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Old September 2nd, 2010, 10:43 AM

Curious Yellow Curious Yellow is offline
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Default Re: Pretender design for Ulm enigma of Steel

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Originally Posted by Torin View Post
Maybe you are anxious for the randoms. They come eventually and in every test game I played i got the national heros who come with nice paths that you lack of. First will be conquer and second magic.
Far as I know there is only one hero that does anything for your magic diversity - Athawolf the Maker of Heroes. Eburhart is nice but he only gives higher nature magic and a lvl 3 priest (maybe EA Ulm gets better heroes with worthy heroes?). Anyway, Athawolf is good and all, but you can't really depend on him arriving to open up astral for you.

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Besides you get more income and free mages with turmoil+luck.
I don't think you get more income with turmoil plus luck than with order. Sometimes you might, most times you won't - especially as your empire grows and you start hitting the four random events per turn limit.

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You dont have to use my build if you dont like it.
Of course not, but that's not very helpful. Presumably you posted your build to get input and raise discussion about this rather interesting nation. I see how your build might get decent results in the early game, but in a competitive MP environment it seems you're going to peter out unless you get lucky. Due to the steel warriors being capital only and map move 1, a heavy bless tailored for them seems inadvisable. Your proposed W9 bless will make them quite fierce against independents and in small skirmishes, but in longer battles they will have fatigue issues.

In a CBM game I'm playing now I went with an imprisoned master druid, E9N4A4D2, Order 3 Cold 3 Growth 1 Misfortune 1 Magic 1. The idea was to use the bless to let your E2 shamans be nice thugs (equip them with a brand, shield of gleaming gold and bracers of protection and they can take most PD with a script of blessing, summon earth power, ironskin). As as side bonus, steel warriors become quite survivable with this blessing, and small groups of them can expand effectively in the early going. The A4 was to let him forge air boosters and staves of elemental mastery, and the D2 was there to allow him to summon lamia queens to diverify into death and blood.

Anyway I would not recommend using my exact build. Lamia queens and cold 3 scales don't mix well due to their being cold-blooded, which I had not considered. And the growth scale wasn't really necessary, none or your guys are old. Also I think astral on the pretender would be better than air. So if you're going for the shaman bless strategy then something like an imprisoned master druid with E9N4S3D3, dom 7 and Order 3, Cold 3, Misfortune 1 and Magic 1 might be good.

But as I said earlier, I'd probably go with an awake or sleeping rainbow type pretender if I were to play them again. I really like the steel/shield/warrior maidens and think you can get a decent expansion based on them rather than the slow steel warriors.
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Old September 2nd, 2010, 07:50 PM

rdonj rdonj is offline
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Default Re: Pretender design for Ulm enigma of Steel

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Originally Posted by Curious Yellow View Post
But as I said earlier, I'd probably go with an awake or sleeping rainbow type pretender if I were to play them again. I really like the steel/shield/warrior maidens and think you can get a decent expansion based on them rather than the slow steel warriors.
Sure, you can get a pretty solid expansion using these. I was going with an o3/p3/g3/l3 imprisoned oracle in one mp game, and during testing I managed 27 provinces and 2 forts with a third on the way. So technically speaking, a fairly impressive land grab is possible. I'm not sure that's the best way to play ulm in a normal game, but...
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Old September 3rd, 2010, 03:46 AM
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Ferrosol Ferrosol is offline
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Default Re: Pretender design for Ulm enigma of Steel

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Originally Posted by rdonj View Post

Sure, you can get a pretty solid expansion using these. I was going with an o3/p3/g3/l3 imprisoned oracle in one mp game, and during testing I managed 27 provinces and 2 forts with a third on the way. So technically speaking, a fairly impressive land grab is possible. I'm not sure that's the best way to play ulm in a normal game, but...
the problem is not so much expanding with your troops (ulms troops are pretty good at that) it is taking on other players with your troops. Most of them are at best only average and all have the crappy MR that makes them vulnerable to pretty much anything. Add to that the mages being tricky to get decent randoms and you see the problem. Personally I would recommend taking an awake rainbow to hit conj and construction early and using geared thugs to do your heavy lifting.

Edit a half assed build thrown together Awake Great Enchantress Dom6 O3C3Mis2M1 A4E3S6D3N1 is the kind of thing I am talking about.

Last edited by Ferrosol; September 3rd, 2010 at 04:01 AM..
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