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berytos-ea

EA Berytos, The Phoenix Empire

Lore

Berytos is the melting pot of the Early Ages. It is the surviving remnants of the empire built by the Telkhines, now a kingdom of ghosts under the sea. Ruled over by an avaricious Melqart king and his wily Telkhine consort, the once-crippled colony of Berytos has birthed its own phoenix empire. Hinnom-style blood worship is in fashion, the sacrifices dedicated to the King of the City, but the cult itself is presided over by a priesthood of Machakan exiles who look to turn the cult to their own ends. It is the Dominions equivalent of Carthage and the Phoenician city-states with a spicy dash of Caananite Ba'al worship, tied into the history of Therodos and its former Telkine overlords as well as the downfall of the Machakan Lion Queens.

Berytos exists only during the Early Ages; by the Middle Ages the Phoenix Empire has been crushed by the armies of Arcoscephale. Like its parent empire, it is succeeded by just one of its colonies: Phaeacia.

General Overview

Berytos is a nation with strong magic diversity, boasting access to all the elements, depth in blood (along with crosspaths that make blood interesting), and even some minor astral magic. Its mage corps is eminently combat-capable, it is a major blood power, and it has some very potent summons including the nation-defining Se'irim, angry sacred goat demons that can shred even the most durable front lines.

Unfortunately, Berytos suffers from a mediocre unit roster that lacks the protection and damage output to compete with their contemporaries in the Early Ages. The aforementioned strengths are also highly terrain-dependent, which may be an issue on less kind map generators. In summary, Berytos has some powerful tools and the magic diversity is awesome, but balancing these strengths with its weaknesses is not a straightforward task!

National Features

Special Race Attributes Military Magic Access Priests Buildings
Prefers 1
Sailing commanders
Trace income across oceans
Greek light to medium infantry
Elephants
Sacred half-giants
National blood summons
fire 33 (rare 4)
air 33 (rare 4)
blood 33 (rare 4)
water 33*
earth 22 (rare 3)
astral 11*
holy 22 Cap-only
holy 11 in Forts
holy 33 Summons
Blood Sacrifice
Castles
Coastal Fort Income Bonus (10%)

*only via coastal provinces

Capital Sites

Temple of Storms and Flames
Enables recruitment of Bride-in-Waiting and Colossi Warrior
Produces 2firegem3airgem2bloodslave per turn

National Units

Berytos's unit lineup is mediocre, even for the Early Ages. The most durable of Berytos's units are the cap-only Colossi Warrior and fort-recruit Berytian Heavy Spearman; both have only 14 prot which is easily pierced by even indie weapons. Most do not deal enough damage to make up for the low survivability either, which can make it difficult to expand and survive an early war against nations with more powerful national troops.

Berytian mages are also highly specialized: the Storm Caller casts great combat magic, but is an inefficient researcher; the Berytian Priest blood hunts but is only slightly less inefficient at researching; the Berytian Sage does research efficiently, but does not fight well. This makes mage recruitment a much more deliberate task than for other nations, and limits the nation's flexibility during the early and mid game. However, they provide powerful options for combat magic as well as access to Berytos's nation-defining national summons

