Bards are insane!

[Boron]

tinkthank said:
Turmoil? Weird.
Well look, I wont contest that Van is strong, and Vans are one of the best units in the game hands down. I wont repeat stuff here.

Odd, however: I have already beaten you with 2 of the nations you feel are the weakest, maybe we can try Man out next ;-)

Yeah i meant sloth instead .

That you won with 2 weak nations is not strange because 1st most of those nations have in common that they are good rusher nations like your Marignon and 2nd you like to rush and the maps are too small so i can't start lategame tactics or hoarding .

And you are a very skilled 1on1 and earlygame player .
Nevertheless i enjoy our games .
But they can't be compared to the "normal" 8-12 player game on a map with 150-250 provinces .

[PvK]

"Certainly that would be the case in, say, Dead Ermor or Jotunheim or Caelum or Abysia or Ctis or [fill in the blank], when suddenly in the capital amongst all those lizards (or ghosts or whatever) some dude with a lute pops up and starts asking funny questions about magic sites and wouldn't the king like to hear a nice story?"

Man's Bards aren't just bards - they're mages too, which could help explain their stealth 30 rating somehow.

PvK

[Ygorl]

They've got friends in every town and village from here to the Sudan. They speak a dozen languages, know every local custom. They'll blend in, disappear, you'll never see them!

Man/Lot Marignon Tien Chi Ulm/BF are my fav Nations. I am a noob, currently in my first three MP games and another 2v2 game, and was knocked out of my fourth first mp game by vanhiem, in thirty turns.

Man is amazing. Bard+Monk+Lord Warden+Warden +N9+GoH. Bards can cast song of relief just put him near the wardens the wardens have N9 and a huge boost in hp from GoH. Cause you have already spammed temples in your provinces. And already have had your other monks preaching in your enemies provinces and bards unresting their capitals. With all your bards/monks you can find weakly defended provinces and spam call of the wild. Once you capture the province pump up taxes if you dont think you can keep.Call of the winds makes great patrollers. They also make great mage killers. With a n9 pretender you can cast lots of good Conj Spells. And you can also easily spam Hauraspex/Wind searching thing in all your provinces.

Lot. Have you ever seen Cu Sidhe(the wolf ones right?) with a n9 blessing. Early on a squad of them slice right through level 9 Independents. Research will be a problem but hopefully you will find a sage site.

[Zooko]

I think the Last of Tuatha Daoine Sidhe are top-notch troops, especially with a blessing. They're really good fighters -- they're an excellent target for power-ups from friendly wizards -- and the ultra-stealth is a significant strategic benefit.

I'm not so keen on the Cu Sidhe, though. In theory their high move would allow for useful flanking, but in practice they seem to die too much (even with Nature-9 blessing). I kind of think that when playing Last of Tuatha I would save all my gold (and all my precious sacred troop building points) for Daoine Sidhe.

By the way, Legacyspy, is that message you just posted effectively an outline of your strategy in the 2v2 game that is about to start? }:-)

I played against arc once and he had a single bard causing unrest in one of my provinces, and I stubbornly insisted that a high enough provincial defense would eventually oust the bard. I ended up spending thousands of gold on provincial defense, spending time patrolling, I never did catch the damn bard, and I soon lost the game.

In fact, I'm not sure *what* the proper response to bard-unrest is. Lower taxes and just suffer the income loss? Launch an all out attack on Man's capitol?

Regards,

Zooko

[Zen]

Question: Bards

Answer: Call of the Wild, Call of the Wind, Horde from Hell, Slingers, Harpies anything that has decent AP that you can get enmasse.

4 or 5 Call of the Wind's on your troubled province set to patrol do pretty well at discovering those high stealth units and either A.) Chasing them out by Retreating or B.) Killing them.

This type of tactic also works for Wardens/Vans/Valks Bane Venom Spies, etc, though for the actual troops you might want to put a SC/SummonSpammers on Patrol to deal with them when they are revealed.