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pelagia-ea

EA Pelagia - Pearl Kings

Lore

"Oceania and Pelagia are nations inspired by medieval bestiaries abundant with creatures of the sea corresponding to beings living on land. As most of these creatures are half-men and fish-beasts, Oceania as a nation became quite similar to Pangaea. The development of the Triton Kings incorporated modern concepts and imagery of mermen, and in Dominions 4, Pelagia was made a nation of its own, less Pangaean in style. Knights armed in mother-of-pearl armor, Triton Kings on hippocampoii-drawn sea-shell chariots, and golden tridents are all part of the Pelagia setting.

"With the release of the Dominions 4 UW-patch the backstory of Pelagia was developed. It became intermingled with Berytos and my first ideas on later developments for the nation emerged. I prefer if nations are primarily culturally defined, and secondarily racially defined. Pelagia always felt more like a race thing and less like a kingdom with its own cultural setting. The changes in the patch was a step in this direction, although I find the new nation Erytheia more interesting."
–Illwinter

Pelagia is the first civilized realm underneath the sea. It's a Kingdom of the Tritons, the undersea equivalent to Mankind, with amphibious Mermen as middlemen between them and their counterparts. The Mermen don't seem to have a history (though they appear Oceanic in nature), but the Pelagian Tritons trace their origins back to the Lord of the Waves and the Old Man of the Sea. One ancient Triton, Thaumas "the Wondrous", grew to enormous proportions and taught his secrets to a small clan of his people; other Tritons from this clan eventually grew large as well, and styled themselves as Pearl Kings, founding a Kingdom by uniting with a clan of coral-using warriors. Thaumas's acolytes used his special Water Magic to cultivate shining Pearls, and the Kingdom began using Merman subjects to trade these beauties with coastal realms above the waves. Therodos and its successor were its major business partners. Pelagia enjoyed its hegemony; unfortunately, it would not last, as other organized and/or ambitious factions would soon join them under the sea.

The Tritons are still mostly tribal; the Kingdom was founded by a union of the militant Coral Clan with the small-but-blessed Pearl Clan, and its Tritons pride themselves on their "purity" and strength relative to the other Tribes, who only serve the Kingdom as allies. The ocean isn't a particularly-conducive environment for metalsmithing, so Tritons typically use whatever's easier for them to work with; The Shark Tribe uses armor made of stuff gathered from hunting Sharks, the Turtle Tribe uses armor made of stuff gathered from hunting Turtles, the Coral Clan uses armor made of cultivated Coral, and the Pearl Clan uses Magic armaments made of their cultivated Pearls (in addition to Coral armor). Most Pelagians use Coral armaments and not a ton of armor; their weapons deal a little Poison Damage on hit, as long as at least one point of non-Poison Damage is dealt, by the way.

Contrary to its old-looking flag and lore position, Pelagia is a Dominions 4 concoction; in Dominions 3 (when the series first had Ages), this nation was Oceania, and the Triton Kings were replaced with the Capricorns and other "Ichty" folk in the Middle Ages. Much of the nature-based stuff was kept with Oceania when the split happened.

General Overview

Early-Age Pelagia gets a lot of flak for being the least-effective land nation in the game… Which is fair, it's an Underwater nation. They probably weren't expecting most of the Thrones to be on-land, or perhaps they weren't prepared for the Ascension Wars at all. Trying to snag a coastal province before land nations claim it is hard enough; setting it up for churning out self-defense is harder (in a Multiplayer game), and don't get me started on trying to project force inland. You have a very interesting Magic game, however, since you can do a lot more with the sea's (hopefully) plentiful Water Gems than anyone else. The longer the game goes, the more likely you'll be able to pull something off.

National Features

Pearl-Farmers! Most of your Mages can convert watergem into astralpearl at a 1-for-1 ratio, but with a maximum rate per turn.

