Looking for a little more on LA Caelum

[Aleph]

I've read the posts in the strategy index, and I've started out a few games with decent success, but I feel like I'm not unlocking the potential of LA Caelum.

Basic Questions
1. Pretender design - what and why?
2. Troops - any decent options besides Mammoths and magical smackdown from leaders?
3. Magic - spell research priorities?

Pretender: I'm mostly running an awake sage S4W3FAEDN1, Order 3 Misfortune 2 Growth 1 Production 1 Magic 1 Dom 4. His paths are chosen to access Hidden in Snow and Naiads for more magical versatility, to have easy access to rings and a lot to benefit from once he gets them, and to maximize his research potential early. I'm having him push to Enchantment 3 followed by Evocation 4 and Conjuration 3 (for raise skeletons, blade wind and thunderstrike, and summon earthpower respectively).

The other option I'm considering is an E4 Dom 9 Wyrm Order 3 Cold 1 Misfortune 2 as an early expander, for easy access to underwater, and for a modest earth bless to buff my excellent sacred spellcasters. Stupid question - if your god dies and comes back, your bless remains the same, right? Certainly I haven't noticed picking up uberblesses with a Wishmage, so I assume that blesses are fixed.

Troops: I love Mammoths, and that's about it for rank and file. I know I have to get a handle on their fliers if I'm going to raid effectively, but I'm not feeling the love. I also am feeling like I have a clunky, powerful army of Mammoths and Corpsemen which is always trying to catch up to my more mobile aspects to support them.
*Melee - Even their melee elites seem to get torn up fast if they have to fight anyone worth a damn - does anyone have any thoughts on Raven Guard vs. Storm Guard vs. Iceclad (besides "hold and attack rearmost")? I tend to veer towards Raven Guard or even Iron Crow since I'm only running cold 1, but that may be my error. Should I ditch Production 1 on the sage and run Growth 2 for more cash and food (or possibly even take Sloth 1, Growth 3)?
*Ranged - Maybe I'm spoiled by playing with crossbow armed nations lately, but I just haven't been impressed by the damage that the Caelite archers inflict. Whole lot of arrows, not much effect. I wish I could have them hold, fly way behind enemy lines, and shoot up the rear while the Mammoths trampled in from the front, but you can't script that.

Leaders:
Well, their Harab Elders are jaw dropping, save that I haven't found great battlefield uses for their W enabled version (they mostly hang and do research). For non-capital I tend to alternate between Harab Seraphs (both for battlefield and for Corpsemen), Caretakers (only with the Wyrm - with bless, boots, and summon earthpower they make decent bladewind spammers), and scouts... I can't ever seem to have enough flying scouts, since I need to raid like mad to make my fliers worth using and you need good intel to raid.

[Saulot]

Bless remains the same no matter what happens to your god.

[Sandman]

It might be worth taking air-4 on your pretender to gain access to the air path boosters. Other than that, their mages seem pretty good.

[Gandalf Parker]

Personally I prefer that nation strategies try to make use of nation built-in themes. Its easy for an Ulm strategy to make use of heavy armor, and Abyssia to make use of fire auras. Pangaea making use of stealth is abit rarer. Caelum making use of flight is definetly rare.

Is it a large map? Take the provinces around your castle and then try "checkerboard expansion". Send out scouts to find weak indepts. Jump over strong indepts to attack weak ones. You can make your way across the map faster than others. You can strike with an army early on. And even if you get beat, its hard for them to strike back at you. They cant just follow your trail of provinces like they can others who might attack them early. To get to you they would have to attack one of yours, one indept, one of yours, one indept.

Rush to prime locations. Farmlands, chokepoints, heavy resources near their territory. Setup shop there and strengthen. When you feel like you are safely entrenched, then start cleaning up the indepts you left inside your territory.

I dont think that trying to play Caelum like Ulm will ever work.

[Meglobob]

Aleph said:
Leaders:
Well, their Harab Elders are jaw dropping, save that I haven't found great battlefield uses for their W enabled version (they mostly hang and do research).

Well, I like to script:-

Raise Skeletonsx2, Frozen Heartx3, Cast Spells.

10 battlefield warriors and then AN attack is pretty good for 1 mage.

Or

Raise Skeletonsx2, Ice Strikex3, Cast Spells. (equipped with water braclet), boots of the messenger help in both scripts as well.

A few of those makes a great mobile strike force.

Also Slime spell is excellent for softening an enemy up, largely because of its AOE 1. With larger armies in Dom3 than Dom2, alot of spells should have there number of effects raised, especially from 1 effect, 1 target to 1 AOE, 3 human sized targets.

I personally prefer storm guards as strike troops because of there immunity to lightning. When I play Caelum I chuck lightning around for fun, in all its different forms. Also you will likely get the wraithful skies/staff of storms combo going on and storm guards can fly in the storm and are 75% immune to wraithful skies.

On pretenders I like a awake blue dragon, for early rapid expansion and with your mammoths, this is really, really rapid fire expansion.

[Aleph]

Sandman - I suppose I could get good use out of the air boosters, but it's pretty easy to get an A3 Harab Elder. I figured I'd use a ring of wizardry to boost the Harab enough to make air boosters and the Staff of Storms (which is what I really want, and is available at C6 as well).

Gandalf - I've seen that advice here and there, but I find that the resource costs for many of the Caelum troops to be high enough that I want pretty solid blocks (or at least blobs) of provinces. I don't mind jumping in, taxing 200%, and jumping out, but I just can't see the effectiveness of this unless you're literally just using Mammoths and mages (very high power/resource)... which might be the best approach, I don't know. Just seems a shame to have such variety of troops and have them all be "meh."

I took a break from Dominions for a while and am trying out nations I never understood the first time around... Caelum is at the top of this list, but maybe it's not for me. It seems like Caelum's missile troops should be good, from their self-description, but I'm not seeing it. (On the other hand, LA Agartha's crossbowmen talk about their poor eyesight, but they are ripping it up from where I'm sitting...)

Megaloblob - I guess Ice Strike would be nice, although if we're buffing it might be just as well to amp death by another point and just spam raise skeletons. Slime sounds fun, and I've never used it, so I'll give it a shot.

Blue dragon? Dom 10 W4 or another model? I was more thinking of earth wyrm due to the reinvigoration synergies with the Harab Elders I assume will be doing most of my combat heavy lifting later on, but I could also see how a flying SC would definitely help out their lacklustre flying troops.

Thanks for the storm guard advice - will try out.

[Shovah32]

Dom10 seems a little excessive on a dragon, i personally think the points would be better spent elsewhere(i tend to only use blue dragons for an awake W9 bless chassis). The reason caelums archers arent doing much for you is because of the abundance of armoured troops in the late age.

[Meglobob]

Aleph said:
Blue dragon? Dom 10 W4 or another model?

Just a bog standard Blue dragon. Its my default pretender, a Blue dragon can conquer 1 extra province per turn for you straight away with no equipment if used correctly.

Script:- Hold Firex5, attack rear.

Just avoid knights and large groups of crossbows.

Along with your mammoth armies, I usually am taking 3-4 provinces per turn by turn 10. Of course thats were the fun starts, as all eyes are on you...