Late Phlegra is very similar to Sparta, but resembles other Greek city-states in a couple of places. There are three classes in the society; the human helotes (not dignified enough in this universe for a capitalization, much less a correct spelling) at the bottom, the Cyclopean citizen-soldiers, and the elder Mage-elites.
For some of its residents, this is actually a return to form, in a perverted sense. In the Early Ages, Phlegra was preceded by Mekone, an avaricious city-state built of Gold and Marble. The citizens and most of the elders of Mekone were Giants of Titan blood known as the Gigantes, who had elaborate governments for themselves and either vassalage or slavery for the humans. Thinking they were perfect, they became embodiments of hubris and declared War on the Gods of Mankind. Such folly cost them their city and their composure; the Elder Cyclopes who sponsored their war gave them a new city of stone in Phlegra, but they could not rebuild their reason, and the Gigantes devolved into hideous and obsessive Tyrants.
Late Phlegra exists as an island of sorts, in a sea of destruction churned by the Tyrants. The Elder Cyclopes were eaten (both figuratively and literally), the Tyrants turned to beating each other afterwards, and the helotes revolted in every Phlegran city. Only Telepylos survived, and only because its Tyrant had one last moment of clarity; he unchained the Elder Cyclopes' descendants, and the Younger Cyclopes who idolized them, and gave them the reins. All of the Tyrants fell asleep in the earth afterwards, leaving control of Phlegra to the Cyclopean soldiers. In reality, though, Phlegra is run by whoever controls the helotes; most of them are human Mages, who were attracted by the ancient culture of Mekone and the image of its old philosopher-kings.
None in Phlegra want the Tyrants to reawaken… but alas, praying for something to not happen is not very effective.
Unlike nations with supercombatants, LA Phlegra is a supercombatant with a nation attached to it. It is the culmination of a slow descent into madness and despair that begins with the Spartan inspired Gigantes of Mekone and by the late age has become quite possibly one of the least pleasant places to be a normal human in the entire dominions universe. Sure the blood nations might sacrifice your daughters, and Lemuria might raise you as a ghost, but the Oppressors of Phlegra will literally rip your free will away and you might get eaten by an insane giant.
The Laestrygonians are the keystone of the nation and I would strongly encourage a player to begin preparations for their arrival from before the end of year one while at the same time creating a situation where your slave soldiers and elemental based communions can survive through the early and midgame. Unlike EA and MA, Phlegra’s basic (non giant) units are very resource intensive, particularly their cap only Iron Guard but, like the others they remain very gold (and upkeep) cheap. With high productivity scales you can mass armies very quickly and comfortably take casualties with very little consequence.
Race | Military | Magic Access | Priests | Buildings |
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- Human Slaves - Cyclopes - Super Giants | - Light Slave Infantry - Cyclopes brutes - Cyclopes Smiths - Gigante Supercombatants - Auto-Communion Mages | 3 (rare 4) 3 (rare 4) 2 (rare 3) 2 (rare 3) 1 (rare 2) The Tyrants: 4 (rare 5) 3 (rare 4) 2 (rare 3) 1 (rare) | - Cheap slaves (1) - Average but expensive (2) - Dominion causes Unrest (see below) | Giant Forts. |
Dominion Unrest: Dominion candles / 2 (rounding randomized)
A notable exception to this rule are units that reduce unrest, such as the Phlegran Priest, will do so before income is calculated thus counteracting the effects of Phlegran dominion somewhat.
Disciple games: The disciples of a Phlegran Pretender god will suffer the full effects of Phlegran dominion. However a Phlegran disciple will not have the Phlegran Dominion effect.
LA Phlegra has an event where The Burning Mountain site explodes and is replaced with The Shattered Volcano site. There is a 25% chance of the mountain exploding on turn 30, +1% per turn after that until it happens. Its rumbling and eventual explosion are somewhat bad for Phlegra:
If your capital starts with 30000 taxpayers and no Growth or Death Scales, it'll end up with 21600 remaining once the Mountain explodes, 21380 if you Patrolled the Unrest away instead of using other means; and that doesn't count what the Laestrygonians do.
Telepylos | The Burning Mountain | Shattered Volcano | |||
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Enables recruitment of: - Cyclope Smiths - Oppressor Archons - Iron Guards Produces 1 per turn. | Increases Heat Produces 3 per turn. | Enables recruitment of: - Laestrygonian Tyrants - Laestrygonians* Produces 11 per turn. |
*Laestrygonian troops have a recruitment limit of zero per month. Gigantomachia is required to get them.