Race Military Magic Access Priests Buildings
Very Fast Underwater
+1 MOR vs. Humans
"Pure" Tritons:
Sea-bound Aquatic
Base 1 PROT
+2 HP, STR, & MR vs. Humans
+1 ATT vs. Humans
Tribal Tritons:
Sea-bound Aquatic
+1 MR vs. Humans
Mermen:
Breathes both air & water! Amphibious
Base 1 PROT
+2 MR vs. Humans
Poisonous Coral Gear
Some Primitive Armor
Strong Triton Infantry
(Light and Heavy)
Triton "Unicorn" Cavalry
Weaker Mermen
Heavy Infantry On Land
Blessable Sacred Triton Heavy Infantry
with Magic Pearl Equipment
water 44 (rare 5)
astral 22 (rare 3)
nature 22 (rare 3)
air 11 (rare 2)
earth 11
Hero:
air 33water 44astral 33nature 11
holy 33 Capital-only
holy 11 in land Forts
Two levels, standard for the era Fortresses
Coastal Mages & Warriors

Getting your highest-level stuff on land requires some investment, sadly.

Capital Special Sites

Palace of Pearls
Enables recruitment of:
* Pearl Kings
* Pearl Guards
* Ichtyid Pearl Mages
Produces 4watergem per turn
Produces 2naturegem per turn

Notable Units

EA Pelagia's troop lineup may perhaps be best described as Berytos-level garbage - at least on land. It is saved from immediate and devastating demise by the underwater advantage, and by the fact that underwater combat is often decided more by the number of Water Elementals one can summon than it is by troop quality. Its ability to operate on land without some serious investment is very limited due to the poor quality of its amphibious troops.

Pelagia's mages somewhat make up for this. In addition to being perfectly capable of spamming Water Elementals, Pelagia is famous for its Pearl Cultivation ability, potentially allowing for some powerful late game plays with the usual high-astral suspects of Wish and Arcane Nexus. However, Pelagia's strongest mages are just as aquatic as its troops and take a lot of investment to get on land in usable numbers.

Commanders

The following commanders may be recruited underwater.

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Merman Scout
25
4
1
Stealthy (50)
Land ShapeMerman Scout
Amphibious
Amphibious scouts are neat.
Turtle Chief
40
10
1
+ Coastal Fort Rec
Land ShapeTurtle Chief
Amphibious
A 60 leadership, amphibious commander for when EA Pelagia must reach above the waves. Does not provide many advantages over standard amphibious indie commanders.
Pelagian Captain
70
16
1
Poison Barbs (5)
Aquatic
EA Pelagia's standard 80 leadership commander, enabling formations - but only underwater! Poison Barbs is neat but unlikely to dissuade the determined opponent.
Merman Priest
45
1
1
holy 11
Sacred
Land ShapeMerman Priest
Amphibious
Temple-building boys.
Pearl Clan Priest
80
2
2
holy 22
Sacred
Aquatic
Pearl Clan Priests gain access to Sermon of Courage and better preaching abilities, though at nearly twice the price of their merman colleagues. They are also more proficient at banishing R'lyeh and Therodos's undead. Merman Priests are better for building temples, however.
Pelagian Mermage
95
1
2
water 11random1100% 9
Land ShapePelagian Mermage
Amphibious
Your underwater research monkey variant.
Should you happen upon Earth Boots, make sure to take them off before you go underwater, or else you'll lose them!
Ichtyid Pearl Mage
80
4
2
water 11astral 11 7
Inept Researcher (-2)
Amphibious
EA Pelagia's cheapest amphibious mage that reliably has astral magic, but capital-only. A serviceable communion mage and much cheaper than Pearl Kings, but not particularly impressive for a capital-only recruit.
Pearl Mage
195
1
2
water 22astral 11nature 11random1100% 15
Pearl Cultivator (3)
Supply Bonus (10)
Aquatic
Pearl Mages fulfil the absolutely necessary role of summoning Water Elementals for the underwater knife fight, should you have underwater neighbors. Pearl Cultivation is great utility, and can be a very powerful in combination with Maelstrom and especially Arcane Nexus.
While these are the fastest way for Pelagia to turn CP into research, your amphibious mages are much more gold-efficient for the task.
Pearl King
485
7
4
Capital Only
water 44astral 11nature 11holy 33random1100%
10%
19
Sacred
Resist Cold (7)
Pearl Cultivator (5)
Supply Bonus (10)
Dominion attracts units/20: Hippocampus
Aquatic
Pearl Kings are somewhat similar to EA Xibalba's Onaqui, as ultra-expensive and ultra-powerful Mages who can summon troops over time. Onaqui can go on-land, however, and Hippocampoi are significantly worse freespawn than Beast Bats. They can wield the Ichtyids and other Pearl Mages as Communion Masters, but keep an eye out for Magic Duels on-land, especially when going alone. Among EA water nations, only R'lyeh shares massable astral mages, but they are not uncommon on land (see EA Ermor, EA Marverni, and EA Kailasa).
Some Pearl Kings will be magic phase-capable with Teleport, providing EA Pelagia with highly mobile throne claimers.

