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rovsea-jomon-guide [2022/05/25 17:46]
rovsea [Imprisoned Monolith] |
rovsea-jomon-guide [2022/12/13 00:14] (current)
charmide link |
| Jomon’s pretender design is tricky in that it attempts to balance 2 primary needs: 1.) The need to expand underwater to gain access to Ryujin and Shark Warriors, and 2.) Scales to help with production of troops, mages, and infrastructure. | Jomon’s pretender design is tricky in that it attempts to balance 2 primary needs: 1.) The need to expand underwater to gain access to Ryujin and Shark Warriors, and 2.) Scales to help with production of troops, mages, and infrastructure. |
| |
| | ===== Basic Mage Strategy, Research Goals, and Scaling ===== |
| | |
| | <WRAP box round half right> |
| | **Early research goals:** \\ \\ |
| | //Conjuration// \\ |
| | **3** Small Fire/Air/Earth/Water Elementals • ??Summon Earthpower?? • ??Phoenix Power?? \\ \\ |
| | //Alteration// \\ |
| | **2** ??Earth Meld?? • ??Mirror Image?? • ??Stoneskin?? • ??Enlarge?? • ??Quicken Self?? \\ |
| | **3** ??Protection?? • ??Mistform?? • ??Mossbody?? • ??Luck?? • ??Ironskin?? \\ |
| | **4** ??Quickness?? • ??Body Ethereal?? • ??Liquid Body?? • ??Temper Flesh?? • ??Swarm?? • ??Wind Guide?? \\ \\ |
| | //Construction// \\ |
| | **2** Magic Items forging \\ |
| | **3** ??Legions of Steel?? \\ \\ |
| | //Enchantment// \\ |
| | **2** ??Personal Regeneration?? • ??Breath of Winter??\\ |
| | **3** ??Strength of Giants?? • ??Regeneration?? • ??Fire Shield?? \\ |
| | **4** ??Poison Ward?? • ??Antimagic?? • ??Flaming Arrows?? |
| | </WRAP> |
| | Jomon’s basic mage strategy is fairly reliable in the early game, but it will diversify rapidly based on what’s necessary into particular matchups. Early game, your research will be driven by the most reliable Master Shugenja paths, Nature and Earth. As such, early-game focus is on paths such as |
| | * Conjuration 3 |
| | * Alteration 3-4 |
| | * Construction 3 |
| | * Enchantment 3-4 |
| | |
| | Jomon has a lot of utility in a lot of the different Magic Schools (basically everything besides Blood), so it’s important to judge which opponents you think you’ll fight, what random paths you’ve gotten on your mages, and continuously revise your Research to fit your needs. |
| | |
| | To be clear, Jomon has excellent overall magic availability. They have {{path>W3}} reliably, {{path>E3}} and {{path>N3}} semi-reliably with {{path>E2}} and {{path>N2}} reliably, as well as {{path>A2}} and {{path>F2}} once they’ve made it uw. In addition, they have reliable {{path>S2}} with the ability to boost all of their other paths as high as necessary in combat (easily up to X5 with a small communion, ??Power of the Spheres??, and whichever other boosting spell is necessary). By the mid-game, Jomon can easily cast strong spells in Conjuration, Alteration, Evocation, Construction, Enchantment, and Thaumaturgy. This wide range is extended even more by their national summons (which we’ll discuss later) and excellent forging options, which make Conjuration and Construction more attractive than perhaps they would be on other nations. |
| | |
| | <tabbox Overview> |
| | **??Master Shugenja??** |
| | <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:master_shugenja.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> |
| | * This {{path>E1N1R13,100%FAWEN,100%FAWEN,10%FAWEN}} mage can be recruited in all forts as well as highlands and mountains. |
| | * The 2 CP cost makes Master Shugenja Jomon's most turn efficient combat mage. |
| | * The double random makes for a large spread in magic access, but all have their uses and provide Jomon with a broad range of magical paths. |
| | <tabbox Detailed Analysis> |
| | |
| | The Master Shugenja is, in many ways, the bread-and-butter mage of Jomon, and as such is vitally important in almost any Jomon strategy. They have one of the higher variations on random spreads among mages, which means that what exact variation you’ll get changes a lot. For this reason, they’re often seen as unreliable or somewhat bad mages, but I’d contend that they actually give Jomon solid access to Earth and Nature Magic, as well as having other good uses. To help convey this a bit and show visually the uses Master Shugenja have, we come to a chart: |
| | |
| | {{ :guides:jomon-rovsea:master_shugenja_randoms.png?nolink |}} |
| | |
| | These are loosely organized based on perceived usefulness into the following: |
| | * The shaded areas represent high-value repeat randoms which each end up being a 1/25 chance, with 5 variants giving an overall chance of ⅕ of running into one. These include strong {{path>E3}} or {{path>N3}} mages, as well as weaker but still very useful X2 randoms in the other Elemental paths. |
| | * All {{path>E2}} or {{path>N2}} variants are boxed into green or brown boxes, and with each box encompassing 9/25 variants, with overlap 16/25 will be either {{path>E2}} or {{path>N2}}. Both of these outcomes represent useful combat magic, and you’ll always be able to find uses for either. |
| | * In addition, teal boxes outline all the N/W randoms, which can either natively or via ??Thistle Mace?? cast ??Foul Vapors??, a strong battlefield wipe spell, while also being able to add ??Mossbody?? into Jomon’s buff-blob, a particularly strong defensive spell when combined with other defensive spells. For these reasons, all the N/W crosspaths are also considered to be fairly useful. |
| | * Once all of these variants are taken out, only 2 “low value” {{path>F1A1E1N1}} variants are left, and even these have a couple good uses. All Fire variants can use gems to make fire elementals, {{path>A1N1}} variants can summon Tengu (one of Jomon’s more useful summons, more on them later), and they also serve as good site-searchers and forgers. |
| | |
| | Master Shugenjas can serve a huge variety of functions from ??Protection??/??Mossbody?? point-buffing to large AoE earthbuffs to size 6 Elemental spam to battlefield Nature magic like ??Mass Protection??/??Howl??/??Foul Vapors?? to evocations like ??Poison Cloud??/??Sulphur Haze??/??Earthquake??. They’re a remarkably flexible mage with many uses available from a wide variety of schools. Outside of combat magic they are one of your primary forgers, making bulk Nature gear like ??Thistle Mace??, ??Messenger Boots??, and ??Endless Bag of Wine??, as well as ??Earth Boots??, ??Lightless Lantern?? or ??Owl Quill??, ??Frost Brand??, ??Fire Brand??, etc. |
| | |
| | Master Shugenja are more expensive than normal Shugenjas, but they also offer a much broader access to magic (especially combat magic) than them, which means that they will almost always be prioritized in recruitment. Since Jomon’s only other land mage, the Onmyoji (which will be talked about more next) is slow-to-recruit, Master Shugenjas are by far the most turn-efficient researchers Jomon has access to, and like Shugenjas are even available outside of forts in Mountains and Highlands. Combining these traits means that they’re somewhat easy to spam, keeping Jomon competitive on research speed with most of the other nations in Late Age. |
| | </tabbox> |
| | |
| | Jomon has one serious problem when it comes to their magic access and magi, however: scaling. Because 2 of their 3 primary mages (??Ryujin?? and ??Onmyo-ji??) are slow to recruit, and Ryujin are only available underwater, Jomon has serious issues in expanding their roster of Magi quickly, and largely have to invest more into infrastructure than many other nations in LA. This is only exacerbated by the difficulty in getting underwater in the first place, which often requires pretender intervention and sinking valuable design points into a pretender option capable of getting underwater. |
| | |
| | <tabbox Overview> |
| | **??Onmyo-ji??** |
| | <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:onmyo-ji.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> |
| | * This {{path>S2R13,100%FAWEN,100%FAWEN,10%FAWEN}} mage can be recruited in all forts. |
| | * The {{path>S2}} gives Onmyo-ji a lot of flexibility with ??Power of the Spheres?? |
| | * Their ownly drawback is the 4 CP cost which makes it inefficient to recruit in the early game compared to ??Master Shugenja??. |
| | <tabbox Detailed Analysis> |
| | |
| | Onmyo-ji are the other core land mage available to Jomon. Every Onmyo-ji starts as an {{path>S2}} mage, with similar random paths available as what a Master Shugenja can roll. They have an easy ability to slot into communion, and can cast ??Power of the Spheres??, the astral omni-path boosting spell, for half fatigue (it’s a 100 fatigue spell that takes {{path>S1}} to cast, being one level over halves the fatigue and better allows you to move through an entire script without fatiguing out), which means that while Onmyo-ji may have less initial access to the Elemental and Nature paths, they can easily boost up to a powerful level in combat. Functionally, they are able to cast spells of any crosspath besides Death or Blood in combat, which is the majority of spells in the game. Important spells like ??Storm??, ??Mass Flight??, ??Thunder Fend??, or ??Fire Storm??, which otherwise might be challenging for Jomon to cast, can be put up using these mages. In addition, they’re all solid Astral mages in their own right, with ability to cast ??Light of the Northern Star?? (battlefield wide Astral boosting spell) and ??Power of the Spheres?? to hit {{path>S4}}, enough for Master Enslave, Soul Slay, or Mind Burn with +1 penetration. In communion other vital spells like ??Will of the Fates?? (battlefield wide friendly luck) are easily cast as well. |
| | |
| | Besides their magic access, Onmyo-ji also all start the battle with a sacred bird, called a ??Shikigami??, at their side. This bird will immediately jump into the enemy formation, which has minor use as a distraction and interrupt. Onmyo-ji are also fortune tellers, and relatively cheap at just 145 gold, making them in theory more gold-efficient researchers than the Master Shugenja. Given the wide range of magic access and excellent combat use, there’s just one drawback to use of the Onmyo-ji. Unfortunately, they are slow-to-recruit, meaning that with Jomon’s forts and castles you can only recruit one every other turn. This drastically slows down the speed at which you can mass them, making them impractical researchers in the early game, and requiring quite a bit of make-up on infrastructure to remain competitive when spamming. Everything else aside, this is the single biggest weakness for the mage, keeping you reliant on Master Shugenja, at least for the earliest stages of the game. |
| | </tabbox> |
| | |
| | All of this can be more or less sorted by the mid-game, and ??Master Shugenja?? have enough versatility and use to carry the nation through the very early stages of the game, but you run into another issue as the game goes longer, again in terms of scaling. In short, Master Shugenja and Onmyo-ji fall off, largely due to increasing ease of targeting them in battle as the game goes on. While Jomon is not the only nation with vulnerable human mages in LA, they still have some of the worst, especially with their low morale, and this is compounded by the fact that Jomon’s mages are gem hungry. In an age with generally low gem availability and numerous nations that scale through blood hunting, Jomon tends to rely on Ryujin as a potent raiding and casting tool in the late-game. |
| | |
| | <tabbox Overview> |
| | **??Ryujin??** |
| | <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:ryujin.png?nolink |}}{{ :nations:la:jomon:ryujin_2.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> |
| | * This {{path>W3R15,200%FAEN,10%FAWEN}} sacred mage can only be recruited underwater. |
| | * Ryujin can shapeshift into a ??Ryujin#2105?? dragon form gaining size and stats at the expense of equipment slots. |
| | * The Ryujin is Jomon's nation defining mage. |
| | * High mapmove and both normal and underwater flight gives Ryujin unprecedented mobility. |
| | * The guaranteed X2 in Fire, Air, Earth or Nature means that Ryujin are your most reliable two-path mages, and each type of Ryujin brings something useful to any fight. |
| | * The high mapmove, chassis and path access means that Ryujin make excellent thugs. |
| | <tabbox Detailed Analysis> |
| | Last, but definitely not least we have the Ryujin, in many ways Jomon’s most defining mage, and what sets it apart from everything else in the Late Age. Anybody familiar with Jomon was probably waiting for me to get to this one, so here we go. |
