Blood Nation Woes

[Hellboy]

Wow, great thread!

Baalz said:
Oh, in answer to your other question I almost always go to con-4 first with Mictlan, though of course there are different ways to play it. The main reason is because up until around that point your mages are more useful researching than blood hunting. You don't need any blood summons immediately because your holy troops are tough enough to deal with whatever they need to initially, and you're capitol's naturual income is enough to keep you blood sacrificing at first. The nice thing about using all those Mictlan priests to research is that the very turn that you finish researching construction-4 they can all forge themselves sanguine rods.

So, after getting construction-4, and then researching blood for a while, does construction-6 ever kick in as a priority? With non-blood nations I love those lightless lanterns, and I like to make them sooner rather than later, but is that important to Mictlan?

Also, one of the biggest problems I'm having with my Mictlan setup is that I'm reluctant to put earth on my pretender, and I'm not seeing any good way to get over to earth, except for maybe hoping to find an indy, or maybe summoning spectres. Do Mictlan players always put earth on the pretender, or simply live without, or am I missing some possibility here?

[Baalz]

Heh, this is morphing into another Mictlan thread. I'm going to try to put together a guide to Mictlan like FrankTrollman's guide to T'ien Ch'i.

Anyway, yes con-6 does offer some really nice stuff for Mictlan, but its usually a good idea to try and get some demons into your armies before you head there. Jaguar warriors will only carry you so far, you need to have an answer ready when your opponent starts countering them. About the time you get to the nice SC bases (Ice/Arch devils) I usually switch back to construction. Lightless lanterns are the only research booster you can forge with recruitable mages, and water bracelets, astral caps, and blood thorns are gonna give you a lot more versatility. Not to mention all the nastiness you're gonna want to slap on those nice fresh ice devils.

Yeah, earth is a tough one for Mictlan to crack. I usually can't justify putting it on my pretender because it just doesn't have a good synergy with the rest of Mictlan. I usually just keep an eye open for the chance to snag an earth mage (succbi, hell bind heart, indie mages) and consider it a bonus if I get it- I plan my strategy without any earth magic. Even if you take earth on your pretender it's going to be pretty hard unless you plan to have your pretender spend a good portion of his time site searching and forging blood stones. I have had decent luck snagging earth mages with succubi as long as you don't mind losing a few in the process (what's a couple hundred blood slaves between friends?)

[Hellboy]

Baalz said:
Heh, this is morphing into another Mictlan thread. I'm going to try to put together a guide to Mictlan like FrankTrollman's guide to T'ien Ch'i.

By all means do! Near as I can tell you're certainly well qualified to do so.

Anyhow, I certainly appreciate the comments on research and earth magic. That fills in two key gaps in my knowledge of Mictlan, and will speed me along towards my first MP game!