Thuggity Thug [efficient thug builds]

[lch]

Awesomeness.

[Shovah32]

The bles quickness gives +50% ap, the spell quickness gives +3 attack/defence and lets you act twice per round(not spell casting). 8 Guarenteed snake bladder attacks per round+possible extras from the bless.

[HoneyBadger]

I've gotten the 3 quickness combination before, occasionally with a Niefel weilding an arena trident.
12 attacks per round is fun-fun-fun.
Could have even gotten 24 if I'd traded the trident up for 2 swords of swiftness and a ring of the warrior. That's about 720 points of magical damage per round, plus breath-of-winter, for the win.

[Rytek]

Im having fun with EA Pangea. I am using a E9,N9 gorgon.
Minotaur lords with Shrouds of the battle saint makes these into great thugs.

My favorite is Mino Lord with Shroud of battle saint,The Blood Axe that gives a chest wound and beserking (forgot the name of it) Tanglevine shield, Horned helm,boots of the messenger, pendant of luck, bracer of protection (with the earth 9 bless gets 4 more armor) I like the huge beserk bonus they get. After they go beserk they end up with a stupidly high Armor, something like 28.

But really, even just a Mino lord with a Shroud, Horned Helm (need this for the AF modifier) and a Bracer of protection (AF modifier)makes a great thug. Beserk, regenerating, high AF (25+), High hits, low encumberance, fatigue regeneration, and the ability to heal afflictions. All for 15 gems and a cheap gold cost.

[Shovah32]

I love pangaea and the gorgon is a great bless pretender for them. If you like that strategy try LA Pangaea, they get sacred minotaur commanders with armour(you can replace it or leave it on but they dont need the shroud) and aswell as the sacred black centaurs they get dyrad hoplites(15 prot, 13 health, awe) who work great with that bless and dont get too much fatigue(7 enc with 4 reinvig).

Another way to play LA Pangaea is an uber bless, completely trash your scales and take a W9E9N9 Gorgon. Your pretender makes a terrifyingly powerful SC when she breaks free(18 prot and 19 defence from the bless+great regen from personal regen) and until then unstoppable minotaur thugs and powerful sacreds can keep you safe.

[Meglobob]

To Rytek + Sheovah32:-

Good Pangaea thugs, thanks for those, I like Pangaea but have been seriously struggling with them in the early game, first 20 turns. Those ideas of yours should help me out.

I foolishly rejected the gorgon as it looked too weak...

[Shovah32]

It has ****ing built in petrification! If you fail your mr check when attacking it you die. E9N4 or E9N9 are great pangaean blesses(both for commanders and troops) and the gorgon just makes it that much sweeter(good stats, 18 prot and good regen from casting personal regen/strength of gaia). Try to get some of the good earth/nature globals up asap and for expanding just crank out white centaurs(maybe with a meatshield of satyrs)

[Meglobob]

Shovah32 said:
It has ****ing built in petrification! If you fail your mr check when attacking it you die.

Yes I know, it was the low hps that put me off, I think.

[Rytek]

I prefer EA Pangea over LA Pangea for this strategy for a number of reasons. Blood magic has the heartfinder axe which adds to the beserk bonus and it also has the heart that makes assasins out of your stealthy Pans. Sloth 3 is a no brainer because White centaurs are so cheap resource wise compared to black centaurs and the white centaurs are just as effective vs independents for early expansion.

Also, the thing that makes the above mino thug so great is they are self sufficient. They dont need another along to bless them. That and they have very little encumberance. Finally, not being sacred is great because you are not slowed down by needing a temple to recruit them at a castle.

The one drawback (and it is a big one) you cant get this going until you get some astral mages. I was lucky in my game I started next to a lizard province which is fairly common in early age (another bonus of ea pan over la pan)

By mid game with dwarven hammers built it is easy to pump out 3 minotaur thugs every turn. Recruit 5 regular minotaurs to guard. 1 turn to consolitate. Put the 3 thugs in the front with attack orders. the 15 bodyguards in the middle with guard orders.

[Ydirbut]

I normally just play singleplayer, so Im not very good at most MP tactics, like thugging, raiding, SCing, etc. However, I gave it a try as MA Ulm, thinking it would be a nice change of pace. I normally play with indys set to 9, so, they had a little bit of trouble, but they did good raiding the enemies lands. This is what I used
Black Servant(Summoned by pretender)
Firebrand
Charcoal Shield
Black Steel Full Plate (Should I go elemental armor instead?)
Black Steel Helmet
Boots of Giant Strength
Medallion of Vengeance
Girdle of Might
What changes should I make to this? What are some other effective Ulm Thug strats?