Ind is based on the medieval myth of Prester John. John was supposedly the king of a huge, wealthy and powerful Christian kingdom somewhere beyond the known world, possibly India. The nation draws heavily from this myth, with many of its units and abilities lifted directly from a letter supposedly written by Prester John himself.

Ind is a magnificent kingdom with pious citizens and wondrous creatures. Its people live long lives as they drink from the fountain of youth. The religious, long-lived, people of the capital are relatively few in number so make use of various vassal states to help fight in war. Ind sends out Bishop Vicomtes to the barbaric lands that surround it, to rule over the unruly cannibals and heathens that live their. These heathens are used in war, and comprise the majority of Inds military.

Other vassals are also expected to fight: the Cynocephalian (dog-headed) people of Gog and Magog; the lady-knights of the great Feminie; the forest-dwelling Orionde who enslave woodland creatures (such as Centaurs); the little men of Piconye and the Giants of the Lost tribe who are bound by divine decree to remain in their own land.

Ind is a very complex nation. They play very differently compared to other nations. This along side being a blood/communion nation means Ind is not recommended for beginners.

There is no other nation quite like Ind in the whole of Dominions 5. They introduce several new gameplay mechanics that are unique to Ind and Ind only. Auto-blessed troops, terrain dependent forts, +1 Holy recruitment per temple, along with a host of new units are some of the things Ind can bring to the table.

• Best Blood nation in MA by far
• Majority of units are sacreds which autobless allows for customizable strategies
• Great summons

• Terrain dependence for specific unit types is a limitation to higher paths of magic
• Access to certain paths of magic are locked behind a slow to recruit, cap only, expensive mage randoming into it

How the nation plays and what it is good at should go here, aka why would it be cool to play, whats good about it (in general terms) and where they falter possibily there could be a standard for nation classification (sacred heavy, elves, communion nation, blood nation, research, economical, forging, stealth, thug based etc) National Features

Race	Military	Magic Access	Priests	Buildings
prefer +1 Humans Half-men Piconye Cyphocephalian Giants	Comgloberation of diffent races depending on the Terrain Self blessing Sacred warriors armoured Humans Heavy Calvery Half-men Slaves Barbarians Cyphocephalian raiders Homesick Giants Size 1 troops.	2 (Rare 3) 1 (Uncomon 2) 2 (rare 3) 3 (rare 4) 1 (rare 2) 2 2 (Uncommon 3) Summable *cannot be summoned natively	Strong (3) Foreign Recrute 3 Lords of Heathens	Standard Forts

• +1 Sacred Recruitment for every built temple
• +1 Astral Bless points
• Only commanders with 3 or more priest levels can become the prophet
• All national sacred units are blessed at the start of the battle (includes Province Defence, a strong bless can make the capital's PD very formidable)
• -2 Dominion Conflict Bonus
• Dominion Hides Province Ownership Elaborate.

Ind's cap only commander recruits are incredibly valuable. Ind must be careful on what they spend their commander points on.

Becouse the cap has the Fountain of Youth site, Recruited mage becomes younger then the recruitment stats say. most will be recruited at around 33 of age, so forget about the old tag.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Abbot Sage 110 11 2	12 9 Sacred Fortune Teller (5) Adept Researcher (+2)	Great value researcher due to the Sacred upkeep. This guy can also be recruited anywhere with a lab and temple. This is the reason why Magic 3 is very tempting on Ind.
	Bishop General 115 15 2	2 Sacred	Your average commander. 80 leadership and a holy 2.
	Archbishop Marshal 165 15 2	2 Sacred Old Age	Higher leadership than the Bishop General but old and costs a bit more.
	Primate King 200 20 4	131100% 9 Sacred	The Biggest leader and a throne claimer. in addition, he can communion up to cast bigger holy spells and some other magic support.
	Abbot Magus 240 18 2	1122 15 Sacred Old Age Fortune Teller (10) Adept Researcher (+2)	The communion masters that come out of the capital. Is still a fast researcher and provides Fire, earth, Astral, and Holy magic in battle.
	Abbot Magus Supreme 335 18 4	11321100%+10% 21 Sacred Fortune Teller (15) Adept Researcher (+4)	Bigger capitle mage. Able to Cast Soul Slay without a communion and adds Nature to your Reputwar.