| | |
| | Ryujin are the only mage recruit that Jomon has underwater, but they have a pile of traits that makes them powerful and well worth their 285 gold cost. Ryujin have 34 map-move, with the ability to fly both underwater and on land meaning they have essentially no barriers to their movement. Practically, this makes them amongst the most mobile of any recruit in the game. The 47 hp of the dragon form, in conjunction to built-in resistances to fire (5), shock (5), cold (5), and poison (15), make them difficult to kill with remote spells like ??Fires From Afar?? or ??Seeking Arrow?? (??Mind Hunt?? can still be dangerous). |
| | |
| | Ryujin are also universally strong Water mages, with every Ryujin possessing {{path>W2}} with a built in Dragon Pearl item that grants +{{path>W1}} for a total of {{path>W3}} as well as {{gems>1W}} temporary water gem for in-combat use. In addition, their random paths guarantee another {{path>200%FAEN}}, which makes them the most reliable Elemental mages on the nation. Ryujin have strong stats, decent attack and defense, good hp and strength, solid morale and mr, with 10 natural protection making them high-prot as soon as they put on armor. Combine that with innate weapons like Venomous Fangs (which scales with strength and applies 35 damage Death Poison) and an area of effect damage Tail Sweep, and Ryujin are a very solid thug chassis. All Ryujin can use ??Liquid Body??, ??Quicken Self??, and ??Breath of Winter?? in their thug scripts as well, although these should be balanced around fatigue at end of script. |
| | |
| | While the chassis itself is very strong, it’s also sacred, which allows it to take whatever bless your pretender also has. Ryujin don’t need a strong bless to be powerful and functional within a Jomon build, but it is an extra consideration that whatever you take will also effect them, and any bless that is settled on is usually taken for Ryujin as opposed to any of Jomon’s other sacred troops or summons. In addition, the temporary water gem and high Water magic in general allow Ryujin to be fearsome magi underwater, where they can summon a ??Water Elemental?? for free in any combat they’re a part of. This can help give Jomon an edge over their strong competitors once you’ve massed enough Ryujin. |
| | |
| | Ryujin are important as well for forging and casting. With their insane map move they can often switch from research to front-line combat or raiding instantly, meaning that they can surprise an enemy force by jumping 3 or 4 provinces to drop, for example, ??Foul Vapors??. As well, Ryujin can easily solo province defense or, with support buffs, become difficult-to-dislodge army thugs seeded in with your other troops. In terms of combat casting Ryujin are by far your most durable option, and they can spam out all the Elementals, big nature magic like ??Howl??, ??Foul Vapors??, or ??Mass Protection??, important buffs like ??Arrow Fend??, ??Quickening??/??Quickness??, or just cast strong damage spells like ??Liquify??, ??Bone Melter??, ??Acid Storm??, or ??Freezing Mists??. They’re very versatile, very mobile, and in general just incredibly strong. |
| | |
| | Ryujin do come with 2 major downsides, however. First is the Dragon Pearl itself, which while useful to aid in Water magic, also blocks one of your miscellaneous slots (the item is cursed), and can be picked up by friendly commanders in the case of a Ryujin dying, in theory blocking the slots of other mages. Second is their classification as [[magic being]], because of which Ryujin are particularly vulnerable to counter-thugs wielding ??Moon Blade??s. |
| | |
| | It’s difficult to describe in detail just how impactful Ryujin are to Jomon. At practically every stage of the game after gaining access to them, you’ll be able to find a good use to put them to, although here’s the general thought-process behind how to use each variation: |
| | |
| | <tabbox Fire> |
| | <WRAP column 40px>{{ :magicpath:path_f.png |}}</WRAP>{{path>F2W3}} Fire Ryujin are in many ways the least straight-forward to use. They don’t have the same kind of self-buffing utility as the other 3 variants, so they end up being largely the worst raiders outside of specific circumstances (think Regen bless with ??Phoenix Pyre?? active). Despite this, they’re largely the best forgers since they’re able to make ??Rune Smasher??s and, eventually, a ??Staff of Elemental Mastery?? which can be used to boost up to high-level Elemental globals. Fire-randoms are also some of Jomon’s most reliable Fire mages in general, able to spam out Elementals, put up important battlefield spells like ??Fire Fend??, and spam out fire damage spells like ??Incinerate??. In addition, the {{path>F2W3}} crosspath opens them up to the Acid spells like ??Acid Rain?? and ??Acid Storm??, the latter of which can be effective at cutting down low-protection enemies like ??Swarm?? bugs or Longdead. |
| | |
| | <tabbox Air> |
| | <WRAP column 40px>{{ :magicpath:path_a.png |}}</WRAP>{{path>A2W3}} Air variant Ryujin are vitally important as a mobile form of Air magic in the early mid-game. They’ll be crucial for spells like ??Arrow Fend??, ??Wind Guide?? and ??Thunder Ward??, although they’re not high-level enough to cast ??Storm??, ??Fog Warriors??, or ??Mass Flight??. Despite this, they’re still useful as Air Elemental casters, and like all Ryujin are strong Water casters. Air Ryujin aren’t as strong of solo-thugs as the Earth or Nature variants, although with some form of sustain they can do ok by relying on ??Mirror Image?? and ??Mistform?? buffs. Those same buffs make them fearsome with external buff help, as they can take on the same buffs Earth and Nature Ryujin do (??Mossbody??, ??Regeneration??, ??Ironskin??, ??Enlarge??, etc.) while still having ??Mistform??, which can be difficult to deal with if counter-thugs are absent. |
| | |
| | <tabbox Earth> |
| | <WRAP column 40px>{{ :magicpath:path_e.png |}}</WRAP>{{path>W3E2}} Earth Ryujin variants are in many ways the most straightforward of the Ryujin to use. They use prot-buffs and ??Summon Earthpower?? to be fairly reliable solo-raiders, and are a useful Earth mage to apply more in-combat buffs. As more complex counters come out, they tend to fall off as solo-thugs, but they’re useful in that role throughout the game. Unlike the Fire/Air versions, the only thing they really bring to combat magic that you don’t already have is their Water magic, as Master Shugenja are rather likely to end up as {{path>E2}} mages as well. Still, an overconfident or under-prepared enemy can be pretty easily rocked by an ??Earthquake?? or two, something Ryujin with their general tankiness and flying ability can pull off with much less risk than Jomon’s other mages. |
| | |
| | <tabbox Nature> |
| | <WRAP column 40px>{{ :magicpath:path_n.png |}}</WRAP>{{path>W3N2}} Nature Ryujin are similar to Earth Ryujin in that they’re fairly competent raiders early via ??Mossbody??, ??Personal Regeneration??, and ??Enlarge??, while their in-combat role is also somewhat taken up by Jomon’s other mages. Still, they’re more or less innately immune to ??Foul Vapors??, and with their excellent mobility can surprise the enemy with it in unexpected places. As well, they’re more durable ??Howl?? casters (Howl is a 300 fatigue spell, it can be a bit dangerous for Master Shugenja to cast it), and their crosspath also allows them to cast ??Bone Melter??. Unlike Master Shugenja, they can’t cast ??Strength of Gaia??, so they’re actually not as strong of Nature mages themselves, but they still have plentiful uses. |
| | </tabbox> |
| | |
| | ==== Mage Weaknesses ==== |
| | |
| | Jomon’s land mages all share a few characteristics that make them weaker than a lot of other mages in Dominions. They’re all poor in melee, they all have sub-par hit points, all lack any armor whatsoever, and they all have low morale (technically, Monks have ok morale, but this is still generally true). Taken altogether, these characteristics mean that Jomon’s mage corps, at least the human portion, are quite vulnerable to everything from flankers to archers to combat spells like ??Earthquake?? and morale spells like ??Wailing Winds??. |
| | |
| | Protecting and positioning your mages well enough to get maximum value out of them is important, although it can also mean that their use is more limited than you’d like. Remote spells like ??Flames from the Sky?? (a powerful late-game fire spell that deals fire damage to half the enemies in a province) are devastating to Jomon’s mages, so it’s important to keep this weakness in mind whenever you plan an engagement. |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | ==== Jomon's Holy crosspath spells ==== |
| | These spells all require a crosspath between Holy and one of the paths that Monks of the Fivefold Path have access to. Jomon doesn’t have any other mage-priests in its lineup, so Monks are almost the only mages in the nation (and therefore the game) who can make use of these spells. All of these spells are available from the start of the game as holy spells, a couple among them being particularly useful. |
| | |
| | <tabbox Meditation Sign> |
| | <WRAP group> |
| | <WRAP column 200px centeralign>{{ :guides:jomon-rovsea:meditation_sign.png? |}} \\ \\ </WRAP>Meditation Sign removes 15 fatigue from the caster, and as the spell doesn’t cost any fatigue to cast, this is net positive basically always (someone with very high spellcasting encumbrance might disagree). Because it’s only ever really used on w1 mages, there doesn’t seem to be much use, however this is not the case. All spells which target only the caster have their effects spread from a Communion Master to Communion Slaves within a communion, so one or more H1W1 Monks can restore 15xMonk fatigue on Communion Slaves per combat round. In theory, this allows Jomon to sustain some of the largest communions in the game, although it’s rarely utilized for such, and requires a good deal of setup to prepare. |
| | </WRAP> |
| | <tabbox Earth-Touching Sign> |
| | <WRAP group> |
| | <WRAP column 200px centeralign>{{ :guides:jomon-rovsea:earth-touching_sign.png? |}}</WRAP>Earth-touching Sign has very niche applications for 4 reasons: first, it is only available on one in five Monks, which limits its availability; second, it can only target demons, and so is only ever useful against demons; third, it’s a short range spell, so whichever demon it targets has to be nearby on the battlefield; and lastly, its effect is easy to negate with MR (meaning it’s 8 vs MR on the roll, basically), particularly bad against demons who tend to have above-average MR to begin with. All this being said, when it hits and goes through, it will obliterate any demon in the game. This can be particularly funny if it lands on something valuable and difficult to access like a Mandeha or Onaqui. |
| | </WRAP> |
| | <tabbox Welcome Sign> |
| | <WRAP group> |
| | <WRAP column 200px centeralign>{{ :guides:jomon-rovsea:welcome_sign.png? |}}</WRAP>Welcome Sign is another niche spell, in this case it’s not limited to demons, but the range is even lower. Basically, you have to be directly on top of whoever you’re casting it at, and it’s still relatively easy to resist, but the effect is a charm, which is even stronger than insta-death in that it steals the unit directly. If whoever is afflicted is a commander, they retain their commander status and whatever gear they had on them (contrary to an enslave). This is particularly funny if, say, a kitted-out flying hero with additional heroic trait lands directly next to your mage and is stolen gear and all. |
| | </WRAP> |
| | <tabbox Fear-Not Sign> |
| | <WRAP group> |
| | <WRAP column 200px centeralign>{{ :guides:jomon-rovsea:fear-not_sign.png? |}}</WRAP>Fear-not Sign is one of the more useful holy signs early on, as it’s a scaling AOE [[airshield]] + courage (+1 morale) effect. This helps mitigate some of Jomon’s fear of ranged damage, although it’s hard to gather enough {{path>H1A1}} mages to make good use of it without sacrificing your other combat magic. One potential tactic, however, particularly when layered with a research rush that can convey other juicy buffs, is to make a Master Shugenja with {{path>A1}} or {{path>A2}} a prophet, forcing them into the H/A crosspath, and with additional scaling of 2 squares per extra level just 1 or 2 extra levels of air gives considerably more use. |
| | </WRAP> |
| | <tabbox Teaching Sign> |
| | <WRAP group> |