General description of the units in the nations rooster, any standouts, shared qualities aka temperature, any foreign rec, what makes a good basis to plan around
intro
Image | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
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Phlegran Commander 45 26 1 | Taskmaster (2) Slave | Not as skilled as the Trophimos Commander of old but still helps out with helotes. | |
Phlegran Priest 65 1 1 | 1 Sacred Reduces Unrest (2) Taskmaster (1) Slave | Priest slaves who improve the economy thanks to passively counteracting the dominion effect while costing roughly the same as one Mouflon Cataphract in upkeep. Does priestly jobs and can also move troops between forts while improving their income. In combat they'll die easily to stray arrows. |
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Phlegran Cataphract Commander 90 47 2 | Taskmaster (3) Supply Bonus (3) Slave Mounted Mountain Survival | Usually only 120 leadership commanders are 2 points to recruit, but the cataphract commander gives +4 morale to slaves and is tough for the enemy to snipe. Cheap upkeep, fast and self-reliant with supplies on the field. | |
Shackled Mage 70 1 2 | 1100% 5 Start Affliction (50%) Slave Communion Slave | Automatic communion slaves, research monkeys and low level forgers. | |
Phlegran Oppressor 115 1 2 | 111100% 11 Taskmaster (2) Communion Master | Faster researchers and decent leaders to both troops and communions. | |
Oppressor General 135 21 2 | 11100% 9 Taskmaster (2) Communion Master | Armoured and skilled mage-leaders for magic beings such as the Iron Guard and Iron Bound, leading 50 at a time and allowing formations for them. | |
Cyclope Commander 75 83 1 | Gluttony (1) Taskmaster (2) Eyes (1) | Relatively cheap giant commander, useful if you don't want to use a smith to lead your Cyclope Soldier. Potentially useful as a thug or counterthug chassis, but note the low 9 magic resistance compared with 18 on the Cyclope Smith. | |
Cyclope Smith 240 3 2 Capital Only | 111100% 10% 11 Resist Fire (15) Resource Bonus (20) Master Smith (1) Eyes (1) Mountain Survival | A true highlight of the nation, you can make 1.5 per turn from your capital. Cyclope smiths are an economic powerhouse. Their resource bonus greatly increases your ability to mass your high resource troops. Further, while they have low paths, these master smiths can forge a Dwarven Hammer with just Construction 2, and proceed to forge essentially any elemental items, including allowing Phlegra to forge a Staff Of Elemental Mastery without empowerment or Pretender help. Further, all of these giants can be used as a light super combatant or as part of a turbo communion battery with a Slave Matrix and some source of regeneration. |
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Oppressor Archon 335 1 4 Capital Only | 11111 22100% 100% 10% 19 Sacred Communion Master Taskmaster (2) | Powerful mages for site searching, rituals, and forging, which is especially important given Phlegra has no national mages above 1 path outside the capital. In battle, archons are vulnerable to Magic Duel, though eventually it may be possible to protect them with Astral independents or Phoenix Pyre. |
The Laestrygonian Tyrant may only be recruited once the Shattered Volcano capital site has appeared.
Image | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
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Laestrygonian Tyrant 600 8 6 Capital Only | 432010% 13 Resist Fire (17) Resist Poison (10) Berserker (4) Gluttony (10) Cause Unrest (+10/month) Taskmaster (4) Combat Caster Fear (8) Siege Bonus (15) Heretic (1) Population Killer (70) Unsurroundable (2) Shattered soul (5%) Poor Amphibian Recuperation | The final form of the Gigante giants that only grew bigger across the ages. Scary Super-combatants, but Phlegra has to survive a large chunk of the game before they arrive. Brings Death magic to the table, if they aren't too busy destroying your lands. |
While Phlegra no longer can freespawn Helotes like in the Middle Age, it has the cheapest recruitable troop lineup of the age in gold and recruitment points, but with high resource costs due to generally heavy armor. The substantial resource bonus on the capital-only Cyclope Smith mean that Phlegra can mass heavily armored troops more easily than many other nations.