The following commanders may be recruited in coastal forts.

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Turtle Chief
40
10
1
+ Underwater Fort Rec
Sea ShapeTurtle Chief
Amphibious
A 60 leadership, amphibious commander for when EA Pelagia must reach above the waves. Does not provide many advantages over standard indie commanders.
Pelagian Shore Commander
40
19
1
Sea ShapePelagian Shore Commander
Amphibious
More resource-expensive than the Turtle Chief for the same amount of leadership.
Pelagian Explorer
75
3
2
water 11random1100% 11
Adept Researcher (2)
Sea ShapePelagian Explorer
Amphibious
Extremely gold-efficient research monkeys.
The lucky astral randoms can serve in communions.

Troops

The following troops may be recruited underwater.

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Pelagian Militia
8
2
5
Aquatic EA Pelagia can choose between two naked militia troops. Neither is particularly appealing, and the latter's length 0 weapon puts it at risk of being repelled by nearly everything.
Pelagian Militia
8
1
5
Turtle Tribe Triton
10
7
9
Aquatic Turtle Tribe Tritons are unlikely to feature in Pelagia's underwater armies due to being strictly worse than Coral Clan, and are unable to go on land due to their aquatic nature.
Shark Tribe Triton
10
3
9
Berserker (2)
Aquatic
Although Shark Tribe Tritons are quite scary as an indie type, they are much less impressive as line troops at 10 gold a pop and almost no protection. Potentially viable with some serious buffing, but otherwise their low protection puts them in serious danger to pretty much anything. They will at least not rout due to going berserk!
Pelagian Soldier
10
3
9
Aquatic The Pelagian soldier's 1 protection makes them essentially another kind of militia, but with marginally better combat stats than the others.
Merman Net Thrower
10
3
9
Land ShapeMerman Net Thrower
Amphibious
Amphibious militia with a net! Potentially viable as a way to tie down high-defence troops and thugs, like elves.
Turtle Warrior
11
3
12
+ Coastal Fort Rec
Land ShapeTurtle Warrior
Amphibious
Sadly, the Turtle Warrior is EA Pelagia's best troop for an initial incursion onto land. With low protection, low damage, and mediocre stats overall, it is not a very inspiring troop type. You'll have to take what you can get, however!
Coral Clan Soldier
13
15
16
Formation Fighter (2)
Poison Barbs (5)
Aquatic
Coral Clan Soldiers are EA Pelagia's strongest underwater troops, and gain rather significant increases in combat stats for a small cost increase, but the problems of mediocre protection and low damage output remain. They are still quite reliant on magical support for dealing with more well-protected opponents, unless the battle goes long enough that poison starts to matter. They also cannot operate on land!
Pearl Guard
20
23
23
Capital Only
Sacred
Formation Fighter (2)
Bodyguard (2)
Poison Barbs (5)
Aquatic
Pearl Guards have mostly the same problems as Coral Clan Soldiers, but they are at least quite cheap for a sacred and have magic weapons built in. Some stats could make these capable of doing some serious damage, but being aquatic limits the utility of this sacred.
Triton Rider
40
7
48
Recuperation
Aquatic
Mounted
Low protection and low damage output makes Triton Raiders far less usable than their MA successor, the Knight of the Deeps. They cost four times the gold of EA Pelagia's line troops and will die only somewhat slower. They are very fast in combat, however, giving them some utility as flankers.

These units may be recruited in coastal forts.

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Turtle Warrior
11
3
12
+ Underwater Fort Rec
Sea ShapeTurtle Warrior
Amphibious
Still not great, even on land.
Pelagian Shore Fighter
11
9
12
Sea ShapePelagian Shore Fighter
Amphibious
Light infantry with a javelin. Unlikely to be all that useful against competent troops due to their low damage output and the nation's lack of access to Flaming Arrows.
Sideraspist
13
19
16
Sea ShapeSideraspist
Amphibious
The Sideraspist is EA Pelagia's most well-armored unit (which is not saying much), making it one of Pelagia's better line troops for land combat. Its damage output is still low and it has very mediocre stats all-round for its cost, but at least it has 15 protection!

Heroes

EA Pelagia has one thing going for it over its Middle Age incarnation: it actually has a hero! Thaumas is pretty powerful too.

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Thaumas - Wondrous air 33water 44astral 33nature 11holy 33 31
Sacred
Resist Cold (7)
Resist Shock (5)
Adept Researcher (4)​
Pearl Cultivator (7)
Supply Bonus (10)
Dominion attracts units/20: Hippocampus
Aquatic
A strong mage hero, providing moderate access to air and astral magic in addition to being a throne-claimer like other Pearl Kings.

Magic

National Spells

EA Pelagia has no national combat spells or rituals.

Magic Access

EA Pelagia has moderate breadth of magic access, with particular mastery of water magic.

For rituals, Pelagia has reliable access to the following paths:

Elemental

  • No fire magic
  • air 11 on a variety of mages
  • water 44 on Pearl Kings, water 77 via a Water Bracelet, Robe of the Sea and Queen of Elemental Water (expensive!)
  • earth 11 on Pelagian Mermages and Pelagian Explorers

Sorceries

  • astral 22 on Pearl Mages and Pearl Kings, astral 33 via a Starshine Skullcap
  • No death magic
  • nature 22 on Pearl Kings, nature 66 via a Thistle Mace, Moonvine Bracelet, Awaken Ivy King, Awaken Treelord (expensive!)
  • No blood magic

Notable Generic Magic

Combat

Ritual

Magic Items

National Dicount Items

  • Construction 2 water 11nature 11 for 4watergem4naturegem: Clam of Pearls Const 2, 4watergem4naturegem, water 11nature 11
    Clams of Pearls provide temporary 2astralpearl for use during battle only, as opposed to acting as permanent gem-generators as in Dominions 3. Astral has a number of very strong late-game spells which require the use of pearls, making this a very useful item for reducing the pain of gem logistics. Notable spells include: Master Enslave, Light of the Northern Star, Will of the Fates.

Strategy

Power Curve

This is probably the most difficult section to get consensus for. Describe how strong the nation is during expansion, the early, mid and late game, and what makes it strong/weak at each of those points. This should give readers an idea of where the weaknesses of a nation lie (if they have not been shown already) and when to take advantage of a nation's strengths.

Expansion Strategies

List some example expansion strategies here. If a strong bless or pretender is required then leave the specifics for the pretender section.

Example Pretender Builds

List some example pretender builds. Try to use the following format to keep authorship and pretender design rationale clear.

See More

pelagia-ea.txt · Last modified: 2024/07/09 04:33 by johnnydown