Commanders

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Berytian Scout
Gold 25
Resources 3
Recruitment points 1
Stealthy (55)
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
Slightly more stealthy than a generic scout.
Berytian Captain
Gold 100
Resources 17
Recruitment points 1
Sailing (Max size 2) 80 leadership sailing commander. Somewhat redundant given the leadership capabilities of the Berytian mages.
Mage Pilot
Gold 80
Resources 2
Recruitment points 2
Coastal fort recruitment only
air 11water 11 9
Sailing (Max size 2)
40 leadership sailing mage with unfortunately low paths. Has very limited combat utility compared to the Storm Caller, and does not research as well as the Berytian Sage either!
Storm Caller
Gold 205
Resources 2
Recruitment points 4
Coastal fort recruitment only
air 22water 22random1100% 15
Sailing (Max size 2)
40 leadership sailing mage, magic phase-capable with Cloud Trapeze. Strong water and especially strong air paths provide great combat utility (Summon Air Elemental, Freezing Mist, etc.). 25% are astral randoms who can join sabbaths.
Berytian Sage
Gold 80
Resources 4
Recruitment points 2
earth 11random1100% 11
Sailing (Max size 2)
Adept Researcher (+2)
Relatively gold-efficient researcher, but lacks combat utility.
Berytian Priest
Gold 140
Resources 2
Recruitment points 2
blood 11holy 11random1100% 9
Sailing (Max size 2)
Sacred
Moderately expensive blood hunter, Sabbath Slave and Sabbath Master. Expensive to bring into combat, as almost all of its combat power is unlocked with blood slave-intensive sabbaths or spells like Summon Imps and Leech. Minor priest with 10 leadership.
Bride-in-Waiting
Gold 415
Resources 8
Recruitment points 4
Capital Only
fire 22air 22earth 11blood 22
holy 22random1100%
10%
21
Sacred
90 leadership mage, multiple moderate-to-high paths. Magic phase-capable with Cloud Trapeze. The Bride-in-Waiting is very flexible due to its path spread and provides reliable access to Berytos's blood summons, but suffers from exorbitantly high cost!

Troops

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Berytian Militia
7
5
3
Generic militia. Cheap source of siege chaff or patrol strength.
Berytian Archer
10
7
9
Massable archers. Supported by national access to Wind Guide and Flaming Arrows.
Berytian Spearman
10
9
9
Massable javelin throwers.
Berytian Soldier
10
14
9
Light infantry with short swords.
Berytian Heavy Spearman
12
19
14
Formation Fighter(2) Medium infantry with formation fighter. Length 4 spear enables repels against most human weapons. Acceptable line-holding unit with higher attack density, but has too little protection and damage to present serious resistance to elite units without some magic help.
Berytian Elite Soldier
14
19
18
Medium infantry with higher morale and slightly higher damage weapons than the Heavy Spearmen. Fairly expensive in gold and recruitment points, lacks the formation fighter of the Heavy Spearman.
Berytian Lancer
20
13
24
Light cavalry with light lances. Less attack density than infantry and low damage output, but highly mobile. Cannot be sailed.
Colossi Warrior
35
25
21
Capital Only
Sacred
Bodyguard (2)
Medium size 3 infantry with short swords. The Colossi Warrior has much higher damage output than other Berytian troops and decent stats at moderate cost for a sacred, but is not exceptional in any one dimension. Cannot be sailed.

Note: 14 prot, not 13 prot as the hoverlink suggests.
War Elephant
100
20
33
Animal
Trample
Size 6 tramplers. Great against low-damage units but expensive, surprisingly fragile and prone to routing. Cannot be sailed.

Heroes

Berytos's heroes are very impressive; all are powerful mages and a big bonus if they do appear.

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Dis Mater - Bride of the Gods
Minimum hero arrival turn: 10
fire 33earth 11death 33blood 33holy 22 25
Sacred
Fire Resistance (13)
Female
Provides moderate death access with good crosspaths. Although she looks less physically impressive than the other Berytian heroes, Dis Mater opens up the option of an immortal lategame with Vampire Lords. She can also forge Skull of Fire and Shademail Haubergeons.
Ba'al Hammon - King of the City
Minimum hero arrival turn: 20
fire 33air 22blood 33holy 33 21
Sacred
Fire Resistance (13)
Adept Sacrificer (1)
Fear (5)
Gluttony (20)
Blood Searcher (3)
Cause Unrest (+8 Per Month)
Kills Population (80)
Old Age (770/735)
Need not Eat
Wasteland Survival
Unlike Berytos's summonable Melqarts, Ba'al Hammon is size 6 and immune to trample. Despite being old, he remains a strong heavy thug chassis and is capable of magic phase attacks with Cloud Trapeze.
Makelo - Queen of the City
Minimum hero arrival turn: 25
fire 33air 44water 44earth 44nature 22holy 33 39
Sacred
Fire Resistance (5)
Cold Resistance (5)
Poison Resistance (15)
Shock Resistance (20)
Healer (1)
Fear (5)
Sailing (Max size 4)
Pathboost: +1 +1
Supply Bonus (20)
Shapechanger (Makelo - Queen of the City)
Master Smith (1) (second shape only)
Amphibious
An incredibly powerful mage. Makelo is a master smith with a plethora of crosspaths, a high path ritual caster, and is capable of singlehandedly laying down battlefield wide buffs and army killers. She can even heal wounded Melqarts!

