Some hints on MA R'yleh?

[thejeff]

Remember that even if you take Cold 3, it takes a while for provinces to shift all the way and there's seasonal variation as well. You won't usually be fighting in Cold 3. And you would be some of the time even if you took Cold 2.

This is why it's usually recommended that nations with a temperature preference take one more step of that scale. Almost free points.

[JimMorrison]

I belong to the camp that doesn't believe in seasonal variation. I mean, I have seen temperature fluctuations sure, but in my experience they are far too subtle to be a factor in a strategy. It's not as if all provinces are +1 Heat in summer and +1 Cold in winter, in fact it's far from that.

For me, one of the major deciding factors is the fact that the other temperature is so extremely debilitating to you, that you want to push in your direction as hard as possible, to insure more favorable conditions. The other being that your dominion hampers most other nations more than the excess temp scale hampers you. There is nothing "free" about a -5% income in your capital from turn 1 through the entirety of the game, that's for sure. And the longer the game goes, the more of your territory will have the extra scale, and thus be generating less income. It just happens that the tradeoff is worth it, you give your neighbors a large penalty, and you suffer a smaller penalty yourself.

[Belac]

Originally Posted by KissBlade

Order3/Mis 1 (or 2 depending on how you need the points) is standard for all builds in base except for very few exceptions. Sloth3/Cold3 is also fairly standard practice for Ryleh. Growth 3 should also be considered for the vast lobo/illithid armies you'll probably be using. Try to splash earth/air onto your pretender since you won't generally have access to those. Some good picks are dormant Ghost Kings/Void Lord or awakened Wyrm/Kraken. (note if you're using kraken you must take air + water) You also want a decently high dom as Ryleh tends to have dom problems.

Resurrecting an old thread since this question hasn't been answered...

If you take a Wyrm and Cold 3, doesn't that severely reduce his effectiveness?

[Baalz]

I wouldn't say severely, maybe mildly. Except when defending territories deep enough to be steadily under your dominion for a time they won't be at cold-3 (well, at least not from your dominion). Even when fighting in cold-3, a high dominion wyrm won't have much trouble with almost any indies, and by the time you're fighting more than that it's trivial to stick a frost ring on him if you think it'll make a difference.

[Belac]

Originally Posted by Baalz

I wouldn't say severely, maybe mildly. Except when defending territories deep enough to be steadily under your dominion for a time they won't be at cold-3 (well, at least not from your dominion). Even when fighting in cold-3, a high dominion wyrm won't have much trouble with almost any indies, and by the time you're fighting more than that it's trivial to stick a frost ring on him if you think it'll make a difference.

Thanks. I guess I am unclear about the negatives of cold-blooded troops in cold climates (this rarely has come up for me, and when it has I've found other ways around it).

[Stavis_L]

Originally Posted by Belac

Thanks. I guess I am unclear about the negatives of cold-blooded troops in cold climates (this rarely has come up for me, and when it has I've found other ways around it).

Perhaps counterintuitively, Wyrm pretenders are not coldblooded.