Rlyeh newbie getting massacred by AI...any tips?

Failure · #1 June 1st, 2007, 04:32 AM

Hello everyone!

I'm currently in the process of getting repeatedly rammed by the AI. I am playing middle age O'rlyeh.

Here's what I'm doing.

Imprisoned Archmage with 6 astral, 2air,2water, one point everywhere else except blood. 3 luck, 3 growth, 3 sloth, 3 magic.

I prophetise my first starspawn priest guy, and have him go mad or get lost in time and space or get killed by using the void gate. It's a habit.

I then venture into the oceans to get pounded half the time, but can sometimes take over places using a mix of lobo guards, the cuddly-toy green troll things and illithids.

I then try to get the solar thingy that gives 5 astrals per month.

Going onto land gets my arse kicked generally. The troops die from one hit of absolutely anything, then my paralyse is excellent for helping me die slowly rather than quickly.

I then proceed to die from dominion loss.

Help. :-)

Sandman · #2 June 1st, 2007, 04:57 AM

Use Crab Hybrids to expand underwater.

An imprisoned rainbow mage won't give you any help whatsoever for the early game and first half of the midgame. Wyrms seem to be popular with R'lyeh; take one with no more than two magic paths and a high dominion.

Endoperez · #3 June 1st, 2007, 05:12 AM

Starspawns that start with priestly powers have this nifty icon that makes them better summoners. They are also somewhat better at not becoming insane in the Void Gate. Because a prophet is much more important than a normal recruitable commander, don't throw him to the gate. Use the priests.

Research Thaumaturgy. Mind Burn - damage through armor, nice against well-protected creatures like Amber Clan. Magic resistance protects against it, though. Paralyze - good against scary things you don't want killing your forces. Soul Slay - magic resistance protects against it, but one failure is fatal... Enslave Mind - to get more units for your armies.

Lobo units are cheap, and don't rout easily, but they have hard time killing tougher troops. Select provinces that have weak defenders, or where their superior numbers can overwhelm the enemy (e.g. if you have 50 Lobos, 10 Crab Hybrids, go against either 40 Tritons or 10 Sea Trolls, Kraken, but not against 30 Shark Knights or Amber Clan Tritons, or 100 Tritons.)

Failure · #4 June 1st, 2007, 09:18 PM

OK. Sorry, I have too many questions.

So, I'll cull the rainbow pretender for now. Do I have to have an awake pretender to do all the fighting? (ie: the wyrm)

As for thaumaturgy - who's going to do the casting? I need the researchers for researching, or should I be sending a certain number of them off to battle? Will 2-3 of them casting THA spells really change the battle outcome?

I always use the special summoner guy for the gate, but why not a prophet. Does the extra bit of priestly power have no bearing on summoning from the gate?

What else should I use the prophet for?

Slough_Gairn · #5 June 2nd, 2007, 03:07 AM

The lobo guards and other fighting units are just a meat shield to cover for the leaders. I put them in the middle of the field with orders to hold and attack. All leader types should go at the very back of the field. Your prophet can cast buff spells like bless or sermon of courge, spell casters can cast buff or attack spells and the other illithids can paralyse so that by the time your forces meet the opponent is greatly weakened. 2 or 3 spellcasters is ok at the begining of the game but later on you will want more.

Use another starspawn to enter the void gate. I always like to keep a second around as an immediate backup.

Shovah32 · #6 June 2nd, 2007, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Failure said:
OK. Sorry, I have too many questions.

So, I'll cull the rainbow pretender for now. Do I have to have an awake pretender to do all the fighting? (ie: the wyrm)

As for thaumaturgy - who's going to do the casting? I need the researchers for researching, or should I be sending a certain number of them off to battle? Will 2-3 of them casting THA spells really change the battle outcome?

I always use the special summoner guy for the gate, but why not a prophet. Does the extra bit of priestly power have no bearing on summoning from the gate?

What else should I use the prophet for?

Prophets dont help summoning, only summoning skill does. Use your prophet for leading troops, casting spells(smite or morale boosts) and possibly thugging depending on who you prophetise. A battery of soul slaying or mind enslaving starspawn can do alot of damage to the ai and also defend you against bigger threats such as elephants and large pretenders.

For your pretender an E3 wyrm either awake or sleeping is great early-mid game. Send him out asap against very weak provinces while researching alteration. When you reach protection spells(stoneskin/ironskin/invunerability) they combine very well with his high health and he becomes nearly unstoppable by regular armies of the time. Later with summon earth power and maybe some cheap items such as starshine skullcap, horror helm, pendant of luck and something else he can work very well alone or with your army(routing enemies quickly to reduce casualties) and can also be a support caster with spells like bladewind and legions of steel/strength of giants.

Failure · #7 June 3rd, 2007, 01:24 AM

Thanks to your tips I beat the impossible AI. Though, I got the strong impression that with rlyeh, you're going to live or die by your dominion. You can't try to muscle people out of their land areas. You do a land-grab (for above ground lands) at the start, hole up with monster defense values, and let your dominion do its work.

General_Jah · #8 June 9th, 2007, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Failure said:
Thanks to your tips I beat the impossible AI. Though, I got the strong impression that with rlyeh, you're going to live or die by your dominion. You can't try to muscle people out of their land areas. You do a land-grab (for above ground lands) at the start, hole up with monster defense values, and let your dominion do its work.

I'm playing MA rlyeh for the first time and am not doing so hot... I really don't feel i fully understand/appreciate dominion...

Could you please further explain what you mean when you say this?

thanks

Taqwus · #9 June 10th, 2007, 01:24 AM

If a nation's pretender is no longer worshipped anywhere -- it has no positive dominion in any province, including other nations' provinces -- that nation is eliminated.

Failure · #10 June 10th, 2007, 09:08 AM

Hi,

Basically, I, as a newbie, hold the opinion that due to it being tough for R'lyeh to take and hold land-provinces, it's easy to get pushed back completely into the ocean, or simply to have only a few land provinces.

If that happens, a dominion battle typically ensues. If the enemy pretenders dominion levels are higher than yours, you're screwed!

Keep in mind, I'm still quite green, so my word is not gospel, but I do get the feel that a high (8+) dominion was key to my few successes against the "impossible" ai.