Having avoided the study of stygian magic that caused the rest of her kind to be imprisoned in Tartarus, Makelo does not cast Foul Vapors at the start of battle or kill 5% of the population in her province every month like other Telkhines.

Strangely, Makelo does not have the [female] tag (unlike her daughters, who are both Therodian heroes).

Magic

Magic Access

Berytos gets excellent magic diversity from the coastal fort Storm Caller and cap-only Bride-in-Waiting.

Elemental

  • fire 33 on Brides-in-Waiting
  • air 33 on both Brides-in-Waiting and Storm Callers
  • water 33 on Storm Callers, water 77 via a Water Bracelet, Robe of the Sea and Queen of Elemental Water
  • earth 22 on Brides-in-Waiting, earth 66 via Earth Boots, a Blood Stone, Troll King's Court and King of Elemental Earth

Sorceries

  • astral 11 on Storm Callers
  • No death magic at all except for a death 33 hero
  • No nature magic at all except for a nature 22 hero
  • blood 33 on Brides-in-Waiting, as much blood as required via empowering and boosters.

Notable Crosspaths:

  • for Call Melqart on Brides-in-Waiting
  • for Summon Shedim on Brides-in-Waiting
  • for Blood Stones, Father Illearth on Brides-in-Waiting
  • for Freezing Mist, Summon Telkhine on Storm Callers

Berytos is relatively unique in that it can natively summon a mage that opens up even more magic diversity, the Telkhine. The new paths you get include:

They can also forge the Staff of Elemental Mastery using either the or crosspath.

National Spells

Combat

  • Berytos does not have any national combat spells.

Ritual

  • Conjuration 3 nature 22 for 25naturegem: Herd of Elephants ( Elephant×5+[1/2 lvl])
    Expensive tramplers.
  • Conjuration 3 nature 22 for 10naturegem: Pride of Lions ( Great Lion×10+[lvl])
    Somewhat fragile but reasonably hard-hitting.

Rulers Returned From Their Slumber

  • Conjuration 8 water 55air 22 for 69watergem: Summon Telkhine ( Telkhine Telkhine×1)
    Summons a size 4 amphibious fire 22air 33water 33earth 33death 22random1100% mage with a second form. The Telkhine autocasts Foul Vapors in battle and kills 5% of population in its province every turn. Human form has Master Smith, demon form has a Fear aura and a +1 pathboost to air and water. An expensive but useful diversity summon, and very powerful combat mage.

The Cult of the King

  • Conjuration 3 nature 11 for 3naturegem: Summon Mazzikim ( Mazzik×8)
    Nature equivalent of Summon Imps, but cast outside of battle. Can disrupt enemy lines, harass unprotected mages, or patrol blood hunting provinces.
  • Conjuration 5 nature 44 for 15naturegem: Summon Lilot ( Lilot×1)
    Dream seducer. Nature equivalent to the Succubus.
  • Blood 3 blood 11 for 8bloodslave: Scapegoats. Wasteland Only ( Se'ir×2)
    Summons sacred, triple-attacking berserker demons. Extremely hard-hitting and a defining summon for the Hinnom line of nations. Just as useful for Berytos, if not more so due to Berytos's poor infantry.
  • Blood 4 blood 33air 11 for 28bloodslave: Summon Shedim. Wasteland Only ( Shed×3)
    Summons lightning-flinging, flying demons. Their lightning attack is similar to Lightning Bolt but the damage is based on strength instead, making Shedim mini evocation mages that scale with strength buffs. Much more mage turn-efficient than the generic equivalent, Bind Storm Demon.
  • Blood 6 blood 33fire 22 for 99bloodslave: Call Melqart ( Melqart×1)
    Summons a size 5 blood 33holy 33random2200% mage which kills population and raises unrest in its province. Notably different from Hinnom's Melqarts in that they are holy 33 (can claim thrones) and random air instead of astral. Makes a great heavy thug with minimal gear!

