against an enemy fort gate (as far forward as you can) while storming might get you in a little easier.

Ulm heavy infantry is pretty good, especially when bolstered by the Legions of Steel spell and Giant Strength. Trolls augmented by these spells are truly awesome in melee, but remain vulnerable to fire and spells. Both need priest support to keep their morale up.

I always considered the Clockworks a little fragile and prefer Mechanical Men if you have the gems (Living Statues are even better). Remember that constructs do not heal hit point damage normally after combat, but that Labs do fix them eventually, so don't ignore your infrastructure when using this troop type: build a few Labs along the way. A Crown of Command (Cons 4, S2) will let a normal commander lead constructs.

It isn't practical to make specific magic research recommendations without knowing your current level in each school, gem income, and research rate. Long term, look at Earth Attack--it's lots of fun squishing enemy commanders with this. Crumble can really embarrass an enemy hiding in a fortress, especially a tough one like a Mountain Citadel. Once you get to Construction 8, making a Philosopher's Stone (there can be only one!) will leverage your money favorably. Put it where you can find it quickly.

Seek out the Global that gives you Earth gems. Once you have this up, you will have a much easier time getting the really neat Ulm-thematic globals: the one that makes you rich, rich, rich, and the one that lets you forge things cheap. Running a Search or two of the forum on these should give you some ideas. I usually use a 2-year net, unless I'm digging further back for something specific.

[boltcutter]

At the moment I have 11 Smiths [having gone through rather a lot in the several disasters. . .] As of the start of the turn, 3 are researching. Yes, I have turn 41 and 17 research points [probably to go up rapidly this turn.] Current gem income: 7 Earth, 3 nature, 3 astral, 2 fire, 2 air, 1 water, and 3 blood.

I have Conjuration 4, Alteration 3, Evocation 4, Construction 5, and Thaumaturgy 2 researched. I'm at about 8 in research; the top 3 [Jotunheim, Caelum, and Vanheim] are at around 18-20.

Priest support [moralewise] is very hard to come by- I have *one* priest that can boost morale- my prophet.

Given these things, I think my best bet is Trolls at about 360 RP from where I am, with Crushers in the meantime.

If I have surplus Earth gems, which would be better:
Uparmoring my Smiths, or lots of commanders with [say] Swords of Sharpness?

[RedRover]

If you are feeling the pinch on priests, you might consider alchemizing some Earth gems, building some Temples, and recruiting some cheap priests.

(One of these can really toughen up a province defense (PD), and 2-3 would be really useful if you hit undead or need to keep those rather chaotic Trolls pushing forward.)

Personally, I like to keep about half to two-thirds of my top mages researching. Of course, I also get my butt kicked for not building enough ground troops...

Being too low in research is almost as unhealthy as being too low in dominion. Ulm is not noted for the efficiency of its research, though, so as long as you are not dead last or static/declining you may be ok. You do want to see an elevated growth slope on your research graph. Items that may help include Owl Feather (Air, +3), Lightless Lantern (Fire +6), and Skull Mentor (Death +10).

You might consider saving your Earth gems for the globals. At Cons 5 you are approaching Forge of the Ancients (Cons 7, caster E5). You might want to take another look at Enchantments: both Riches From the Earth (Ench 6, caster E5--$$$!) and Earth Blood Deep Well (Ench 7, caster E6--EEE!) will give you substantial benefits.

I would feel a lot better about handing out Swords of Sharpness (which are not magical!) if I knew my thugs were protected by Gift of Health, but that's just me. If you have a hard-charging knight, you might consider a Shield of Valor. Armor of Virtue would protect your prophet at the cost of occasionally putting him out of position--a flight item would return him to action quickly.

[Arralen]

RedRover said:
If you are feeling the pinch on priests, you might consider alchemizing some Earth gems, building some Temples, and recruiting some cheap priests.
(One of these can really toughen up a province defense (PD), and 2-3 would be really useful if you hit undead or need to keep those rather chaotic Trolls pushing forward.)

Ulms priest as those recruitable in provinces are Holy-2 only and cannot cast any moral-affecting spells !

Being too low in research is almost as unhealthy as being too low in dominion. Ulm is not noted for the efficiency of its research, though, so as long as you are not dead last or static/declining you may be ok.

Research cannot decline ...

You do want to see an elevated growth slope on your research graph. Items that may help include Owl Feather (Air, +3), Lightless Lantern (Fire +6), and Skull Mentor (Death +10).

Most important thing about those items is - their bonus is not affected by drain ! As Ulm, you might have some troubles forging them, though:

@Constr-2:
Owl Quill .. Air-1
@Constr-4:
Skull Mentor .. Death-2 (!)
@Constr-6:
Lightless Lanter .. Fire-1

You might consider saving your Earth gems for the globals. At Cons 5 you are approaching Forge of the Ancients (Cons 7, caster E5). You might want to take another look at Enchantments: both Riches From the Earth (Ench 6, caster E5--$$$!) and Earth Blood Deep Well (Ench 7, caster E6--EEE!) will give you substantial benefits.

You need some dedicated (earth) casters anyway: Blade Wind among others is level-depended. And while you're on it, think about one or two dedicated smithes as well: If you empower him (them) to Lvl-1 in some pathes, they can churn out a whole bunch of nice items at minimal cost.

I'll attach two tables with all multi-path items and all magic-boosting items for your convenience (you're playing unmodding, IIRC ?!)