| | <WRAP column 200px centeralign>{{ :guides:jomon-rovsea:teaching_sign.png? |}}</WRAP>Teaching Sign is by far the strongest of the holy sign spells when considered in a vacuum, as it acts the same as ??Power of the Spheres?? (but with no gem cost or fatigue) by conveying a +1 path boost to all non-holy paths. This boost stacks with other spells like ??Summon Earthpower?? or ??Strength of Gaia??, allowing you to double-boost in certain paths if you have the necessary crosspath. As one of the strongest and most versatile national combat spells in the game, it’s a shame that Jomon is restricted to using it basically only with H1N1 Monks (which effectively become {{path>N2}}, a path Jomon doesn’t lack) and potentially 1 propheted Master Shugenja. |
| | </WRAP> |
| | </tabbox> |
| |
| ===== Earth Serpent ===== | ===== Earth Serpent ===== |
| This is approximately the positioning you should use for an Archer Bait strategy. In theory, the archers should be positioned further down on the Army Setup screen, but in practice this doesn’t reliably grab all the infantry squads, and sometimes one will intercept the Samurai Cavalry before they can hit the rear. | This is approximately the positioning you should use for an Archer Bait strategy. In theory, the archers should be positioned further down on the Army Setup screen, but in practice this doesn’t reliably grab all the infantry squads, and sometimes one will intercept the Samurai Cavalry before they can hit the rear. |
| |
| ===== Mages/Commanders ===== | |
| |
| <WRAP box round> | |
| **??Ninja??** | |
| <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:ninja.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> | |
| * Any-fort recruitable wall-scaling assassins. | |
| * Can assist in expansion and be a general nuisance to the enemy. | |
| * A prophetized ninja can help Jomon get underwater. | |
| ++++ Ninja detailed analysis| | |
| |
| Ninjas are wall-scaling assassins recruit-able out of every Jomon fort which replace access to scouts. While much more expensive than a normal scout, Ninjas are still plenty useful in their given role, despite the lack of magic paths. Ninjas are actually useful during expansion, as their quite high base stats (with 14 defense they actually have more defense than Yamabushi, albeit with lower hp/strength) allow them to semi-reliably take on independents. One typical strategy is to make the starting Ninja a prophet (as Ninjas replace scouts, Jomon starts with a Ninja in place of a scout), and use his smite during assassination battles in expansion. This has the added benefit of giving you a stealthy prophet, and you can later even expand UW using him, given the grace to do so. We’ll go over more specifics of assassin expansion later. | |
| |
| Aside from whatever role they may play in expansion, Ninjas also have decent use as typical anti-player assassins. Their high base stats make them actually quite useful at killing normal commanders with just minimal gear, and with specialized items such as the ??Handful of Acorns?? (a construction 2 Nature item which gives a retinue of 3 vinemen) they can also take on unprepared mages. Later on, I actually have been enjoying using them with ??Black Bow of Botulf?? to feeblemind enemy mages - they have quite high precision, which makes them pretty likely to hit in the short range of an assassination battle. | |
| |
| They’re aided to some extent as well by their partial night-vision, which often gives them a slight edge against those without in around half of assassination battles (for those who don’t know, there’s a 50% chance that an assassination battle will occur at night). Lastly, their ability to scale walls means that you can target them more effectively by trapping mages/commanders inside a fort, then picking them off with specific counters from outside (a sieging army can crack the fort and even allow you to ping with a commander to see specific gear/gem distribution).++++ | |
| </WRAP> | |
| |
| <WRAP box round> | |
| **??Gokenin??, ??Mounted Gokenin??, ??Hatamoto?? and ??Daimyo??** | |
| <WRAP column 160px centeralign> | |
| <WRAP group>{{:nations:la:jomon:gokenin.png?nolink|}}{{:nations:la:jomon:mounted_gokenin.png?nolink|}}</WRAP> | |
| <WRAP group> {{:nations:la:jomon:hatamoto.png?nolink|}}{{:nations:la:jomon:daimyo.png?nolink|}}</WRAP></WRAP> | |
| * Jomon's commander lineup. | |
| * ??Gokenin?? are generally not worth it. | |
| * ??Mounted Gokenin?? has a use because of their mapmove. Can be used for light thugging. | |
| * ??Hatamoto?? are standard 80-Ld commanders for one CP. | |
| * ??Daimyo#1253?? gives the best bonus to Morale and is especially suited for leading ??Ashigaru?? but costs 2 CP. | |
| ++++ Commanders detailed analysis| | |
| |
| //Gokenin:// Gokenin are the most basic and cheapest commander that Jomon has access to. Their stats are solid, they have decent armor and aren’t as vulnerable as many of Jomon’s commanders to ranged weapons, but they’re unremarkable outside of those aspects. If all you need is cheap leadership, they’re serviceable, just like cheap options on a wide variety of other nations in the age. Gokenin are outcompeted in usefulness by most of the other commander options available to Jomon. | |
| |
| //Mounted Gokenin:// For 10 gold more than a standard Gokenin, you get a mounted version. Important to note that it has functionally better stats (because mounted), and superior map-move, meaning it gets around much more quickly (although it also can’t boost its mapmove with boots). Mounted Gokenin can be used as light-thugs/counter-thugs/army thugs, given weapons and point-buffs such as iron warriors, mossbody, and sometimes body ethereal, then seeded into an army. They fight this role because they’re still cheap, they have the best stats of Jomon’s human commanders, and they are more likely to hit first with their mounted combat speed. Later on, we’ll see that Ryujin make much better general-use thugs, although they’re so different that it’s hard to directly compare uses. All-in-all, Mounted Gokenin are almost identical in price to a normal Gokenin, but have the same leadership potential, more map move, and generally better versatility, so they’re more likely to be seen, although their role as army leader is still overshadowed by Jomon’s other options. | |
| |
| //Hatamoto:// Hatamoto are the “standard” commander for Jomon. They’re formation leaders with 80 leadership for 1 commander point (cp), they have the same solid map-move as Mounted Gokenin, but convey more morale from their 3 squad limit. At this point it’s fair to point out that Jomon has the ability natively to forge the Horn of Valor, Herald Lance, and Helmet of Heroes, all the generally available morale-boosting items, which together convey a +4 morale boost. This allows them to stack morale bonuses and have pretty good overall morale on their troops, particularly the more elite Samurai variants. | |
| |
| //Daimyo:// Like many human or human adjacent nations in LA (such as Agartha, Pythium, Arcoscephale, and Bogarus), Jomon has any-fort 120 leadership commanders for 2 cp. Daimyo are even more effective at stacking morale, given that they convey +2 morale total on their squads, and if you can afford them they make excellent army leaders. They’re more expensive than your other leaders, but they’ll still often find good use, particularly if massing more lower-morale troops like Ashigaru, although 2 Hatamoto still lead more than 1 Daimyo, for the same cp cost. Generally speaking, Daimyo are too expensive to be used as thugs/counter-thugs, despite having largely similar stats to Mounted Gokenin.++++ | |
| </WRAP> | |
| |
| <WRAP box round> | |
| **??Kannushi??** | |
| <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:kannushi.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> | |
| * Expensive mediocre priest with only 10 Ld and the risk of starting with old age. | |
| * {{path>H2,10%FAWEN}} gives limited utility compared to {{path>H1}} and is not worth the higher gold and 2 CP cost. The slight 10% chance of a magic path is not enough to compensate for the increased cost. | |
| ++++Kannushi detailed analysis| | |
| |
| The Kannushi is the first of Jomon’s Priest/Mage commanders, but unfortunately is rather sub-par as Jomon’s only priest with leadership. Jomon actually has some of the worst priests in the game, with the Kannushi being expensive, highly vulnerable, especially when old (this will be most, but not all, of the time, with 55/50 age on average), and with limited utility. They can’t research, have limited leadership ability, and the Holy 2 gives limited advantage over H1, which is usually heavily outweighed by having higher price and a 2 cp cost. One of the reasons Jomon is disincentivized from taking a strong bless is actually because they’d need either a cap-external temple to combine a priest with a normal commander, or they’d need to make Kannushi to lead their sacreds (at least in expansion). With no protection, basically no attack or defense skill, and low hp (like all of Jomon’s stuff), Kannushi are also highly vulnerable from everything to stray arrows to wolves from Howl to Earthquake damage. | |
| |
| To be fair, 1/10 Kannushi will be mages as well, and have slightly more utility, they are better than H1 for preaching, so can help maintain good scales/dominion spread, and they are able to help you stack morale with Sermon of Courage. All-in-all, however, they’re not a great option and are one of Jomon’s weaker points.++++ | |
| </WRAP> | |
| |
| <WRAP box round> | |
| **??Monk of the Fivefold Path??** | |
| <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:monk_of_the_fivefold_path.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> | |
| * Jomon's cheapest mage with {{path>H1R7,100%FAWEN}}. | |
| * Their low upkeep makes them efficient researchers and forgers as well as temple builders. | |
| * As a combat mage, the Monk is underwhelming but does get access to Jomon's national Holy crosspath spells. | |
| ++++Monk of the Fivefold Path detailed analysis| | |
| |
| The Monk of the Fivefold Path is Jomon’s second priest and introduction to Jomon’s magic access as well. Jomon’s magic access largely follows the same rule as their Monks’, comprising largely of the 4 Elemental paths (Fire, Air, Water, and Earth) in addition to Nature. Monks are the cheapest mage in Jomon’s arsenal at 70 gold, and with the upkeep reduction of sacred they are also the most gold efficient researcher, but on the flip side they’re also fairly weak combat casters. There are a couple key roles that Monks can still end up filling for Jomon, however, among them being efficient researchers, temple-builders who can also research, cheap forgers, and because they can make both temples and labs, pretty useful for going underwater and building infrastructure when required (more on that later). If you’ve seen [[https://youtu.be/jkJre_swPwY|Attica’s Jomon guide]] he quite enjoys making large use of Jomon’s monks, which is aided by their fairly unique access to Jomon’s national Holy crosspath spells.++++ | |
| </WRAP> | |
| |
| <WRAP box round> | |
| **??Shugenja??** | |
| <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:shugenja.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> | |
| * This {{path>E1R9,100%FAWEN}} mage can be recruited in all forts as well as highlands and mountains. | |
| * Their price does not match their combat utility, especially considering Jomon's access to ??Master Shugenja??. | |
| ++++Shugenja detailed analysis| | |
| |
| Shugenjas are one of the more basic mages available to Jomon, with the distinction of being available in all Highland and Mountain provinces as well as forts. They have the same randoms as a Monk of the Fivefold path, with the addition of a single path of Earth magic. They have better research per turn than a Monk (although less efficiency), and the extra earthpath means they can random {{path>E2}}, a pretty useful combat path. Unfortunately, outside of that they have little additional utility compared to Monks, besides in their ability to forge. For the combat ability they offer they’re overpriced, especially when the next mage in line, the Master Shugenja, is considered. If you really need to scale research, forge (particularly in earth), and you’re short on money, you might make a few Shugenja, but they’ll never be the core of Jomon’s strategy.++++ | |
| </WRAP> | |
| |
| <WRAP box round> | |
| <tabbox Overview> | |
| **??Master Shugenja??** | |
