Mekone is a city of gold and marble inhabited by Gigantes, a race of exalted giants descended from an ancient god. Proud and endowed with mythical strength the Gigantes of Mekone have enslaved their neighbors and made themselves rulers over men. For ages the Gigantes have watched the lesser races and seen their kingdoms rise and fall. They witnessed the fall of Telkhinis and the injustices done to the races of old. With the aid of the Elder Cyclopes the Gigantes of Mekone have taken it upon themselves to rid the world of the gods of men. Most of Mekone’s population consists of human slaves, helotes. The population of human slaves is discontent and unrest will increase in all forts.

"Mekone and its successors are inspired by giants of Greek myth. Described either as strong and proud hoplites, or in later times, as monstrous beings with serpent legs, the idea of a nation of giants that doesn’t follow the development of most other giant nations, with smaller and smaller giants in the later ages, started to take form. The serpent legged monstrosities of the late age was at first glance the most intriguing one, but I wanted to make the nation one era at a time, so I started with Mekone. Some research into ancient Athens and Sparta transformed my first ideas into a nation heavily inspired by Sparta. Since Arcoscephale is more influenced by Athens in the early age and Hellenic Greece in later ages, a Spartan society would not overlap with previous Greek influences. I also wanted to incorporate the hubris of the giants and the Gigantomachia—the war against the gods—into the nation, which in turn created the backstory for the middle and late age versions of the nation." -Illwinter

In Greek myth, Mekone was where Zeus and Prometheus settled on what part of the animal would be sacrificed to the gods, with the latter tricking the former into choosing the scraps.

EA Mekone is a nation of Hoplite giants on a crusade against traditional godhood using its despised human population as slave chaff. A unique and difficult nation to use. It has many giant units, but with recruitment limited per turn. The human units are slaves, with the ability to be promoted out of slavery. EA Mekone's forts cause unrest, and every fall the Ephors start a campaign against the human slave population. EA Mekone also has tools and traits to fight the growth of enemy dominion, and its Elder Cyclops are some of the best item creators in the game. And, of course, the Gigantomachia spell announces the start of the crusade against the gods, making giants easier to produce. Managing EA Mekone's restrictions while maximizing its specific advantages makes for a different and difficult playstyle unlike any other nation in Dominions 6.

Magic Access	Alt. Access	Unit Summary	Core Abilities	Buildings
3 (Rare 4) 3 (Rare 4) 2 (Rare 3) 2 (Rare 3) 2	Hero 232 Summons 11 (req. 2 & GoR) 121 (req. 3 & GoR)	Few gigantes armed with magical weapons Mostly human slave soldiers No sacred troops	Slave Promotion Formation Fighter Old Age Inquisitor Taskmaster	Advanced fortified cities Forts increase unrest Capitol has an increased recruitment limit of +4 Capitol receives 150 resources

Capitol Gems: 213

Order Limit + 1

No Puny Gods: EA Mekone's pretender cannot be smaller than Size 6. The only exception is the Demilich.

Suppression: The dominion of Mekone is extra efficient at suppressing other faiths. When trying to remove the enemy dominion, the maximum strength of Mekone is counted as one higher than it really is (+1 Conflict Bonus).

All forts accrue unrest passively. This happens after Patrol in the Turn Order Sequence, meaning that it is impossible to fully prevent without someone who passively Reduces Unrest. In addition, the Krypteion event chain happens every autumn with the following event sequence:

• In Early Fall, forted provinces gain +15 unrest. If there is an Ephor present, war is declared on the helote population. Without an Ephor to organize it, the chain ends here.
• In Fall, the Krypteion proper begins, and helotes are slaughtered, lowering unrest by -40 or -50 and population by about 300. Some of your recruited Helotes may die.
• In Late Fall, the Krypteion concludes and spawns an experienced Kryptes Assassin, thus ending the event chain.

Gigantomachia (Thaumaturgy 7) 44 and 60
The giants declare war upon the gods. Worldwide enchantment. Recruitment Limit + 1 in friendly dominion. Dominion gets a +3 Conflict Bonus. Recruitment cost 10 Gold less for giant units.

EA Mekone's units run the gamut from cheap and weak to strong and limited in number, requiring extra care.

Your Gigante troops are powerful units with their stats and magic gear. The downsides are they cost a lot of gold and resources, can only be led by Size 6 commanders, and many can only be recruited in the capital. This is somewhat offset by having cheap human slaves to fill out your numbers.

Promotions When a Helote gains 50 XP, they become a Neodamode. They are no longer slaves (3 more gold per year in upkeep), and gain +4 base Morale and +2 MapMove. Except Peltasts, who only get +3 and their leather caps upgraded to bronze. Being free, they no longer benefit from Taskmasters but by 50 experience they have already gained +1 or +2 bonus morale.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Helote Peltast 8 5 4	Slave Promotion (50 exp.) (Neodamode Peltast)	An important unit. Very cheap, especially the upkeep. A mass of these is effective against certain units, such as barbarians, glamoured units, or low armored units.
	Neodamode Peltast		The upkeep is more expensive than with the Helote version, making the promotion not worth it.
	Helote Ekdromos 8 15 4	Slave Formation Fighter (2) Promotion (50 exp.) (Neodamode Ekdromos)	Decent unit and surprisingly survivable. Because of Formation Fighter, attack density is high and it takes four to fill a square, so a ton to fill a front line.
	Neodamode Ekdromos	Formation Fighter (2)
	Helote Hoplite 8 29 4	Slave Formation Fighter (2) Promotion (50 exp.) (Neodamode Hoplite)	An improvement over Helote Ekdromos, if you can afford the resources. The longer spear allows repelling against units with normal spears and protection has dramatically increased. Again, Formation Fighter improves attack density and means it takes a lot to fill a front line.
	Neodamode Hoplite	Formation Fighter (2)
	Perioeci Peltast 10 5 9		Overshadowed by the much cheaper Helote Peltast. The added benefits are not worth the cost.
	Discobolus 30 7 Recruitment Limit: 3	Minimum Leader Size (6) 10 Gold Cheaper When Active (Gigantomachia)	An okay ranged giant troop. Only has four ammunition. The long range negates some of the precision benefits, but it is deadly when it hits. The close range fists do decent damage. Really benefits from buffs.
	Gigante Ekdromos 40 51 Recruitment Limit: 3	Minimum Leader Size (6) Formation Fighter (2) Skirmisher (1) 10 Gold Cheaper When Active (Gigantomachia)	Two per square because of Formation Fighter. Human Formation Fighters can fill in holes. Large enough to push forward into the human front lines of the army.
	Gigante Hoplite 40 75 Recruitment Limit: 3	Minimum Leader Size (6) Formation Fighter (2) 10 Gold Cheaper When Active (Gigantomachia)	An amazing unit. Very heavy unit and difficult to kill, but the limited recruitment makes it a big blow to lose them.

• Blessing of the God-slayer (Enchantment 0)
  11 and 5
  Cast by Basileus targeting Polemarch
  Only one Polemarch can be given this buff at a time, and it lasts for one year. Halt Heretic is a special type of Awe that works against enemy Sacred units. Well worth casting.
• Gigantomachia (Thaumaturgy 7)
  44 and 60
  The giants declare war upon the gods. Worldwide enchantment. Recruitment Limit + 1 in friendly dominion. Dominion gets a +3 Conflict Bonus. Recruitment cost 10 Gold less for giant units.
  Getting a mage to the necessary 44 might require empowering, a lot of investing in boosters, and/or a pretender designed for the purpose.
  Having a Recruitment Limit of 4 instead of 3 in each of the forts, (and 8 in the capital,) can make a large difference. A total Conflict Bonus of +4 will push enemy dominion away very quickly. (Maybe even opening the potential for a DomKill, which is extremely rare in Dominions 6.)

• God-Slayer Spear (Construction 3)
  1 and 5
  The same weapon Polemarchs use. Giants make it into a Length 4 weapon from a Length 3. The added effect adds Fatigue to Gods and Sacred units. A powerful weapon but with Polemarchs already using it, and with no area-of-effect attack other than the fatigue, it might not be worth making, unless specifically trying to fatigue out sacreds.

• Golden Hoplon (Construction 5) 2 and 8
• Shield of Gleaming Gold (Construction 7) 12 and 44
• Elemental Armor (Construction 5) 12 and 48

• 3 on one-in-three Archons
• 2 on one-in-three Archons
• 2 on roughly every fourth Basileus (capital only)
• 3 on one-in-three Archons

• No astral magic
• No death magic
• No nature magic
• No glamour magic

• No blood magic
• 2 on every Basileus (capital only), 1 on Gerontes off-capital (cheapest option)

• 2112: A lot of stuff, really!
  • Fire/Air: Clouds of fire and poison, Breath of the Desert
  • Fire/Water: Acid spells and items, Geyser, Rune Smasher
  • Fire/Earth: Magma spells, various monster summons, various combat items
  • Air/Water: Frost Cloud spells and items, Yetis, Amulet of the Fish (for bringing 3's on-shore)
  • Air/Earth: Flying Shield, Shroud of Flying Shards, Rain of Stones, various combat items
  • Water/Earth: Rust Mist, cave monster summons, Jade Armor (Quickness), Dragon Crown (Dragon Mastery)

See Magic Access. These guides supplement the summaries at the top.

Elder Cyclops have Master Smith, increasing their paths by one for the purpose of forging items. With their broad elemental paths, this opens up a lot of possibilities. Master Smith does not help with summoning, though.

Staff of Elemental Mastery
Crown of the Elements Unique
21 Elder Cyclops (1 in 4) + + Master Smith
The three boosters necessary to craft these are easy to get.

Highest starting: 3 Elder Cyclops (1 in 4)
Remember, all boosters that require only Fire are one level easier to get because of Master Smith.

Highest starting: 2 Elder Cyclops (1 in 4)
Remember, all boosters that require only Air are one level easier to get because of Master Smith, so only one level of empowerment, (or a multi-booster,) is needed to get a Winged Helmet.

Highest starting: 2 Basileus (1 in 4)
Sadly, Basileus does not have Master Smith, so no help there.

Orb of Atlantis Unique
22 Basileus (1 in 4) +

Highest starting: 3 Elder Cyclops (1 in 4)
Remember, all boosters that require only Earth are one level easier to get because of Master Smith.

No national access. No simple summons.

No national access. No simple summons.

No national access. No simple summons.

No national access.

Troll King's Court
3 Elder Cyclops (1 in 4) +
Troll King has 1.

No national access. No simple summons.

Build a lot of forts in order to get around the limited recruitment. Forts are expensive though, and the units resource intensive, so it's important to take a lot of decent land with high income and high resources.

The nation desperately needs to break into sorcery paths. It needs to be priority one from turn one. A properly designed pretender can help, but independent mages are important as well. Use them to get Nature, at a minimum. If needed, Scouts can even be used to Blood Hunt, and will eventually get enough Blood Slaves to empower a commander in Blood. Without sorcery paths, Mekone lacks the flexibility to respond to late-game (and some mid-game) threats. Darkness, for example, can be very dangerous.

Many of the commanders have Old Age, so consider an Unaging or Undying bless.

Consider making a prophet out of a Lochos to give them something to do in battle, or, if not a Lochos, then an Elder Cyclops or a Basileus in order to reduce their upkeep cost. EA Mekone has no other priests with 3, other than the prophet, so consider giving it Map Move increasing items to help it get out claiming thrones and supporting troops.

When expanding, don't feel the need to upgrade your Palisades, they are already capable of recruiting a mage per turn. Recruit an Ephor first, to handle the event in the fall. Renaming them in all-caps as a reminder not to move them is probably a good idea. This will make sure the Kryptes is recruited every year.

Expansion parties of about ten Gigante Hoplites can take on most indies. For troublesome provinces, combine parties or add in some human soldiers, such as Helote Peltasts. Remember, the humans can form a front line to soak damage and charges, and then the Gigante Hoplites can push through the humans to the front.

EA Mekone basically has two extremely different army compositions. When facing enemy armies that are lightly armored and without shields, such as EA Ulm, a mass of Helote Peltasts can be very effective. When facing a heavier armored foe, even one with resistance of some sort to mundane weapons, Gigante Hoplites can be very useful. Both Helote Peltasts and Gigante Hoplites take Earth and Fire buffs very well.

EA Mekone's mages can also be made into capable thugs. With decent stats and great hit points, good thugging paths, the ability of some of them to Magic Phase, and the ability to make cheap items with Elder Cyclopses with Dwarven Hammers, they can take on indie armies or PD all by themselves.

Buffs are more effective no units with Formation Fighter because more of them are packed into a square.

Temper Armors and Strength of Giants, (and their more powerful versions,) are easy to cast and generally helpful.
Earth Meld (and its more powerful versions) are also easy to cast and keep enemy troops from massing.
Battle Fury (and its more powerful versions) gives Helote Peltasts the morale to stay in the fight longer and allows your hoplites to Repel successfully, landing more hits with their spears.
Incinerate is good for taking out individual, armored targets, because it's Armor Negating.
Gift of Formlessness (and its more powerful version) makes formations resistant to physical attacks. A good way for Basileus to contribute early.
Acid Rain (and its more powerful version, Acid Storm,) are useful because Acid Resistance is not common. Another good way for Basileus to contribute.
Group Stoneskin causes Cold Vulnerability. EA Mekone is vulnerable to Fatigue plays, including Grip of Winter, which Group Stoneskin makes even worse. But, with Heat Resistance in its bless, Heat from Hell can be used to negate Grip of Winter.

In the midgame, elemental weaknesses are going to become more of a problem. Use Archons, and even some Ephors, to cast elemental resistance spells.

EA Mekone is susceptible to sudden fatigue plays. It also lacks late game flexibility, if it's failed to expand its magic diversity. If it hasn't found a way to break into other paths, Darkness, for example, can be difficult for it to counter.

Dominions 6: EA Mekone Pre-game - Babel Builder
Dominions 6: Mekone Strategy at a Glance - Zan

Thanks to Bable Builder and Zan for commentary.

Nations
Early Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Ulm • Pyrène, • Marverni • Sauromatia • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Mictlan • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Agartha • Tir na n'Og • Fomoria • Vanheim • Helheim • Niefelheim • Muspelheim • Rus • Kailasa • Lanka • Yomi • Hinnom • Ur • Berytos • Xibalba • Mekone • Ubar • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Therodos
Middle Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Sceleria • Pythium • Man • Eriu • Ulm • Pyrène • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Asphodel • Vanheim • Jotunheim • Nidavangr • Vanarus • Bandar Log • Shinuyama • Ashdod • Uruk • Nazca • Xibalba • Phlegra • Phaeacia • Ind • Na'ba • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Ys
Late Ages	Arcoscephale • Pythium • Lemuria • Man • Ulm • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Jomon • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Midgård • Utgård • Bogarus • Patala • Gath • Ragha • Xibalba • Phlegra • Vaettiheim • Feminie • Piconye • Andramania • Pyrène • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia