MA Caelum: Options for the late game

[Carcaroth]

For some reason I have an attraction to unusual strategies in this game, as well as trying to get some of the lesser nations to work... but I'm completely stuck with MA Caelum. They have mammoths, and reasonably tough morale boosters to put with their mammoths. And...

...

Lightning bolts? I'm fond of both EA and LA versions, though for different reasons, but the MA version seems nearly worthless. There's more armor than your archers can handle, mammoths only go so far (though it is quite a distance), and your mages can throw down either battle magic, or given the setup Fog Warriors... on a variety of infantry that's going to die against independant HI. The kicker for a battle magic reliant mage army is the lack of communion, which makes dealing with armies with anything BUT mammoths a losing proposition for the most part.

Is there a particular dirty trick I'm missing somewhere? I've been cranking out staves of storms and owl quills, as well as the occasional booster for heavy lightning, and that's reasonable, but it seems like even Ulm has more options to play with than Caelum. For reference, I've mostly been using a W9N4 frost father, sleeping; Should I be aiming for Astral on my god, something like a WSN4 Lady of Fortune to try expanding out via the yazatas? Take heavy death and just site search? It's not that I think they can't win (after all, they don't have monkey PD) but more that I just feel like I'm missing something important. Especially against Jotunheim, where you might as well give up and send your gems to someone else.

[Micah]

Well, my standard operating procedure when I don't know what else to do involves going back to the standard end-game strats...Get astral access for the booster rings and crank out a couple of liches and get the tartarian factory rolling. You could also opt for aboms since you have W/S on your high seraphs (one empower and 3 boosters will do it). The air queens are excellent choices as well of course. Thunder-strike powered raiding squads with a screen of arrow-catching flyers will always be helpful as support.

[Renojustin]

Troops are the biggest problem with Caelum... being very resistant to cold and lightning, you are very well covered against magic.

You have the most mobile troops in the game - I use them to lure enemies into my mages, via clever use of Guard Commander script. This takes care of HI very handily.

You really do control the mobility on both the strategic and combat maps, so use it to your advantage. It never goes out of style. Take a look at some battlefield enchantments and evocations, use archers with wind guide against masses, outfit some Eagle Kings as high quality thugs and hit them in their rear PD with Cloud Trapeze once you have 4 or 5 done up in this way. In two turns, you can own ten of their provinces and suddenly they're not expanding any longer, possibly with their main armies cut off from the homeland, reinforcement, and beleaguered by their other opponents.

Don't try to stand up to their big armies, counter strength with weakness. In fact, your PD is absolutely atrocious and not worth more than enough to give a chance of defeating some rituals or random barbarians.

[AreaOfEffect]

Renojustin has the right idea. The largest advantage of MA Caelum is their mobility. The best way to utilize that mobility, in my opinion, is with intel. By using an abundance of scouts you can often avoid risky confrontations and lead armies away from your goals.

One of my favorite tactics is to use my ability to leap over armies as a means of surrounding them. Then by employing several fear effects, make them all retreat. This often involves the use of death mages. You can create revenants to cast Frighten or enhance a High Saraph to Death 3 with forged items, equip them with 2 death gems, and have them cast Wailing Winds while your army pelts the enemy with arrow fire.

My favorite of all fear effects however is Dark Skies. It has the major drawback of being a world enchantment, but if strategically cast before a big battle in your own dominion, it can sometimes win you a war. (Not on it's own of course.) The Virtue is the best pretender for a Dark Skies caster and luckily this god is available for MA Caelum. Still, as much as it is a whole lot of fun, I can think of better pretender designs.

Honestly, your evocation spells combined with your shock resistant troops and a lightning storm is probably your biggest national gun. It will be rare to find shock resistance amongst your enemies. Cold and heat resistance is much more common and much easier to achieve. Even most shock resistant troops aren't really immune.