Caelum vs. T'ien Ch'i

[Zen]

Arryn said:
Were you the TC player in that game?

Yes, but that hardly matters.

Another important consideration is whether the game was a blitz (VP) game or something more normal?

It was a normal slugathon. No house rules and Lasted into turn 70something. How it was won, was exactly what I stated, a combination of Timing and Diplomacy. As well as cold-hearted unmerciful morale killing blitz attacks that would render an opponent stunned while not flipping my hand too early. I purposfully left terrain undefended so that neighboring smallish nations would gobble up useless provinces or commit forces that could then be targeted by my quickstrike brigades.

MoTW are great for stopping Ghost Riders even chained in high numbers.

[Chazar]

I think Caelum's main bonus is the possibility to fly: You can quickly respond to any threat that arises unforseen! This is a huge strategical advantage. I'd like to see a non-magic all-flying nation and see how that would work out...

[Peter Ebbesen]

Zen said:
MoTW are great for stopping Ghost Riders even chained in high numbers.

Ah, the Quickened Banishment brigade. It is always tough on undead.

MotW is a favourite unit of mine:

1. It is cheap: 100 gold
2. Has a low upkeep due to being sacred
3. Can research: one of the best researchers in the game for its cost and upkeep.
4. Can call god
5. Can cast quickness
6. Can cast frozen heart
7. Can cast banishment
8. Is affected by blessings (E4 is always really nice on mages (and priests if facing the risen dead)[/i])
9. Sometimes comes with a useful random)

It is like having a sage-lite, who can also double as combat mage, holy inquisition, or banishment specialist when needed. You can never have too many MotWs.

I like Caelum's Seraph too - a very good unit and the quickness/lightning combination (or wrathful skies) can be deadly - but even with the added strength of strategic flight it comes up short compared to the MotW in overall usefulness because of low versatility.

But, then again, I am a player who prefers versatility over specialisation as I prefer to have a host of less powerful options available rather than one or two powerful ones, so I guess it is natural that I like T'ien C'hi despite their weaknesses. I much prefer to keep the opposition guessing as to what I will field next rather than having them know what it is through a strong, known, one or two-dimensional threat. Sometimes it pays off (the opposition tries to counter all your possible options thus diverting resources, the opposition fails to block one of the less obvious strategies), sometimes it does not (the opposition bulldozes me with its brute force approach).

Hmm. Began as an answer concerning the MotW and ended up a paean to versatility. These things happen.