Ind's cap only troops are special in that they auto bless themselves before combat starts, no priest needed. They are very cheap for what they offer in combat, but are restricted by bless recruitment. Ind does get a +1 recruitment per temple though, so temples should be built early and often during the expansion phase.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Archer Priest 13 4 9	Sacred	One of the few sacred archers in MA.
	Soldier Priest 15 18 14	Sacred	The backbone of your early expansion parties. Decent protection and good stats.
	Baculite 19 14 31 Limited Recruitment (2)	Sacred, Magic Weapons	Comparably worse stats to the other infantry, but come with a unique length 3 Magic Weapon that does AOE fatigue damage to other sacreds.
	Mirror Guard 19 21 21 Limited Recruitment (2)	Sacred	A better version of the soldier priest. Always recruit these bad boys when you can due to their limited recruitment.

Out of Forests, you gain chaff slaves, knights, chariots, and Crossbows.

Wasteland gives your Giants. A situational unit to build a fort on resources poor but often covited province type for its magic potential for some nations. You get non-sacred Anakites but they slowly die while away from home. They are still True giants with two attacks and Magic Gear so still consider securing them, though the payoff will not be immidiate.

There are five types of heathens that can be gathered with the mobilize heathen order:

• Azenach Archer, double dagger archers, from everywhere
• Cannibal Warriors, the 12att spear/javelin ones, from everywhere
• Fommepori Warrior, hatchet/short sword users with berserking, forest only (about 40% of the time)
• Agrimandri Warrior, high attack sword/javelin/shield troops, mountain only (seem rarer than Fommepori)
• Vintefolei Horseman, light lance/bow cavalry. 18 damage first strike without buffs. With a +4 strength buff, that's up to 24. Mountain/plains only.

In cases where provinces have multiple terrain types, you use the widest selection of types possible. Underwater provinces are considered plains if you have Thetis' Blessing up - Azenach archers, Cannibal Warriors, and Vintofolei can be found underwater. Swamps, wastes, caves, and farms all only spawn azenach and cannibal warriors with the mobilize heathens command.

Like other gather slave commands (and this is the targorder it uses), you have to stop gathering at 100 unrest. If you gather slaves in a fort, there is a chance for it to fail based on the admin rating of the fort.

( unsure about kelp field / gorges and the quite rare highlands province type)

• Call Cyclops Tribe: 2 Conj 3 for 12 ( Cyclopsx5 + 1/2 [lv]). Pay 0.5 gems per model more For Ogres with more Strength and HP. They are more gem effecent Siege strength then Ogres.

• Herd of Buffaloes: 2 Conj 3 for 10 ( Buffalox5 + 1/2 [lv]). Decent units being like Berserking Nobles. Will die quickly when faced with big numbers but more proficient then nobles at killing Size 4 and bigger enemies that they can't trample.

• Herd of Elephants: 2 Conj 3 for 25 ( Elephantx5 + 1/2 [lv]). Use Natue gems instead of gold to get Elephants for expansion parties.

• Pride of Lions: 2 Conj 3 for 10 ( Great Lionx10 + 1/2 [lv]). Turn nature gems into lowterir killing power. Ok if your getting rushed in the early game but they don't do much after that.

• Ambush of Tigers: 2 Conj 3 for 10 ( Tigerx10 + 1/2 [lv]). Better Lions with +1 more HP.

• Call Malakh: 2 Conj 4 for 9 ( Malakh). is a somewhat cheap thug chassis, that can be effective against certain troop types. They have Awe (4), which provides a lot of protection against troops with human morale, Invulnerability 15 with decent combat stats and 1 so they can self-bless. High map-move and flying lets them move unpredictably through enemy lands, they have solid MR for surviving Mind Hunt and they are stealthy, so can sneak away from counter-attacks. Lack of any combat magic and low HP (13) are their main weaknesses, and they are summoned with literally no gear, so at least need a weapon. With a 5-10 gem investment (e.g. Flesh Eater, Fire Plate, Dragon Helmet) and help from a bless, they can kill large quantities of human size PD, but they are easily countered by anything that hits hard and has decent morale. Coming at only Conjuration 4, they can be summoned before too many magical counters are available, and an early-midgame war can start with a small squadron of angels raiding to screen your armies advance.

• Call the Birds of Splendour: 21 Conj 6 for 9 ( Yllerionx2).

• Call Hashmal: 31 Conj 6 for 21 ( Hashmal). A Hashmal is a much upgraded version of the Malakh, gaining Ethereal, a strong (10) fire shield and an aoe 1 fire attack, as well as improved Awe (5), Invulnerability 20 and double the HP. However, it is still only a 2 mage, and Holy Avenger is hardly exciting. Outside of combat, Hashmal provide 120 leadership and Inquisitor for utility. Held back at interms of thuging with having only having hand and Misc slots, but can still a Deviatating raider.

• Call Arel: 41 Conj 7 for 39 ( Arel). Castable by Abbot Magus Supreme to grant powerful nature mages to the nation. Arels are also strong healers and 3 mages as well as having the typical Angel attributes. With a Crystal Matrix and/or having a Thistle Mace, Armor of Twisting Thorns, and Moonvine Bracelet they cast big nature.

• Call Ophan: 52 Conj 8 for 49 ( Ophan). A step up even for Hashmals, imporved stats all round, with better natrual prot instead of Invulnerability, and it Tramples. Works out well at quicly claring out large prtions of armys, but can't be a super combatent because it only has Misc slots.

• Call Merkavah: 73 Conj 9 for 222 ( Chayot + Ophanx4). Pay a massive amount of Astral gems for a powerful Super-combatent. in addition to gaining four Ophan, you get a powerful angle with 4 forms, that is 4 and depending on current shape is a lv4 in Fire, Air, Earth, and astral while lv2s in the others. Having 4 seprate HP bars having all the thug magic, and a incredibly high fire shield, Awe, and Invulnerability make him incredabley hard to kill before you give a bless and gear.

• Release Lord of Civilization: 8 Blood 9 for 177. The Big Bads of the dominions universe. An alterative to Demon Lord and worth the extra price. Getting a Super-combatant loaded with useful traits. There is a reason you can't wish for these things.

What magic path/mages define your nation, what can you level, e.g., thunderstriking, astral, elementals, earth buffs, blood, what is recruitable anywhere and good, what are some summons you are likely able to get and are useable

Your an Astral nation from your capital with Blood mages outside it especially crossed with Nature and Death.

Making lots of Communion, recommended mostly of Abbot Maguses. Can use the sages but they will suffer more fatigue.

See More in Stacks on Stacks - A Guide to Ind By Baalz

What is the best ritual you could cast. Are there any globals you want up, any units you should be summoning? Are there any Generic rituals few nations can cast?

Do you have any National items(Construction Level, Price, and required Paths). Any unique generic items few other nations can forge? What item would be useful on your unit lineup (non-standard recommend thug gear)?

• Salamander Silk Garments Const4 1 5. A pagage deal for your Abbots, Get Heavy Fire Resitece, Magic Resitece, and Awe for only a few gems.

do you have a game plan? Anything you should always be working toward? Any National weaknesses?

What kinds of scales does your nation like? Do they require any to function? Any blesses your sacreds would like? Do you desperately need an awake expander? Examples of Pretenders?

How to expand, potential pitfalls and how to get around them, obvious weakness strength, how much do you have to focus on war/infrastructure

what is the first big research rush, what is the first big powerspike, where do you shift recruitment to? what are the big magic diversity issues, are there particular globals you should gun for

How do you close out the game if you are in it, is the high-level research stuff you can do uniquely well, does your nation fall off, aka do you have to force things to conclude swiftly

Stacks on Stacks - A Guide to Ind By Baalz