MA Ulm using Blood Magic

Baalz · #1 March 26th, 2008, 01:20 PM

Yes, I did exactly this strategy to good effect using, as suggested, indie scouts. This is almost as effective as a side strategy and then you can use your pretender for whatever else you want (best if you've got a little blood magic on your pretender, but for boosters, not blood hunting).

1) Start very early and aim for 2-3 provinces with 8-10 scouts/commanders blood hunting.
2) Won't take too long to get 50 slaves, empower smith #1.
3) Smith #1 forges a sanguine rod and starts blood hunting
4) You pretty quickly are able to empower smith #2 who blood hunts (with a sanguine rod) until he can empower 3 more times (1-2 times if your pretender can forge a blood booster for him)
5) smith #2 cranks out blood stones
6) As your nation expands, set up another province or two for scout blood hunting
7) New blood stone forgers are now cheaper because you only need to empower them once, smith #2 can forge cheap boosters for the rest of the way
8)Site search everything for earth using gnome lore.
9) By year three you've had 2-3 guys churning out blood stones every turn for awhile and an absurd earth income
9) Stop forging blood stones for a few turns, stockpile all your earth and blood income - have your forgers bloodhunt
10) Use your big pile of earth gems to put up the forge of the ancients while the same turn you empower as many smiths to level one blood as you can
11) Distribute the blood boosters that your original blood stone forgers were using to your new blood guys, you only need B2 to forge blood stones and now you've got 5-6 guys cranking out blood stones.

Now, if you planned ahead and have the right path boosters ready, and one of the smiths you empowered in blood had an air random, turn one of having the forge up you can forge:
a robe of the magi
rings of sorcery (several, depending on how many boosters/astral random smiths you've got)
5-6 blood stones
one lightless lantern for each fire gem you have (each smith can forge them for 1 gem without a dwarven hammer)
All the other junk you want to forge that requires level 2 in paths smiths get randoms in - starshine caps, chainmail of displacement, crystal coin, etc.

The beauty of this is that your forge has paid for itself even if it's dispelled after one turn...and you can easily put it back up in 5 or 6 turns after you've saved up enough gems/slaves for another mass forging.

Sombre · #2 March 26th, 2008, 03:52 PM

Nice idea if you could actually make it out of the early game when you're devoting income, mages and a pretender to a strategy that doesn't pay off until quite a bit later. I know I'd rush an Ulmish build like that.

thejeff · #3 March 26th, 2008, 03:54 PM

And when would you know you were facing an Ulmish build like that?

Especially if it wasn't the Blood Fountain version?

Sombre · #4 March 26th, 2008, 03:57 PM

The fact that they're blood hunting is something you might not pick up on I guess, though the scouts hanging around in the open in their provinces would be a give away. That said it's sort of irrelevant because I'd rush almost any MA Ulmish build. That one would just be easier.

This doesn't denote that I think MA Ulm is weak (though I do), just that I think rushing it is generally a sensible strategy.

Baalz · #5 March 26th, 2008, 04:05 PM

Well, without getting into a tangential argument about Ulm surviving an initial rush, as I pointed out this is a total side strategy with a cost of a couple mages, a couple low income provinces, and the upkeep on 20 scouts. Ulm is seldom pinched for gold and also generally has an abundance of the cheap smiths. This is totally something you can do in addition to whatever your main strategy is and doesn't make you noticeably more vulnerable to a rush.

Renojustin · #6 March 28th, 2008, 02:24 AM

People think MA Ulm is vulnerable to a rush but they have a lot of things going for them for use against one. Great troops, great PD and uh... well, great troops. Troops that become of less and less value as the game goes on. So while unsuited to rushing on their own, they are fairly well equipped to handle an incoming one.

The only thing you'd really have to put special effort against, even specialize against, is tramplers. If they do that, you have to go with massed crossbowmen, research Earth Bind and immobility spells, probably take an awake SC pretender from the start as many will say is necessary with MA Ulm.

Love your bloodstone factory, AOE. Great strategy post.

Endoperez · #7 March 28th, 2008, 09:56 AM

The Thaumaturgy spell Bonds of Fire is also good against tramplers, especially Elephants. It's tests against morale, not strength, so even if it's not AoE it will last much longer.

Belac · #8 December 12th, 2009, 07:22 PM

To follow up on this with another angle...

I've designed an Ulmish rainbow pretender which has 26 points left over. My choices are to take a negative scale and use the 66 points for something or to take Blood2. Would this be worth it just for random searches and a possible side strategy? OTOH, since 25 of those points come from the cheaper cost of the Great Sage in the CBM, and now blood stones are apparently unique items, does that sufficiently weaken the strategy?

EDIT: Another pretty unrelated question, but it's about Ulm so I will ask it here: Ulmish troops are cheap. Is it a viable strategy to go Turmoil/Luck, or just Turmoil and use the points for other things?