"Phlegra in the middle age is a nation that has lost most of its proud legacy. The Gigantes of Mekone are cursed for their hubris and are becoming physically and mentally afflicted. I also wanted to add shepherding cyclopes to the Elder Cyclopes of earlier times. At first, the nation felt a bit bland, but when I started to think on the slaves and the Phlegran society the idea of the oppressors and slave mages appeared. The feel of the nation took a whole new turn and the slave mage mechanics made for entirely new tactics not available to other nations." – Illwinter
Located in the lava-scorched Burning Fields, Phlegra is the successor to Mekone, the Sparta-like City of Gold and Marble. In a bygone era, the Giant (or 'Gigante') Mekonean citizens waged the first Gigantomachia, or War Against the Gods, rallying behind a Pretender whom they dubbed "The God-slayer". Their war was prompted by the shattering of Telkhinis, whose Kings secretly plotted to take over the world, and whose Elder Cyclops Smiths armed them with everything they thought they needed. But Mekone lost; the Heavens (with or without the Pantokrator) cursed them for their hubris, making them lose their reason which enabled them to get as far as they had, and Mekone was destroyed by either divine might or the Mekoneans themselves. The Elder Cyclopes held the grudge and led the Gigantes out of the ruins, to a bastion point in the side of a volcano they could do more work in.
Now a few generations have passed, and the Gigantes have grown more monstrous and irrational with each. All of the art and finesse of their parent society is now gone, or reduced to scraps of armor and weaponry passed down from father to son. What was once a Republic of sorts has become a nation of Tyrants, absolute dictators, who take humans from the settlements outside the capital fortress and make them Helote slaves in the image of their distant ancestors (though without the possibility of freedom). They have learned almost nothing; I say almost because they have welcomed in Trophomoi (scholars) from Pythium and other places, to make up for their intellectual degradation. On top of that, the fields around the capital have pastoral Younger Cyclopes who serve the unrelated Elder Cyclopes out of respect; hopefully those guys turn out alright.
In case you're wondering, Phlegra in Greek myth is supposed to be where the Gigantes made their last stand, and is also known as Pallene or Kassandra.
Phlegra is an unconventional nation to play with strong cap-only Tyrants which can be kitted easily for thugging. Your main chaff units are helote slaves. Phlegran Tyrants can collect slaves from any province (at the cost of increasing unrest). You also have access to mages and communion slaves which come with equipment enabling them to auto-communion, which means you can fire off your big important spells before your enemies can.
Phlegra does not have any combat-worthy sacreds and their best priest is only holy 1. Their dominion causes unrest and the Tyrants constantly generate unrest wherever they are, so order scales can help to negate this. Phlegra does not have recruitable scouts, so be alert and check each province you take to see what units they give you access to.
Phlegra has access to several decent awake expander pretender chassis. They also like a good scales build as their research can be slow to start since your cap will mostly be used to recruit Tyrants who aren't really made for research.
Race | Military | Magic Access | Priests | Buildings |
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Human Slaves Cyclopes Giants | No Scouts Light Slaves Infantry Cyclopes brutes Cyclopes Smiths Gigante Thugs Auto-Communion Mages | 4 (rare 5) 3 (rare 4) 2 (rare 3) 2 (rare 3) 2 (uncommon) 1 | Weak (1) and few | 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.
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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
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Img | Unit Name | —-SpecialAttributes—- | Comments |
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Cyclops Chieftain 60 7 1 | gluttony(1) taskmaster(1) eyes(1) | You get one at the at the start of game. Trophimos Commanders are significantly better leaders, but incapable of leading Gigante Warriors. This cost-efficient commander allows you to recruit 3 Gigante Warriors on the first turn and can also be useful for counter-thugging. |
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Shackled Mage 70 1 2 | 1100% 5 slave communion-slave start affliction(50) | One half of your magic power. They don't do much other than act as innate Communion Slaves. They take fort turns, but you can make more than MA Pythium. These are humans with a single random magic paths. They will gain a lot of fatigue and cause the communion to collapse if you aren't careful. |
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Trophimos Commander 75 21 1 | taskmaster(2) | Your main Commander, able to lead a lot of units. | |
Trophimos Priest 95 1 2 | 11100% 9 sacred taskmaster(1) | Your only Priest to do priestly things when needed. | |
Cyclops Shepherd Shaman 70 3 2 | 1 4 Supply Bonus(9) beastmaster(2) eyes(1) summon allies(Phlegran MouflonX2) | Another one of your important mage options. They add a bit of Nature magic to your communions and produce Mouflons. Mouflons are important as a source of cavalry, spell magnets, and most importantly a way to sustain your hordes of slaves. |
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Trophimos Sage 115 1 2 | 2200% 11 | A fast researcher. Good for searching for air, earth and water magic sites. | |
Trophimos Oppressor 115 1 2 | 111100% 11 communion-master taskmaster(2) | The leaders of your shackled mage communions. They can cast great evocations and buffs if your communion is powerful enough. They are innate communion masters which means you can cast big important spells on the first turn of combat. | |