With the exception of the very limited Cyclope Soldier, all of LA Phlegra's recruitable troops are slaves, which means you pay half the upkeep one would expect from their already discount recruitment costs. While Phlegran troops have low base morale, most national commanders have significant taskmaster bonuses. In practice, this means Phlegran troops will rout easily if led by a Cyclope Smith or independent commander, but have average morale for human troops if led by national army leaders.
The Iron Guard and Iron Bound are enslaved by essentially a national slave collar, and will essentially never rout; if they do (for example, because of an army HP rout), many of them will be killed by their collars.
Like other nations in the Mekone line, Phlegra has no national sacred troops.
Image | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
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Helote Archer 8 5 4 | Slave | These cheap slave archers are notable for being Phlegra's only unit that doesn't require high resource investment. Phlegra has easy access to Flaming Arrows and Wind Guide to make these easily massed archers deadly. With full scales, the cap circle cleared, and a dozen Cyclope Smith providing their resource bonus, the capital alone can potentially produce 100 a turn. The morale of 6 is low compares poorly with the 8 for most Archer units, so it's important to lead your Helotes with taskmasters. |
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Helote Crossbowman 8 26 4 | Slave | Cheap armored slave crossbowmen. While clearly superior to the helote archer, Phlegra can often be resource limited, and these generate 10 times fewer Flaming Arrows shots per resource than Helote Archers. Their morale situation is the same as with the Helote archer, though their heavier armor and decent melee weapon mean they are substantially more resistant in combat. |
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Helote Soldier 8 26 4 | Promotion (50 XP → Iron Bound) Slave | Cheap slave medium infantry. Because these will often be on the front line taking casualties, morale issues are more important than with your archers. The 7 morale becomes a mediocre 11 with the +4 total morale bonus from a Phlegran Cataphract Commander. The Oppressors "promote" seasoned Helote soldiers (50 xp, aka 2 stars) to the ranks of the Iron Bound. In a perversion of the ancient Mekone tradition, this "promotion" entails being magically enslaved with iron bands that force them to obey the Oppressors' orders. |
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Iron Bound Promoted from Helote Soldier | Slave Magic Being | Compared with the Helote Soldier, the Iron Bound have heavier armor and boosted ATT and functionally have 14 Morale even without taskmaster bonuses, but require magic leadership (typically an Oppressor General), and will take 5 internal damage if routed. The "promotion" reduces their magic resistance from 10 to 9 and reduces their already low upkeep to be that of a 5 slave. |
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Iron Guard 15 35 16 Capital Only | Bodyguard (2) Slave Magic Being | Heavy infantry with elite combat skills, nigh-unbreakable morale, low magic resistance, and the same iron band features of the Iron Bound. Iron Guard functionally have 17 Morale even without taskmaster bonuses, and require magic leadership. |
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Mouflon Cataphract 30 47 39 | Supply Bonus (3) Slave Mounted Mountain survival | Cheap slave knights, the Mouflon Cataphract is a key national strength. With better combat stats and lower upkeep than the Barbarian Heavy Horseman, these are also your only unit with decent magic resistance, at 11. The head butt attack does 16 damage, a small upgrade to normal hoof attacks. Mountain survival provides some extra mobility in rough terrain, while their supply bonus means each can support themselves (eating 2 Supplies per month) plus a Helote infantryman. Their morale of 9 becomes a respectable 13 with the taskmaster bonus from a Phlegran Cataphract Commander. |
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Cyclope Soldier 40 67 17 Limited Recruitment: 3 | Gluttony (1) Minimum Leader Size (4) Eyes (1) | These heavily armored giants wield magic weapons created by their smith brethren, hitting for 26 damage at 14 attack. You can only recruit 3 per turn (4 with Gigantomachia up), and their 9 magic resistance limits their utility in the late game. Cyclope are nonetheless a powerful tool for both expansion and early/midgame warfare, especially on a nation that can easily cast Strength of Giants and Legions of Steel. Due to their poor eyesight, the high damage javelins are inaccurate even when boosted by Wind Guide. Cyclope Soldiers are proud and will only follow orders from other giants. |
Image | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
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Steropes - Elder Cyclops Minimum hero arrival turn: 15 | 22319 Resist Fire (15) Resource Bonus (20) Master Smith (1) Eyes (1) Old Age (1337/990) Mountain Survival |
In addition to that swell one-eyed guy, you have two national "Villains" who arise from events, one of whom must be hunted for:
Image | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
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Enkelados - First of the Gigantes Minimum "hero" arrival turn: 30 | 44215 Resist Fire (17) Resist Poison (10) Fear (7) Berserker (4) Gluttony (15) Cause Unrest (+12/month) Taskmaster (4) Combat Caster Siege Bonus (20) Heretic (1) Population Killer (100) Unsurroundable (2) Shattered soul (5%) Poor Amphibian Recuperation Gem Generator (+) | Enkelados comes with the explosion of the Burning Mountain. Yay! Note that the Mountain will explode even if you lost it, but that he'll be Independent if you did. |
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Polybotes - King of the Gigantes Minimum "hero" arrival turn: 20 | 43315 Resist Fire (17) Resist Poison (10) Fear (8) Berserker (4) Gluttony (15) Cause Unrest (+12/month) Taskmaster (4) Combat Caster Siege Bonus (20) Heretic (1) Population Killer (100) Unsurroundable (2) Shattered soul (5%) Poor Amphibian Recuperation Gem Generator (+) | Polybotes will come from any Volcano. Yay! He makes his home a Shattered Volcano, too! |
Phlegra's Magic Access has two phases, the Human Phase and the Tyrant Phase. As alluded to before, the Tyrant Phase is more likely than not to start for Phlegra by Turn 32; just in time for the culling of the helotes in Mekonean days, but a bit late in terms of the game itself.