Similar to LA Gath, Berytos's Se'irim are a national highlight and Berytos can summon them relatively easily with its non-cap mages. With three attacks at base 20 damage (with berserk) each, a decent amount of hitpoints, and the ability to be blessed, the threat they add to Berytian front lines is difficult to overstate. This is especially important as Berytos otherwise lacks effective troop-based options for damage outside of the cap-only Colossi Warrior. Due to their strength, Se'irim will be a part of most successful Berytian game plans.

Notable Generic Magic

Due to its total lack of nature magic, Berytos has a significant weakness to Foul Vapors early on. A Poison Resist bless may be worth considering to mitigate this problem, especially since the abundance of Jade Amazons in the Early Age can make many nations Foul Vapors-capable.

Magic Items

Berytos has neither unique national items nor discounted items.

Brides-in-Waiting have great paths for forging thug equipment, such as the Fire Brand, Shield of Gleaming Gold and Girdle of Might. Berytos can also forge the Owl Quill and Lightless Lantern research boosters.

Strategy

Power Curve

Berytos starts off slow: expansion can be very challenging with its mediocre troops, and some help in the form of a significant bless on Colossi Warriors or an awake pretender is essentially mandatory to fend off a determined rush. Outside of summons and a slow-to-recruit coastal-only mage, Berytos's combat magic is not straightforward to use. However, Berytos's unique blood summons, anyfort blood hunters and powerful mages mean that it can scale very well into the mid game. Once blood hunting operations have become established and you are able to mass Se'irim, Berytos's threat level increases significantly. This can provide the breathing room for a powerful late game based on strong, plentiful magic support and blood summons (Melqarts and more Se'irim).

Expansion Strategies

Berytos has a couple of options for expansion. Berytos is not famous for lightning fast expansion like Arcoscephale or Abysia, but it is definitely possible to expand well enough. Here is a non-exhaustive list of example expansion parties:

  • 15-20 Berytian Light Spearmen + 4 Elephants on the flank: pretty safe against indies that do not hit very hard, but also expensive. Can make it more difficult to afford early infrastructure.
  • Pure Berytian Light Spearmen: use a large quantity of javelins to make up for poor quality troops as these parties will definitely suffer attrition. Not great against indies with shields or armor, but can do well against Barbarians etc. if you have at least even numbers.
  • 8-10 Colossi Warriors + Berytian Light Spearmen/Elite Soldiers: viable expanders with or without a stat bless. Colossi Warriors can take 50 Lion or Deer Tribe without losses in parties of this size, and can also go toe-to-toe with Heavy Cavalry/Jade Maidens as long as they have a slight numbers advantage. Can expand in smaller parties with a stat bless.

Example Pretender Builds

Wigglefig's Expander
A reliable expander if you do not want to go through the rigors of Berytos expansion testing. The resistances make Se'irim a little more difficult to counter, but overall this build does not make as much use of these powerful demons as an imprisoned rainbow. Essentially simplifies Berytos's early game in return for reduced demon power level.

Chassis: Awake Drakon
Paths: earth 55nature 44
Bless: Bless: F&SR, +1 HP, +15 PR.
Scales: Dominion strength5Turmoil2Productivity2Heat3Growth1Misfortune2Magic3

Darkwolf's Rainbow Bless
An imprisoned rainbow makes Colossi Warriors good and Se'irim fantastic by providing stats and utility that are difficult to get otherwise: extra Attack, Defence, and Strength make them more dangerous while Magic Weapons and Poison Resistance allow Berytos to counter ethereal and Foul Vapors. Undead command makes transporting Berytos's demons much easier, as its highest native undead leadership is 10 on Brides-in-Waiting. Swiftness can be swapped out for Shock Resistance depending on how many air nations are in a particular game.

Chassis: Imprisoned Grey Ones
Paths: fire 33air 33water 77earth 33astral 44death 33nature 33blood 44
Bless: Bless: +2 Att, Swiftness, +4 Def, +5 CR, +2 Str, Magic Weapons, 2×Undying, 1×Undead Command, +15 PR, Blood Surge.
Scales: Dominion strength6Turmoil2Productivity0Heat3Growth2Misfortune1Magic3

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berytos-ea.txt · Last modified: 2024/07/09 04:30 by johnnydown