Guide to Marverni

[Ming]

MaxWilson,

On second thought, E9 might be more viable than I initially thought as it also gives Boar Warriors 20 prot when beserk, which is invaluable in the early game.

I wonder if any other player has thoughts on interesting variations on Baalz's excellent guide to play Marverni.

[Aezeal]

I'd still like to know Baalz exact proposition for the pretender and scales so I can use that as a starting point for my pretender.

[fantasma]

For what it's worth, I can tell you my build for the newb game I won as Marverni, so far my favorite nation. Much of it is along the lines of what Baalz says, although the game started before his thread.

Marverni needs gold and more gold.
Marverni needs gems.
Marverni lacks thugs (except golems).
Marverni has good synergy with blood.

That led me to the following build:

Fountain of Blood
B4D3F2
O3L3H1M1G1
Dom 8
I think I set it to sleeping

The luck+order give lots of gold and gems. Also keep the bloodhenge druid save! They forge the jade knives and blood stones you will want to build en masse!
Gutuators with wn and two boosters will forge clams.

The magic is good to get started into death and blood, forge the fire booster, forge the devil summon (soul contract?) item, etc.

Cheap temples + sacrifice = dominion kill

The growth is to mitigate a little the effect of blood hunting the capital.

Now you just need to expand fast (don't overlook standards! regroup and prepare carefully for each battle!) , build three fortresses the first year and research as hell.

Make friends early when you are most vulnerable. Time is playing into your hands. Make sure to diversify!

I hope that helps.


ad Boars: I like the great boar, but it is too late in research and summons only 10% / candle iron boars. That is not too impressive. But the greatest weakness is two misc slots only. I wish it had a head slot at least, but that idea got stamped in another thread ...

[Sombre]

It doesn't summon iron boars, it summons regular sacred boars of marverni.

Iron pigs summons sacred iron boars and in cbm is a superb spell for marverni.

[lch]

Originally Posted by fantasma

O3L3H1M1G1

I think this was supposed to read Order 3, Luck 3, Heat 1, Magic 1, Growth 1

Originally Posted by fantasma

Also keep the bloodhenge druid save! They forge the jade knives and blood stones you will want to build en masse!

What Bloodhenge Druids? You mean the indies? You mean to charm them, or what? Just because I know of no other way for Marverni to get them normally.

[fantasma]

Maybe the bloodhenge druids showed up because of the worthy heroes mod.

Anyways, you should empower a druid with nature to blood 1 if you don't get a druid hero with blood. Jade knives and blood stones are really too nice to miss.


>> I think this was supposed to read Order 3, luck 3, Heat 1, Magic 1, Growth 1

correct.

sorry about iron boars, I meant the regular boars, of course.

[Baalz]

No, they're not worthy heroes, they're Marverni non-unique national heroes which I guess Lch is unfamiliar with. They're B/N (don't remember the strength, but it's more than 1), and singlehandedly worth considering luck scales for as just one or two of these will open up a whole new vector for you. From blood sacrificing to boots of youth for your expensive mages, a little blood goes a long way.


As I've said elsewhere, specific pretender selection is a matter of personal taste, and there's enough leeway in what I lay out to give you room for variety. I've no doubt a blood fountain could be competitive, but personally I prefer to have my pretender doing things other than bloodhunting. Plus, Marverni is vulnerable to an early rush and needs a pretender to either be a SC or a force multiplier via flaming arrows, etc. People tend to discount the combat effectiveness of non-SC pretenders early on, but having access to a few crucial spells can certainly be much more effective than a poorly equipped SC in many situations.

Order - absolutely necessary
Luck - a good idea
Production - could be worse uses for design points, but not strictly necessary
Growth - a good idea - expensive, old mages.
Magic - a good idea
Temp - neutral, you need the gold and supplies

Basically you want everything, so you're gonna have to balance what you want to give up. There are several different competitive choices you could make, but as I mentioned originally I think it's a good idea to have your pretender get you into A/F.

[fantasma]

I chose the fountain for two rreasons:
first, I didn't know of the blood druids.
second, the fountain is cheap and let me chose the other things that are more important, like good scales and access to other paths.
fourth, I disagree that Marverni cannot do without the pretender helping against the rush. With level 3-4 research + 3 fortresses in year one, which they should pursue anyways, they can make a miserable day for the rusher (probably for themselves as well, though). It really depends whether fatigue, poison, mind burns or blade wind are needed.

But it could well be that I underestimate the early game vulnerability.

[Baalz]

Well, the problem (in my mind) is that in EA there are several things you need to worry about towards the end of year one. Double/triple blessed - jaguar warriors, palashankas, niefels, helherdlings, vans, etc, and you better believe that any of these guys sitting on a strong bless and seeing Marverni on their border is coming for blood. In this time frame (end of year one) you're gonna have a very hard time putting up 3 fortress, labs, temples, and affording the very expensive druids while also funding troops for indie expansion, which is when it really helps to have a powerful "free" mage to complement the paths of the few mages you do afford.

To be sure, you won't be rushed most of the time and in a worst case scenario you're pretty much screwed anyway, but I don't think its generally a good idea to not expect trouble until you've comfortably lined up enough guys to spam blade wind.

[chrispedersen]

Originally Posted by Ming

MaxWilson,

On second thought, E9 might be more viable than I initially thought as it also gives Boar Warriors 20 prot when beserk, which is invaluable in the early game.

I wonder if any other player has thoughts on interesting variations on Baalz's excellent guide to play Marverni.

Remember, there's a bug where units which are adding adding protection via items - bracers, and hmm I forget - there are two other items... but anyway - they get double the benefit they are otherwise entitled to from an E9 bless.

Some might consider it an exploit, so be advised.