| <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:master_shugenja.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> | |
| * This {{path>E1N1R13,100%FAWEN,100%FAWEN,10%FAWEN}} mage can be recruited in all forts as well as highlands and mountains. | |
| * The 2 CP cost makes Master Shugenja Jomon's most turn efficient combat mage. | |
| * The double random makes for a large spread in magic access, but all have their uses and provide Jomon with a broad range of magical paths. | |
| <tabbox Detailed Analysis> | |
| |
| The Master Shugenja is, in many ways, the bread-and-butter mage of Jomon, and as such is vitally important in almost any Jomon strategy. They have one of the higher variations on random spreads among mages, which means that what exact variation you’ll get changes a lot. For this reason, they’re often seen as unreliable or somewhat bad mages, but I’d contend that they actually give Jomon solid access to Earth and Nature Magic, as well as having other good uses. To help convey this a bit and show visually the uses Master Shugenja have, we come to a chart: | |
| |
| {{ :guides:jomon-rovsea:master_shugenja_randoms.png?nolink |}} | |
| |
| These are loosely organized based on perceived usefulness into the following: | |
| * The shaded areas represent high-value repeat randoms which each end up being a 1/25 chance, with 5 variants giving an overall chance of ⅕ of running into one. These include strong {{path>E3}} or {{path>N3}} mages, as well as weaker but still very useful X2 randoms in the other Elemental paths. | |
| * All {{path>E2}} or {{path>N2}} variants are boxed into green or brown boxes, and with each box encompassing 9/25 variants, with overlap 16/25 will be either {{path>E2}} or {{path>N2}}. Both of these outcomes represent useful combat magic, and you’ll always be able to find uses for either. | |
| * In addition, teal boxes outline all the N/W randoms, which can either natively or via ??Thistle Mace?? cast ??Foul Vapors??, a strong battlefield wipe spell, while also being able to add ??Mossbody?? into Jomon’s buff-blob, a particularly strong defensive spell when combined with other defensive spells. For these reasons, all the N/W crosspaths are also considered to be fairly useful. | |
| * Once all of these variants are taken out, only 2 “low value” {{path>F1A1E1N1}} variants are left, and even these have a couple good uses. All Fire variants can use gems to make fire elementals, {{path>A1N1}} variants can summon Tengu (one of Jomon’s more useful summons, more on them later), and they also serve as good site-searchers and forgers. | |
| |
| Master Shugenjas can serve a huge variety of functions from ??Protection??/??Mossbody?? point-buffing to large AoE earthbuffs to size 6 Elemental spam to battlefield Nature magic like ??Mass Protection??/??Howl??/??Foul Vapors?? to evocations like ??Poison Cloud??/??Sulphur Haze??/??Earthquake??. They’re a remarkably flexible mage with many uses available from a wide variety of schools. Outside of combat magic they are one of your primary forgers, making bulk Nature gear like ??Thistle Mace??, ??Messenger Boots??, and ??Endless Bag of Wine??, as well as ??Earth Boots??, ??Lightless Lantern?? or ??Owl Quill??, ??Frost Brand??, ??Fire Brand??, etc. | |
| |
| Master Shugenja are more expensive than normal Shugenjas, but they also offer a much broader access to magic (especially combat magic) than them, which means that they will almost always be prioritized in recruitment. Since Jomon’s only other land mage, the Onmyoji (which will be talked about more next) is slow-to-recruit, Master Shugenjas are by far the most turn-efficient researchers Jomon has access to, and like Shugenjas are even available outside of forts in Mountains and Highlands. Combining these traits means that they’re somewhat easy to spam, keeping Jomon competitive on research speed with most of the other nations in Late Age. | |
| </tabbox> | |
| </WRAP> | |
| |
| <WRAP box round> | |
| **??Onmyo-ji??** | |
| <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:onmyo-ji.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> | |
| * This {{path>S2R13,100%FAWEN,100%FAWEN,10%FAWEN}} mage can be recruited in all forts. | |
| * The {{path>S2}} gives Onmyo-ji a lot of flexibility with ??Power of the Spheres?? | |
| * TTheir ownly drawback is the 4 CP cost which makes it inefficient to recruit in the early game compared to ??Master Shugenja??. | |
| ++++Onmyo-ji detailed analysis| | |
| |
| Onmyo-ji are the other core land mage available to Jomon. Every Onmyo-ji starts as an {{path>S2}} mage, with similar random paths available as what a Master Shugenja can roll. They have an easy ability to slot into communion, and can cast ??Power of the Spheres??, the astral omni-path boosting spell, for half fatigue (it’s a 100 fatigue spell that takes {{path>S1}} to cast, being one level over halves the fatigue and better allows you to move through an entire script without fatiguing out), which means that while Onmyo-ji may have less initial access to the Elemental and Nature paths, they can easily boost up to a powerful level in combat. Functionally, they are able to cast spells of any crosspath besides Death or Blood in combat, which is the majority of spells in the game. Important spells like ??Storm??, ??Mass Flight??, ??Thunder Fend??, or ??Fire Storm??, which otherwise might be challenging for Jomon to cast, can be put up using these mages. In addition, they’re all solid Astral mages in their own right, with ability to cast ??Light of the Northern Star?? (battlefield wide Astral boosting spell) and ??Power of the Spheres?? to hit {{path>S4}}, enough for Master Enslave, Soul Slay, or Mind Burn with +1 penetration. In communion other vital spells like ??Will of the Fates?? (battlefield wide friendly luck) are easily cast as well. | |
| |
| Besides their magic access, Onmyo-ji also all start the battle with a sacred bird, called a ??Shikigami??, at their side. This bird will immediately jump into the enemy formation, which has minor use as a distraction and interrupt. Onmyo-ji are also fortune tellers, and relatively cheap at just 145 gold, making them in theory more gold-efficient researchers than the Master Shugenja. Given the wide range of magic access and excellent combat use, there’s just one drawback to use of the Onmyo-ji. Unfortunately, they are slow-to-recruit, meaning that with Jomon’s forts and castles you can only recruit one every other turn. This drastically slows down the speed at which you can mass them, making them impractical researchers in the early game, and requiring quite a bit of make-up on infrastructure to remain competitive when spamming. Everything else aside, this is the single biggest weakness for the mage, keeping you reliant on Master Shugenja, at least for the earliest stages of the game.++++ | |
| </WRAP> | |
| |
| ==== Mage Weaknesses ==== | |
| |
| Jomon’s land mages all share a few characteristics that make them weaker than a lot of other mages in Dominions. They’re all poor in melee, they all have sub-par hit points, all lack any armor whatsoever, and they all have low morale (technically, Monks have ok morale, but this is still generally true). Taken altogether, these characteristics mean that Jomon’s mage corps, at least the human portion, are quite vulnerable to everything from flankers to archers to combat spells like ??Earthquake?? and morale spells like ??Wailing Winds??. | |
| |
| Protecting and positioning your mages well enough to get maximum value out of them is important, although it can also mean that their use is more limited than you’d like. Remote spells like ??Flames from the Sky?? (a powerful late-game fire spell that deals fire damage to half the enemies in a province) are devastating to Jomon’s mages, so it’s important to keep this weakness in mind whenever you plan an engagement. | |
| |
| |
| ===== Underwater Recruits ===== | |
| Outside of the land recruits, all of whom are available from the start of the game, Jomon also has the ability to recruit out of underwater forts. Unfortunately, it isn’t very easy for Jomon to get underwater, at least compared to many of the other amphibious-capable Late Age nations, so access to these troops and mages will rely largely on build and diplomacy. | |
| |
| <WRAP box round> | |
| **??Shrimp Soldier??** | |
| <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:shrimp_soldier.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> | |
| * Jomon's only aquatic recruit. | |
| * Relatively cheap with high strength, but ironically their weapon suffers a -1 penalty underwater. | |
| * Good versus enemy nations with strong underwater troops. | |
| * Magic resistance 8 is a potential liability. | |
| ++++ Shrimp soldier detailed analysis| | |
| |
| Shrimp Soldiers are the only recruitable nations troop or commander available to Jomon which is entirely aquatic. As such, their general use is harshly limited by their inability to fight anywhere except below the waves. That being said, the Shrimp Soldier is actually quite useful in their watery combat role. They have solid hit points and protection, wield 2 handed weapons which do solid damage, particularly with Strength of Giants, and come at the low price of just 10 gold. The pierce/slash nature of their glaive unfortunately means that they suffer an additional -1 attack penalty (non-piercing weapons of length greater than 1 suffer attack penalties underwater, since this is pierce/slash it’s only a -1 penalty, if it was fully slashing it’d be higher), but their defense skill is still adequate, and with production scales they’re easy enough to mass. These are particularly useful when going up against the stronger amphibious/aquatic nations of Atlantis, Erytheia, and R’lyeh. Their magic resistance is low at 8, so if possible some form of Antimagic is quite helpful for dealing with any of the astral mages one might run into (or mind-blasters), but Shrimp Soldiers are fairly well suited to their role overall.++++ | |
| </WRAP> | |
| <WRAP box round> | |
| **??Shark Warrior??** | |
| <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:shark_warrior.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> | |
| * Amphibian underwater recruit. | |
| * In many ways the strongest troop available to Jomon. | |
| * Pairs well with Jomon's size 2 units. | |
| * Very expensive and hard to amass though. | |
| ++++ Shark Warrior detailed analysis| | |
| |
| The mighty Shark Warrior is, in many ways, the strongest troop available to Jomon. They have good protection, high damage, solid attack skill, high hit points, and can see in the dark. A few quirks stand out still: much of their protection is made up by their natural protection of 7, making Spell-based protection buffs less valuable, and they aren’t vulnerable to head hits (despite having no head armor) because they don’t have heads to hit. Aside from these, they’re just very beefy, well armored boys with hard hitting weapons. Naturally, they mix in very well with the rest of Jomon’s game plan by taking buffs from spells (which makes them even tankier) and wading into the general melee. At size 4, they’re normally 1 per square, but can be seeded in with Jomon’s human troops to fully fill a square, this can help by letting Shark Warriors tank ⅔ of hits in the square for Jomon’s somewhat fragile infantry, while the infantry help increase the attack density of the Shark Warriors with an additional high-quality attack. | |
| |
| Unlike most of the other troops Jomon has access to, Shark Warriors are expensive and difficult to mass, boasting the highest gold cost and resource cost, with recruitment point cost only second to Jomon’s cavalry. In conjunction with the necessity of having an underwater fort, Shark Warriors are therefore difficult to mass, and you’ll almost never have a sizable number of them until well into the game.++++ | |
| </WRAP> | |
| |
| <WRAP box round> | |
| **??Crab General??** | |
| <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:crab_general.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> | |
| * Primary amphibious leader. | |
| * Only 40 Ld but inexpensive with good stats and high hp. | |
| * The armor-piercing pincer attack is especially good vs. high-Protection enemies. | |
| ++++ Crab General detailed analysis| | |
| |
