Yomi Pretender design and general MP Strategy ?

[K]

Yomi's troops are generally made out of tissue paper, but your mages are pretty good, so here are some strategies to consider.

1. Research God. A great Sage with only reasonable scales can pump out 40 research on Turn 1, so you can have Frighten for those Indies on Turn 2(your Demon Generals are perfect fot this). By your first human opponent on Turn 9-10, you can have some rightous Evoking.

2. Skull Mentors. The Oni are terrible researchers (except for the Hannya, whcih you make as your only researcher), but you get a nice death economy if you work for it and your can be a research powerhouse with Skull Mentors.

3. Some earth and blood. A god with some Blood and Earth can make Blood Stones, so its like printing money (or gems, in this case). There are worse things that you could do with your god rather than increase your gem income and mage's power (and earth gems can be money, if you get really desperate).

4. Oni General Prophet. An Oni General is a demon, so making him a Holy caster means that he can reanimate undead in his free time for free. Thats an excellent way to make free undead on Turn 3 to break down castles.

General thoughts: Flaming arrows is your friend, and any non-Air power you face should be on the recieving end of a lot of these.

Counting on your troops before you have lots of Alteration is a mistake. Wooden Warriors is the first real protection you'll get on your guys, but you really want to have Armies of Lead/Gold. Oni don't wear pants, so don't be surpised if the casting AI drops Legions of Steel on pantless oni and you get nothing out of it.

Darkness is a win. Demon troops in Darkness eat other troops alive.

High Earth income nations love Living Statues. They might not have the killer apps of Mechanical Men, but they have lots of protection and HPs, and in many cases that better than a grocery list of immunities that may or may not come up.

Hannya can get built in any castle with a lab. Do that. Trust me, you rarely go wrong with a bunch of Fire evokers who can also cast Banefires on people trying tricky crap.

Aka-oni and Ko-oni have an AP ranged weapon. Highly armored troops hate that. The classic Oni only lives in the place where Flaming Arrows is being cast in every battle and Evocations drop like rain.

Supercombatants are for suckers. Anyone who tells you to take your 500 GP mages and send them to the front is not your friend.

Your troops cost small resources, and you can mass them quickly. One good luck money event and you can field an army capable of knocking over a neighbor, so more money and less resources is a generally good scale tactic.

Final word: Yomi is a classic "good magicians, bad troops" position. Research like there is no tomorrow, recruit indies, build labs and castles for more magicians, and hit your breakpoint spells ASAP.

[FAJ]

K said:
Supercombatants are for suckers. Anyone who tells you to take your 500 GP mages and send them to the front is not your friend.

i can't agree with this. Dai oni with a little bit fo new equipment and a round or two of buffs can easily turn the battle. In my last MP with Yomi I had prophetized a Dai Oni and fileld him with relitivly cheap gear. he often won the battles all by himself. The key to it is low/zero encumberance, and regeneration.

I would rather have my Dai oni soaking up chaff troops and slaughtering them wholesale than sitting back and casting spells untill fatigue 100.

[Mind Elemental]

Demon sorcerers make cheap researchers if you spam 'em. For firepower, though - yeah, I second what the above guys said. Flaming arrows + bakemono hordes (assuming your opponent doesn't have access to arrow fend!) + massed hannya are an impressive sight.