Ulm, Ulm and more Ulm !!!!

[Psitticine]

"Auto-patrolling" starts with a Defence of 10. It isn't very good compared to a real army patrolling around, especially when that army is made out of speedy and/or numerous troops.

I've caught a few scouts with the auto-patrol, but not many. Still, it ain't bad for free.

Oh, and (just as PvK points out) patrolling of any kind doesn't kill anybody as long as there is no unrest, and then only up to the unrest number.

[SurvivalistMerc]

I have a problem with iron faith. I tried in the demo to research with these iron faith priests in a drain 3 dominion. Most ulm folks take drain 3.

To my surprise, they weren't able to do but 1 research point a day. That obviously won't work. Does anyone else think they need the smiths' ability to have research unaffected by drain dominion? Or is ulm supposed to change to a magic or neutral dominion to get research even when their mages are still weak and their priests are pretty much just average?

[LordArioch]

I don't think Ulm's too powerful, but it is still fun. The real problem with ulm is it relies on armor...armor piercing or negating things just devastate Ulmish armies like nothing else, and Ulm is lacking in magic variety, with only one level 3 mage.

[Taqwus]

Regarding Iron Faith, I don't think it lets you pick a non-Drain dominion. Lousy research is the one huge downside of choosing Iron Faith; you must find a library for the sages if you want to be remotely competitive in research.

Regarding the weaknesses regarding the reliance on armor, fear the magic -- especially air magic, as /all/ lightning attacks are armor-negating, and orb lightning isn't that hard to research and scales with the mage's air power. A Pythium Arch Theurg with a Communicant swarm can toss out lightning like nobody's business, for instance.

[PvK]

Yes, Iron Faith requires Drain of at least 1, which subtracts from the research speed of Black Priests (unless you have them research someplace outside your dominion).

Although this is a disadvantage, it's untrue that this makes it impossible for Ulm to keep up with research. Ulm is great at forging cheaply, and there are several items which give research bonuses, and which stack together. Quills, skulls, black lanterns are worth 3-9 research points each, can be stacked two per researcher, and cost zero gold and zero to maintain. Forged by a Black Priest using a Dwarven Hammer, they don't cost many gems, either.

PvK

[thubar2000]

I too am a fan of Ulm. I usually play the with more dominion, less magic to fight against the influence of Ermor. The Last game I played was with the Serpent. Dom 10, +3 Life, +3 Productivity, +3 Order, -3 magic. No magic. After I empowered some Smiths, I mananged to cast Riches from Beneath and Nature's bounty. 10k+ gold per round and two castles got 550+ resources. I'ld probably get crushed by magic against a human, but it was fun to see 500 black plate troops in the field again Man's Last stand.

[PrinzMegaherz]

Only if i knew what a Hochmeister is...

Translation engine Online...
processing...
German Word detected
Hoch equals high
Meister equals Master
All hail to the highmaster

By the way, I havent got the game yet, so I have no Idea whether or not there is a highmaster in the game

[Bowlingballhead]

Very strange. In my experience sending a spy into the enemy's home base is a surefire way to lose him. A mere 25 provincial defense has demonstrated itself time and again to me as a near-universal roadblock to spies.

[SurvivalistMerc]

That does often happen for one spy...

Try sending in about 4 or 5 at once, though. They are cheap enough that this isn't really cost-prohibitive. Tell me what happens then.

I think unrest helps to hide your spies...but that's just my supposition. And spies are better hidden than scouts with their stealth +20.