Helheim - lets burn some rubber

[Lingchih]

This build did not work for me. I was annihilated by Vanheim. Perhaps I did not use it well. Expansion was great, but when it came time for war, Van beat the crap out of me.

[Agusti]

Originally Posted by Lingchih

This build did not work for me. I was annihilated by Vanheim. Perhaps I did not use it well. Expansion was great, but when it came time for war, Van beat the crap out of me.

Hi. Me too but I was eliminated by Lanka in a MP game. In turn 15 Lanka attacked me with a lot of sacred Demon troops (Palankasha, blood magic level 1). I wasn't able to recruit more than three Helhirdings (Dom. 3) and my economy was weak. Lanka defeated my armies easily an only one time I was able to defeat their Demons (when I put a lot of Helhirdings together my troops had a very good behaviour in combat against Lanka so maybe in other circumstances my nation could have defended well against Lanka). But it was a war of attrition and Helheim, with the scales proposed in this guide, cannot afford a long term war against Lanka in the first stage of the war (at last with the scales this guide proposes), so I had to put my nation under the IA.

Lanka was able to summon more Palankasha than me recruting Helhirdings and Huskarls. Its troops were very well blessed (Twist Fate, defense + , protection +, etc) so they were a hard opponent for my Helhirdings (my best troops).

I think it's necessary better scales in productivity to get more resources for the sacred troops and more Dominion scale in order to recruit more Helhirdings or Valkyrias. Only with a powerful recruitment of sacred troops Helheim would be able to defend against rush nations, as Lanka for example.

Nevertheless, if it hadn't been by the attack of Lanka my nation was doing things very well and I was leading research and gem income so maybe I could have done very well in the mid-late game

[cleveland]

A Lanka bless-rush is tough to counter for anybody. Those Palankasha's (sp?) are actually cap-only recruits, so your opponent wasn't even expending mage-time summoning them.

You'll want to lean hard on Helheim's air magic next time. By turn 15, you should have ~20 Vanjarls/Hangadrotts (min A2 each), and he's not going to be able to impart any shock resistance to his demons yet.

Send these guys out in small teams scripted for (Blessing)(Mistform)(Resist Lightning)(attack)(Shock Wave)Cast Spells. The AI will autocast Shock Wave, which will be pretty effective vs. those demons with that bless.

[Agusti]

Originally Posted by cleveland

A Lanka bless-rush is tough to counter for anybody. Those Palankasha's (sp?) are actually cap-only recruits, so your opponent wasn't even expending mage-time summoning them.

You'll want to lean hard on Helheim's air magic next time. By turn 15, you should have ~20 Vanjarls/Hangadrotts (min A2 each), and he's not going to be able to impart any shock resistance to his demons yet.

Send these guys out in small teams scripted for (Blessing)(Mistform)(Resist Lightning)(attack)(Shock Wave)Cast Spells. The AI will autocast Shock Wave, which will be pretty effective vs. those demons with that bless.

In other circumstances and with other scales my nation could have done better defending against Lanka (with more money and more resources to recruit more Helhirdings...and more Dominion, of course). And quick access to air magic spells, I agree with you, but I spent the first turns researching construction as this guide proposes

I only had 4 o 5 Vanjarls in turn 15 and only one castle (a second one was about to be constructed) in another province and they were scattered everywhere conquering indie provinces. I would have needed a lot of money and castles to recruit 15-20 Vanjarls in 15 turns and I wasn't able to do that in my game with the scales Baalz proposes here (shortage in money and resources). Or maybe I could have recruited them instead of Helhirdings and infantry, but I don't like the idea.

"The strategy does not stand/hold the first contact with the enemy".The problem was that my strategy was not good to face Lanka and I made a mistake to not changing my strategy and my research priorities when I spotted Lanka so near to my provinces.

It's a hard lesson but a good one