Elder Cyclops 330 3 4 Capital Only | 2121100% 10% 17 Resist Fire(15) Resource Bonus(25) Master Smith(1) Eyes(1) Mountain Survival | Surviving into the next age, Elders are your master smiths that can make most of the elemental gear you'll need for mages and thugs. They can also thug if given appropriate gear. |
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Phlegran Tyrant 315 36 4 Capital Only | 3211100% 10% 13 Resist Fire(10) Resist Poison(5) berserker(4) gluttony(4) Cause Unrest (+3 Per Month) taskmaster(4) affliction resistance(3) combat caster slaver(Helote Warrior) | One of your most important (and expensive) mages. Recruit them early game to capture the Helotes you will swarm over the enemy, They are big Fire, Earth, and cross Air/Death mages especially when in communions with shackled mages. They can also be made into thugs and supercombatants with gear crafted by your Elder Cyclopes. |
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Img | Unit Name | —-SpecialAttributes—- | Comments |
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Helote Archer 8 6 4 | slave | Spammable cheap archers. Useful against unprotected units and can be very effective with Flaming Arrows and Wind Guide. | |
Helote Warrior 8 10 4 + Foreign Rec | slave | The bulk of your army, especially since Tyrants can nab a lot of them and you can recruit them outside of forts. These troops are slaves wearing light armour with a high damage axe and javelins (buff them up with Strength of Giants). |
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Helote Soldier 8 17 4 | slave | Works out well as tough units early game. Once you have the economy to have a group of Tyrants freespawning Helote Warriors, you'll have better things to spend money on. | |
Cyclops Warrior 35 3 7 | undisciplined gluttony(1) eyes(1) | A heavy hitter with a large amount of HP, dealing a whopping 34 damage with its great club. It will kill most humans on hit even if they are parrying with a shield. During expansion, they will deal with elite units while Helotes are used as chaff. Cyclops warriors are able to deal with regenerating or high protection units, but they are not good against high defence units like elves. Because of their High HP and Low MR and Prot, they are also Evocation spell magnets. |
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Cyclops Hurler 35 3 7 | undisciplined gluttony(1) eyes(1) | Trades its melee weapon for two very short range, high damage rocks. Situational compared to the Cyclops Warrior, but a buffed salvo of 5 to 10 thrown rocks will be devastating for most units. | |
Gigante Warrior 65 18 44 Recruitment Limit: 3 | Resist Fire(5) Resist Poison(5) berserker(2) gluttony(4) Cause Unrest (+1 Per Month) affliction resistance(2) Minimum leader size(4) | Your troop version of the Tyrant. Gigante Warriors have worse stats than a Tyrant but these tanky berserkers are resistant to fire and poison and can be useful for dealing large amounts of damage to a single target. A handful of Gigante Warriors with a Tyrant leader is an effective raiding party. Don't keep too many in one place as the unrest they generate will ruin the local economy. |
any breakout hits that might sway someone towards luck or away from it ?
Procession of the Underworld Conjure 5, 3 13, (summon 12 Lampad) There is a way to make them into Commanders for that 121. Hard to do unless the pretender can cast Gift of Reason. They are humanoids with only invulnerability for protection. Despite this, they can ruin thugs they hit with Decay when buffed. Phlegran Tyrants can boost up to summon them.
Summon Hound of Twilight Conjure 5, 21 4, (summon a Hound of Twilight) A big Fear monster with magic bites and a Patrol bonus of 20. All Phlegran Tyrants can cast to cheaply help remove the national unrest, but no easy way to spam them. How good are monsters like this is in Combat?
Bind Keres Conjure 6, 2 12, (summon 3 Ker) Similar to Lampads, they are 11 mages when made commanders. Hard to do unless the pretender can cast Gift of Reason. Keres are Ethereal Invisible Two attack Fear flyers. Tears up Weak back units, especially when they Paralyze enemy undead.
Forge Brass Bull Construction 7, 33 30, (summon a Khalkotauros) A big, hard to kill Trample monster that breathes fire.
Sow Dragon Teeth Enchantment 6, 2 1, (summon 10 Spartae during Combat) Likely to replace frontlines by late game as Helotes die too quick and can't replace Gigante fast enough. Only cost 1 Earth Gem for 10 magic beings with okay stats, magic weapons and armor.
Gigantomachia Thaumaturgy 7, 44 60. An expensive late-game Global enchantment that boosts your Giant production, and outmuscles enemy dominion.
God-Slayer Spear A spear that inflicts area of effect Fatigue Damage to Sacreds.
Oppressors Headband A Crystal Matrix That can be made on the first turn and doesn't require 11. Lets your Tyrants join communions but more importantly your Cyclops Shamans and other indie mages. An excellent way to cast High-level Nature on the battlefield.
Phlegra has several ways to expand.
You need to get some forts up ASAP for recruiting researchers because your cap will be busy with recruiting your valuable Tyrants.
Early in the game, your Tyrants benefit from alteration spells to boost their protection and strength.
Keep making forts and recruiting researchers, since there are numerous research goals for Phlegra.
Enchantment has several beneficial spells that can make your chaff powerful. Your cheap slave archers benefit greatly from Flaming Arrows. Tyrants with random air paths benefit from being able to cast Flying Shield and Flight.
Construction is an obvious goal since your Tyrants need gear for thugging.
Alteration has a lot of good buffs that can make Tyrants even more tanky, like Temper Flesh.
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
National overview by LucidTactics
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 |