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Bandar Log, the nation of the monkey people, is inspired by Hindu myths, ancient India and Rudyard Kipling. The Vanara comes from the Ramayana, an epic in which the monkey people aid prince Rama in his struggle against the demon king Ravana. The hierarchical division of the different species of monkeys has parallels in the Hindu caste system. I wanted the Bandar to use the alleged colors of the Indo-Aryan castes: white for priests, red for nobles and black for commoners. Markatas are exempt from the hierarchy and society at large and might be seen as untouchables of earlier times, although I imagine them less vulnerable. Important to the development of the Bandar Log were the semi-divine beings of Hindu myth. With a slight breath of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Yavanas and Devatas became lords of the monkey people. When these beings left the world the monkey people found themselves in control, until the emergence of another divine race, the Nagas. As Kaa hypnotized the monkeys in Kipling's Jungle Book, the Nagas mesmerized the Bandar and Vanaras and claimed rulership over the nation. - Illwinter
On the sacred Mount Kailasa, beings from an earlier era still linger. They are blessed with mystical powers but are few in number. With the emergence of the New God they have mustered aid from a most unsuspected source. Deep in the forests below the Sacred Mountain, apes of uncanny brightness have evolved. The apes are uncivilized and have only recently mastered the mysteries of metalworking.
Kailasa is a fun little mess. Even without Lanka's Blood summons (which are available to bootstrappers in both of this nation's successors), Kailasa is still playable due to the summon-tier units that it can recruit with gold. The sheer amount of national summons that you get is remarkable, especially since they allow a cheaper method to break into most of the paths you don't have if you climb into higher levels of Conjuration. Your cheap Communions can cast a very powerful troop buff, while your Cap-only mages are not slow-to-recruit and can accomplish major Magic feats on their own. Just figure out when your monkeys are usable – and when to use your expensive guys – and you'll have a fun time.
Special Race Attributes | Military | Magic Access | Priests | Buildings |
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Prefer +2 Monkeys Bandar Kakshas | Stealthy Monkey Raiders Gorilla Infantry Sacred Naked Demigods | 2 (Rare 3) 4 (Rare 5) 4 (Rare 5) 2 Summons: 3, 3, 3, 3. | Priests: Weak Recrutable Lv1 Strong Summable 4. | Standard Forts |
The Lotus Garden | Mount Kailasa |
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Recruit: Yaksha Yakshini Produce 22 per turn | Recruit: Yavana Yavana Archer Produce 2 per turn |
Your main national weakness is arrows as you have almost no protection.
You unit lineup is mostly made up of animals with below average Magic Resistance and Morale. Your troops are very likely to succumb to fear spells or fail to resist Charm Animal.
The saving grace of the nation is the Sacred Yakshas, Also susceptible to arrows but very competent in melee and strong mages.
Img | Unit Name | Abilities | Comments |
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Markata Scout 20 1 1 | Stealthy (60) Animal Mountain Survival Forest Survival | Your cheap fort scout. | |
Atavi Chieftain 40 8 1 + Forest Rec | Stealthy (40) Animal Forest Survival | A more expensive scout and is a leader of light Atavi raid parties. A stealthy army commander that can be recruited from any forest is useful. |
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Bandar Commander 75 20 1 | Animal Forest Survival | An 80Ld commander. | |
Yogi 55 1 2 | 1 7 Sacred reincarnation(50) Animal Forest Survival | Literal research monkeys. Get them if you don't have the money for Gurus. |
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Guru 160 1 2 | 21 11 Sacred reincarnation(50) Animal Forest Survival Supply Bonus(10) | An out the box Mind Burner, in addition to being a recruit anywhere communion master, and a cheap way to add nature to them. Also, your best recruitable mage when it comes to summoning your national summon with boosters. They make up the bulk of your communions as slaves and masters. |
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Guhyaka General 105 8 2 | 1 Sacred Awe(1) Magic Being | an 80Ld, 40MagicLd Priest commander. The cheapest way to lead your sacred troops. Better chassis for thugging than a Bandar commander but you'll need protective gear to account for their nakedness. |
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Yaksha 345 7 2 Capital Only | 3111100% 10% 15 Sacred Supply Bonus(10) Awe(1) Magic Being | A power full Earth mage, which is desperately needed for a nation comprised of near-naked primates. Having a Army of Lead caster is important to your late game. If you have the nature gems to burn, you can also summon some instead of waiting for cap turns. |
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Yakshini 345 7 2 Capital Only | 3111100% 10% 15 Sacred Supply Bonus(10) Awe(2) Magic Being resist cold(5) amphibious Female | Yakshini are powerful water mages and provide a lot of utility on-and-off the battlefield like being a Rain and Contact Naiad caster. They are strongest when solo expanding underwater. |
Most of your national troops cost low resources. The monkeys are cheap chaff, costing less than average. Markatas are very cheap, so it's easy to mass a swarm of monkeys when needed. The Atavi make for good chaff troops and can be used for light raiding. Bandar still suffers animal penalties but has a decent amount of HP, Str, and Morale making them best suited to taking on large or higher protection enemies. Many of the ape troops have a ranged attack that becomes useful after applying Strength of Giants and useful for popping elf Glamour.
Your Sacreds are very good in melee but are very susceptible to most things that ignore awe when not heavily blessed, and they require Magic Leadership. They are still strong and you can produce Guhyaka from any Templed Fort, so massing them with a strong bless can carry you as a mainline troop with the cheaper ape troops in the frontlines taking the big hits from cavalry.
Things start to get better if you survive to the mid-game as mass protection buffs become widely available to make up for your troops' lack of protection.
Img | Unit Name | Abilities | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Markata 5 1 3 + Forest Rec | Undisciplined Animal Forest Survival | Highly massable ultra light undisciplined infantry. Can use sticks and stones attack vs very low armor units. Low MR and morale. Despite these deficiencies, their best job is lance catching and holding up enemies as 6 Def Skill 14 per square is hard to hit. |
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Markata Archer 5 2 3 + Forest Rec | Undisciplined Animal Forest Survival | One of the cheapest short bow units in the game, but has abysmal strength which affects short bow damage. | |
Atavi Archer 7 3 3 + Forest Rec | Stealthy (40) Animal Forest Survival | Stealthy. Very cheap short bow to mass, but low morale and MR. | |
Atavi Infantry 7 3 3 + Forest Rec | Stealthy (40) Animal Forest Survival | Can function as a stealthy raider or mass stone throwing if fighting a very low protection adversary. Has low morale and MR. | |
Light Bandar Archer 16 7 9 | Animal Forest Survival | No armor but high HP and str. The high strength gives this unit a very damaging long bow attack. The light bandar archer will struggle if it is trading fire with other archers due to no armor. | |
Bandar Warrior 16 3 9 | Animal Forest Survival | No armor except for a buckler but high HP and str. A glass cannon compared to the Atavi Infantry chaff, Hits very hard with its mace and their stone throwing is more likely to kill. They still die in one-to-two hits without prot buffs. | |
Bandar Swordsman 17 17 12 | bodyguard(2) Animal Forest Survival | Medium infantry Bodyguard. Has a small buckler and modest body armor but not helmet. High HP and a high damage sword. Kailasa prefers to dump productivity scales for more bless points, so you are unlikely to mass them. They are still a bodyguard choice to protect your mages. Low MR and being a animal is still a liability in late game. |
|
Guhyaka 27 2 18 | sacred Awe(1) magic Being | They are magical beings with Awe and stats better than a Bandar Warrior with two attacks. Especially weak to ranged attacks. Would love a protection bless and Earth mages. Can have large stack of them as they are not cap restricted. |
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Yavana Archer 30 5 21 Capital Only | sacred Awe(1) magic Being | A ranged sacred unit. Dies in archer exchanges but are fairly powerful if you have a archer bless and get archer buffs. Have the stats to protect themselves from flyer distractions. |
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Yavana 35 8 24 Capital Only | sacred Awe(1) magic Being | Improved Guhyaka, trading the spear repel for a high damage and a more reliable buckler. More expensive and cap only, but more reliable early game. |
Img | Unit Name | Abilities | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Devasura - Fallen | 3 11 Ambidextrous(5) magic Being spirit-Sight | It's interesting to note that with this guy's 3, Kailasa can reach level 3 in all eight Magic paths with just its national units. Blood spells have their own School of Research, however, and it's rather insular in that respect. |
animals Summons: Spend nature gems for animal chaff with big hp pools but low MR. Nature gems are desperately needed elsewhere. only used when Desperate for bodies.
Sacred Summons:
Has 21 and cap can produce with your cap can produce 4,4 and 2.
if you get the right random , you can forge booster to get to 6,5, and 4.
You do have to summon that give you access to Air access, and a 5 with boosters, with Conj 9 giving you a 333 that you can use for late-game lab and battle magic.
You monkey would love it if you can find a fire mage to cast Flaming Arrows and Strength of Giants.
Yakshas with Eath Boots are your strongest combat mage, improving your troops' natural prot with Earth spells and make enemies them easy pickings with Curse of Stones
Yakshini is your underwater expander by summoning Full size Water Elementals and School of Sharks.
Guru communions are your massed mage, casting Swarm, Howl, Enslave Mind, and Mind Burn
Having a strong earth and Water Access makes Summoning the respective Elemental Royalty easy.
Forest Troll Tribe and Contact Naiad improves your magic, with Troll Shamans dipping you into Death and Naiads can get you into 5.
Could craft Golem as a hard to kill thugs.
Headdress of the Bull 5 1. Grant the user +2 strength and a retinue of a Buffalo. Great on a mage as the Buffalos can buy time for the caster and run over any would-be assassin's retinue.
Vajra 10 2. Shock Damage weapon that can be made by an astral mage. Adds armor ignoring damage on a thug, and even if not a melee guy, a mage can benefit by the Resist Shock(10) and be able to cast Lightning Bolt.
do you have a game plan? Anything you should always be working toward? Any National weaknesses?
What kinds of scales dose 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
youtube of someone discussing the nation
guide page on steam??
forum thread or AAR