A few random questions re: MA TC

[Corinthian]

In multi player, MA TC is one of the stronges nations in the middle age. Possibly second only to Ashdod. Single player is different though, because you get stuck fighting small indy armies on multiple fronts at the same time. TC lack both thugs and viable battle casters and are more geared towards big battles where they can throw on crazy buff and build huge communions.

Don't listen to the guys saying that TC have great battle mages. they are lying! On their own, TC's mages are terrible at battle evocations. The only way for TC to cast most spells is by building communions and that communion will a), not research, b) only be at one place at the time, and c) take up mage construction time from your Ministers of Magic, witch are the best researchers in the middle age.

The only mage TC have that can cast anti horde spells on their own, are their capitol only Celestial masters. They will occasionally get water 3 witch allow them to cast falling frost. The water 2 CMs can cast Ice strike, or get themself a water bracelet. Unfortunately they are Cap only and have movement speed 1. So you cant base your strategies completely around them.

So you need Communions. The simplest communion you can make consist of five Geomancers, divided into two masters and three slaves. Have the masters buff the communion with power of the spheres and earth power. Then cast Gifts from heaven on the enemys unsuspecting heads.

[Stryke11]

I have had some success using the celestial hounds with a flying commander.

I use CBM, Mytheology, and Nova Deus. I'm not sure which one adds this, but one of the summons is a Shishi. I think they are for everyone but they definitely seem thematic for TC. It's two commander tiger things, one male and one female. The male has patrol bonus and fortress defense bonus, while the female has a bite that does extra damage to undead/demons. They both have air 2. I am using them for wind guide since they can be summoned everywhere and celestial masters are slow and capital only. Male is obviously the more desirable. Female bite attack isn't too powerful.

Also, the national summon, the Huli Jing, is awesome! It's the same as the Jomon Kitsune, but is summonable everywhere at a low path cost (nature 2 I think) for nature gems, which TC is swimming in. They are guaranteed 3 nature and have like 3 random picks at 50% (AWES) chance and one at 25% (AWEN), so you can get 4N, 4A, 3S, or 4W with some lucky picks. Plus they are stealthy and unlike the rest of TC don't have to worry about getting old. The first one I got was 4N!

[krpeters]

One thing I noticed: you didn't specify what difficulty AI you're facing. If you're up against Mighty or higher, and several AIs at once, you're going to be consistently outnumbered by his hordes. High PD (30+) will help you a lot. Keep your "real" troops and mages behind it, let it take the attrition while your major forces strike from the sides.

You also need lots of low-resource mobile forces to manoever flexibly and outnumber his troops wherever you meet. The standard Horseman (move 3, resource 13) you can mass large numbers of. They'll plink the spiders for a while, then when the spiders start chomping on them, they'll stomp back nicely (thanks CBM1.7 for giving them a Hoof attack!)

Magic-wise... you might get more out of your Imperial Geomancers. Pop a Light of the Northern Star (you'll need 5 in a communion, set last to Master), and then spam Paralyze. That should take down spiders nicely.

[Stryke11]

Haha. I haven't mentioned the AI difficulty because I'm embarrassed by it. All the AI's are on Normal only. I've never even played against a higher AI. I'd do it if it made the AI smarter, but as it only seems to give them bonuses I didn't think it would be any more fun.

[Jarkko]

Originally Posted by Corinthian

So you need Communions. The simplest communion you can make consist of five Geomancers, divided into two masters and three slaves. Have the masters buff the communion with power of the spheres and earth power. Then cast Gifts from heaven on the enemys unsuspecting heads.

This is bad advice. 5 Geomancers is the correct number, but the reverse communion is done with 1 master and 4 slaves. 2 masters doing the buffing for the 3 slaves would mean the slaves pass out after first GfH is launched

Also, TC battle mages are excellent compared to anything else out there. You never (in MP) use mages single (unless they are SC or heavy thugs), so if you are going to field a few anyway, then why not communion them? TC mages can cast very nice evocations even if not in a communion, but if you have that Thaum 1 and Conj 3 researched (or crystal matrixes, if you ignore crystal/slave matrixes and crystal shields as TC, then you should to rethink your strategy), then why not make your mages hit even harder?