Most powerful nation

[Hadrian_II]

K said:
1. The EA nations got killed off in Perpetuality because they mostly all have capital only recruitable mages. At the end of the day they lacked the raw firepower needed to make it to the middle and late game where powerful mages really shine.

Most of the EA Nations where killed very early, and i dont think the mages had much to do with it, i think the unarmored EA Armies just got walked over by the armored ones of MA and LA.

K said:
As someone who has been called "the greatest monkey commander that ever lived", I can say with some authority that Lanka has an incredible early game, no midgame, and their late game is questionable at best. Have you ever tried to actually cast the big Air spells when only 1 out of 3 of your capital-only mages has at best an Air 3?

Dakinis are A3D1B3 and are just 50 slaves if you empower one of them you have access to the air boosters and all the big Air spells.

K said:
They also don't get enough Death to be a real Death nation. Death 3 is the minimum you need to do real Death magic in battle, and they just don't have it.

But there are mages with Death 2 and this is enough to bootstrap yourelf up to death 5. (moundfiend with skull staff and the +1D Helmet)

K said:
Overall, they are a passably good Early nation, but there are better.

I just checked them out, and i think they are very strong. There might have some trouble in Midgame, as they need some Bootstrapping for Air and Death Magic but later on you become a real juggernaut. One benefit of being lana is that you dont really need scales, maybe growth, but i think there are less other nations that can take turmoil and sloth without much problems.

Also all your troops are sacred and with Mandahas you get H3 mages to bless them. A Rakshasa Warrior for 5 slaves is an good unit to make the mand fightingpower of your armies, if your enemy does not have enough archers Asrapas for 2 slaves can be very effective.

You have also stealthy sacreds (Sandhyabalas) and stealthy priests (Manushya Rakshasi).

Also as you can summon almost everything you need, it should be possible to bloodhunt in every province you own, maybe with the exception of the capitol and some plains to pay the upkeep for your bloodhunters and to recruit new Raksharajas.

I think i will try to get them for evermore.

[Sombre]

I wouldn't neglect the fact that your recruitable sacreds are actually pretty badass, in my opinion even the build everywhere Kala Mukha warriors are solid sacreds.

I was always of the opinion that strong blood (which they certainly have - top 3 for sure) made for a great mid and late game, not a strong early game. You also have highly cost effective researchers, can go into death nature and air without a real problem and don't have the drawbacks of EA and LA Mictlan.

Obviously K has a lot more experience with them than me, but I can't really agree with him.

[Humakty]

I agree with Sombre on the KM, but I don't see the point of recruiting demon sacred, as they are banishable. It's true that with a double ubber bless W/F and there good strength, they can do miracles.

[Baalz]

FWIW, I would really consider LA Mictlan more of a EA nation stuck in the late era, I'd count my survival in Perpetually in the EA column. Capital only real mages, low resource/protection toops, strong sacreds...

[WraithLord]

Xietor said:
"I think MA Pythium is being underestimated here and in general."

How so? I ranked them 1 in power in the ma.

And yes if you got eliminated early in the game as lanka you likely did not have a double 9 bless and likely did not maximize their abilities.

K should write a guide for EA Lanka.

Sorry, I've probably missed your post. Though the general tone in this thread didn't seem to rank Pythium at all.

Ahmm, I wasn't eliminated as Lanka, I was watching this happen as the neighboring Abysia
And its very likely that player did take double bless.

[K]

Removed.

[WraithLord]

Valandil said:
And how on earth can Angels backfire?

Hehe, I'm to concise/cryptic/tired for my own good

My comment was more strongly pointed at Hydras (oops - dead poisoned army) and communions (exploding armies, over fatigued slaves dying in droves)
Angels can't backfire of course but used wrongly they will be counter productive. This is a general statement that's true for most summons. Some examples that do come to mind are using Seraphs against rival astral nation and sub par usage of harbringers (which can be awesome in some situations and pathetic in others).

[sum1lost]

Blood doesn't require a castle, lab, or temple. Just a blood hunter and a pair of scouts, preferably in a low income province. At most one would need a castle and lab. A temple is entirely unnecessary.

[Xietor]

K,

One point I have to disagree on is demons. Demons are one of the reasons I had the trouble with you that I did. Immune to disease. That offsets banish.

Banish does not work well with Lanka's sacreds that have 30 hps and regeneration(even with h3 priests). The only way i managed to kill those capital only sacreds is with banelords that had 70 gems worth of items. And as you pointed out in another thread, they were easy to banish to the inferno or kill outright with life for a life.

One advantage of Lanka is it does not need thugs. It own troops are thugs and its national summons are sc's.

[K]

Removed.