Tien Chi Default

[Peter Ebbesen]

Originally posted by ywl:
I found the contrary - most nations have better cavalry than Tien Chi's, except for their heavy horsemen with bow. Tein Chi's cavalry has low protection comparing to the others. Even Man's regular knights have better stat than them.

Man's regular knights have better stats? Only if you like MR 10 on expensive units. I do not. I hate low MR on expensive units. There are so many spells, even fairly cheap spells, that can neutralise a small number of dangerous troops if they have low MR. Take Shadow BLast, for instance, which will wipe out a force of MR 10 troops (like standard knights) while only damaging a force of MR 12 troops (like the Red Guard), or the ever dangerous paralyse or soul slay spells, which can rip a cavalry charge to shreds - if you use low MR cavalry. Absent magic and absent blessings, I would agree that Man's regular knights had better stats, but those factors are not necessarily absent.

Likewise, I value high morale on expensive units and especially on flankers, as beginning to flee while you are flanking an enemy that is still capable of fighting is a losing proposition, and any sacred unit gets a +3 morale when blessed. That effectively means that Red Guards have 18 morale - which beats all non-sacred cavalry hands down.

So, if we compare on a nation by nation basis:

• Abysia: no cavalry
• Arcoscephale: inferior lanceless low-morale cavalry
• Atlantis: no cavalry
• Caelum: no cavalry
• C'tis: no cavalry
• Ermor: no cavalry
• ...Ashen Empire: knights of the unholy sepulchre are decidedly inferior to T'ien C'hi's cavalry - but they do not cost money. On the other hand, they evaporate when the opponent brings along priests. Overall: inferior
• Jotunheim: the wolf rider is decidedly inferior
• ...Niefelheim: no cavalry, but the Niefel Giant beats any cavalry any day and is as swift as slow cavalry. It also costs 115% more.
• ...Utgard: no cavalry
• Machaka: The Heavy, Imperial, and Red Guard beats the Spider Knights any day, but the Black Hunter is stronger than the Red Guard. It also costs 70% more. Even so, Machaka has the edge in pure quality here. (And the Hunter Spiders look cooler)
• Man: The Knight of Avalon is powerful indeed, but he is hideously expensive in resources and he is not sacred, which gives the edge to the Red Guard of T'ien C'hi if you use blessing effects. If not, the Knight of Avalon wins hands down
• ...Last of the Tuatha: the Cu Shee and the light cavalry are decidedly inferior
• Marignon: Those sacred Knights of the Chalice are truly supermen. At their price (29% more expensive than the Red Guard) they had better be. Unit for unit the Knights of the Chalice are stronger, gold piece for gold piece I am not so sure
• Michtlan: no cavalry
• Pangaea: the Centaur cataphract is inferior. It has low morale, low damage, and is non-sacred.
• Pythium: lower morale, MR, damage, and being non-sacred means that I value the Serpent cataphract rather less than T'ien C'hi's cavalry, despite the cataphract's protection bonus and the fact that it lives twice (or rather, the serpent fights after the rider is killed)
• ...Serpent Cult: with the Serpent Cataphract sacred, it is a much better unit. It still suffers from low MR and damage, but being blessed helps its morale and can make it a very strong unit with a blessing effect. This one beats the Red Guard unless you are up against heavy magic
• R'lyeh: no cavalry
• Ulm: Despite their incredibly low defense (9), Black Knights rule so long as they do not face magic. They can face any conventional threat with glee. Against magical nations, the T'ien C'hi cavalry is better though, as there is a lot of difference between MR 9 and MR 12, and blessings only tip the scale further towards T'ien C'hi. OTOH, Red Guards are capital only, and Black Knights beat Imperial Horsemen hands down
• ...Iron Faith: Black Templars are sacred Black Knights with an extra point of magic resistance, which still leaves them with the low MR of 10. They are better than Red Guard if you do not face heavy magic. On the other hand, they cost 29% more, and if you face heavy magic, they drop like flies.
• Vanheim: Red Guard, meet your master. The Van is probably the best cavalry in existence despite its low damage potential, because it is exceptionally hard to kill. High MR and defense coupled with glamour means that the Van can survive many things that others cannot. It may only have 13 protection, but you need to hit the damn thing in the first place. Since the Van is also sacred, it can be made into a truly exceptional unit with a good blessing effect. Add to that the cost of 70 gold and 16 resources and the fact that it can be recruited in all castles, there can be no doubt. The Van is the best cavalry in existence.

In conclusion, I find that preciously few nations have better cavalry than T'ien C'hi, and that most of those that can be considered contenders either have cavalry that is awfully vulnerable to MR dependent spells or suffer from the fact that their cavalry is much more expensive than the Red Guard.

Peter, there is one area where I will disagree with you. I believe it was:

Pangaea: the Centaur cataphract is inferior. It has low morale, low damage, and is non-sacred.

For Pangaea I think the overall most useful Cavalary is the Centaur Warrior. While if you are doing a broad comparison they probably are not the best for cost effectiveness, but I'd rate them in the top 5.

[ywl]

Originally posted by Chris Byler:
I believe the M5E is also immune to Magic Duel which is a notorious weakness of the Celestial Masters (of both normal and S&A).

