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LA Phlegra, Sleeping Giants

Lore

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.

General Overview

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.

National Features

  • Mercenaries are 25% more expensive.

FIXME

Race Military Magic Access Priests Buildings
- Human Slaves
- Cyclopes
- Super Giants
- Light Slave Infantry
- Cyclopes brutes

- Cyclopes Smiths

- Gigante Supercombatants

- Auto-Communion Mages
fire 33 (rare 4)
earth 33 (rare 4)
air 22 (rare 3)
astral 22 (rare 3)
water 11 (rare 2)
The Tyrants:
fire 44 (rare 5)
earth 33 (rare 4)
death 22 (rare 3)
air 11 (rare)
- Cheap slaves (holy 11)
- Average but expensive (holy 22)
- Dominion causes Unrest (see below)
Giant Forts.

Phlegra Dominion Effect

Dominion Unrest: Dominion candles / 2 (rounding randomized)

  • Phlegra's dominion increases unrest during Step 40 of the turn order.
  • This happens after income is calculated during Step 35 of the turn order.
  • However, since reductions in unrest due to patrolling and other effects happen during Step 36, Phlegran provinces will always suffer an income penalty due to unrest. In essence, and accounting for rounding bias in the income formula, this means a Dominion 10 Phlegran empire that patrols down unrest every turn still suffers a 6% penalty to Resources and a 10% penalty to Gold Income.

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.

Capital Special Sites

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:

  • On Turn 5, it generates 30 Unrest. FIXME (The inspector doesn't say if this only happens once.)
  • On Turn 15, it generates 40 Unrest and drives 10% of the local population to neighboring provinces, but it also grants 2-12firegem.
  • When it explodes, it generates 40 Unrest (again) and kills 20% of the local population.

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
Enables recruitment of:
- Cyclope Smiths
- Oppressor Archons
- Iron Guards
Produces 1earthgem per turn.
Increases Heat
Produces 3firegem per turn.
Enables recruitment of:
- Laestrygonian Tyrants
- Laestrygonians*
Produces 1firegem1deathgem per turn.

*Laestrygonian troops have a recruitment limit of zero per month. Gigantomachia is required to get them.

Units

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

Commanders

FIXME intro

Image Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Phlegran Commander
Gold 45
26
1
Taskmaster (2)
Slave
Not as skilled as the Trophimos Commander of old but still helps out with helotes.
Phlegran Priest
Gold 65
1
1
holy 11
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.
Phlegran Cataphract Commander
Gold 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
Gold 70
1
2
random1100% 5
Start Affliction (50%)
Slave
Communion Slave
Automatic communion slaves, research monkeys and low level forgers.
Phlegran Oppressor
Gold 115
1
2
fire 11earth 11random1100% 11
Taskmaster (2)
Communion Master
Faster researchers and decent leaders to both troops and communions.
Oppressor General
Gold 135
21
2
earth 11random1100% 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
Gold 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
Gold 240
3
2
Capital Only
fire 11earth 11random1100%
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.
Oppressor Archon
Gold 335
1
4
Capital Only
fire 11air 11water 11earth 11astral 11 holy 22random2100%
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
Laestrygonian Tyrant
Gold 600
8
6
Capital Only
fire 44earth 33death 22random010% 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.

Troops

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
Helote Archer
Gold 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.
Helote Crossbowman
Gold 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.
Helote Soldier
Gold 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.

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 Gold slave.
Iron Guard
Gold 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.
Mouflon Cataphract
Gold 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.
Cyclope Soldier
Gold 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.

Heroes

Image Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Steropes - Elder Cyclops
Minimum hero arrival turn: 15
fire 22air 22earth 33rp 1919
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
Enkelados - First of the Gigantes
Minimum "hero" arrival turn: 30
fire 44earth 44death 22rp 1515
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.
Polybotes - King of the Gigantes
Minimum "hero" arrival turn: 20
fire 44earth 33death 33rp 1515
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!

Magic

Magic Access

Fire 4 Earth 3 Air 2 Astral 2 Death 2 Water 1

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).