| Crab Generals are the primary amphibious leaders available to Jomon. They only have 40 leadership, but they’re not expensive, and actually have somewhat formidable combat stats on top. With 15 natural protection, they’re quite well armored out of the box, and have a hard hitting glaive and armor piercing pincer attack that can mulch enemies. Combined with their 25 hp they are by far the most durable of Jomon’s recruited troop leaders, which gives them some utility outside of just ferrying around the underwater recruitables.++++ | |
| </WRAP> | |
| <WRAP box round> | |
| <tabbox Overview> | |
| **??Ryujin??** | |
| <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:ryujin.png?nolink |}}{{ :nations:la:jomon:ryujin_2.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> | |
| * This {{path>W3R15,200%FAEN,10%FAWEN}} sacred mage can only be recruited underwater. | |
| * Ryujin can shapeshift into a ??Ryujin#2105?? dragon form gaining size and stats at the expense of equipment slots. | |
| * The Ryujin is Jomon's nation defining mage. | |
| * High mapmove and both normal and underwater flight gives Ryujin unprecedented mobility. | |
| * The guaranteed X2 in Fire, Air, Earth or Nature means that Ryujin are your most reliable two-path mages, and each type of Ryujin brings something useful to any fight. | |
| * The high mapmove, chassis and path access means that Ryujin make excellent thugs. | |
| <tabbox Detailed Analysis> | |
| Last, but definitely not least we have the Ryujin, in many ways Jomon’s most defining mage, and what sets it apart from everything else in the Late Age. Anybody familiar with Jomon was probably waiting for me to get to this one, so here we go. | |
| |
| Ryujin are the only mage recruit that Jomon has underwater, but they have a pile of traits that makes them powerful and well worth their 285 gold cost. Ryujin have 34 map-move, with the ability to fly both underwater and on land meaning they have essentially no barriers to their movement. Practically, this makes them amongst the most mobile of any recruit in the game. The 47 hp of the dragon form, in conjunction to built-in resistances to fire (5), shock (5), cold (5), and poison (15), make them difficult to kill with remote spells like ??Fires From Afar?? or ??Seeking Arrow?? (??Mind Hunt?? can still be dangerous). | |
| |
| Ryujin are also universally strong Water mages, with every Ryujin possessing {{path>W2}} with a built in Dragon Pearl item that grants +{{path>W1}} for a total of {{path>W3}} as well as {{gems>1W}} temporary water gem for in-combat use. In addition, their random paths guarantee another {{path>200%FAEN}}, which makes them the most reliable Elemental mages on the nation. Ryujin have strong stats, decent attack and defense, good hp and strength, solid morale and mr, with 10 natural protection making them high-prot as soon as they put on armor. Combine that with innate weapons like Venomous Fangs (which scales with strength and applies 35 damage Death Poison) and an area of effect damage Tail Sweep, and Ryujin are a very solid thug chassis. All Ryujin can use ??Liquid Body??, ??Quicken Self??, and ??Breath of Winter?? in their thug scripts as well, although these should be balanced around fatigue at end of script. | |
| |
| While the chassis itself is very strong, it’s also sacred, which allows it to take whatever bless your pretender also has. Ryujin don’t need a strong bless to be powerful and functional within a Jomon build, but it is an extra consideration that whatever you take will also effect them, and any bless that is settled on is usually taken for Ryujin as opposed to any of Jomon’s other sacred troops or summons. In addition, the temporary water gem and high Water magic in general allow Ryujin to be fearsome magi underwater, where they can summon a ??Water Elemental?? for free in any combat they’re a part of. This can help give Jomon an edge over their strong competitors once you’ve massed enough Ryujin. | |
| |
| Ryujin are important as well for forging and casting. With their insane map move they can often switch from research to front-line combat or raiding instantly, meaning that they can surprise an enemy force by jumping 3 or 4 provinces to drop, for example, ??Foul Vapors??. As well, Ryujin can easily solo province defense or, with support buffs, become difficult-to-dislodge army thugs seeded in with your other troops. In terms of combat casting Ryujin are by far your most durable option, and they can spam out all the Elementals, big nature magic like ??Howl??, ??Foul Vapors??, or ??Mass Protection??, important buffs like ??Arrow Fend??, ??Quickening??/??Quickness??, or just cast strong damage spells like ??Liquify??, ??Bone Melter??, ??Acid Storm??, or ??Freezing Mists??. They’re very versatile, very mobile, and in general just incredibly strong. | |
| |
| Ryujin do come with 2 major downsides, however. First is the Dragon Pearl itself, which while useful to aid in Water magic, also blocks one of your miscellaneous slots (the item is cursed), and can be picked up by friendly commanders in the case of a Ryujin dying, in theory blocking the slots of other mages. Second is their classification as [[magic beings]], because of which Ryujin are particularly vulnerable to counter-thugs wielding ??Moon Blade??s. | |
| |
| It’s difficult to describe in detail just how impactful Ryujin are to Jomon. At practically every stage of the game after gaining access to them, you’ll be able to find a good use to put them to, although here’s the general thought-process behind how to use each variation: | |
| |
| <tabbox Fire> | |
| <WRAP column 40px>{{ :magicpath:path_f.png |}}</WRAP>{{path>F2W3}} Fire Ryujin are in many ways the least straight-forward to use. They don’t have the same kind of self-buffing utility as the other 3 variants, so they end up being largely the worst raiders outside of specific circumstances (think Regen bless with ??Phoenix Pyre?? active). Despite this, they’re largely the best forgers since they’re able to make ??Rune Smasher??s and, eventually, a ??Staff of Elemental Mastery?? which can be used to boost up to high-level Elemental globals. Fire-randoms are also some of Jomon’s most reliable Fire mages in general, able to spam out Elementals, put up important battlefield spells like ??Fire Fend??, and spam out fire damage spells like ??Incinerate??. In addition, the {{path>F2W3}} crosspath opens them up to the Acid spells like ??Acid Rain?? and ??Acid Storm??, the latter of which can be effective at cutting down low-protection enemies like ??Swarm?? bugs or Longdead. | |
| |
| <tabbox Air> | |
| <WRAP column 40px>{{ :magicpath:path_a.png |}}</WRAP>{{path>A2W3}} Air variant Ryujin are vitally important as a mobile form of Air magic in the early mid-game. They’ll be crucial for spells like ??Arrow Fend??, ??Wind Guide?? and ??Thunder Ward??, although they’re not high-level enough to cast ??Storm??, ??Fog Warriors??, or ??Mass Flight??. Despite this, they’re still useful as Air Elemental casters, and like all Ryujin are strong Water casters. Air Ryujin aren’t as strong of solo-thugs as the Earth or Nature variants, although with some form of sustain they can do ok by relying on ??Mirror Image?? and ??Mistform?? buffs. Those same buffs make them fearsome with external buff help, as they can take on the same buffs Earth and Nature Ryujin do (??Mossbody??, ??Regeneration??, ??Ironskin??, ??Enlarge??, etc.) while still having ??Mistform??, which can be difficult to deal with if counter-thugs are absent. | |
| |
| <tabbox Earth> | |
| <WRAP column 40px>{{ :magicpath:path_e.png |}}</WRAP>{{path>W3E2}} Earth Ryujin variants are in many ways the most straightforward of the Ryujin to use. They use prot-buffs and ??Summon Earthpower?? to be fairly reliable solo-raiders, and are a useful Earth mage to apply more in-combat buffs. As more complex counters come out, they tend to fall off as solo-thugs, but they’re useful in that role throughout the game. Unlike the Fire/Air versions, the only thing they really bring to combat magic that you don’t already have is their Water magic, as Master Shugenja are rather likely to end up as {{path>E2}} mages as well. Still, an overconfident or under-prepared enemy can be pretty easily rocked by an ??Earthquake?? or two, something Ryujin with their general tankiness and flying ability can pull off with much less risk than Jomon’s other mages. | |
| |
| <tabbox Nature> | |
| <WRAP column 40px>{{ :magicpath:path_n.png |}}</WRAP>{{path>W3N2}} Nature Ryujin are similar to Earth Ryujin in that they’re fairly competent raiders early via ??Mossbody??, ??Personal Regeneration??, and ??Enlarge??, while their in-combat role is also somewhat taken up by Jomon’s other mages. Still, they’re more or less innately immune to ??Foul Vapors??, and with their excellent mobility can surprise the enemy with it in unexpected places. As well, they’re more durable ??Howl?? casters (Howl is a 300 fatigue spell, it can be a bit dangerous for Master Shugenja to cast it), and their crosspath also allows them to cast ??Bone Melter??. Unlike Master Shugenja, they can’t cast ??Strength of Gaia??, so they’re actually not as strong of Nature mages themselves, but they still have plentiful uses. | |
| </tabbox> | |
| </WRAP> | |
| |
| ===== Basic Mage Strategy, Research Goals, and Scaling ===== | |
| <WRAP box round half right> | |
| **Early research goals:** \\ \\ | |
| //Conjuration// \\ | |
| **3** Small Fire/Air/Earth/Water Elementals • ??Summon Earthpower?? • ??Phoenix Power?? \\ \\ | |
| //Alteration// \\ | |
| **2** ??Earth Meld?? • ??Mirror Image?? • ??Stoneskin?? • ??Enlarge?? • ??Quicken Self?? \\ | |
| **3** ??Protection?? • ??Mistform?? • ??Mossbody?? • ??Luck?? • ??Ironskin?? \\ | |
| **4** ??Quickness?? • ??Body Ethereal?? • ??Liquid Body?? • ??Temper Flesh?? • ??Swarm?? • ??Wind Guide?? \\ \\ | |
| //Construction// \\ | |
| **2** Magic Items forging \\ | |
| **3** ??Legions of Steel?? \\ \\ | |
| //Enchantment// \\ | |
| **2** ??Personal Regeneration?? • ??Breath of Winter??\\ | |
| **3** ??Strength of Giants?? • ??Regeneration?? • ??Fire Shield?? \\ | |
| **4** ??Poison Ward?? • ??Antimagic?? • ??Flaming Arrows?? | |
| </WRAP> | |
| Jomon’s basic mage strategy is fairly reliable in the early game, but it will diversify rapidly based on what’s necessary into particular matchups. Early game, your research will be driven by the most reliable Master Shugenja paths, Nature and Earth. As such, early-game focus is on paths such as | |
| * Conjuration 3 | |
| * Alteration 3-4 | |
| * Construction 3 | |
| * Enchantment 3-4 | |
| |
| Jomon has a lot of utility in a lot of the different Magic Schools (basically everything besides Blood), so it’s important to judge which opponents you think you’ll fight, what random paths you’ve gotten on your mages, and continuously revise your Research to fit your needs. | |
| |
| To be clear, Jomon has excellent overall magic availability. They have {{path>W3}} reliably, {{path>E3}} and {{path>N3}} semi-reliably with {{path>E2}} and {{path>N2}} reliably, as well as {{path>A2}} and {{path>F2}} once they’ve made it uw. In addition, they have reliable {{path>S2}} with the ability to boost all of their other paths as high as necessary in combat (easily up to X5 with a small communion, ??Power of the Spheres??, and whichever other boosting spell is necessary). By the mid-game, Jomon can easily cast strong spells in Conjuration, Alteration, Evocation, Construction, Enchantment, and Thaumaturgy. This wide range is extended even more by their national summons (which we’ll discuss later) and excellent forging options, which make Conjuration and Construction more attractive than perhaps they would be on other nations. | |
| |
| Jomon has one serious problem when it comes to their magic access and magi, however: scaling. Because 2 of their 3 primary mages (??Ryujin?? and ??Onmyo-ji??) are slow to recruit, and Ryujin are only available underwater, Jomon has serious issues in expanding their roster of Magi quickly, and largely have to invest more into infrastructure than many other nations in LA. This is only exacerbated by the difficulty in getting underwater in the first place, which often requires pretender intervention and sinking valuable design points into a pretender option capable of getting underwater. | |
| |