Phlegra's pre-Tyrant Magic Access can be characterized as mostly thin; what depth exists is found in the capital, or in brutal Communions cobbled together with mismatched Slaves. There is no Death, and there are no Fire Boosters (unless you're quite lucky).
It should be noted that Phlegra's Communion Slaves never have Astral; you can pick out specific Communion Slaves for the Elemental Paths if you wish to reduce burnout, but Astral will be very expensive, until you find some Sages or Shamans or Crystal Sorceresses.
Then there are the Tyrants; ignoring that you get a free 442 guy from the Mountain exploding, each Tyrant has 4, 3, and 2. They also have a 10% random, producing either 5, 4, 3, or 12 (for Wailing Winds). Ignoring the 10%, the implications are as follows:
Having the Tyrants sit still to make items or do rituals will cost more than just Gems, of course, due to their violent tendencies.
You're missing Nature and Blood; Blood can at least be obtained through using Gift of Reason on a Ker, but lack of Nature might be a problem. At least your Tyrants have enough Poison Resistance to stomach Foul Vapors; no one else in your army does, and certainly not your Communions.
Combat
Rituals
Discuss the top few generic spells that most increase a nation's combat power or synergize with national strategies. These will generally be early-to-mid game spells since individual spells matter much more during those periods of the game. Some examples are Foul Vapors for MA C'tis, Horde of Skeletons + Sabbath Master/Sabbath Slave for the Niefelheim line of nations, Mother Oak for the Pangaeas, Wailing Winds access, etc. For broader advice on magic use, link to Not-Lola's Basic Magic Use Guide.
This is also a good place to point out notable magic weaknesses, such as a lack of nature access making a nation vulnerable to Foul Vapors.
List and describe any unique national items or discounts in this section, discuss and compare with similar generic items. Also discuss generic items that are useful and accessible for the nation. These may include:
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.
List some example expansion strategies here. If a strong bless or pretender is required then leave the specifics for the pretender section.
List some example pretender builds. Try to use the following format to keep authorship and pretender design rationale clear.
Link here to guides for the nation, on and off(?) the wiki. This should likely include things like suggested pretender designs as well as strategy guides.
Nations | |
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Early Ages | Arcoscephale • Ermor • Ulm • Marverni • Sauromatia • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Mictlan • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Agartha • Tir na n'Og • Fomoria • Vanheim • Helheim • Niefelheim • Rus • Kailasa • Lanka • Yomi • Hinnom • Ur • Berytos • Xibalba • Mekone • Ubar • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Therodos |
Middle Ages | Arcoscephale • Ermor • Sceleria • Pythium • Man • Eriu • Ulm • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Asphodel • Vanheim • Jotunheim • Vanarus • Bandar Log • Shinuyama • Ashdod • Uruk • Nazca • Xibalba • Phlegra • Phaeacia • Ind • Na'ba • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Ys |
Late Ages | Arcoscephale • Pythium • Lemuria • Man • Ulm • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Jomon • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Midgård • Utgård • Bogarus • Patala • Gath • Ragha • Xibalba • Phlegra • Vaettiheim • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia |