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dom6:t-ien-ch-i-ea

EA T'ien Ch'i, Spring and Autumn

Lore

T'ien Ch'i is obviously influenced by China. I couldn't even resist the name Spring and Autumn, from the period of the same name in Chinese history. Chinese history is rich and there is plenty to draw upon. Daoism and its five elements, inner alchemy, and quest for longevity inspired the Masters of the Way as did the T'ien Shih—celestial master—of institutional Daoism convert into the Celestial Master of T'ien Ch'i. Heroes come in plenty in the Chinese tales and the Seven Immortals are all interesting figures. Sun Wukong and his friends are perhaps even more so. There is plenty of stuff to expand on should I or a merry modder find the time. Finally, T'ien Ch'i has been inspired movies from Hong Kong, China, and Korea. – Illwinter

The Celestial Empire has not yet been founded. The magic of The Way permeates the realm and reclusive mages conjure Celestial Beings to do their bidding. Nobles wage war upon each other for honor and glory. A few chosen warriors and mages dedicate their lives to training in the Way of the Five Elements. The deceased are worshipped and village priests conjure the dead to ask for guidance and aid. It is a time of legends. – Nation Description

General Overview

If you are considering picking this nation to play, what should you know?

National Features

Magic Access Alt. Access Unit Summary Core Abilities Buildings
fire 22
air 22 (Rare 3)
water 33 (Rare 4)
earth 22
astral 22 (Rare 3)
death 11
nature 22
glamour 22 (Rare 3)
holy 22 Cap-only
holy 11 in Forts
Heroes
air 11nature 22
fire 11air 11water 22astral 33holy 22
air 22astral 22death 22
Summons
nature 11glamour 33random150%
50%
25%
(req. nature 22)
Well-equipped Units for EA
Chariots
Long-lived mages with wide magic spread
Combat Caster
Need Not Eat
Trample
Standard Fortresses

Capitol Gems: 1firegem2watergem2astralpearl1deathgem

The Gate of Spring and Autumn: Boosts astral ritual range in the capital by 1 province .

National Units

T'ien Ch'i has one of the best human line troops of the early age with a very flexible cap and Forien Recruit mages.

Commanders

Variety in commanders is limited. Only one troop leader, though decent, can be expensive. Is pretty clear which mages you should be recruiting off-fort, in-fort, and in Cap.

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Scout
Gold 35
4
1
Stealthy (50)
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
Commentary here.
Noble Commander
Gold 135
52
1
Commentary here.
Cataphracted Chariot Animal
Trample
Commentary here.
Student of the Sword
70
5
2
random1100% rp 33
Combat Caster
Commentary here.
Master of the Sword
170
5
2
Non-fort Forests Only
Non-fort Mountain Only
random2200% rp 55
Combat Caster
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
Need not Eat
Commentary here.
Student of the Five Elements
85
1
2
Non-fort Only
random1100% rp 77
Sacred
Commentary here.
Master of the Dead
100
2
2
death 11holy 11 rp 77
Sacred
Spirit Sight
Commentary here.
Student of the Way
120
1
2
Non-fort Recruit Available
water 11random1100% rp 99
Sacred
Need not Eat
Commentary here.
Master of the Way
265
1
2
Non-fort Only
water 11random2100%
100%
rp 1111
Sacred
Need not Eat
Commentary here.
Master of the Five Elements
355
1
2
Capital Only
fire 11air 11water 11earth 11nature 11holy 11random1100% rp 1717
Sacred
Supply Bonus (10)
Commentary here.
Celestial Master
485
2
4
Capital Only
fire 11air 11water 22astral 11glamour 11holy 22random2100%
10%
100%
rp 2121
Sacred
Need-Not-Eat
Spirit Sight
Flying
Commentary here.

Troops

Line troops are made up of 3 tiers of body armour. (Full Leather: port 9 Def -1 Enc 1, -2 mapmove) (Scale mail Cuirass: Same but +1 Prot Iron and +3 Resources) (Full Scale Mail: Prot 15 Def -3 Enc 3 -6 mapmove Iron) Even the lighter armored grunts are well protected from arrows. Regardless of the Armor worn, almost all troops wear Half Helmets (Prot 18 Iron), which negates most damage inflicted to the head.

