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lanka-lucid

Lucid's Lanka Guide

This is the written supplement to Lucid's National Overview of EA Lanka on YouTube.

Summary

Lanka is one of the early era blood powers. As a nation it is made up of Markata, Atavi, Bandar and demons. Lanka is able to field very hard hitting demons and Bandar warriors or instead field large amounts of Markata or undead chaff. Lanka is notable for its cheap blood 11 mages, strong and sacred blood summons, demon thugs, and demon SCs. They have excellent death, air and blood mages, with strong access to nature. Most of Lanka's demon units are weak to fire even though Lanka has a heat preference! Many of their demonic troops also have chaos power where they gain attack, strength and defense in turmoil and unrest! They also can reanimate undead for chaff as needed with their priests.

National Features

Capital Income: 2naturegem3deathgem1airgem

Improved blood hunting in turmoil. Add specifics for turmoil bloodhunting

Notable Commanders

Raksharaja: Cap Only. 390 Gold. air 22death 11blood 22holy 22random1100%
10%
Sacred. Demon. Fire Vulnerability 5. Chaos Power 1. With 38 hp, decent starting gear and stat line, a competent thug and combat mage. Also a functions as an air and death sabbath master.

Rakshasi: Cap Only. 305 Gold. air 11death 11nature 11blood 11holy 11random2200%
10%
Sacred. Stealthy. Fire Vulnerability 5. Chaos Power 1. Slow to recruit and often overshadowed by the Raksharaja, the Rakshasi is Lanka's shape-shifting seducer. They are notable for being very versatile seducers due to their wide path access, but are expensive and difficult to mass. They also provide access to crosspath, and give a chance for death 33 or nature 33.

Raktapata: 80 Gold. blood 11holy 11 Sacred. Raktapata are very versatile mages: they are Lanka's most efficient blood hunters, they can bless small stacks of sacreds, they are your sabbath slaves, competent sabbath masters, basic blood combat casters, and reanimators.

Kala-Mukha: 170 Gold. blood 11holy 22random1100% Sacred. While more expensive than Raktapta and in some respects less efficient, they make better use of fort turns giving you a better priest, better reanimator, more versatile sabbath masters, and 1/3rd are better blood hunters. Notably with 2 sabbath slaves, a Kala-Mukha becomes holy 33 and can cast Divine Blessing.

Yogini: 150 gold. death 11nature 11blood 11 Lanka's best rec-anywhere researchers especially in drain scales. They are effective in combat - able to do many Swarm castings, or cast mass protection. They are also excellent sabbath masters reliably adding nature and death to any communion.

Notable Units

Palankasha: 55 gold. Cap Only. Demon. Chaos Power 1. With 30 HP and 12 protection and 19 strength, this is Lanka's strongest recruitable troop. With chaos power 1, this demon is much stronger in provinces with turmoil or unrest.

Anusara: 35 gold. Cap Only. Demon. Sacred. Notable for being cheaper in gold and much cheaper in resources than the Palankasha, these troops pack a mighty punch but are very vulnerable to melee and ranged troops. With chaos power 1, this demon is much stronger in provinces with turmoil or unrest.

Asara: 35 gold. Cap Only. Demon. Sacred. Having no protection or shield, Asaras are the most vulnerable of all the lanka sacreds to melee and ranged attacks. They have a javelin and high strength and are capable of taking out a few units at range before charging into melee. With chaos power 1, this demon is much stronger in provinces with turmoil or unrest.

Kala-Mukha Warrior: 50 gold. Sacred. Expensive and has a worse general stat line than Palankashas, the Kala-Mukha are however recruit anywhere and are not demons nor do they have chaos power. So they may be the troop of choice for you if you are invading lands with order or your enemy is fielding demon counters. These warriors also wear bronze caps unlike other most other Lankan troops, so they will be less vulnerable to archers and taking lethal damage to the head.

Bandar Warrior: 16 gold. Animal. Versatile medium infantry. Has a small shield and modest body armor but not helmet. High HP and strength with a high damage melee attack and rather high damage sticks and stones attacks. Low MR and animal is a late game vulnerability.

Light Bandar Archer: 16 gold. Animal. 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.

Atavi Infantry: 7 gold. Animal. Stealthy. Can function as a stealthy raider or mass stone throwing if fighting a very low protection adversary. Has low morale and MR.

Atavi Archer: 7 gold. Animal. Stealthy. Very cheap short bow to mass, but low morale and MR.

Markata: 5 gold. Animal. Highly massable ultra light undisciplined infantry. Can use sticks and stones attack vs very low armor units. Low MR and morale.

Markata Archer: 5 gold. Animal. One of the cheapest short bow units in the game, but has abysmal strength which affects short bow damage.

National Summon

Commanders

Mandeha: Cost: 133bloodslave. air 33death 33blood 22holy 33 Sacred. Demon. Chaos Power 2. Dark Power 3. Sleep Aura. Flying. Autocasts Darkness at start of combat. Fear 8. Fire Vulnerability 10. The Mandeha, is a super combatant tier summon having 65 hp, a great stat line (especially in turmoil and darkness) and many SC supporting abilities. The Mandeha is also excellent supporting undead and demon armies by auto-casting Darkness every fight. Having holy 33, it is also able to Divine Blessing large sacred demon armies and claim thrones. It is however vulnerable to anti-demon weapons and spells.

Dakini: Cost: 81bloodslave. air 33death 11blood 33holy 22 Sacred. Demon. Chaos Power 1. Damage Reversal. Fear 6. Flying. Shock Resistance 5. The Dakini is very competent in the roles of thug, air mage, or blood mage. As a thug, damage reversal will block and reflect all damage if the enemy fails an MR check, this is notable for both reducing incoming damage and potentially killing high value targets such as mages. They are also competent sabbath masters.

Samanishada: Cost: 35bloodslave. Sacred. Demon. Assassin. Chaos Power 1. Dark Power 2. Fire Vulnerability 10. The Samanishada is a competent assassin having a Moon Blade and a Duskdagger (usually costing 5deathgem10astralpearl to forge) along with a very solid stat melee stat line. Dark power is of special importance if the battle happens at night (50% chance). While quite effective without gear vs simple targets, higher value targets will often require items to assist in successful assassinations.

Units

Danava: Cost: 25bloodslave(75bloodslave for 3 Danava). holy 22random250%
50%
50%
50%
Sacred. Demon. Fear 5. Ambidextrous 8. Fire Vulnerability 5. Danava are top tier units which can be turned into commanders with Gift of Reason or Divine Name to gain magic paths. By default, they have 3 unholy weapons which paralyze sacreds and poor armor with a weak shield. As units, they are relatively cheap anti-elite units. If turned into a commander and kitted properly, they become much more durable and may become super combatant-tier.

Asrapa: Cost: 3.6bloodslave(11bloodslave for 3 Asrapa) Sacred. Demon. Berserker 3. Chaos Power 1. Asrapas are quite cheap compared to other Lankan summons. While having no protection, they have rather good attack and defense stats and and a built in life draining magic weapon as well as a kick. This gives Asrapa better attack density than other Lankan summons. Once berserk, in turmoil 3, their athame will be 20 attack and 23 magic damage and their kick will be 18 attack and 19 damage. They also do not have fire vulnerability unlike most Lankan demons. Asrapas can also be Gift of Reasoned to be turned into commanders at which point they gain blood 11holy 11.

Sandhyabala: Cost: 10bloodslave (30bloodslave for 3 Sandhyabala) Sacred. Demon. Chaos Power 1. Dark Power 1. Fire Vulnerability 5. Some of Lanka's most expensive elite heavy infantry. Sandhyabalas carry a Moon Blade and a buckler but have no helmet. They do have phenomenal stats in turmoil and darkness: their moon blade will do 32 magic damage with 20 attack (64 damage vs magic beings!) and they sport an impressive 17 defense. If their enemy also has the darkness penalty, the stat difference can become huge. While very strong, they are much more expensive than other Lankan summons and also more vulnerable to fire (10).

Rakshasa Warrior: Cost: 5bloodslave (25bloodslave for 5 Rakshasa Warriors) Sacred. Demon. Chaos Power 1. Fire Vulnerability 5.The Rakshasa Warrior is the middle ground between expensive well equipped elite summons and cheap poorly equipped summons. Costing only 5 slaves per unit yet still having decent armor and a high damage two handed cudgel, the Rakshasa Warrior a very compelling middle of the road option for trade-offs between quality and price.

Rakshasa: Cost: 3.3bloodslave(10bloodslave for 3 Rakshasa) Sacred. Demon. Chaos Power 1. Fire Vulnerability 5.The Rakshasa is available very early (blood 1) and has two claw attacks but quite low protection. In turmoil 3, it will hit twice for 22 damage with 16 attack. When attack density is needed over raw damage, they might be preferable to Rakshasa Warriors. They also have quite high HP pools at 28.

Praghasa: 3.3bloodslave (50bloodslave for 15 Praghasa) Sacred. Demon. Chaos Power 1. Fire Vulnerability 5.The Praghasa is very similar to the Rakshasa but is more mage turn efficient to summon and has notably more HP (35). This unit is the most efficient way to turn blood slaves into sacred HP in Lanka. So while it has higher strength and HP than the Rakshasa, it gives up its two attacks in favor of a single mace attack.

Vetala: Cost: 1deathgem (10deathgem for 10 Vetala) Cheap death summon with a second ethereal form that has an armor piercing life drain attack as well as an attack that feebleminds the target. If their first form is killed but the second form survives, the unit will revert to first form after the battle. Notably the first form has some armor and a buckler but the second form has no armor but is ethereal.

Gana: Cost: 0.6deathgem(12deathgem for 20 Gana) Gana are very mage turn efficient units to mass. They are perhaps most notable for having magic weapons and being ethereal. Not inflicting a tremendous amount of damage themselves, they can be a very effective screen vs units that have no magic weapons. Being ethereal and having a shield, they are also effective vs archers.

Strategies

Early Game

Early game with Lanka has some challenges. It is difficult to expand without sacreds, and the sacreds tend to take some attrition (low numbers and no helmets) depending on their bless. Expanding with monkies is possible but difficult and high attrition. Lanka does enjoy having an awake expander, but it may come at the cost of scales or a better bless. Sacred expansion typically involves using either Asara or Anusara to clear the cap circle, then Palankashas as resources permit. Do consider any of the massable ranged units vs Barbarians who will devastate most Lankan front lines. Also consider using Markata or other Lankan chaff to absorb lance charges when expanding into Heavy Cavalry. Lanka can also shore up expansion early game by reanimating Soulless or Longdead with their priests, but this comes at the cost of research (or expanding if reanimating with a priest leading an expansion party).

Lanka's blood summons can come online very early if blood research is a priority and some mages are allocated to blood hunting. This will however come at the cost of income (province being blood-hunted), research (mages blood hunting), and delay other research. (For example: early blood focus can potentially delay when Lanka thugs come online who tend to need some construction and alteration research.) Nevertheless, it is an option to start getting a significant number of blood summons quite early in the game.

With many options to bulk up armies from various cheap summons, undead chaff and cheap Markata and Atavi, Lanka can field very large armies earlier than most other nations. While most of the Lankan armies may be composed of chaff, Lanka has hard hitting sacreds and Bandar to mix in. Alternatively, Lanka can focus primarily on sacreds and ignore chaff all together.

Mid Game

Lanka's midgame can go in many different directions. Lanka's Raksharaja thugs should be online in the mid game as they are a valuable tool that can almost always find some application. Lanka can also devote significant resources to undead chaff re-animation or they may skip it entirely. Often the undead chaff is a liability on the battlefield without buffs or significant mages support by late midgame; however it can also be used to apply raiding pressure or siege forts down quickly. Significant reanimation will have major effects of research speed though. Most often Lanka will want to have a thriving blood economy by the mid game and use that blood slave income to summon sacred units or commanders.

Lanka is quite flexible in terms of research priorities. It can go down blood for better blood summons and powerful blood battle magic. Likewise it can pursue alteration for Fog Warriors, which can be devastating for unprepared armies. Alteration also gives Lanka Wooden Warriors and Mass Protection, though this can be a liability on its troops which already have fire vulnerability. Evocation gives Storm and Thunder Strike, which can be very powerful behind chaff hordes. Evocation also gives access to Wailing Winds and Wind of Death. Construction is useful for thugs, giving a/d research boosters and Sanguine Dousing Rods for blood hunting. Enchantment opens up Horde of Skeletons spam (potentially as part of sabbath communions) and fatigue plays with Rigor Mortis. Enchantment 7 gives Mass Flight which can be devastating with chaff or demon armies. Given this versatility Lanka will have very different research priorities depending on their neighbors and expected wars.

Late Game

By the late game, Lanka should be doing all of the mid game strategies rather than just a few. As with many nations, Lanka will need to ideally have filled any major holes in magic diversity by this time - two particularly important holes to fill are earth and astral. A healthy late game Lanka will have large blood hunting and summoning operations, significant chaff reanimation, a large corps of thugs, and will be dropping most of the aforementioned mid-game spells in every fight. Different players may choose to summon primarily mages or primarily troops as the situation demands. Lanka has excellent access to fatigue plays and morale plays as well as access to several battlefield wipes like Bone Grinding, Wrathful Skies and Bloodletting. By the late game Lanka will also have their strongest summon, the Mandeha, which can act as a super combatant or as mage support for Lankan armies - casting Darkness at the start of every combat can really be devastating against certain enemies! Unfortunately for Lanka, by the late game their enemies will also have counters to their undead hordes in the form of various battlefield wipes in addition to one of the strongest counters to demons in the game - Demon Cleansing. Demon Cleansing will double all damage demons take before protection or resistances are applied. This can be absolutely devastating to Lankan armies! Late-game Lanka has many options to deal with various challenges but can easily find itself in the late game where it cannot take a straight-on fight (often due primarily to Demon Cleansing).

lanka-lucid.txt · Last modified: 2021/12/29 06:02 by wigglefig