I think "small" mages like Master of the Way can be used on the battlefield - just don't expect one Master of the Way to perform like a CM or Arch Theurg. A Master of the Way costs as much as eight normal soldiers and will perform roughly at that level. If he kills three or four normal soldiers in one battle he's doing pretty well.

The one water give Masters of the Way Quickness, effectively doubling their speed for spell casting - very attractive. There are good spells usable at one level of power in most paths. Their problem is the unpredictability of their random, making it very hard to set your research goal for them. Alteration seems to have the most spells usable by level 1 mages, Combustion, Protection, Blindness, Frozen Heart, Luck, Body Ethereal. So, you could in theory aim for high Alteration. Or you could equipped every one them with a Water Ring and aim for "Cold BLast" and "Ice Strke" but that's a lot of research (Water Ring needs Construction 6).

Master of the Deads worth all their gold just for the dispossessed spirits. Spells like "Reanimation", "Revive King" and "Dark Knowledge" make them even more useful. The 3 research points, or 4 with the scale, is another bonus. Moreover, their level can be easily boosted up to 2 by the Skull Staff, which make them even more effective in battle.

So, S&A Tien Chi has some of the best mages in the game .

[tinkthank]

Never thought of their cavalry as that good, maybe I should give it another go. Odd, I just cant get Default theme to groove for me, while S&A has quickly become not only my hands-down favorite, but one in which do surprisingly better than I normally do. Depending on the map. S&A also has some of the best underwater capabilities of any overland race (cast a Mound king and a few dozen Spirits, and you can go under with good success within the first dozen turns -- not to mention the entire Water deal you get with CMs). Once mid-game is over, and I have not been harried too much, S&A magic really takes off -- in any direction you want. It is also the only race in the game I know of that can forge any non-blood item in the game whatsoever with relatively no effort as long as the Pretender has 2+ earth.

Well I suppose I will never see those national summons available for Default as I had hoped, since I am apparently the only one who feels that they should be made more available but also made weaker.

Any other tips for Default theme? Do you folk normally go Imperial Bowmen with those cavalry types, or what?

[Teraswaerto]

Originally posted by Peter Ebbesen:

[*]Jotunheim: the wolf rider is decidedly inferior

What about the Moose?

[Peter Ebbesen]

Originally posted by Teraswaerto:

quote:

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Originally posted by Peter Ebbesen:
[*]Jotunheim: the wolf rider is decidedly inferior

What about the Moose?

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It is some time since I played default Jotunheim, so I do not remember the moose's stats in details.

I do remember that I found its main utility to be as a high HP archer platform, which means that it does not really count as heavy cavalry, since it does not fulfill the heavy cavalry role of flanking and inflicting high damage.

The moose easily wins in the funniest large recruitable unit Category, though, and it might be a better mounted archer than the T'ien C'hi Imperial Horseman, depending on price.

[mivayan]

Originally posted by Peter Ebbesen:

So, if we compare on a nation by nation basis:

• Man: The Knight of Avalon is powerful indeed, but he is hideously expensive in resources and he is not sacred, which gives the edge to the Red Guard of T'ien C'hi if you use blessing effects. If not, the Knight of Avalon wins hands down
• Marignon: Those sacred Knights of the Chalice are truly supermen. At their price (29% more expensive than the Red Guard) they had better be. Unit for unit the Knights of the Chalice are stronger, gold piece for gold piece I am not so sure
• Pangaea: the Centaur cataphract is inferior. It has low morale, low damage, and is non-sacred.
• Vanheim: Red Guard, meet your master. The Van is probably the best cavalry in existence despite its low damage potential, because it is exceptionally hard to kill. High MR and defense coupled with glamour means that the Van can survive many things that others cannot. It may only have 13 protection, but you need to hit the damn thing in the first place. Since the Van is also sacred, it can be made into a truly exceptional unit with a good blessing effect. Add to that the cost of 70 gold and 16 resources and the fact that it can be recruited in all castles, there can be no doubt. The Van is the best cavalry in existence.

In conclusion, I find that preciously few nations have better cavalry than T'ien C'hi, and that most of those that can be considered contenders either have cavalry that is awfully vulnerable to MR dependent spells or suffer from the fact that their cavalry is much more expensive than the Red Guard.

Great list, I'd just like to add that pangeas white centaur is great. 70 gold, 11 resources, sacred, berserk(+3), 22 hp, 16 defence, 14 mr, 13 str. Spear, hoof and javelin. The berserk can be really good, increasing the power of both the spear and hoof attack.

Downside is no lances, only 10 attack, 11 prot, 13 morale which probably makes them less effective on killing rearmost archers than red guards.

I did a test of 10 red guards versus 10 white centaurs with no blesses involved, 9 red guards and 1 centaur died. Then i tried it again, two centaurs died. I think the defence makes a lot of difference in this matchup.

For Pangaea I think the overall most useful Cavalary is the Centaur Warrior. While if you are doing a broad comparison they probably are not the best for cost effectiveness, but I'd rate them in the top 5.

CWs are great too, a non-sacred 40 gold Version of the white centaur.