In ages past, a distant star inhabited by a great race of strange, alien beings was struck with an unimaginable catastrophe. The star fell from the heavens, breaking into tiny shards. One such shard fell through the Spheres and down upon the world. The shard came to rest on the ocean floor and there a remnant of this great race adapted and survived. They multiplied and enslaved a race of fishlike humanoids by sheer strength of mind.
R’lyeh, the Sunken City, is a mind-defying place built under the sea with an architecture unlike any known to man. In the halls of R’lyeh the Starspawns, the Great Ones who survived the Fall, plan the re-emergence of their Great Race. The Starspawns are powerful mages with great knowledge of distant stars and all of the Great Race are powerful mindcrafters.
All coastal forts of R’lyeh have a special well where women can submerge themselves in the hope of being impregnated by a Great One. However, most will be taken by Deep Ones instead, and the women’s offspring will be strange, fishlike humanoids instead of the noble Starchildren they wanted. These half-human hybrids are usually devoted to the cause of putting mankind below the sea and often join the army of R’lyeh free of charge.
MA R'lyeh is an underwater nation that often relies on hordes of chaff backed by powerful mages and void monsters. R'lyeh is often building for communions to further push this strategy. The R'lyeh capital contains a [Void Gate], which any astral unit (regardless of the nation) can enter in an attempt to tame the void spawn beyond.
Race | Military | Magic Access | Priests | Buildings |
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Illithids Slave Alatians, Mermen, and Tritons Hybrids troops | Amphibious Armoured Slaves Lobotomized Slaves Illithid Mind Blasters Voidspawn | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Medium (Lv ![]() | ![]() Can build Underwater Forts |
*Costal Forts in your Dominion Spawn a Hybrid each turn
The Sunken City | The Void Gate |
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* Produces 3![]() * Produces 2 ![]() | * Enter to summon void monsters * Enables recruitment of Starspawn ![]() |
LA R'lyeh has access to two units named Starspawn. The capital only one is a very powerful mage for its cost. The other is an otherwise mediocre level 2 priest. Many of R'lyeh's front line units have the slave tag, halving upkeep costs. The Meteorite Guards, Illithids, and Crab Hybrids are among your stronger troops but note that Crab Hybrids are not amphibious.
description of the workhorse options, for the sake of sanity better skipp the clearly subpar and generic stuff (no h1 unless special qualities, no 40, 60 leadership dudes that are average.
Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
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![]() | Scout![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() | Amphibious scout to see things on land and sea. |
![]() | Traitor Prince![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | The easiest access to generic leadership. High protection. Your troop line up would demand your Commanders have both normal and Magic Ld, but he is the only one to let your slave use formation for that special positioning strat. Also could be an early game thug chasse if you need Melee stats |
![]() | Illithid Lord![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Starting commander. Can lead an even mix of standard and magical units. |
![]() | Slave Priest![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Cheap access to a level 1 priest. Already Half upkeep from Sacred tag, now you pay 60% less because of the slave tag. |
![]() | Star Child![]() ![]() ![]() +Rec Costal Forts | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Makes for an excellent assassin, especially when given a water bottle for elemental summoning. Also, gold efficient Researchers and assault besieger that try to take their Fort. |
![]() ![]() | Slave Mage Slave Mage ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | The Primer Mage of R'lyeh. Have the Ld to be ok-Ish at leading early expansion parties. Has about the same upkeep as a 90 gold mage and a very good researcher. Are your main Combate and Communion mages, with Water randoms can Summon Water Elementals out the box, Astrals can Mind Burn plus Eath and Nature can communion to cast spells that would be in high demand for a chaff nation. your going to be tight on gold to buy them until near the end of year 0, but after that, you would really love to build forts for mass produce them. |
![]() | Starspawn![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | An Illithid mage that is holy 2 and can random ![]() Another important duty is grabbing units from the void gate. Should get one quickly to venture in and level up its Summer skill to get some of the stronger spawns. There is always a decent chance that he will be attacked by the summoning, so gear and scripted for that. |
![]() | Starspawn (Capital)![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Capital Only. Very strong mages with relatively high magical leadership. Are your strongest mage to recruit after you move your commander recs to other forts. Can Random the highest Earth, Water, Death, and astral in the nation. They are Very important Ritual casters, Forgers, and out of the box battle mages. having a ![]() |
![]() | Hybrid Commander![]() ![]() ![]() Coastal fortress only | ![]() ![]() | A Mind blaster recruited on land that can lead units. Decent for what they are by being cheaper than Illithid Lord. Careful becouse their armor rusts. |
R'lyeh has to moods of play, builds which has Illithids protected by swarms of Slaves as they paralyze the enemy and make it easy to pock them to death. Alternatively is High
where you Mass produce the excellent Meteorite Guard at the cost of producing less mind blaster, fighting more in the style of Ulm(MA).
Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | Lobo Guard![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | The exlent backbone of R'lyeh's armys. Dispite ealsy dieng from most attack, eslepacy AOE spells, they will hold because they are Unroutable and you can have swarms of them for chips. Requires Magic Ld but that just means each Slave Mage can hold 20 of them. Note they are considered slow by underwater standards |
![]() | Slave Trooper![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() | Your Versatile and cheap Killy chaff. They hit very hard with their Trident on land or water and fight without penalty in deepwater. In moments when you need the numbers (Filling up your Commander's Normal and Magic units), You can rely on them if your Resource caped. |
![]() | Slave Guardian![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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![]() | Slave Guardian![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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![]() ![]() | Slave Trooper Slave Trooper ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Mermen are Less survivablity then the Atlantian trooper but can act like fast cav underwater. No armor but could be mixed with other chaff to support with its net attack. |
![]() ![]() | Slave Guardian Slave Guardian ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Mermen are Less survivablity then the Atlantian slaves but can act like fast cav underwater. They don't offer much to justiy themselve exept to be used as addtional chaff on land unlike Tritons. |
![]() | Slave Trooper![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Not as Fast as Mermen, but Tritons have some more HP, Atk, and Str over Atlantian. Comes at the cost of Never leaving the Water and costing you a few gold coins as they do nothing else rest of the game. The Guardian version is worth it as fast-moving killy chaff if your get into a Water war with another underwater nation. |
![]() | Slave Guardian![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() |
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![]() | Meteorite Guard![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() | Your best unit and you may want Productivity Scales so you can spam them. Considered compeative with LA Atlantis Ice Guard and Ulmish infantry. Slow movement on and off the battle field but Decent HP, Str, MR, high Moral for a slave. Gets High Prot from Magical armour and deals High magical Damage. |
![]() | Shambler Thrall![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Cheap for what they are but they still cost some amount of gold and Rec points. Only have enough survivavlity to do their job, and that is to expand by runing over Indies before they die. |
![]() | Crab Hybrid![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Is moderate Prot unit with two decent attack for almost no recorses but high Rec points. They can carv up most common infantry found underwater. Has the limitation of being stuck underwater after expantion and not a slave so paying his high upkeep. |
![]() | Illithid![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | The stun locker artilary R'lyeh is well known for. High upkeen (of set by being a slaver chaff nation)and low moral for thier price. Not good in Melee and No Prot but good amount of HP and MR to shrog of the first hits to your back row. Mind blasters are a forec multiplier. Paralized units can't protect them selves from slave poking and it feels extra evil when a enemy mage Fail to cast their important battlfied globle as he stands slacked jaw for a turn. |
![]() | Illithid Soldier![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | in the even you have extra recorese and need mind blasters that can survive some flyers or evocation pelting. Other then having a iron surplus, they do make exelent bodyguards. |
![]() | Hybrid![]() ![]() ![]() Coastal Fort Only | ![]() ![]() | A High Rec piont chaff units with two attack. Have better Moral but are still in compitition with the Atlantian slaves and thier high damage Tritants. In a ![]() |
![]() | Hybrid Trooper![]() ![]() ![]() Coastal Fort Only | ![]() ![]() |
any breakout hits that might sway someone towards luck or away from it ?