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Footman
Gold 10
9
9
Commentary here.
Footman
Gold 10
11
9
Commentary here.
Footman
Gold 10
11
9
Commentary here.
Archer
Gold 10
12
9
Commentary here.
Medium Footman
Gold 10
14
9
Commentary here.
Medium Footman
Gold 10
14
9
Heavy Footman
Gold 10
20
9
Commentary here.
Heavy Footman
Gold 10
20
9
Horseman
Gold 25
17
24
Skilled Rider (1)
Mobile Archer
Commentary here.
Armored Steppe Horse Animal Commentary here.
Noble
Gold 40
52
31
Commentary here.
Cataphracted Chariot Animal
Trample
no-move-penalty-for-armor
Commentary here.
Warrior of the Five Elements
35
6
31
Capital Only
Sacred
Fire Resistance (5)
Cold Resistance (5)
Poison Resistance (5)
Shock Resistance (5)
Strength of the Spring (50)
Ambidextrous (2)
Commentary here.

Heroes

As T'ien ch'i, you get Immortal Mages. They have human stats but still useful for light thugging and Casting spells. Keep them way from Soul Slayers.

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Ho Hsien-Ku - Immortal
air 11nature 22rp 1111
Sacred
Immortal
Supply Bonus (20)
Healer (1)
Ethereal
Flying
Female
Commentary here.
Lu Tung-Pin - Immortal
fire 11air 11water 22astral 33holy 22rp 1919
Sacred
Immortal
Ambidextrous (3)
Flying
Commentary here.
Li T'ieh-Kuai - Master With The Iron Crutch
air 22astral 22death 22rp 1717
Sacred
Immortal
Fear (7)
Old-Age (865\500)
Spirit Sight
Plague Carrier (5)
Start Affliction (100)
Commentary here.

National Spells and Item

Summons

Combat
Summon Spell Unit Special Attributes Comments
Call Ancestor
(Conjuration 1)
death 11

Ancestral Spirit
Sacred
Cold Resistance (15)
Poison Resistance (25)
Stealthy (+40)
Salt Vulnerability (1)
Poor Amphibian
Undead
Ethereal
Need Not Eat
Floating
Spirit Sight
Spiritform
The Ancestral Spirit is distinguished from the Longdead and the Soulless by being Ethereal and Sacred, not to mention its Paralyzing attack. It has only 1 HP and, (without a stat bless,) an easily-cut-through Defense Skill, so other magic will generally counter it.
Wrath of the Ancestors
(Conjuration 7)
death 11 and 1deathgem
Ancestral Spirit x 20++
Ritual
Summon Spell Unit Special Attributes Comments
Celestial Servant
(Conjuration 1)
earth 11astral 11 and 1earthgem

Celestial Servant
Sacred
Gluttony (3)
Magic Being
Need Not Eat
Spirit Sight
Commentary here.
Heavenly Rivers
(Conjuration 3)
water 11astral 11 and 9watergem

Demon of Heavenly Rivers x 3
Sacred
Berserker (+4)
Magic Being
Amphibious
Need Not Eat
Spirit Sight
Commentary here.
Ambush of Tigers
(Conjuration 3)
nature 22 and 9naturegem

Tiger x 15+
Darkvision (50%)
Undisciplined
Animal
Forest Survival
Commentary here.
Herd of Buffaloes
(Conjuration 3)
nature 22 and 8naturegem

Buffalo x 5 + [1/2 per lvl]
Berserker (+2)
Animal
Trample
Commentary here.
Celestial Hounds
(Conjuration 4)
air 11astral 11 and 2airgem

Celestial Hound x 2
Sacred
Resist Shock (15)
Patrol Bonus (+10)
Animal
Magic Being
Flying
Need Not Eat
Spirit Sight
Commentary here.
Heavenly Fires
(Conjuration 5)
fire 11astral 11 and 4firegem

Demon of Heavenly Fires x 3
Sacred
Resist Fire (25)
Heat Aura (3)
Fire Power (1)
Magic Being
Flying
Need Not Eat
Spirit Sight
Commentary here.
Contact Huli Jing
(Conjuration 6)
nature 22 and 30naturegem

Huli Jing
nature 11glamour 33random150%
50%
25%
rp 1515
Stealthy (+80)
Magic Power (1)
Supply Bonus (+10)
Animal
Spy
Forest Survival
Female
Shapechanger (Huli Jing)
Being also an extremely stealthy spy is the least notable feature; instead, being your strongest national Glamour mage in addition to 1/4 being able to make both Glamour boosters with Earth Boots. Even able to Summon Fairy Queens for late game.
Keep in mind that they are still just about as fragile as humans and cost 30 gems when used in battles.