  • Earth is Phlegra's biggest path in this stage, if only due to the Earth Boots and the fact that your Oppressor Generals have it. Your highest Earth access is not on the Cyclopes, but on the Oppressor Archons; each has a 49.6875% chance of just having earth 22, a 13.4375% chance of just having earth 33, and a 0.3125% chance (1-in-320) of having earth 44. The odds aren't great on a capital-only, two-turn-requiring Mage, but Earth Boots will bump you up a level (to "realistically" earth 44 but possibly earth 55).
  • Fire is just a hair beneath Earth, but it's guaranteed on the Phlegran Oppressors and has the same path relevance on the Oppressor Archons: a 49.6875% chance of just having fire 22, a 13.4375% chance of just having fire 33, and a 0.3125% chance (1-in-320) of just having fire 44. If you're hoping for an early Flame Helmet, then your Cyclope Smiths are exactly twice as likely to have the necessary paths, with a 1-in-160 chance of fire 33 and the Master Smith trait.
  • Astral, the secret passion of the Pythian outcast who started Phlegra's Communion horror show, has become a minor for the new Archons. The odds of getting an Oppressor Archon with astral 22 is 26.875%, and the odds of getting one with at least earth 22astral 22 are around 14%. Both have their own boosters, so getting both will bring you to astral 44. 1-in-160 of your Oppressor Archons will have astral 33 without boosters; but again, it's a two-turn Mage bound to your capital.
  • Air, without boosters (since you're just out of reach for them), is capped at around air 22. It can also be found at air 11 outside the capital, and on the cheaper (and far stronger) Cyclope Smiths, but the lack of boosters stings a bit. The odds of air 22 are the same as the odds of astral 22, and there's the same minute chance of having air 33.
  • Water was sidelined by the Archons in favor of Astral, but they still practice water 11 to respect the old tradition of Mekone's Mage-Priest-Kings having it. water 11 can be found on the other Mages, of course, as a minor. Cyclope Smiths have a 1-in-160 chance of having water 22; even without it, though, they can make use of a Water Bracelet to craft a Robe of the Sea, bringing Phlegra's Water access up to water 33 (or occasionally water 44). Then you can summon Sea Kings, who can climb the rest of the ladder, but those guys are ludicrously expensive.

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 fire 44earth 44death 22 guy from the Mountain exploding, each Tyrant has fire 44, earth 33, and death 22. They also have a 10% random, producing either fire 55, earth 44, death 33, or air 11death 22 (for Wailing Winds). Ignoring the 10%, the implications are as follows:

  • You can now craft both common Fire boosters, bringing you up to fire 66 (or occasionally fire 77),
  • You now have Death, and can go up to death 33 in it (or death 44 with Mound Fiends),
  • And your capital may be completely occupied with producing these guys.

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.

National Spells & Summons

Combat

  • Enchantment 6 earth 22 for 1earthgem: Sow Dragon Teeth ( Spartae×10)
    Spartoi are very well-statted for infantry that can be dumped into combat en masse for relatively cheap, and come with magic gear to counter ethereal or mistform. Competes with Summon Earth Elemental for earth gem use.

Rituals

  • Conjuration 5 death 33 for 13deathgem: Procession of the Underworld ( Lampad×12)
    If made into a commander via Gift of Reason or Divine Name, Lampades gain astral 11death 22nature 11. They are humanoids with only invulnerability for protection. Despite this, they can ruin thugs they hit with Decay when buffed.
  • Conjuration 5 earth 22death 11 for 4earthgem: Summon Hound of Twilight ( Hound of Twilight×1)
    A big scary monster with a patrol bonus of 20. FIXME How good are monsters like this is in Combat?
  • Conjuration 6 death 22 for 12deathgem: Bind Keres ( Ker×3)
    Similar to Lampades, Keres gain death 11blood 11 when commanderified. Keres are ethereal, invisible, scary flyers with two attacks. Tears up weak backline units, especially when they are able to paralyze enemy undead mages.
  • Construction 7 fire 33earth 33 for 30firegem: Forge Brass Bull ( Khalkotauros×1) A big, beefy trampler that breathes fire.
  • Thaumaturgy 7 earth 44fire 44 for 60earthgem: Gigantomachia
    An expensive late-game global that boosts giant production and outmuscles enemy dominion. The Tyrants can cast this with ease.

Notable Generic Magic

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.

Magic Items

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:

  • Thug gear (if the nation has good thugs)
  • Research boosters (particularly if the nation needs help researching or is already very good at researching)
  • Other items that synergize with the nation (e.g. Dwarven Hammers for MA Ulm)

National Items

  • Construction 0 earth 33 for 15earthgem: Oppressors Headband
    A national Crystal Matrix. Of course, you now have earth 11astral 11 Mages, and the Crystal Matrix still costs the same as the Headband if you don't have Astral Pearls (thanks to Alchemy). The Headband can still be worn by almost anything (since it's a Crown) in case you want to put something else in the Miscellaneous slots, but its -2 Magic Resistance penalty should not be ignored.

National Discount Items

Generic Items

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

FIXME 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.

phlegra-la.txt · Last modified: 2023/04/02 11:15 by nunda