Img | Unit Name | —-SpecialAttributes—- | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | Shubejc - Visitor | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | A reward for Repeated use of the void gate. He not much of a fighter but Ethereal protects him. dose add air to your communions. Teleport his true power, Able to Fair gear and Gems to your front line. He can also do light raiding if paired with a Vastness. |
![]() | Cthugul - Stargazer Hero turn arrival Limit: 10 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Despite being better off the bat with the void gate, He should be at the lab. An Off the bat Starspawn with his paths are rare and should be cherished for casting powerful rituals. |
![]() | Shadhul Ummush - Traitor King Hero turn arrival Limit: 10 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Are a Queen of Elemental Water and Maelstrom caster. Also can bring powerful Land Indies and Summons into your Underwater wars. |
![]() | Auluudh - Aboleth Hero turn arrival Limit: 20 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Eyes(4) | Can't leave the water but a good commander in all areas (Lab, Leadership, Water, and Astral magic). |
Any astral mage can enter the magic site in R'lay's capital (including enemy nations that conquer it). Only one mage can enter it per turn.
Each mage is assigned a percent chance to summon something, Starting at 20% and increasing by +20% until something comes out the portal. if successful(being attacked count as success) the mage's chances reset to 20%. A mages percent chance will persist as long as its not killed ( does twiceborn changes it?).
If a mage succeeds to summon something, what comes out is determined by a roll.
summon roll = unit summoning ability + 2d6 (not open)
After this roll is made, the unit's summoning ability is increased by 0.5 to 1.5. This increase will not apply to this summon's roll. While the game will display the rounded down value, an extra .5 will still be stored.
the corresponding units rolled then appear. However, there is a 50% chance that the roll will be ignored if Astral Corruption is up. In that case, there is either a 75% chance of getting the horror attack roll or a 25% chance of attack by Eater of Dreams.
by default, thier is a 20% chance the summons will attack the summoner, with the percent value incresing when Astral Corruption is up and specific rolls have a higher chance of attack. The chance of being attacked is multiplied by 4 if your nation isn't R'lyeh.
In addition to the summon attempt, there is a 2% chance for the unit to get feebleminded. There is also a chance of getting lost in time and space or gaining insanity. The base chance for either is 65%. This chance is divided by the unit's void sanity and rounded down, so a 10 void sanity unit has a 6% chance of either. These chances are done independently and both can happen at once.
If the unit gains insanity, an open roll of 65 / void sanity is done. A unit without void sanity rolls an open 1d65 but a 10 void sanity illithid rolls 1d6. If the roll is greater than 100, the unit is given 100 insanity. Otherwise, a different open roll of 65 / void sanity is added to the unit's insanity.
They are sacred but won't be able to gather enough to justify a bless specify for them. Higher Summoning skill increases the chances to summon the better units.
Sprite | Unit Name | Summon Roll | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Horror | 2-3 | 100% chance to attack | |
![]() | Lesser Othernessxd6 | 4-5 | |
![]() | Vile Thingxd4 | 6 | |
![]() | Thing Of Many Eyesxd3 | 7 | |
![]() | Thing From The Voidxd3 | 8 | |
![]() | Elder Thingxd3 | 9 | |
![]() | Formless Spawnxd4 | 10 | |
![]() | Thing From Beyondxd3 | 12 | |
![]() | Othernessxd4 | 11 | |
![]() | Dweller-In-The-DeepXd2 | 13 | 40% chance to attack |
![]() | Greater Othernessxd4 | 14 | |
![]() | Thing That Should Not Be(1) | 15 | |
![]() | Vastness | 16 | |
![]() | Greater Otherness(1) | 17 | |
![]() | Shubejc - Visitor | 18 | Can only have one Visitor, if you already have one then you get a Greater Otherness |
![]() | Greater Otherness(1) | 19 | |
![]() | Vastness | 20 | |
![]() | Greater Othernessxd2 | 21+ |
They are sacred but won't be able to gather enough to justify a bless specify for them. Higher Summoning skill increases the chances to summon the better units.