Huli Jing
- Spy
+ Mountain Survival
Shapechanger (Huli Jing)
Call Celestial Soldiers
(Conjuration 6)
air 22astral 11 and 15airgem

Celestial Soldier x 6
Sacred
Magic Being
Need Not Eat
Spirit Sight
Commentary here.

Other Spells and Items

Combat

  • Celestial Chastisement: (Evocation 5) astral 33
    A gem-less version of Control, inficts some damage and then takes control of the target. Only works against Magic Beings. A lot of good units are Magic Beings.

Ritual

  • Internal Alchemy: (Alteration 5) water 22astral 11 and 10watergem
    Reduces the caster's age by 15 years but has a chance to give the caster insanity. Your troop lineup is unlikely to get old unless hit with Decay, but it is occasionally useful if you luck into a strong indie with the given paths.

Items

  • Sword of the Five Elements: (Construction 3) fire 11water 11 and 2firegem2watergem
    Grants the user Reinvigoration and a lot of Attack and Defense. Useful on a Mage to protect himself and reduce Fatigue; because of the low price, you could mass-produce them to give to all of your Communion mages. Other weapons have better DPS effects.
  • Armor of the Five Elements: (Construction 3) earth 11air 11 and 2earthgem2airgem
    Light but high-PROT armor that grants +4 HP plus minor resistance to Fire, Shock, Cold, and Magic. It's useful on thugs since the resistances it provides offer some survivability against a broad array of thug-killers (Incinerate, Lightning Bolt, Frozen Heart, Mind Burn, etc.).
Discount Items
  • Chi Shoes: (Construction 3) air 11 and 4airgem
    Provides the wearer with an additional attack per round. This is useful on high-strength units who can already get around quickly; unfortunately, your Flying Mages aren't that strong, while your Strong commanders aren't that mobile (or can't wear shoes).

Magic Access

T'ien Ch'i Magic is characterized by a wide-but-shallow spread of paths. For lower levels of Research, this is pretty neat, since you'll be able to use almost any spell that isn't Blood Magic. Later on, however, other nations will be able to take advantage of their higher-level path access, and you'll have to do some "ladder-climbing" with Summons and/or Items to catch up. The following is how to climb, barring Predender design, Empowerment, Charm stealing, or PvP trade deals.

Water is your deepest path by far, thanks to your Celestial Masters and the relative ease of Boosting the path. You'll have a Robe of the Sea by Construction 5 & a Water Bracelet by Construction 7, allowing you to boost roughly a fourth of your Masters to water 55, which will allow you to cast almost any pure-Water Combat Spell or Ritual you could think of. Expanding underwater will allow you to summon a Queen of Elemental Water at Conjuration 8, if it's not too late in the game, who will be able to use your Boosters to reach water 77 and cast all of those pure-Water Rituals you weren't able to cast beforehand.

Glamour Your other deepest path. Celestial Masters can random glamour 22, but your nature randomed 5-element mages can cast Contact Huli Jing at Conjuration 6. Every Huli Jing has nature 11glamour 33 with a 5 in 100 chance of glamour 44. About 25% with Random an Earth, Getting boost boosters of Gossamer Veil (const 5) and Mirage Crystal (const 7), ending with a foxgirl with glamour 55.

Fire is your second-easiest path to climb, unfortunately (that's not to demean Fire, but to demean how tough it is to climb other paths as this nation). A quarter of Celestial Masters will have fire 11death 11, allowing you to Forge a Skull of Fire at Construction 7, which an fire 22 Mage in your nation can use to get to fire 33. Though fire 33 already gets you Fire Elementals and other cool stuff, the ladder doesn't end there; you can then cast Summon Flame Spirit at Conjuration 6 and equip your fresh Flame Spirit with the Skull, who will then be able to Forge a Flame Helmet and boost itself to fire 55. From there, you can summon a King of Elemental Fire and boost them to fire 77.

