Lanka: unit stats, comments and tips

[chrispedersen]

Jack_Trowell said:
Don't think of seduction as a way to capture units, but as a better assassination ability.

With it, your Rhakshasis are de facto assassin mages that can, with the correct spells/items, kill most commanders.
I once used one that to capture a indep province near my capitol while my main army was elsewhere (indeps str 9) : it took 3-4 turns to kill all the commanders, and one more to capture the province, it was a lone commander, and not an army.

And of course sometimes you get lucky and get a free commander. Usually just a normal commander (always useful for carrying troops to the front), but sometimes you can be very lucky and get a mage with useful magic paths or a good ability.

Generally not worth it MP.

However, considering making one a prophet. Script smite. Will generally kill any unit you cant seduce. You look like a genius when you get early game magic items this way.

[mivayan]

TwoBits said:
Now that we've had a while to play around with them, any other Lanka tips and advice out there?

Personally, I'm trying to figure out a use for the Rhakshasis.

They have two 100% randoms, so there's a chance you'll get a D3 or N3 mage, which is pretty unlikely with the others. You'll want one or two to forge some items. Otherwise I dunno, 350 gold for an assassin that still is likely to die if your target is quick enough to attack in round one... risky.

[TwoBits]

Yeah, I've tested out the Rhakshasis myself, and they just seem too expensive to risk in an assassin's role, at least in an MP game. Are there any ways to increase the chance of a seduction? Items that increase penetration perhaps?

If not, sounds like they're only worth buying for a chance at D3 or N3 (at 350 a pop though, that's an expensive bet).

Well, we'll see if anyone comes up with another idea for them.

Until then, I'll toss out a few Lanka tips for others to try:

1. Find a crap province next to the capitol (swamp or something is good), and start re-animating ghouls. Even a lowly indie priest can do it! About 2/3 of your ghouls should be big monkey-ghouls (how cool is that!) who are about double the power of regular ghouls. Not bad for a province that might otherwise go to waste. The unit description (I forgot their name unfortunately) says the odds for killer ghoul-monkeys declines markedly the further away from the capitol, but I haven't tested out by how much.

2. 15 death gems and a little research can easily get you into the water! 3 gems and Ench 2 get you a Mound King commander, I think, and 12 gems and Conj 2 get you 20 Ganas. They are poor amphibians still, but their ethereal ability should keep them in the fight long enough to rout armies consisting only of your average Joe-merman or triton. If you want a little more insurance, you can fill out your force with some re-animated soulless or longdead (or use 12 more gems for another batch of ganas to be extra sure).

On another note, in an SP game once, I GoRed some of those 4-armed Davanas, with very nice results, as they tended to get some random levels of air/death/priest magic to go with their giant size and multiple limbs...

[TwoBits]

Hmm, no action here recently, so I'll ask another question:

What should be done with Lanka's national hero? I forget the name, but the 4-armed fallen angle thingy with blood-3.

Seems like 4 deadly weapons in 4 flailing hands might be nice, but the low HP (only 28?) seems to rule out any real SCing. You'd get more 4-armed fun out of GoRing those size-6 national blood summons. All I seem to do is use it as a blood hunter. A fairly good one, to be sure, but seems kind of a waste.

Does Lanka have another hero? This is the only one I've ever seen.

[Olive]

I just discovered this nations 3 days ago and... it's already one of my favorites.

[*] Kala-Mukha (160 gold, sacred, B?HH, ?=100%(ADNB)) can get you B2 mages which you can use to start blood hunting before you have access to SDR, or to cast Bowl of Blood when you have reached Blood-2; the other ones (ABH2, DBH2 and NBH2), I used mainly for H2 (Sermon of Courage), preaching, and occasional item forging;

I mainly use them as cheap chaff factories.

[TwoBits]

Devasura (the fallen Devata) is the Hero I'm wondering about. He seems interesting if you get him early in the game, but later seems pretty puny compared to a Davana that's been Gift of Reasoned (96HP, size-6, sacred, and once gifted gets H2 and an occasional level in air and/or blood). Guess Devasura's not much more useful than a 4-armed blood slave catcher.

Has anyone spotted another Hero for Lanka?

[PDF]

That's fun : Bandar Log is mainly an underdog, Lanka is now a kind of ubernation. No real weakness, lots of good units and nat'l summons, many magic paths/strategies possible.

But sure they're pretty cool and fun !

[Olive]

Yes, they're good, but maybe not that good ? They should be bested by fire using nations.

Do I miss a point or the Fly Ability of Dakinis and Mandahas is almost useless since lanka has no flying units ?

[Shovah32]

They can fly to the back of the enemy lines? They can move quickly alone on the map? They can command other flying units(certain summons).

How do you guys equip your mandahas/dakinis ect?

[Wish]

mandahas flying is pretty okay because they make great SCs (so can be off on their own)

also many of the demon armies that one can summon up with this nation (storm demons, etc) are flying.

I like to give them a wraith crown, armor of invulnerability (or stone, or if i don't have earth I give them the chain mail of displacement) amulet of antimagic, pendant of luck, boots of quickness, charcoal shield and shadow brand.

Cast soul vortex, mirror image, maybe mistform or holy avenger, and lay on in.