So, the more I play with these guys, the more they confirm my initial impression. I just don't understand how anybody could play these guys competitively without counting on extreme luck of the non-scale variety. If you do it right you can get a very impressive initial expansion. You've got *nothing* to take out elite troops though - which of course you'll be facing just as soon as the indies are gone.
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quantum_mechani said:
The two strengths they really have to play to are easy searching for kelp forests, and their 2 resource super-tritons. With a bit of luck this can result in a turbo-start they can coast on for quite a while.
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The kelp forests are nice, and they help you with your fast expansion against the indies. Even with an *overwhelming* economic and production advantage though you've got not a single effective thing to spend it on once you start fighting another nation. Super triton are above par as far as low resource chaff goes (not *great*) - but low resource chaff will never win all by itself unless your opponent is asleep at the wheel. Similarly, none of your other recruitable troops will take out : high protection troops, high defense troops, enemy chaff (quickly enough to get to the mages), high damage dealing troops....elite troops of any kind or enemy mages will slaughter you, and you've got absolutely nothing to counter with even if you know exactly what your enemy will be fielding.
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quantum_mechani said:
As far as underwater combat, your mages can hold their own. I mean, you can do shark attacks, foul vapors, charm, living water and water strike in a pinch. I agree getting far above water takes a rather large component of luck.
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Shark attack - as anyone you'll be fighting can cast the same thing, I don't see this is really any advantage outside of fighting off invasions by land races (the very least of your worries). This is, of course assuming you can even get to conj-5 before you're crushed. Additionally, this spell has been recently nerfed.
Foul vapors - with no poison immune or even resistant forces, no thugs (recruitable or summonable), and no battlefield summons (other than water elementals - a total gem sink for general purpose use) I fail to see how this can be leveraged outside of tiny niches. Underwater troops tend to have higher hps, making it pretty difficult even to use this as a hit and run.
Charm & Living water - I have to laugh a bit at the thought of living long enough to use cross school level 7/8 spells as the first effective thing your mages can do. Even at that, both are niche spells at the point in the game where people start laying down fog warriors or firestorm.
Water strike - Ummmmm, maybe CBM changes this spell, but 13 damage to a single target is called a spear, not a mage. I can't imagine any situation that this spell would have any noticeable effect on the battle even with a large number of mages.
I maintain my assertion, you've got no viable combat spells combined with no elite troops. That's *before* you try climbing out the water where your useless mages are further crippled and you can only recruit indie troops. Clam hoarding is a red herring even if you can live long enough to make it worthwhile, and you've got nothing significant to even look forward to up the research tree.