Nature is next. Each Master of the Five Elements has a 20% chance to have nature 22, allowing them to Forge a Thistle Mace at Construction 5 & Contact Huli Jing at Conjuration 6. Every Huli Jing has nature 11glamour 33, Letting them summon Faery Queens at Conjuration 8 with a booster, and around (1-in-4?) (real percent?) of them have at leastnature 22astral 11, allowing them to Forge a Moonvine Bracelet at Construction 6. With that, you have nature 55, allowing you to switch out the Thistle Mace for a Treelord's Staff and reach nature 66 on a Faery Queen or Ivy King. Alternatively, if you're focused entirely on Celestial Masters, 1-in-4 of them will have water 22nature 11 and will be able to Contact Naiads at Conjuration 5 with a booster or even no booster if you get lucky, allowing you to skip the green-shirted Masters. Though you cap out a little lower (on average) than with Water & Fire, at least you won't need to rush for Kings or Queens(?).

Death is actually easier to ascend than the next three paths, despite the lowly stature of your Death Mages. The same Celestial Masters that have fire 11death 11 will also have water 22death 11, which can be Boosted to water 44death 11 if you got a water 33 by the time you reached Construction 6. The Celestial Master of Death can then cast Streams from Hades at Conjuration 6 to secure a Kokythiad, who will have death 33 and full equipment slots. You can then try to abuse the Twiceborn Ritual at Enchantment 4 to get a death 44 Wight Mage, who will be able to craft the Skullface with a Skull Staff that she probably already crafted while she was alive, allowing you to graciously top out at death 66 with a little luck. If you're not willing to burn Water Gems to roll the dice (Twiceborn path-boosting has about a 20% chance of happening), however, you'll still have death 44 through the Kokythiad & her Skull Staff.

Earth doesn't beget many avenues for climbing, but it's straightforward to climb. Each green-shirted or sword Master might have earth 22 (20% chance) they can forge Earth Boots, they can summon a Troll King's Court to get a natural earth 33 Mage, the Troll King can wear Boots, and presto, earth 44.

Astral is unfortunately convoluted to climb, in spite of the Celestial insights. At least a fourth of your Celestial Masters will have astral 22, allowing them to Forge a Starshine Skullcap and reach astral 33. About 1/90 of them will have astral 33 to start out with, but they're 4-point capital-only Mages, not exactly "spammable" for that random path. To climb higher, you'll need help from other paths: the Huli Jing has a small-but-not-insignificant chance of having earth 11astral 11 and will be able to craft the Crystal Coin with the appropriate already-mentioned Boosters (a smaller portion might have earth 22astral 11 or earth 11astral 22, boosting your astral 33 Celestial Masters to astral 44. Roughly 1-in-12 of your Celestial Masters will have astral 22death 11, and can be boosted to astral 44death 11 to open an Ether Gate for 90astralpearl, summoning an Ether Lord that always has astral 33death 22 and has a 1-in-4 chance of having astral 44 to start out with, allowing you to reach either astral 55 or astral 66 depending on how lucky and/or loaded you are. If you get the astral 66 and still have Astral Pearls to spare, you can craft the Ring of Sorcery to boost to astral 77 (and/or to get nature 77/nature 88 if you're lucky/death 77) if you were also pushing the ladder on those), and then you can get the Ring of Wizardry with your remaining Astral savings to boost yourself in the Elements (water 88, fire 88, & earth 66, if you have/can-still-get Royals) and Death (death 88).

That leaves Air; despite being a favorite secondary for your Mages, They can't get the Boosters they need. Realistically you are caped at more than 1 in 4 Celestial Masters being air 22 outside of battles, and 4 in 1000 being a air 33. Late game With the Ring of Wizardry and a Staff of Elemental Mastery, you get air 44 on a 1 in 4 Celestial Master, which lets you forge the Winged Helmet and then the Horn of Storms for air 55, which can all be held by a Queen of Elemental Air (if you were fast enough to edge out the Air Nations in summoning one) for air 99.

If you can't wait & pay for Ether Lords, a Pretender with paths to forge Staff of Elemental Mastery and or Rings is a boon to your wide path cap mages. Also Celestial Masters or Huli Jing with boosters can cast Lore of Legends Boosting all thier paths at the cost of 20glamourgem for 1 turn, so use the most of that short time frame.

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dom6/t-ien-ch-i-ea.txt · Last modified: 2024/07/08 23:41 by johnnydown