| All of this can be more or less sorted by the mid-game, and ??Master Shugenja?? have enough versatility and use to carry the nation through the very early stages of the game, but you run into another issue as the game goes longer, again in terms of scaling. In short, Master Shugenja and Onmyo-ji fall off, largely due to increasing ease of targeting them in battle as the game goes on. While Jomon is not the only nation with vulnerable human mages in LA, they still have some of the worst, especially with their low morale, and this is compounded by the fact that Jomon’s mages are gem hungry. In an age with generally low gem availability and numerous nations that scale through blood hunting, Jomon tends to rely on Ryujin as a potent raiding and casting tool in the late-game. | |
| |
| ==== Jomon's Holy crosspath spells ==== | |
| These spells all require a crosspath between Holy and one of the paths that Monks of the Fivefold Path have access to. Jomon doesn’t have any other mage-priests in its lineup, so Monks are almost the only mages in the nation (and therefore the game) who can make use of these spells. All of these spells are available from the start of the game as holy spells, a couple among them being particularly useful. | |
| |
| <tabbox Meditation Sign> | |
| <WRAP group> | |
| <WRAP column 200px centeralign>{{ :guides:jomon-rovsea:meditation_sign.png? |}} \\ \\ </WRAP>Meditation Sign removes 15 fatigue from the caster, and as the spell doesn’t cost any fatigue to cast, this is net positive basically always (someone with very high spellcasting encumbrance might disagree). Because it’s only ever really used on w1 mages, there doesn’t seem to be much use, however this is not the case. All spells which target only the caster have their effects spread from a Communion Master to Communion Slaves within a communion, so one or more H1W1 Monks can restore 15xMonk fatigue on Communion Slaves per combat round. In theory, this allows Jomon to sustain some of the largest communions in the game, although it’s rarely utilized for such, and requires a good deal of setup to prepare. | |
| </WRAP> | |
| <tabbox Earth-Touching Sign> | |
| <WRAP group> | |
| <WRAP column 200px centeralign>{{ :guides:jomon-rovsea:earth-touching_sign.png? |}}</WRAP>Earth-touching Sign has very niche applications for 4 reasons: first, it is only available on one in five Monks, which limits its availability; second, it can only target demons, and so is only ever useful against demons; third, it’s a short range spell, so whichever demon it targets has to be nearby on the battlefield; and lastly, its effect is easy to negate with MR (meaning it’s 8 vs MR on the roll, basically), particularly bad against demons who tend to have above-average MR to begin with. All this being said, when it hits and goes through, it will obliterate any demon in the game. This can be particularly funny if it lands on something valuable and difficult to access like a Mandeha or Onaqui. | |
| </WRAP> | |
| <tabbox Welcome Sign> | |
| <WRAP group> | |
| <WRAP column 200px centeralign>{{ :guides:jomon-rovsea:welcome_sign.png? |}}</WRAP>Welcome Sign is another niche spell, in this case it’s not limited to demons, but the range is even lower. Basically, you have to be directly on top of whoever you’re casting it at, and it’s still relatively easy to resist, but the effect is a charm, which is even stronger than insta-death in that it steals the unit directly. If whoever is afflicted is a commander, they retain their commander status and whatever gear they had on them (contrary to an enslave). This is particularly funny if, say, a kitted-out flying hero with additional heroic trait lands directly next to your mage and is stolen gear and all. | |
| </WRAP> | |
| <tabbox Fear-Not Sign> | |
| <WRAP group> | |
| <WRAP column 200px centeralign>{{ :guides:jomon-rovsea:fear-not_sign.png? |}}</WRAP>Fear-not Sign is one of the more useful holy signs early on, as it’s a scaling AOE [[airshield]] + courage (+1 morale) effect. This helps mitigate some of Jomon’s fear of ranged damage, although it’s hard to gather enough {{path>H1A1}} mages to make good use of it without sacrificing your other combat magic. One potential tactic, however, particularly when layered with a research rush that can convey other juicy buffs, is to make a Master Shugenja with {{path>A1}} or {{path>A2}} a prophet, forcing them into the H/A crosspath, and with additional scaling of 2 squares per extra level just 1 or 2 extra levels of air gives considerably more use. | |
| </WRAP> | |
| <tabbox Teaching Sign> | |
| <WRAP group> | |
| <WRAP column 200px centeralign>{{ :guides:jomon-rovsea:teaching_sign.png? |}}</WRAP>Teaching Sign is by far the strongest of the holy sign spells when considered in a vacuum, as it acts the same as ??Power of the Spheres?? (but with no gem cost or fatigue) by conveying a +1 path boost to all non-holy paths. This boost stacks with other spells like ??Summon Earthpower?? or ??Strength of Gaia??, allowing you to double-boost in certain paths if you have the necessary crosspath. As one of the strongest and most versatile national combat spells in the game, it’s a shame that Jomon is restricted to using it basically only with H1N1 Monks (which effectively become {{path>N2}}, a path Jomon doesn’t lack) and potentially 1 propheted Master Shugenja. | |
| </WRAP> | |
| </tabbox> | |
| ===== -- Mid-Game --===== | ===== -- Mid-Game --===== |
| |
| * //**Alteration 5:**// Protection buffs like ??Wooden Warriors??, ??Mossbody??, and ??Iron Warriors??. Chaff generation through ??Swarm??, and a wide variety of disabling spells for Water, Earth, and Air mages. Plenty of self-buffs for thugs as well. Resistance buffs at Level 5, ??Wind Guide?? to make all your mages more accurate, and ??Maws of the Earth?? to significantly increase Earth mage combat capability. | * //**Alteration 5:**// Protection buffs like ??Wooden Warriors??, ??Mossbody??, and ??Iron Warriors??. Chaff generation through ??Swarm??, and a wide variety of disabling spells for Water, Earth, and Air mages. Plenty of self-buffs for thugs as well. Resistance buffs at Level 5, ??Wind Guide?? to make all your mages more accurate, and ??Maws of the Earth?? to significantly increase Earth mage combat capability. |
| |
| * //**Evocation 5:**// Battlefield effects like ??Mist??, ??Rain??, ??Storm??, and (more rarely) ??Earthquake??. Ryujin can also contribute with spells like ??Freezing Mists?? or ??Acid Rain??. Disabling spells like ??Web??, ??Slime??, or ??Sleep Cloud??. In conjunction with Conjuration 3-5 Evocation is particularly powerful. ??Sulphur Haze?, ??Poison Cloud??, ?/Lightning Bolt?? (in conjunction with ??Storm??), ??Healing Mist??, ??Falling Fires?? (or ??Fireball??) become available much more readily with the path-boosting spells in Conjuration, or through help from summons in that same school. This can also be true of spells in other schools, but given that many Evocation spells need a sufficient mass of casts to be effective, it’s particularly true here. | * //**Evocation 5:**// Battlefield effects like ??Mist??, ??Rain??, ??Storm??, and (more rarely) ??Earthquake??. Ryujin can also contribute with spells like ??Freezing Mists?? or ??Acid Rain??. Disabling spells like ??Web??, ??Slime??, or ??Sleep Cloud??. In conjunction with Conjuration 3-5 Evocation is particularly powerful. ??Sulphur Haze??, ??Poison Cloud??, ??Lightning Bolt?? (in conjunction with ??Storm??), ??Healing Mist??, ??Falling Fires?? (or ??Fireball??) become available much more readily with the path-boosting spells in Conjuration, or through help from summons in that same school. This can also be true of spells in other schools, but given that many Evocation spells need a sufficient mass of casts to be effective, it’s particularly true here. |
| |
| * //**Enchantment 5:**// ??Haste??, ??Flaming Arrows??, ??Strength of Giants??, ??Antimagic??, and ??Foul Vapors?? are all strong options here. Also includes strong thug spells like ??Personal Regeneration??, ??Breath of Winter??, and ??Fire Shield??. Another source of Resistance buffs aside from Alteration. Foul Vapors is one of the strongest spells in the game against armies without Poison Resistance, so this is a particularly useful school in that scenario. | * //**Enchantment 5:**// ??Haste??, ??Flaming Arrows??, ??Strength of Giants??, ??Antimagic??, and ??Foul Vapors?? are all strong options here. Also includes strong thug spells like ??Personal Regeneration??, ??Breath of Winter??, and ??Fire Shield??. Another source of Resistance buffs aside from Alteration. Foul Vapors is one of the strongest spells in the game against armies without Poison Resistance, so this is a particularly useful school in that scenario. |
| |
| ==== Mid-Game Offensive Strategy==== | ==== Mid-Game Offensive Strategy==== |
| By the time the Mid Game period enters its more serious phase, roughly around turns 30-40, you should hopefully be in a strong position. By this point, you should have multiple schools at Level 5, and be working towards–or at–your first Level 7 school. Almost always, the first Level 7 school should be Alteration, although Construction 7 is also fairly potent. Important Level 6 goals include Alteration 6, Construction 6, and Enchantment 6, with Conjuration 6 and Evocation 6 being useful for Wailing Winds if you can summon Oni. At this point, Jomon has access to such a wide variety of spells that what you actually need for any given fight will be the primary determinant of what gets cast, although there are some spells that don’t really come with downsides. | By the time the Mid Game period enters its more serious phase, roughly around turns 30-40, you should hopefully be in a strong position. By this point, you should have multiple schools at Level 5, and be working towards–or at–your first Level 7 school. Almost always, the first Level 7 school should be Alteration, although Construction 7 is also fairly potent. Important Level 6 goals include Alteration 6, Construction 6, and Enchantment 6, with Conjuration 6 and Evocation 6 being useful for ??Wailing Winds?? if you can summon Oni. At this point, Jomon has access to such a wide variety of spells that what you actually need for any given fight will be the primary determinant of what gets cast, although there are some spells that don’t really come with downsides. |
| |
| As an example, the reason one should head straight for Alteration 7 is because of the incredibly strong combination of access to Fog Warriors and either Marble Warriors or Mass Protection (or both) depending on if someone has a way to punish Fire or Cold vulnerability. Construction 7, on the other hand, would mostly be taken to maximize damage output using Weapons of Sharpness. Both Schools have quite useful pickups at their Level 6 as well, with Lightless Lanterns, Starshine Skullcaps, and Armor of Knights forgeable, as well as Frozen Heart, Wave Warriors, and Battle Fortune available in Alteration. | As an example, the reason one should head straight for Alteration 7 is because of the incredibly strong combination of access to ??Fog Warriors?? and either ??Marble Warriors?? or ??Mass Protection?? (or both) depending on if someone has a way to punish Fire or Cold vulnerability. Construction 7, on the other hand, would mostly be taken to maximize damage output using Weapons of Sharpness. Both Schools have quite useful pickups at their Level 6 as well, with ??Lightless Lantern??s, ??Starshine Skullcap??s, and ??Armor of Knights?? in Construction, as well as ??Frozen Heart??, ??Wave Warriors??, and ??Battle Fortune?? available in Alteration. |
| |
| It is at this stage of the game, before it becomes easy to mass remotes, summons, and thugs to deal with Ryujin or Jomon’s weak mages efficiently, that Jomon truly shines as a nation. Given the initiative, Jomon is capable of rapidly locking a nation down, sniping out its commanders, while moving unstoppable armies onto forts and winning any fights necessary to conquer the opponent. | It is at this stage of the game, before it becomes easy to mass remotes, summons, and thugs to deal with Ryujin or Jomon’s weak mages efficiently, that Jomon truly shines as a nation. Given the initiative, Jomon is capable of rapidly locking a nation down, sniping out its commanders, while moving unstoppable armies onto forts and winning any fights necessary to conquer the opponent. |
| </WRAP> | </WRAP> |
| Back to [[rovsea-jomon-guide#basic-troop-strategies-expansion-and-scales|Basic Troop Strategies]]. | Back to [[rovsea-jomon-guide#basic-troop-strategies-expansion-and-scales|Basic Troop Strategies]]. |
| | |
| | ===== Mages/Commanders ===== |
| | |
| | <WRAP box round> |
| | ===Ninja=== |
| | <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:ninja.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> |
| | <wrap column center>**??Ninja??**</wrap>\\ |
