Can someone tell me about Machaka?

[Belac]

Machaka works like the Air Force. It is weak in hand-to-hand combat but has great artillery power.

Its strength is:

Recruitable-anywhere mages with potential for F2, D2, and N3
Cheap researchers who become very efficient with Magic 1 scale (in a recruitable-anywhere and cap-only flavor), but whose absolute research level is low (so you need a lot from different forts)

If you fear a rush, either get a SC pretender or rush to magic research your mages can spam (I have actually had luck with hoplites in front of mages casting Sleep Cloud--the hoplites force the enemy to stand in the cloud, and often don't die until the enemy fatigues out). Once the rush danger period is over, spam forts and build enough sorcerers to get several of each useful random, then start summoning your armies. If you're not in CBM, fire fetish-->fire drakes is a good way to go.

You also have good access to remote-attack spells. Empower a couple F2 sorcerers, or take a F4 pretender and build fire helmets, to add Flames from Afar to your arsenal to even the score for the big battles. You also have Blight, Locust Swarms, Iron Walls, and a few good Death spells.

With your powerful research, nature, and death magic, you're good in the late game with Tarts too.

[Illuminated One]

Originally Posted by Jarkko

However, Machaka is a one trick pony. When your opponent notices you are all about fire fire fire and some more fire wether it is CBM or vanilla, you are doomed (there are so many ways to make even full armies fire resistant); in CBM this happens quite a bit sooner though, in vanilla you might have a chance to stick around slightly longer. Machaka has no proper tools for endgame, sadly. You have to rush the map when you are at your strongest, in middle game, and hope the others fold over. Also, a lot depends on your pretender, as you have to choose your pretender to either boost your strengths (but you already are so very strong in fire, so it is hard to come up with something that would make it even more stronger) or to compensate your weaknesses (but there are so many weaknesses Machaka has, that it will be very difficult).

Well, you have access to bane fire, magma erruption and the various death spells, which are all not subject to fire resistance. I don't know how good your death is atm but there are much worse nations when it comes to magic.

[Trumanator]

Honestly I have never seen someone use spine devils. Also, are you talking CBM or Vanilla?

[Jarkko]

I would advice you to prophetise a Black hunter lord. If you have a small nature bless, you'll have a regen already there (give him a few normal spiders as body-guards, script Holy Avenger Attack rear). In fact, I would go as far as to try to get the rider killed... In friendly dominion the auto-blessed spider will have north of 100 HP and regenerates with a minor N bless (though just 5 HP per turn, but still good enough to prevent afflictions) and you still have two misc slots (for a ring of regen, or lucky amulet, or whatever you fancy).

With Machaka you can push out an expansion party each turn (indy leader (if you just get some indy leader who can shoot something, so much better) moves to capital to pick up 10 spiders, then goes hunting; 10 spiders will rip apart most infantry (avoid barbarians though)) or if you need to take something heavier (barbarians, knights, heavy cavalry) recruit spiders for a couple turns (30 spiders can take out most likely anything, just form them into three squads with orders Fire closest; when your riders start to die (to enemy arrows) the riderless spiders charge forwards and spit web, disrupting the enemy lines totally).

If you face elephants (or other tramplers) or giants (or Hydras for that matter), you need to recruit the black spiders. The black spiders are not really worth it IMO, but they laugh themselves silly at elephants and giants, who get webbed up and poisoned to death by these humongous spiders.

After the initial expansion frenzy you should have a boatload of riderless spiders. They are upkeep free and excellent flankers.

If you play with CBM you should by now have Dragon Master (Ench 3, which also gives you skelly spam) and Summon Fire Drakes (Conj 3) researched, then go for evocations. Fire Drakes in center (they are tough as nails and the breath fire), riderless spiders on flanks, sorcerors bombarding evocations (keep a sizeable body guard of the heavy Machakan infantry around the mages, they repel any fliers easily). The ever loved skelly-spam is also an option, especially against nations who do not fear fire (Abysia for example; let your skellies exhaust the abysian infantry with their high fatigue, and rip them apart).

If you are playing vanilla Dominions, then you should go for Fire Fetishes as fast as possible, and then go for Flaming Arrows instead (while not forgetting skelly-spam, it is even more important in vanilla), and BURN everything in sight with your basic cheap archers, while your heavy infantry and skellies holds the center and the spiders attack on the flanks. Flaming arrows really is too powerful in vanilla (and totally useless in CBM, but that is just my personal opinion, others claim they still see it used under CBM; personally I hope so very much Flaming arrows would see some slight change in CBM to at least make it an option to consider), so take full advantage of that. While your Flaming Arrowed armies hold your neighbours in terror, take maximum advantage of the fire gems the fetishes bring; craft items, summon stuff, even alchemise them to bring in money for more castles etc. Fetishes are really the thing Machaka desperately needs.

However, Machaka is a one trick pony. When your opponent notices you are all about fire fire fire and some more fire wether it is CBM or vanilla, you are doomed (there are so many ways to make even full armies fire resistant); in CBM this happens quite a bit sooner though, in vanilla you might have a chance to stick around slightly longer. Machaka has no proper tools for endgame, sadly. You have to rush the map when you are at your strongest, in middle game, and hope the others fold over. Also, a lot depends on your pretender, as you have to choose your pretender to either boost your strengths (but you already are so very strong in fire, so it is hard to come up with something that would make it even more stronger) or to compensate your weaknesses (but there are so many weaknesses Machaka has, that it will be very difficult).

[BigDaddy]

CBM because you get 3 at a time, for spine debils. It lets you switch to a different path. I just use them for defense, not attacking, but in a pinch I'm sured they'd perform just fine.


Spine devils plus blood mage imp spam will kill armies stupid enough not to respect lvl 1 blood in the early-mid game.

[Jarkko]

Spine devils on defence works fine as long as your PD is at least half decent. Spine devils (and imps to take the banishment barrage) works wonders when you plan your PD to hold the center while the spine devils get to rip anything and everything on the flanks.

However, Machakan PD just sucks. You'll see your PD spearmen rush forwards, get shot by your own PD archers, and your spearmen rout, which sees your archers being next in line to take the brunt of the assault, and your army routs before the spine devils had a chance to deliver a single hit...


EDIT: Machaka is an all out offensive nation. You have about zero defensive options, so just press on like mad when you can, and hope your opponents croak before they notice you are the glass cannon who delivers pain just fine but can't take anything in return without shattering totally.

[thejeff]

Who are your cheap researchers?

In CBM, Dragon Master gives you easy cheap Fire and Cave drakes. Banes with cheap gear make good heavy front line thugs. Your spiders and undead are poison immune. Webs slow the enemy down. Nature, earth & Fire also have good tangling spells.

[thejeff]

Yeah, I'm not sure why Machaka would be all about Fire. Fire's easy to rely on early on, but Machaka's got strong Nature, Death and Earth as well. Some of that's capital only, but that's not uncommon.

The late game weakness is mobility. No native teleporters. Tartarians will help, but abundant mobile thugs will be missed.
Machaka does seem to cry out for national spells. Lots of flavor and a unique culture. It should have magic the more European oriented nations don't.

[Jarkko]

Bane Fire (excellent against giant type targets, sadly the AI likes to target the spell on things like Dragonflies, Imps and such) and Magma Eruption (nice against massed low- or un-armoured targets, and thus excellent against those very feared human wave militia attacks, but totally useless against heavy armoured troops or Fog Warriors) are mid-game spells. I still believe midgame is where Machaka is strong, in the end-game it has very few options.

[Torin]

Combination
Pretender with FWSN - +2 pen rods - Eye of the void - (+4 pen)

N3 mage + thristle mace + moonvine bracelet (N5)
or replace with N2 E1 + Strength of gaea casting. (N5)

Charm with +5 penetration / 12 fatigue cost

7F7W18N3S gems with hammer.

Not cheap but...
SC and Thugs costs as much gems if not more.