Brainstorming Nation Strategies

[Starshine_Monarch]

LA-Ctis

-Try a sleeping Rainbow Master Lich. You really don't need a bless or SC to start you off with. You do need the gems though. You can take an awake rainbow chassis instead but, as a personal preference, I think the Immortality is worth the extra points and time. I think at least 3+ in Earth, Astral and Nature are the paths you need the most and you can add more from there if you like. Incidentally, minor Earth, Death and even Nature are nice blesses to have on your Sauromancers. Not so much for your undead sacreds though.

-For scales, I like O1,H3,L3 as it will help your initial income a lot with both gem and gold events. Since you aren't taking Turmoil, you should still be sitting on a nice stack of cash by the start of year 2 to build forts, temples and labs with. You'll need it, because as far as I've seen, you cannot get any 800 gold forts. Since you can easily forge Skull Mentors and Lightless Lanterns, Magic isn't really needed and Drain 2 might even be an option if you're so inclined, especially if you want to try an awake rather than sleeping pretender. Still, if you've got the points, Magic 1 certainly won't hurt.

-Expansion should consist of mostly Desert Rangers and Tomb Chariots where you can spare them. Your chariots, being skeletons, you should expect to die pretty easily, the consolation being that they'll never break and trample your own units like Elephants and living Chariots.

-Send a Sauromancer, preferably with an Earth random, out to do some manual site searching before your pretender wakes up. If you're lucky, you can possibly have a F1E1S1D3 or F1E1D4 Sauromancer to send out, but don't count on it. Astral can easily be searched remotely with 25% of your Sauromancers using alchemized gems if needed, plus the Sauromancer's H1 should net you a few Ancient Temples that give you Pearls.

-There are quite a few research schools useful to you. Construction of course gets you Skull Mentors and Lightless Lanterns to help you win the research race, as well as giving you all sorts of gear for Bane Lords, Tomb Kings and Tartarians. With Earth on your pretender, try forging a Hammer as soon as you're able. With that, you can easily forge lots of nice equipment for your Bane Lords, Tomb Kings and Tartarians.

-Early on, Enchantment will get you Mound Kings to herd your undead chariots around with, so you can save your Sauromancers and Tomb Priests the trouble. Enchantment also is the way to go if you want to pull off the C'tissian Special, though without the Marshmasters of MA, it's not as easy to pull off. Foul Vapors will really only be castable by your pretender, but an Empoisoner with a Thistle Mace will be able to cast Poison Ward on your Rangers while Poison Slingers and skellispamming Sauromancers back them up. Aside from that, Enchantment can also get you other Death spells such as Reanimate Archers, Life after Death and Lichcraft. Your pretender, depending on your build, might also be able to cast things like Enliven Gargoyle, Forest Dome, even eventually Arcane Nexus.

-Conjuration of course is Ctis's old standby, mostly for Tartarian Gate. Conjuration will also let you summon other mages to help diversify your magic pool once your Preteneder can find the gems to summon them with. Lamia Queens, Naiads, Couatls and Faerie Queens will get you further into Nature, Water, Blood, Astral and Air. A Troll King or two empowered in Blood will eventually get you Blood stones and a few Naiads can easily make clams once water gems start flowing faster. LA Ctis, unlike the previous two ages, is also in a great position to summon Scorpion Men, so later on, summon those with the Earth random Sauromancers that aren't busy with Tartarians.

((I haven't tried this yet, but will a Naiad with a Shroud and an N4 Bless still lose HP if she moves around?)

-Evocation has quite a few nice battle spells for you to use. All your Sauromances, of course, can be spitting out Banefire at level 6, as well as Shadow Blast, which becomes more dangerous with a higher Death level, also cutting back on fatigue (but not gem cost). Magma Eruption can be cast by Earth Sauromancers with Earth Boots and Summon Earth Power, and Nether Darts by any Astral Sauromancers. If you can find an independent air mage, like Crystal Amazons, Eyes of Aiming can easily be forged for these guys. Suffice to say that most anything Agartha can lay down, you can as well.