I would feel a lot better about handing out Swords of Sharpness (which are not magical!)

Oc, they are magical. Every item you make from gems is magical.

if I knew my thugs were protected by Gift of Health, but that's just me. If you have a hard-charging knight, you might consider a Shield of Valor. Armor of Virtue would protect your prophet at the cost of occasionally putting him out of position--a flight item would return him to action quickly.

Actually, a charging knight (black knight commander with bunch of black knight bodyguards, set to attack rearmost) wouldn't benefit that much from a shield of valour: As he starts a bit back from the front line, and on the very flank, other troops are targeted by the enemy archers first - and those do not switch target unless it's routed. So the 80%-missleprotection is wasted.
Better get him

- a Stinger (less damage than the sword, but as a length-4 weapon, it repels swords etc.)

- a Girdle of Might (Constr-4; gives him reinvigoration AND strength +3)

If he lives through some battles and gets heroics, you might want to add items which give
- Luck
- Regeneration
Some argue to deck him out completly from the start, but this is quite costly, and might end up very futile in the very first battle. Which items to choose depends on what threats you face and what smithes pathes you can depend on, though: Maybe you need some resistances as well .. e.g. a Burning Pearl is another nice addition if you're up against Abysians or Fire Elementals.

[boltcutter]

Lightless Lantern at Con-6? I may have to research that instead. Because a Smith can build a Lightless Lantern and be twice the researcher. . . plus whatever other wonders Construction-6 delivers.

I would be in better shape if I hadn't lost, over the past few battles, 6 or 8 of my front-line Smiths.

I should be getting back into the swing of the game soon.

Ulm endures.

[RedRover]

Arralen is right. Listen to Arralen.

Priest morale effects start at H3 (that should teach me to check instead of relying on memory!).

On the Swords of Sharpness, I could have sworn I read that they weren't magic (in a thread long ago), but several days of searching hasn't turned up a reference, so go with Arralen.

Another cool thing about research-boost items is that different types stack (a feather and a lantern give +9).

On dominion, you do know that five Temples gives you a +1 (to a maximum of dominion 10).

Good going against Caelum--give the lizards heck!

[Blofeld]

RedRover said:
Arralen is right. Listen to Arralen.

On the Swords of Sharpness, I could have sworn I read that they weren't magic (in a thread long ago), but several days of searching hasn't turned up a reference, so go with Arralen.

Sword of sharpness - an item made from 5 earth gems in one of 2 variants (one- and two-handed) is a magic weapon.

Weapons of sharpness - a combat spell gives affected
units armor-piercing, but not magical weapons.

Good AAR, keep it up!

[boltcutter]

I'm not worried about Dominion as long as I have a major advantage on research- I don't think faith and legions can compete with dozens of uparmored Trolls and hundreds of flying knives. I have enough Smiths that I probably can do without spending the extra 30 Earth gems on a King- or maybe I only need one, for the starter set.

I find that my real enemy in the later game is distraction. . . once the game gets really big, it requires more work for each turn, and more "where was I?" time for the first turn of the night. I renamed all my Smiths to composers, and that helps me find them. Any tips to help coordinating my spies would be appreciated.

[Endoperez]

RedRover said:
On dominion, you do know that five Temples gives you a +1 (to a maximum of dominion 10).

However, it doesn't increase EVERYTHING:

Kristoffer O
Colonel
Re: Dominion Spreading effects [Re: Huzurdaddi]
#329648 - Sun Feb 06 2005 11:45 AM

Checked the dominion spread: The chance of a temple generating a possible increase is dependent on the initial dominion of the god. The chances of an increase from the god himself or his prophet is dependent on number of temples though.

Thus the effectivity of temples are determined by the godly power of the pretender and the effectivity of the pretender is dependent on his number of adherents.

This applies to blood sacrifices as well. Make sure you have high dominion if you are Mictlan. Later temples will not have much effect apart from a higher max lvl.

The max dominion and the ability to lower enemy dominion is dependent on temple numbers.

So, temples won't affect dominions spreading, except for your pretender, prophet, and possibly Juggernauts. The maximum increases, as well as resistance to enemy dominion, but the speed of spreading doesn't.

EDITED another reply in here. It took a while to find that post!
Boltcutter

I find that my real enemy in the later game is distraction. . . once the game gets really big, it requires more work for each turn, and more "where was I?" time for the first turn of the night. I renamed all my Smiths to composers, and that helps me find them. Any tips to help coordinating my spies would be appreciated.

Check the new turn after you have generated it. You don't actually have to do anything, indeed, it's better if you can stay from doing it. And if you find that you already made everything for that turn, at least don't host it. Then, when you return, you recall your plans (that you never completed as you left), or see what you were doing (if your Magic Resistance was low).

Also, doing fewer turns might help to remember your plans. During the thrice-a-week game of Dom:PPP (that lasted over turn 100!), checking the turn always set the wheels rolling, and I let the ideas to mature for a while. Never really tested it in a Single-player game, though. AI never gives such surprises as humans... and the best of all, you aren't afraid the AI will quess your plans even when its impossible. But, you know, a human just might quess that your rainbow pretender has to move through one uncastled province with only few bodyguards...

[Morkilus]

I've been enjoying the AAR; I really like Ulm, too! I'm curious if you'll ever bring Ulmon back out of retirement; sufficiently equipped with the latest in high-tech gear. Have you been investing in any other magic paths?