Playing my first MP game as TNN

[Elbmarb]

I'm going to be playing in a newbie game soon as Tir Na n'Og, and I was looking for some advice. I'm a very new player and this will be my first MP game.

I feel moderately confident about the typical battle and big-picture strategies: lots of thunderstrike and lightening spam, stealth attacks with Sidhe Lords with cheap equipment, and other stuff covered in Baalz' Eriu guide. Nonetheless I'm still interested in maybe some aspects of TNN I hadn't considered that might be effective.

My biggest hang-up is the right Pretender to use. Whenever I consider what combination of magic to take to make that certain game-changing item or that certain game-winning spell my head hurts. As far as scales go I am a big fan of having strong ones, especially with Luck. the TNN national hero, Lugh the Long-Handed, is incredible.

I'd appreciate any advice an experienced player can give me so I don't get wiped out my turn 10. If I can make it to turn 20, then great!

By the way, we're playing vanilla, not CBM

[Agusti]

I'm playing a MP with TNN and doing well so far, fighting hard against Ulm (that is the nation leading the game by far). I'm now in turn 64, btw. But I selected a SC God Pretender with 9E4N and I think it was a mistake because TNN don't have access to death and astral and lacks fire too. All my opponents are using a lot of death and astral spells so I guess my nation will be the next in being eliminated. So if I could begin again I would go with a pretender with more death and astral since it's not easy to get these magical paths confiding in finding indie mages, for example.

Nevertheless I'm powerful in Earth and Nature and a little less in air so I would go with a God Pretender with E and N too, but maybe with less E (instead of the 9E I selected for my current game).

Summarizing, I would go with a Rainbow Pretender with E+N+S+D, maybe a Druid Master or something similar but if you have bad luck and there are rusher nations near, you might miss a SC Pretender.

[thejeff]

If you're planning on using Sidhe Lord raiders, you don't have a lot of pretender options. They really need the E9Nx bless. You can make up the Reinvig/regen/protection with gear, but that boosts the cost of each one.

You don't really need a SC god, but it's going to be expensive to get that bless and decent astral. It's vanilla, so you'll be able to clam and you've got the paths for it.
I'd go for astral rather than death on your pretender, since death is easier to bootstrap. Remember, 1/10 Wolf Tribe Shamans have death. That's enough to start site searching.

[Squirrelloid]

Sidhe Lords can raid just fine with E4N4, they just want a little reinvigoration from items. Rainbow armor is about the same quality as what they're wearing, provides sufficient reinvig, increases your MR (important!), and is easily forged by Eriu/TNN. The protection from E9 is mostly wasted on them because they'll be fighting under mistform basically all the time.

TNN's sacreds are reasonably decent, and a rainbow bless isn't the worst idea ever for them.

I would take a pretender who:
(1) No worse than asleep. Awake preferred, as you'll likely have good research, and fast research will really help you.
(2) E4S4N4D1 minimum. S6 isn't a bad idea (endgame astral quality). Nor is F4, W4, or B4 blesses. W4D1 or N4D1 + RoS lets you summon real death mages (Streams from Hades or Lamia Queens respectively), so its enough death to get going.
(3) Low dom (5 or 6 is sufficient)
(4) Scales: O3 is good, Mg1 is good. Can probably take some sloth (although i wouldn't take 3). Can definitely take a temperature extreme (and doesn't really care which - look at what other nations are likely to choose and take the opposite). Lk would be nice, but it could be hard to find the points. Of course, death scales are plausible if you need the points.
(5) RB chassis. Great Sage gives you lots of research. Great Enchantress gives you a pearl. Both have astral which is the only path you'll want over 4, so nothing else really compares (except *maybe* crone who has DSN and 4 misc slots - good for late game astral - but has worse research than either).

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Oh wait, not CBM? Um, ouch. Let me look at pretenders real quick...

Ok, its vanilla, so Mf2 scales are definitely in order. I don't care how good Lugh is...

Also, sloth 3 is less painful than under CBM.

Awake Crone
F4A1W1E4S4N4D1B1 O3 S3 H/C3 G2 Mf2 Mg1 Dom 5

22 RP/trn. Might be too much sloth (test), but you can drop some growth to compensate.

Great manual searcher, great researcher, really can't justify putting her asleep for slightly better scales.

Awake Great Enchantress
Identical magic/scales/dom

same RP/trn, produces 1 pearl/trn, doesn't have 4 misc slots.

[Baalz]

Eh, I don't know, E9 is far from wasted. You're mistformed, yes, but you also only have a couple points of regen so the frequency of blows which cause damage is a very important consideration. Assuming you're also dropping barkskin you'll be fine against spear wielding human infantry but you start running into trouble raiding nations with good PD (wielding swords, pikes, etc.). If you do that against a good player who notices you've only got 2 reinvig then your raiding can be seriously hampered by just pumping up PD. Sure, rainbow armor is a great addition, but it also greatly increases the cost if you are trying to put it on each raider in early game. E9N4 (along with alt research) will let Sidhe Lords equipped with a frost brand and vine shield take out essentially an arbitrary amount of almost any PD in the game, and when you need a heavier raider for the price of the rainbow armor you can instead toss in a MR amulet and either a lucky pendant or bracers of defense (very nice with an E9 bless).

If you're planning on fielding a lot of Sidhe Lord raiders (and why wouldn't you?) E9 helps pays good dividends the whole game. Not to say there isn't an opportunity cost, as it is an expensive investment, just took issue with the claim that it's mostly wasted.