Guide: Beginner's guide to Lanka

[SlipperyJim]

Thanks very much for this guide. I'm nearing the endgame as Lanka (playing on Edi's Faerun Adventure map), and your advice has been very helpful.

I'll add a few of my own thoughts to your guide, all centered around the national summons.

Originally Posted by Gregstrom

Rakshasa warriors are likely to be a staple. Good stats, body armour and a great big maul make them a force to be reckoned with in combat. By the time you have these, their vulnerability to arrows (no shield or helmet) may not be much of a problem anyway.

Big winner in the midgame. Rakshasa Warriors are well worth a beeline to Blood-4. Summon them anywhere? No upkeep? Sweet! Once you get to Blood-4, you can probably stop recruiting national troops completely. Spend all of your gold on commanders (mages) and buildings....

Originally Posted by Gregstrom

Sandhyabala are lovely. Armour, buckler, great in a fight, and Dark Power to boot. Dark Power is a big deal, by the way, for reasons you'll see later.

And here's my favorite endgame troop. These guys just kill anything with a Mandaha leading the way. Expensive? Sure! But they're absolutely priceless.

Originally Posted by Gregstrom

Davanas. Giants with 4 arms and 92 hp. I need hardly say more. These guys are the business, really. They are a bit costly though, at 75 slaves for 3. It's a price worth paying, as they GoR up to make a nice SC chassis.

Great SC chassis. Just remember to do something about that Fire vulnerability, or you'll be in real trouble. I like the following kit, all available at Construction-6:

• Fire Brand
• Frost Brand
• Blood Thorn (a little bit of life drain and fatigue recovery)
• Fire Shield (can't remember the name, but it's the shield that grants +50% fire resistance and a weak Fire Shield to kill chaff)
• Wraith Crown
• Rainbow Armor (not great armor, but good enough for most purposes, and you get a bonus to magic resistance)
• Boots of Quickness
• Amulet of Resilience

Originally Posted by Gregstrom

Dakini are going to be a staple. At A3D1B3, they've got better magic than Raksharajahs - they can all cast Thunder Strike and the like. They're also zero upkeep, which will be a benefit.

The coolest thing about Dakini is that they can summon more Dakini! As long as you can bring in enough blood slaves, you can use each turn's Dakini to summon more Dakini, and more Dakini, and more Dakini....

Once you can get a Storm going (see below), I like to script these guys to: Summon Storm Power, Aim, Thunder Strike * 3

Originally Posted by Gregstrom

Mandaha on the other hand are going to be popular. They auto-cast Darkness, which is pretty nifty to start with. Any of your undead and demonic hordes with one of these guys in the area is going to have a huge advantage over mundane troops. They are at least a thug quality chassis (flight, nearby enemies get fatigued), and have A3D3B2 for casting buffs on themselves. Soul Vortex is a nice starter, for example. They have 100% fire vulnerability, so you will want several booster items. NB: Mandaha have an upkeep of 20. Summon a lot and you'll want to make sure you have a decent income.

If you can afford it, you'll want a Mandaha to lead every army. Yes, they're that good. If you can manage to bring a Mandaha to the battlefield, your demons will kill nearly anything they encounter without breaking a sweat (or taking any casualties).

OTOH, I find my Mandahas too valuable to risk as thugs. They sit in the back lines, scripted to: Divine Blessing, Summon Storm Power, Aim, Thunder Strike * 2

---

Staff of Storms is a great item for Lanka. Get one. Get several. Give a Staff to every Mandaha!

Storm allows all of your Air mages to boost their power. More importantly, it virtually eliminates any threat from missiles or most enemy spells. Most importantly, it protects you from Banishment by dropping the enemy priests' Precision!

Storm also includes the effect of Rain, so any evil Fire mages will pay extra fatigue to roast your demons. Considering Lanka's weakness to Fire, that's a valuable extra benefit.

---

Again, thanks for the guide, Gregstrom! As a Lanka beginner, your advice was tremendously helpful.

[Gregstrom]

[quote=SlipperyJim;658509]
Staff of Storms is a great item for Lanka. Get one. Get several. Give a Staff to every Mandaha!
[quote]

I certainly had a few of these around in my mid- to endgames. They do interfere with flight though, which meant I didn't always want one around. I guess I could have put them on stealth units, so that I had control over whether they showed in battles or not.

[quote=SlipperyJim;658509]
Storm allows all of your Air mages to boost their power. More importantly, it virtually eliminates any threat from missiles or most enemy spells. Most importantly, it protects you from Banishment by dropping the enemy priests' Precision!
[quote]

I hadn't thought of that nice little extra protection from Banishment. Good one

[quote=SlipperyJim;658509]
Storm also includes the effect of Rain, so any evil Fire mages will pay extra fatigue to roast your demons. Considering Lanka's weakness to Fire, that's a valuable extra benefit.
[quote]
...although in a cold dominion, you'll get snow with a storm instead. Always worth bearing that in mind.

[Endoperez]

Originally Posted by SlipperyJim

Great SC chassis. Just remember to do something about that Fire vulnerability, or you'll be in real trouble. I like the following kit, all available at Construction-6:

• Fire Brand
• Frost Brand
• Blood Thorn (a little bit of life drain and fatigue recovery)

Blood Thorn would probably help a lot more if it was the FIRST weapon. I think weapons are resolved from first-to-last order, and one turn's worth of attacks will all be directed at one square. If the brands kill everyone in the square, there's no one left for the Blood Thorn to drain life from.

[TheMenacer]

Originally Posted by SlipperyJim

OTOH, I find my Mandahas too valuable to risk as thugs. They sit in the back lines, scripted to: Divine Blessing, Summon Storm Power, Aim, Thunder Strike * 2

Honestly I find Mandahas too valuable not to use as thugs. I mean you can foist off a staff of storms on any old mage and it sort of hurts to have my crazy expensive giant *** kicking demon gorilla tossing down thunder strikes for exactly the same amount of damage as my national mages. It's not really worth worrying about getting them killed I think because as capable SCs as they are (and good god are they capable), they're more built to command giant armies of demons so it's not like they're going to be the only target for all the enemy priests. The plethora of targets, plus their auto-darkness, plus the random commander with a staff of storms means that odds are good they aren't going to get tagged by too many harmful spells, and you've got equipment for what they do wind up getting hit by.