Looking for TienChi S&A EVIL strats - anyone?

[KissBlade]

err.. I'd just have to echo, listen to Turin. =)

[1000yd_stare]

Thanks. So far (report censored a bit because other players read this board) my combat pretender, partially supported by bowmen, has been chomping indies at a steady rate.

Minor problem of not encountering anything other than swamp, mountain and forest, which is great for gems, but not for gold.

One weakness I have found, though, is the difficulty in getting earth magic up to snuff. Or should I even bother?

[Saber Cherry]

Without Earth, you have no hammers, unless you can trade for them. Otherwise it's not crucial.

[KissBlade]

Don't worry, the only thing you need gold for is mercs and mages =P. Seriously the rest of your troops are awful.

[Endoperez]

KissBlade said:
Don't worry, the only thing you need gold for is mercs and mages =P. Seriously the rest of your troops are awful.

Why does everyone say so? They have archers, are they really that bad? They have glaives, which can deal ridiculous amount of damage when massed, are they totally useless?

Do most people here think that Vanir and similar powerful units are the only national units worth using? It feels strange to always find comments like this in here, when I use national units extensively in my single-player games.

[Cainehill]

Endoperez said:
Do most people here think that Vanir and similar powerful units are the only national units worth using? It feels strange to always find comments like this in here, when I use national units extensively in my single-player games.

Well ... SP games you can play and win with pretty much whatever playstle & strategy you like. MP games, most national troops are dead meat as soon as people have researched enough magic. Even the powerful sacred ones like Vans, black hunters, etc, die pretty quickly to magic, although the Vans have two big advantages : recruitable anywhere, & stealthy.

[1000yd_stare]

So, an update.

I researched to alt 2 (quickness), evocation to falling frost/fire, and conj to get 2 air queens and a fire king.

Around then, with my neighbor pythium being so weak, I invaded. Unfortunately, my blitz of him brought the unwanted attentions of Arco, my other neigbhor.

Arco invaded with a mixed bag of hypatists, wolves, vinemen, claymen, and black hawks. We have gone back and forth, with his mystics doing paralyze, soulslay, and enslave mind, which has worked very well on my 2 castings of trolls (1 sea, 1 earth).

So, i am found with a huge glut of celestials, 1 air queen and 1 fire queen, but no construction yet (still early game). I had summoned the royals with a 5a5f phoenix, who is busy with the last bits of pythium.
Dont really have the gems for any real summons - and with evocation and conjuration really the only thing researched (and I am at the top of the research by a good margin), are there any suggestions on spell combos vs arco mages out there? I'm leery of bringing my s2 mages in too close (using CB 5.4).