Sprite | Unit Name | Comments |
---|---|---|
![]() | Vile Thing | Weakest of the spawn. slow and only two weak un-damage-typed tentacle attacks. |
![]() | Thing Of Many Eyes | Can't Leave the Capital except for army-wide teleports. is a defense turret with a Ranged and melee weaken attack to punish besiegers. |
![]() | Thing From The Void | anouther not so great slow unit. Has 3 tentacles and a Slime attack. |
![]() | Elder Thing | Free Illithids with no upkeep. Not only dose it Mind Blast, it also punishes backfield attackers with additional paralyze Damage, stalling long enough for gaurds to come to your aid. |
![]() | Formless Spawn | Hard to kill Regenerating slime. Hold up Chaff while Crushing them. |
![]() | Thing From Beyond | like the Vile Thing, a defensive mind blaster and 3 tentecle attacks if threatend. |
![]() | Lesser Otherness | A hard to kill regenerating slime with with resistant to the main elemental damages and is a trampler. Easy to see how this would run over your enemy's especaly if your gathering the Size 4s and 6s. |
![]() | Otherness | |
![]() | Greater Otherness | |
![]() | Dweller-In-The-Deep | Similar to Elder Things but can't leave the water. Has poison barbs and Life Drain + paralyze attack for defense. |
![]() | Thing That Should Not Be | A big high strength fear monster with 4 Life drain attack. Should be saved for pivotal moments in a war. |
![]() | Vastness | One of the great terrors to come out the gate. A monstrous creates, that starts fights with 4 mind blasters, then blinks around the battlefield and attacks with its strength stealing melee attacks, having Damge reversal for protection. Even more terrifying if made a commander as its a ![]() |
![]() | Shubejc - Visitor |
Provided by user iRFNA1)
Such Flexibility with Water, Earth, Nature, Death, and Astral every path has something and will depend on the situation. WHat would be a priority are Conjuration become water Elementals are important in Water wars, and must get thaumaturgy for communions eventually.
MA R'lyeh has very strong access to astral magic and strong access to water. A good early game research path is conjuration to get summon sharks for combat in the water and eventually summon water elemental. Your cheap slave mages will often have water 3. As the game progresses and you're doing more fighting on land astral magic can take the forefront. Slave Mages and the weaker Starchildren make for good communion slaves while the capital only Starspawn makes powerful communion masters.
Your a communion nation with some of the most cost-effective communion mages.
Even without communions Slave Mages are strong water mages that can be mass-able numbers.
Already they can random in Earth and Nature into communions with Starspawn adding Higher Astral and death to it.
Just by themselves, a group of Slave Mages is a force, especially when leading groups of Meitorit guards, Illithids and Liboimize hoards. A decent-sized communion can use Army of Giants, Howl and Bone Melter, Marble Warriors.
Starspawn adds Stygian Rains, Darkness, Fields of the Dead and Enslave Mind. For laughs, a Starspawn with minimum support and boosters can cast Soul Drain (don't have important units around when you cast that nuke).
You are very flexible and can help you climb important end game magic, death, and Nature.
Can summon Kokythiads and Naiads with boosters. Nabbing a Ether Gate for Ether Lord could add Air and blood to communions, if not better death.
A Starspawn can easily nab a Highlevel Astral global like Stellar Focus out the box or Arcane Nexus with boosters.
You have very good Mind Hunting game.
Focus on controlling the body of water you find yourself in. Water magic is far weaker in combat once you step on land. It's not a bad idea to try and carve out a small section of coastal provinces if able just to ensure you have a foothold for later expansion. Often if there are multiple underwater nations sharing a body the first half of the game will largely be them warring with one another in an attempt to gain sole control over the sea.
I tend to focus on Conjuration first to get access to the water elementals and Voice of Tiamat spell. Conjuration 5 gives full-sized water elementals as well as the Voice of Tiamat. A few points in construction are always beneficial (Construction 6 to give your Starchildren water elemental items makes them excellent assassins) and don't forget that you need a couple in Thaumaturgy eventually just to set your communions up.
By late game, slave armies supported by endgame magic from Cap Starspawn and communions like Army of Gold, Army of Lead, Mass Regeneration and Enslave Mind should run over armies, after many of their Leaders get assassinated by Rituals and Star children.
They are also natively capable with boosters to get high-level astral Globals.
R'lyeh can make the immortal Death thugs but can lack a natural end game super combatant (use a pretender of empowerment (Do have the off chance to steal one as an astral nation)).