Gath- What does it have going for it?
 

I'm thinking of using these guys in an MP game, but I'm not sure how to proceed. I'll list what I can see as pros and cons.

Pros:
Good blood magic, especially w/out Hinnom's pop-eating.
2 Sacreds, one of them recruit anywhere.
Non-cap only, magicless, cheap researchers.
Good magic diversity

Cons:
High resource cost on few decent troops.
Best sacreds are hard to mass, due mainly to above.
Sacreds don't benefit as much from same blesses.
most troops are utter crap.
lack SC chassis that Ashdod/Hinnom possess.

It seems like the only bless that can benefit both sacreds is an E9 bless. Also, it is hard to expand without a prod scale, unless someone cleverer than me at scripting has something else figured out. I was thinking something like an F4 E9 sleeping Forge Lord with O3 P2 H2 Magic 1 This was in CBM.

Re: Gath- What does it have going for it?
 

I've never used Gath, but the Kohen Gadol looks like a fine SC chassis. A nature bless is probably better than a fire bless with all the HPs on Gath's sacreds.

Re: Gath- What does it have going for it?
 

The N bless is good for the cap only sacreds, but for the recruit anywhere ones I thought a fire bless would be good b/c they have only 10 att with short swords. That just screamed repels to me. Not to mention anything with a decently high defense. The F4 is also useful for forging the boosters so you can cast cool stuff like Flames from the Sky, or the mass devil summoning spell.

Re: Gath- What does it have going for it?
 

I used a similar Forge Lord for Gath:

Forge Lord (Body 1230, 90 hits)
Magic: Fire 4 Earth 9
Dominion 8
Scales: Order 3 Productivity 1 Heat 3 Misfortune 2 Magic 1
Dormant

The bless is nice for everyone as you say, and don't forget to make bracers for your Kohen Gadol thugs. You've got 3 misc slots, and nature mages, so making a regen ring for your Kohen Gadols is no trouble.

Don't go heat-2, in summer some of your provinces may hit heat-3 anyway.

Gath has amazing recruitables!

Benjamin Slingers get 2 attacks in melee and have great armor (for slingers).

Naphtalis -- did not like these though.

Zebulunites -- nice morale and a shield, it's an excellent deal for 10 gold/15 resources.

Gadites -- FR and javelins, map-move 2 with 16 protection

Asherites -- Tower shield, but map-move 1. I guess against heavy archery you could consider it, but I don't like map-move 1.

Levites -- Great recruit-anywhere sacreds, especially with E9, and F4 helps their attack.

Plus: Giants with Javelins!

The Kohen Gadol has 3 misc slots, 55HP, and diverse paths for buffing. It's an amazing chassis. Even Serens are good early on as thugs, and you hardly need to give them any gear.

Re: Gath- What does it have going for it?
 

You forgot to add that Gath has extremely expensive forts [usually Tel City, 1400 gold and 6 turns to build] and insanely expensive temples [800 gold].

Re: Gath- What does it have going for it?
 

Zebulunites in CBM are badass. Some of the best infantry of the line in the entire game, if not the best.

I don't think Levites are great at all. If you took a bless for them, it's the opposite of what you want for your sacred giants. Build everywhere would be nice if it wasn't 800 gold per temple. I'm not saying you wouldn't build them, just that they aren't worth a bless - only there as something which has higher morale and can use the bless you have for yor giants as a secondary bonus.

Re: Gath- What does it have going for it?
 

Obviously I've been using the troops wrong. I actually thought that the recruit anywheres were pretty decent, though with 800 gold temples they do have a bit of a hidden cost. Are the nonsacred giants really that good? I just thought that they weren't amazing enough to make up for being size 3.
Why are Zebulunites so badass in CBM??

Re: Gath- What does it have going for it?
 

An E9 Bless is good for Kohen Gadols because only 1/3 of them have E2 for Summon Earthpower. Also they have 3 slots, so you can wear a bracer or two.

E9 is also good if you are recruiting Gibbors, but at 39 resources and cap-only, it's not like you can make a lot of them. Even in your capitol you're going to be recruiting Levites unless you are Prod-3 Dom-5.

F4 is cheap with the Forge Lord and it gives your Levites an attack ability.

Gath gets Forest Castles at 1000g/4 turns, which is not bad. They also get Swamp Forts at 800g/3 turns.

800g for a temple is just painful, but sacred Levites are just 15 gold! It's a big initial investment, but the Levites have almost no upkeep and with 15 protection, low fatigue, they don't die much.

Re: Gath- What does it have going for it?
 

They got their cost lowered from 13 to 10.
So?
They are simply the best in their price category.
13 morale, 11 attack, 14 modified defense and a mapmove of 2 matters.
Wouldn't call it a game winner, though.

Re: Gath- What does it have going for it?
 

You're going to want at least a -few- temples anyways, so it's hardly much of an additional cost to the sacreds, more of just an increase in overhead costs of running your nation.

Beware, the Kohen do eat pop. They aren't as bad as Melqarts, but it's an obvious effect.

Honestly I think that Gath is a nation that can skip the major bless. Throw a few good minors down that all of your sacreds can benefit from, and you'll likely be in great shape (remember you have sacred summons, as well).