| | * Any-fort recruitable wall-scaling assassins. |
| | * Can assist in expansion and be a general nuisance to the enemy. |
| | * A prophetized ninja can help Jomon get underwater. |
| | ++++ Ninja detailed analysis| |
| | |
| | Ninjas are wall-scaling assassins recruit-able out of every Jomon fort which replace access to scouts. While much more expensive than a normal scout, Ninjas are still plenty useful in their given role, despite the lack of magic paths. Ninjas are actually useful during expansion, as their quite high base stats (with 14 defense they actually have more defense than Yamabushi, albeit with lower hp/strength) allow them to semi-reliably take on independents. One typical strategy is to make the starting Ninja a prophet (as Ninjas replace scouts, Jomon starts with a Ninja in place of a scout), and use his smite during assassination battles in expansion. This has the added benefit of giving you a stealthy prophet, and you can later even expand UW using him, given the grace to do so. We’ll go over more specifics of assassin expansion later. |
| | |
| | Aside from whatever role they may play in expansion, Ninjas also have decent use as typical anti-player assassins. Their high base stats make them actually quite useful at killing normal commanders with just minimal gear, and with specialized items such as the ??Handful of Acorns?? (a construction 2 Nature item which gives a retinue of 3 vinemen) they can also take on unprepared mages. Later on, I actually have been enjoying using them with ??Black Bow of Botulf?? to feeblemind enemy mages - they have quite high precision, which makes them pretty likely to hit in the short range of an assassination battle. |
| | |
| | They’re aided to some extent as well by their partial night-vision, which often gives them a slight edge against those without in around half of assassination battles (for those who don’t know, there’s a 50% chance that an assassination battle will occur at night). Lastly, their ability to scale walls means that you can target them more effectively by trapping mages/commanders inside a fort, then picking them off with specific counters from outside (a sieging army can crack the fort and even allow you to ping with a commander to see specific gear/gem distribution).++++ |
| | </WRAP> |
| | |
| | <WRAP box round> |
| | === Basic Commanders=== |
| | <WRAP column 160px centeralign> |
| | <WRAP group>{{:nations:la:jomon:gokenin.png?nolink|}}{{:nations:la:jomon:mounted_gokenin.png?nolink|}}</WRAP> |
| | <WRAP group> {{:nations:la:jomon:hatamoto.png?nolink|}}{{:nations:la:jomon:daimyo.png?nolink|}}</WRAP></WRAP> |
| | <wrap column center>**??Gokenin?? & ??Mounted Gokenin??**</wrap>\\ |
| | * Jomon's commander lineup. |
| | * ??Gokenin?? are generally not worth it. |
| | * ??Mounted Gokenin?? has a use because of their mapmove. Can be used for light thugging. |
| | <wrap column center>**??Hatamoto?? & ??Daimyo??**</wrap>\\ |
| | * ??Hatamoto?? are standard 80-Ld commanders for one CP. |
| | * ??Daimyo#1253?? gives the best bonus to Morale and is especially suited for leading ??Ashigaru?? but costs 2 CP. |
| | ++++ Commanders detailed analysis| |
| | |
| | //Gokenin:// Gokenin are the most basic and cheapest commander that Jomon has access to. Their stats are solid, they have decent armor and aren’t as vulnerable as many of Jomon’s commanders to ranged weapons, but they’re unremarkable outside of those aspects. If all you need is cheap leadership, they’re serviceable, just like cheap options on a wide variety of other nations in the age. Gokenin are outcompeted in usefulness by most of the other commander options available to Jomon. |
| | |
| | //Mounted Gokenin:// For 10 gold more than a standard Gokenin, you get a mounted version. Important to note that it has functionally better stats (because mounted), and superior map-move, meaning it gets around much more quickly (although it also can’t boost its mapmove with boots). Mounted Gokenin can be used as light-thugs/counter-thugs/army thugs, given weapons and point-buffs such as iron warriors, mossbody, and sometimes body ethereal, then seeded into an army. They fight this role because they’re still cheap, they have the best stats of Jomon’s human commanders, and they are more likely to hit first with their mounted combat speed. Later on, we’ll see that Ryujin make much better general-use thugs, although they’re so different that it’s hard to directly compare uses. All-in-all, Mounted Gokenin are almost identical in price to a normal Gokenin, but have the same leadership potential, more map move, and generally better versatility, so they’re more likely to be seen, although their role as army leader is still overshadowed by Jomon’s other options. |
| | |
| | //Hatamoto:// Hatamoto are the “standard” commander for Jomon. They’re formation leaders with 80 leadership for 1 commander point (cp), they have the same solid map-move as Mounted Gokenin, but convey more morale from their 3 squad limit. At this point it’s fair to point out that Jomon has the ability natively to forge the Horn of Valor, Herald Lance, and Helmet of Heroes, all the generally available morale-boosting items, which together convey a +4 morale boost. This allows them to stack morale bonuses and have pretty good overall morale on their troops, particularly the more elite Samurai variants. |
| | |
| | //Daimyo:// Like many human or human adjacent nations in LA (such as Agartha, Pythium, Arcoscephale, and Bogarus), Jomon has any-fort 120 leadership commanders for 2 cp. Daimyo are even more effective at stacking morale, given that they convey +2 morale total on their squads, and if you can afford them they make excellent army leaders. They’re more expensive than your other leaders, but they’ll still often find good use, particularly if massing more lower-morale troops like Ashigaru, although 2 Hatamoto still lead more than 1 Daimyo, for the same cp cost. Generally speaking, Daimyo are too expensive to be used as thugs/counter-thugs, despite having largely similar stats to Mounted Gokenin.++++ |
| | </WRAP> |
| | |
| | <WRAP box round> |
| | ===Kannushi=== |
| | <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:kannushi.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> |
| | <wrap column center>**??Kannushi??**</wrap>\\ |
| | * Expensive mediocre priest with only 10 Ld and the risk of starting with old age. |
| | * {{path>H2,10%FAWEN}} gives limited utility compared to {{path>H1}} and is not worth the higher gold and 2 CP cost. The slight 10% chance of a magic path is not enough to compensate for the increased cost. |
| | ++++Kannushi detailed analysis| |
| | |
| | The Kannushi is the first of Jomon’s Priest/Mage commanders, but unfortunately is rather sub-par as Jomon’s only priest with leadership. Jomon actually has some of the worst priests in the game, with the Kannushi being expensive, highly vulnerable, especially when old (this will be most, but not all, of the time, with 55/50 age on average), and with limited utility. They can’t research, have limited leadership ability, and the Holy 2 gives limited advantage over H1, which is usually heavily outweighed by having higher price and a 2 cp cost. One of the reasons Jomon is disincentivized from taking a strong bless is actually because they’d need either a cap-external temple to combine a priest with a normal commander, or they’d need to make Kannushi to lead their sacreds (at least in expansion). With no protection, basically no attack or defense skill, and low hp (like all of Jomon’s stuff), Kannushi are also highly vulnerable from everything to stray arrows to wolves from Howl to Earthquake damage. |
| | |
| | To be fair, 1/10 Kannushi will be mages as well, and have slightly more utility, they are better than H1 for preaching, so can help maintain good scales/dominion spread, and they are able to help you stack morale with Sermon of Courage. All-in-all, however, they’re not a great option and are one of Jomon’s weaker points.++++ |
| | </WRAP> |
| | |
| | <WRAP box round> |
| | ===Monk of the Fivefold Path=== |
| | <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:monk_of_the_fivefold_path.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> |
| | <wrap column center>**??Monk of the Fivefold Path??**</wrap>\\ |
| | * Jomon's cheapest mage with {{path>H1R7,100%FAWEN}}. |
| | * Their low upkeep makes them efficient researchers and forgers as well as temple builders. |
| | * As a combat mage, the Monk is underwhelming but does get access to Jomon's national Holy crosspath spells. |
| | ++++Monk of the Fivefold Path detailed analysis| |
| | |
| | The Monk of the Fivefold Path is Jomon’s second priest and introduction to Jomon’s magic access as well. Jomon’s magic access largely follows the same rule as their Monks’, comprising largely of the 4 Elemental paths (Fire, Air, Water, and Earth) in addition to Nature. Monks are the cheapest mage in Jomon’s arsenal at 70 gold, and with the upkeep reduction of sacred they are also the most gold efficient researcher, but on the flip side they’re also fairly weak combat casters. There are a couple key roles that Monks can still end up filling for Jomon, however, among them being efficient researchers, temple-builders who can also research, cheap forgers, and because they can make both temples and labs, pretty useful for going underwater and building infrastructure when required (more on that later). If you’ve seen [[https://youtu.be/jkJre_swPwY|Attica’s Jomon guide]] he quite enjoys making large use of Jomon’s monks, which is aided by their fairly unique access to Jomon’s national Holy crosspath spells.++++ |
| | </WRAP> |
| | |
| | <WRAP box round> |
| | ===Shugenja=== |
| | <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:shugenja.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> |
| | <wrap column center>**??Shugenja??**</wrap>\\ |
| | * This {{path>E1R9,100%FAWEN}} mage can be recruited in all forts as well as highlands and mountains. |
| | * Their price does not match their combat utility, especially considering Jomon's access to ??Master Shugenja??. |
| | ++++Shugenja detailed analysis| |
| | |
| | Shugenjas are one of the more basic mages available to Jomon, with the distinction of being available in all Highland and Mountain provinces as well as forts. They have the same randoms as a Monk of the Fivefold path, with the addition of a single path of Earth magic. They have better research per turn than a Monk (although less efficiency), and the extra earthpath means they can random {{path>E2}}, a pretty useful combat path. Unfortunately, outside of that they have little additional utility compared to Monks, besides in their ability to forge. For the combat ability they offer they’re overpriced, especially when the next mage in line, the Master Shugenja, is considered. If you really need to scale research, forge (particularly in earth), and you’re short on money, you might make a few Shugenja, but they’ll never be the core of Jomon’s strategy.++++ |
| | </WRAP> |
| | |
| | <WRAP box round> |
| | ===Master Shugenja=== |
| | <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:master_shugenja.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> |
| | <wrap column center>**??Master Shugenja??**</wrap>\\ |
| | * This {{path>E1N1R13,100%FAWEN,100%FAWEN,10%FAWEN}} mage can be recruited in all forts as well as highlands and mountains. |
| | * The 2 CP cost makes Master Shugenja Jomon's most turn efficient combat mage. |
| | * The double random makes for a large spread in magic access, but all have their uses and provide Jomon with a broad range of magical paths. |
| | ++++Master Shugenja detailed analysis| |
| | |
| | The Master Shugenja is, in many ways, the bread-and-butter mage of Jomon, and as such is vitally important in almost any Jomon strategy. They have one of the higher variations on random spreads among mages, which means that what exact variation you’ll get changes a lot. For this reason, they’re often seen as unreliable or somewhat bad mages, but I’d contend that they actually give Jomon solid access to Earth and Nature Magic, as well as having other good uses. To help convey this a bit and show visually the uses Master Shugenja have, we come to a chart: |
| | |
| | {{ :guides:jomon-rovsea:master_shugenja_randoms.png?nolink |}} |
| | <wrap centeralign center>//For simplicity 10% Random is not included//</wrap> |
| | |
| | These are loosely organized based on perceived usefulness into the following: |
