Suggestion for new Oceana units

[Baalz]

Going under the assumption that KO will add whatever inspires him, I thought I'd suggest a few very cool, thematic things that might be added to MA Oceana. Some of these would be summoned, some might make sense to be recruitable.

MA Oceana:
Giant crocodile - how cool is that? Powerful bite can have an entangling effect similar to Machaka's spiders making it good for taking down large thugs, er...game.

Scylla - from the same Homer as Sirens, kind of an amphibious hydra. Aside from being hella cool, this could give Oceana a good poison immune amphibian to leverage one of the few things than can cast well - poison. "Scylla was a horribly grotesque sea monster, with six long necks equipped with grisly heads, each of which contained three rows of sharp teeth. Her body consisted of twelve canine legs and a cat's tail."

Selkie - Kind of a A/W niad, giving Oceana access to a strong air mage. "The shy Selkies are marine creatures in the shape of a seal. They can be found near the islands of Orkney and Shetland. A female can shed her skin and come ashore as a beautiful woman. When a man finds the skin, he can force the Selkie to be a good, if somewhat sad, wife. Should she ever recover the skin, she will immediately return to sea, leaving her husband behind. The male Selkies are responsible for storms and also for the sinking of ships, which is their way of avenging the hunting of seals."

All in all I think Oceana could be retouched to be more of a raging sea/storm type theme with good air magic. This is closer to Pangea's "nature is pissed off" motif, and would not only go a long way towards making Oceana more competitive, it would also add a strong differentiation to them as a water nation. They already seem more generally amphibious than the other water nations (other than the crippling of their mages), making them a water/air/nature nation would be pretty cool while certainly leaving them nothing like Caelum or the various A/N nations. They've got good raiders, theming them as reaver coast raiders was a lot of in fun Kingmaker - I was thinking along the lines of the Greyjoys from A Song of Ice and Fire.

[Sombre]

I like the idea of an amphibious hydra of sorts, probably as a nature/water summon that can be cast underwater to help you get onto land.

Also since the nation was inspired by medieval bestiaries, here's a random online bestiary and an interesting entry.

http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast244.htm

[thejeff]

I like the sea/storm idea. Water/Air is not a common combination. Would be nice to get some useful national combat spells along those lines, along with summons. The only underwater idea that comes to mind is a Drowning in Air that suffocates aquatics.

Simplest boost, though, would be to not cripple Capricorns ashore. Just drop their water path, maybe even boost Earth?

[HoneyBadger]

I also like the idea of a crocodile summons. Considering the importance of crocodiles in mythology, their absence from the game is unfortunate and strange.

[cleveland]

This could be fun:

Make the Ichtycentaurs & Trident Knights BETTER on land than in the water. It would make for a neat dichotomy, with the Capricorns being good in water & bad on land.

Perhaps make them Poor Amphibians (so -3Att, -3Def, +1Enc underwater), compensating by giving +2Att, +2Def, -2Enc?

Thus in the sea...
Ichtycentaur: 9Att, 16Def, 3Enc
Trident Knight: 10Att, 15Def, 7Enc

On land...
Ichtycentaur: 12Att, 19Def, 2Enc
Trident Knight: 13Att, 18Def, 6Enc

Could be explained as follows: "Unlike most amphibians, ichtycentaurs have evolved from land-dwelling ancestors. Their bodies are therefore not quite suited for movement through water, a handicap they've overcome by developing tremendous stamina. All ichtycentaurs have amazing endurance, making them fearsome warriors above the waves."

Gives them a Navy Seals feel. Trident Knights are now worthy of an E9 bless (22Prot, 2Enc, Amphibious is unheard of), and the ichtycentaurs are submarine PD killers. Also gives Oceania some survivability vs. Rlyeh as they can now take & hold land. Aesthetically pleasing too...no drastic changes & works within the game's mechanics.

Also, I'll continue to suggest that the Capricorns become (100% +2 ENWA), from (100% +1 ENWA, 10% +1 ENWA) so that they can bring their meager earth & air magic on shore.

Though I do like your suggestions Baalz.

[Wrana]

Crocodiles I'll also vote for! I wouldn't say they should entangle, however - this could be left for some separate units (sea snakes, coralls, etc.). But crocodiles have a nice habit of using their tails for leg-breaking attacks - which would also be painful for enemy thugs.
Also, we could dig into actual Oceanian mythology, as the name itself suggests (unfortunately, I'm not good in that, but I'm sure we can dig out something interesting).
I do not think that they should have their best units made better on land than in water, though - something else must be found.

[JimMorrison]

This "Raging Sea" concept is beautiful, good thinking!

I like the "Drowning in Air" spell, which like Sailor's Death would fill the gills of an aquatic creature with gases.

Also, this is not specific to MA Oceania, as they're amphibious already, but it makes me think it would be nice if there were a ritual that would make a specific commander able to leave the sea AND bring some amount (10 or 20 maybe?) of aquatic creatures with them. This would be especially meaningful to EA Oceania and EA R'lyeh.

As for the mages, rather than a change that makes them stronger underwater (which may not be acceptable by design), at least make them similar to Slave Mages, where they only lose 1W, but keep their other paths. This is still really detrimental, but not a complete crippling of the caster.

[Spendios]

Some suggestions :

A chariot drawn by hippocampi or dolphins

A very big and very hungry shark

Loch Ness monster

Mosasaurus like monster

J�rmungandr (though would be a nordic nations specific summon)

Charybdis (like a living whirlpool)

[Endoperez]

I really like Cleveland's idea of making Ichtycentaurs more powerful in land. A group of strange beings coming up from the waves, jumping into air and coming down on four legs, and charging. Also, Ichtycentaurs (and other Oceania amphibious guys) could be given Swamp Survival. It's just a minor bonus, but it'd mean Oceania can use Quagmire to give their troops an edge aboveground.

Oceania reminds me of Gene Wolfe's Knight Wizard duology, which I just re-read thanks to a thread in these forums. In the books, "strength of the sea" is described as being able to come at you again and again like the waves, never stopping and never growing tired; to fall down when felled to rise again, like a tide, with enough strength to crush mountains. I thought of this because earth-blessed ichtycentaurs would have abilities similar to those the knight taught about the sea had: reinvigoration, rejuvenation and ability to survive underwater.



Baalz' suggestions are well-thought, except that I don't think Crocodiles should be their own summon. Crocodiles and perhaps some amphibious creatures summonable in swamps and coastal provinces with Summon Animals would be nice, but even big crocodiles are just weaker cave drakes, and not even really amphibious. Shark Knights are awesome, but Oceania's ichtycentaurs are supposed to be their underwater cavalry, so they shouldn't be necessary. Some denizen of the deep is more interesting. Perhaps access to the Bogarus remote summons, or similar new spells?

[cleveland]

Pod of Orca