Starting setup for LA Ulm

[Aleph]

Didn't get my pretender right last time, quoting from memory - hag was e2 n2 for boots/mace. Thinking about massing wolfherds instead of earth priests, now am trying

Master Lich
Dormant
Dominion 5
Order Production 3 Growth 2 Magic 1 Misfortune 2
Blood 3 Death 5 (IIRC?)

He's not much more expensive than the Hag if you're going for decent dominion, and his immortality/immunity to afflictions and x3 misc slots will give him some good options in the late game. He's not as good a blood hunter as I would have liked him to be, but he won't be doing that for long.

[Shovah32]

That actually sounds like a nice build but theres one big problem: you have almost no magic versatility other than spectres/rare non-feeble minded tartarian commanders. Without those undead mages all you really have is death, blood and minor astral.

edit: indies are also possibilities but are generally weak or rare.


One thing ive noticed during my tests is the power or rangers. They are great just in a regular army-base precision 12, crossbow adds 2 and with all precision over 10 being doubled they are basically firing precision 18 crossbows. They can also defend themselves against melee troops with low defence(armour isnt too dangerous to them as they have their crossbows, strength 11 and axes) and can be used as raiders commanded by wolfherds and illuminated ones.

[Meglobob]

Aleph said:
He's not as good a blood hunter as I would have liked him to be, but he won't be doing that for long.

You shouldn't really be using your pretender for blood hunting. There are far better things for a pretender to do.

I seem to remember doing my bloodhunting with mages who got blood 1 or so every now and again.

With the wolfherders, I wait till you get 40 wolves then give them all to a indie commander who goes to where your blood hunting and patrols. You quickly amass loads of those armies, a useful reserve in case of trouble and when you are getting hordes of them, just start chucking them in combat as fast as possible. A enemy will kill loads but 10 wolfherders can summon 20 a turn, 20 wolfherders 40 a turn etc...

[Shovah32]

My blood economy works like this:

Before turn 12:Members of the second tier hunt for blood slaves until i have atleast 44

Turn 12-whenever i get boosters so a count can summon more counts: My counts and possibly members of the second tier hunt for slaves to make yet more counts and dousing rods

Once i get a D3B3 count: Only regular counts with dousing rods searching, count production really steps up

Rather than use wolves to patrol i use thralls, they are auto-summoned by the counts so an indie commander in the province with the counts can just take command of them and patrol.

For my pretender, rather than maxing out scales and taking enough magic to summon a count i like a versatile(often 4-5 paths ranging from level 2-4), sleeping master lich with average scales(order3, growth1, misfortune2, magic1) though im definitely no LA Ulm expert so this could be a complete mess(a big bonus is being able to get nicely equipped counts)

[Meglobob]

With LA Ulm its really all about getting time to develop, get your vampire/wolf/thralls/blood economy going and it just multiplies into a awesome totally unstoppable juggernaut from turn 30'ish onwards.

Your troops are really there just there to forge a reasonable sized empire out and defend it until this happens. LA Ulm benefits considerably from peace and diplomacy early in the game. Try to sign NAP's with everyone of your neighbours.

[Shovah32]

Yea, i know what you mean but still, how do you get you magic versatility up to scratch?

[Teraswaerto]

For any blood nation, you can't go wrong with a pretender that can forge Soul Contracts without boosters. They are only Construction 2, but require high paths to make, so your pretender is perfect for the job.

[Meglobob]

Shovah32 said:
Yea, i know what you mean but still, how do you get you magic versatility up to scratch?

Well personally, I think blood can stand on its own against the other spheres of magic.

But, I also like to do the following with any astral nation.

Get arcane probing, hit every province you own. Get the highest priest level you can out site searching. You are trying to get as many astral pearls as possible. Research to Arcashic record when possible. Hit every province you own with this spell. You will need to empower a lvl 2S mage to cast it for LA Ulm or get lucky like I did and find the 2S2E crystal forgers site with astral probing. They can make the crystal coin naturally.

Yes, I know its expensive and long term. But its worth doing as a dual strategy alongside blood, blood is always no.1 priority however. Only try this when sites are high like 45+, most MP have 50.

[Shovah32]

We must have different research priorities. I personally go straight for construction so i dont need any empowerment, just a second tier mage forging himself a skullcap(const 6, s2). I guess that massed acashic record could get you various indy mages but i dont see you getting many, atleast not many that will help your magic as much as needed.

Instead of taking a master lich(although i do like him) how about a fountain of blood? You can get a sleeping F2W3E4D3B6 Fountain of Blood with Dom8, order3, sloth2, cold2, growth3, misfortune2, magic1. The dom9 makes your vampire counts alot more flexible in what they can do(More dominion spread means more places to use them), the scales are pretty good for your playstyle(growth helps in lategame and with bloodhunting, sloth dosnt bother your undead armies) and the magic on the pretender can do a variety of useful things such as: Summon vampire counts, summon all unique blood summons other than demon lords, forge soul contracts, cast infernal forces/forces of ice/infernal crusade and, of course, forge a variety of useful items, boosters and artifacts.

edit: ive found another nice use for the vampire counts with a very simple script: summon lammashtas, attack closest. In friendly dominion you have nothing to use but a single death gem per caster, 5 counts produce 10 lammashtas(fear causing, flying, wraitsword wielding undead angels for those who dont know) at the cost of 5 death gems. Even if your counts rout for some reason the lammashtas keep fighting and if they dont and they end up dying, no big loss, you'll have them back at your capitol ready to re-use.