Machaka – a sorcerer’s fevered arachnophobia

[BigDaddy]

WITH CBM:

Machacka is the kind of nation that will take your provinces and stand on your forts, even if it doesn't care to take them quickly in the early game. Especially if they take scales. Machaka can get so big so fast in the early game, it should seriously consider taking scales and pilfering a couple other players early, very early, in the game, especially if they have gems that pretender can use.

I've played them twice in 2player to victory using scales. They are seriously too dangerous early game, and having them next to you would suck worse than any cyclops.

That is too many spiders!

I could almost call them overpowered, but if you just take a more sparley populated map, make research faster, or hold out to the end game, they aren't all that bad. Their combat mages are excellent, but they just don't deploy like a warlock or an arch theurg, for instance. With these you can even save a turn by having them come back after casting four spells.

People come and talk about Machaka, I would blah blah blah... Maybe you would, but you shouldn't underestimate how bad it is to get rushed by spiders.

Just try it. Take scales and some sleeping astral rainbow. Up want money more than protection, but you want both, and 7 holy doesn't hurt, but the sacred spiders are cap only, so don't be -wasteful-.

You want 10+ spiders per group. Take a province the second round with the initial force plus whatever spider riders you could make. Look, you're going to lose some spiders, I'm not going to lie to you, if you aren't careful, you might even lose an army, BUT AT THESE PRICES (YOU'LL SEE I PROMISE)!!

Hire a commander there if possible. Keep filling your queue with spiders, you want 10+, but you want as many as possible of them to be the hunter spiders and spider knights... they really are better, you should get them when possible. Eventually you should be able to get multiple indy kill forces a day... by like day 4 or so... really. You need to have indy commanders pouring in to take them out, and you by turn 5 or 6 you should be able to hire a mage (just get the expensive ones). Repeat. Your research will be super fast, because you only hire expensive mages, this will pay off later too, when you need to have them kill stuff.

Make sure you do some site searching (it's easy to get carried away with the conquest!), because eventually someone will have some evo and you'll start to take losses. You should be truly huge at that time. Keep pumping out spiders, or change to hopelites, or get a mix.

You find some gems sites by searching a few turns, and then go home and research site searching spells to use the gems with. Also, priests find pearls so have a priest or two search.

Plan to start a fort the 4-5th turn a couple provinces away from you main. I know you won't -need- it, but build it anyway, it helps you get more priest and mages going and gives you a forward location.

This nation PKs.

I don't reccomend getting a blessing just for the spiders. Incidental is fine, I reccomend astral. Or maybe you want to be permi-scary to invade and want to try and afford a pheonix with high paths in one or both of his specialties.

[Jarkko]

I don't think anybody disputes the Machaka early game is super strong (except some undefined "experts" on IRC ), that really isn't the issue. The issue is the end game.

While one, or as I think the *only*, solution is (what cleveland half-jokingly says above) to rush the map before it gets to the end game, that may be slightly difficult in a "true" MP game (ie not duels, but where there are several players along). Maybe that is the niche of Machaka, but it sort of does not feel entirely right...

Regarding poison golems, I think I've GoR'ed one in some game, and if I recall correctly they get just two misc slots? I admit freely I am not an expert with poison golems, as the few tests I've had with them saw them pass out from fatigue real fast (and even though their poison is a killer even after that, there really isn't that much you can do to prevent getting killed or at least racking up a massive amount of afflictions). Do I remember totally wrong?

[Trumanator]

Poison golems have full slots I think, plus a banefire shield. IIRC Baalz won the SC competition w/a poison golem equipped with boots of quickness and a lifedrain standard, which keeps its hps high. I'm not sure how it would fatigue out since I would think it has 0 enc?

[vfb]

You don't need to GoR poison golems, they are already commanders, and they come with full slots. One main vulnerability (that I've been on the receiving end of) is Shatter. Also they have really weak attack and defense stats, and they are undead, therefore vulnerable in melee to anything with a Holy Scourge etc (that can deal with the golem's banefire shield, which actually doesn't do all that much damage).

[Jarkko]

Ok, cool Poison golems sure look like an option then. Have to run a test game tonight to check them out

[thejeff]

Even without GoH or the Chalice, neither of which can be guaranteed in any serious MP game, Tartarians are feasible. Enough come without Feeblemind to be useful. Machaka has good Death, though they will need to bootstrap up to Tartarian summoning level and they've got good enough Nature for GoR.
If they can get, from Indy mages, trading, or a pretender a Moonvine Bracelet, they could cast GoH, but keeping it up is trickier.
That, plus possible elemental (Fire/Earth) royalty, is an endgame.

Isn't everyone without national SCs in roughly the same situation? Except many have more trouble getting into Death and Nature in the first place.
With clams gone, Wish is much less common and usually relies on a pretender anyway. Racing for the Blood uniques is the other real choice.

[WraithLord]

The worst thing about the weak nations, Machaka included, is their reputation. Being considered weak they will almost always be targeted first. This is bad in normal games and compounded in RAND games where even diplo can't protect them.

[BigDaddy]

I don't think Machaka is weak mid-game, but the player needs to plan for when they'll get a spell to be getting mages to the front lines to cast it. They don't tele or trapeze, so just plan ahead. These mages are tough and they have good combat paths. Or, you could probably just go with banefire archers, which will kill most stuff just like sending a mage for while. Buys a little time.

[WraithLord]

I wonder what are Machaka's MP statistics. Win/lose ratio for example...

[Belac]

Originally Posted by WraithLord

The worst thing about the weak nations, Machaka included, is their reputation. Being considered weak they will almost always be targeted first. This is bad in normal games and compounded in RAND games where even diplo can't protect them.

That is very true. Nothing helps you win like fighting on your own terms.