| | * The shaded areas represent high-value repeat randoms which each end up being a 1/25 chance, with 5 variants giving an overall chance of ⅕ of running into one. These include strong {{path>E3}} or {{path>N3}} mages, as well as weaker but still very useful X2 randoms in the other Elemental paths. |
| | * All {{path>E2}} or {{path>N2}} variants are boxed into green or brown boxes, and with each box encompassing 9/25 variants, with overlap 16/25 will be either {{path>E2}} or {{path>N2}}. Both of these outcomes represent useful combat magic, and you’ll always be able to find uses for either. |
| | * In addition, teal boxes outline all the N/W randoms, which can either natively or via ??Thistle Mace?? cast ??Foul Vapors??, a strong battlefield wipe spell, while also being able to add ??Mossbody?? into Jomon’s buff-blob, a particularly strong defensive spell when combined with other defensive spells. For these reasons, all the N/W crosspaths are also considered to be fairly useful. |
| | * Once all of these variants are taken out, only 2 “low value” {{path>F1A1E1N1}} variants are left, and even these have a couple good uses. All Fire variants can use gems to make fire elementals, {{path>A1N1}} variants can summon Tengu (one of Jomon’s more useful summons, more on them later), and they also serve as good site-searchers and forgers. |
| | |
| | Master Shugenjas can serve a huge variety of functions from ??Protection??/??Mossbody?? point-buffing to large AoE earthbuffs to size 6 Elemental spam to battlefield Nature magic like ??Mass Protection??/??Howl??/??Foul Vapors?? to evocations like ??Poison Cloud??/??Sulphur Haze??/??Earthquake??. They’re a remarkably flexible mage with many uses available from a wide variety of schools. Outside of combat magic they are one of your primary forgers, making bulk Nature gear like ??Thistle Mace??, ??Messenger Boots??, and ??Endless Bag of Wine??, as well as ??Earth Boots??, ??Lightless Lantern?? or ??Owl Quill??, ??Frost Brand??, ??Fire Brand??, etc. |
| | |
| | Master Shugenja are more expensive than normal Shugenjas, but they also offer a much broader access to magic (especially combat magic) than them, which means that they will almost always be prioritized in recruitment. Since Jomon’s only other land mage, the Onmyoji (which will be talked about more next) is slow-to-recruit, Master Shugenjas are by far the most turn-efficient researchers Jomon has access to, and like Shugenjas are even available outside of forts in Mountains and Highlands. Combining these traits means that they’re somewhat easy to spam, keeping Jomon competitive on research speed with most of the other nations in Late Age.++++ |
| | </WRAP> |
| | |
| | <WRAP box round> |
| | ===Onmyo-ji=== |
| | <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:onmyo-ji.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> |
| | <wrap column center>**??Onmyo-ji??**</wrap>\\ |
| | * This {{path>S2R13,100%FAWEN,100%FAWEN,10%FAWEN}} mage can be recruited in all forts. |
| | * The {{path>S2}} gives Onmyo-ji a lot of flexibility with ??Power of the Spheres?? |
| | * TTheir ownly drawback is the 4 CP cost which makes it inefficient to recruit in the early game compared to ??Master Shugenja??. |
| | ++++Onmyo-ji detailed analysis| |
| | |
| | Onmyo-ji are the other core land mage available to Jomon. Every Onmyo-ji starts as an {{path>S2}} mage, with similar random paths available as what a Master Shugenja can roll. They have an easy ability to slot into communion, and can cast ??Power of the Spheres??, the astral omni-path boosting spell, for half fatigue (it’s a 100 fatigue spell that takes {{path>S1}} to cast, being one level over halves the fatigue and better allows you to move through an entire script without fatiguing out), which means that while Onmyo-ji may have less initial access to the Elemental and Nature paths, they can easily boost up to a powerful level in combat. Functionally, they are able to cast spells of any crosspath besides Death or Blood in combat, which is the majority of spells in the game. Important spells like ??Storm??, ??Mass Flight??, ??Thunder Fend??, or ??Fire Storm??, which otherwise might be challenging for Jomon to cast, can be put up using these mages. In addition, they’re all solid Astral mages in their own right, with ability to cast ??Light of the Northern Star?? (battlefield wide Astral boosting spell) and ??Power of the Spheres?? to hit {{path>S4}}, enough for Master Enslave, Soul Slay, or Mind Burn with +1 penetration. In communion other vital spells like ??Will of the Fates?? (battlefield wide friendly luck) are easily cast as well. |
| | |
| | Besides their magic access, Onmyo-ji also all start the battle with a sacred bird, called a ??Shikigami??, at their side. This bird will immediately jump into the enemy formation, which has minor use as a distraction and interrupt. Onmyo-ji are also fortune tellers, and relatively cheap at just 145 gold, making them in theory more gold-efficient researchers than the Master Shugenja. Given the wide range of magic access and excellent combat use, there’s just one drawback to use of the Onmyo-ji. Unfortunately, they are slow-to-recruit, meaning that with Jomon’s forts and castles you can only recruit one every other turn. This drastically slows down the speed at which you can mass them, making them impractical researchers in the early game, and requiring quite a bit of make-up on infrastructure to remain competitive when spamming. Everything else aside, this is the single biggest weakness for the mage, keeping you reliant on Master Shugenja, at least for the earliest stages of the game.++++ |
| | </WRAP> |
| | ===== Underwater Recruits ===== |
| | <WRAP box round> |
| | **??Shrimp Soldier??** |
| | <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:shrimp_soldier.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> |
| | * Jomon's only aquatic recruit. |
| | * Relatively cheap with high strength, but ironically their weapon suffers a -1 penalty underwater. |
| | * Good versus enemy nations with strong underwater troops. |
| | * Magic resistance 8 is a potential liability. |
| | ++++ Shrimp soldier detailed analysis| |
| | |
| | Shrimp Soldiers are the only recruitable nations troop or commander available to Jomon which is entirely aquatic. As such, their general use is harshly limited by their inability to fight anywhere except below the waves. That being said, the Shrimp Soldier is actually quite useful in their watery combat role. They have solid hit points and protection, wield 2 handed weapons which do solid damage, particularly with Strength of Giants, and come at the low price of just 10 gold. The pierce/slash nature of their glaive unfortunately means that they suffer an additional -1 attack penalty (non-piercing weapons of length greater than 1 suffer attack penalties underwater, since this is pierce/slash it’s only a -1 penalty, if it was fully slashing it’d be higher), but their defense skill is still adequate, and with production scales they’re easy enough to mass. These are particularly useful when going up against the stronger amphibious/aquatic nations of Atlantis, Erytheia, and R’lyeh. Their magic resistance is low at 8, so if possible some form of Antimagic is quite helpful for dealing with any of the astral mages one might run into (or mind-blasters), but Shrimp Soldiers are fairly well suited to their role overall.++++ |
| | </WRAP> |
| | <WRAP box round> |
| | **??Shark Warrior??** |
| | <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:shark_warrior.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> |
| | * Amphibian underwater recruit. |
| | * In many ways the strongest troop available to Jomon. |
| | * Pairs well with Jomon's size 2 units. |
| | * Very expensive and hard to amass though. |
| | ++++ Shark Warrior detailed analysis| |
| | |
| | The mighty Shark Warrior is, in many ways, the strongest troop available to Jomon. They have good protection, high damage, solid attack skill, high hit points, and can see in the dark. A few quirks stand out still: much of their protection is made up by their natural protection of 7, making Spell-based protection buffs less valuable, and they aren’t vulnerable to head hits (despite having no head armor) because they don’t have heads to hit. Aside from these, they’re just very beefy, well armored boys with hard hitting weapons. Naturally, they mix in very well with the rest of Jomon’s game plan by taking buffs from spells (which makes them even tankier) and wading into the general melee. At size 4, they’re normally 1 per square, but can be seeded in with Jomon’s human troops to fully fill a square, this can help by letting Shark Warriors tank ⅔ of hits in the square for Jomon’s somewhat fragile infantry, while the infantry help increase the attack density of the Shark Warriors with an additional high-quality attack. |
| | |
| | Unlike most of the other troops Jomon has access to, Shark Warriors are expensive and difficult to mass, boasting the highest gold cost and resource cost, with recruitment point cost only second to Jomon’s cavalry. In conjunction with the necessity of having an underwater fort, Shark Warriors are therefore difficult to mass, and you’ll almost never have a sizable number of them until well into the game.++++ |
| | </WRAP> |
| | |
| | <WRAP box round> |
| | **??Crab General??** |
| | <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:crab_general.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> |
| | * Primary amphibious leader. |
| | * Only 40 Ld but inexpensive with good stats and high hp. |
| | * The armor-piercing pincer attack is especially good vs. high-Protection enemies. |
| | ++++ Crab General detailed analysis| |
| | |
| | Crab Generals are the primary amphibious leaders available to Jomon. They only have 40 leadership, but they’re not expensive, and actually have somewhat formidable combat stats on top. With 15 natural protection, they’re quite well armored out of the box, and have a hard hitting glaive and armor piercing pincer attack that can mulch enemies. Combined with their 25 hp they are by far the most durable of Jomon’s recruited troop leaders, which gives them some utility outside of just ferrying around the underwater recruitables.++++ |
| | </WRAP> |
| | <WRAP box round> |
| | <tabbox Overview> |
| | **??Ryujin??** |
| | <WRAP column 100px>{{ :nations:la:jomon:ryujin.png?nolink |}}{{ :nations:la:jomon:ryujin_2.png?nolink |}}</WRAP> |
| | * This {{path>W3R15,200%FAEN,10%FAWEN}} sacred mage can only be recruited underwater. |
| | * Ryujin can shapeshift into a ??Ryujin#2105?? dragon form gaining size and stats at the expense of equipment slots. |
| | * The Ryujin is Jomon's nation defining mage. |
| | * High mapmove and both normal and underwater flight gives Ryujin unprecedented mobility. |
| | * The guaranteed X2 in Fire, Air, Earth or Nature means that Ryujin are your most reliable two-path mages, and each type of Ryujin brings something useful to any fight. |
| | * The high mapmove, chassis and path access means that Ryujin make excellent thugs. |
| | <tabbox Detailed Analysis> |
| | Last, but definitely not least we have the Ryujin, in many ways Jomon’s most defining mage, and what sets it apart from everything else in the Late Age. Anybody familiar with Jomon was probably waiting for me to get to this one, so here we go. |
| | |
| | Ryujin are the only mage recruit that Jomon has underwater, but they have a pile of traits that makes them powerful and well worth their 285 gold cost. Ryujin have 34 map-move, with the ability to fly both underwater and on land meaning they have essentially no barriers to their movement. Practically, this makes them amongst the most mobile of any recruit in the game. The 47 hp of the dragon form, in conjunction to built-in resistances to fire (5), shock (5), cold (5), and poison (15), make them difficult to kill with remote spells like ??Fires From Afar?? or ??Seeking Arrow?? (??Mind Hunt?? can still be dangerous). |
| | |
| | Ryujin are also universally strong Water mages, with every Ryujin possessing {{path>W2}} with a built in Dragon Pearl item that grants +{{path>W1}} for a total of {{path>W3}} as well as {{gems>1W}} temporary water gem for in-combat use. In addition, their random paths guarantee another {{path>200%FAEN}}, which makes them the most reliable Elemental mages on the nation. Ryujin have strong stats, decent attack and defense, good hp and strength, solid morale and mr, with 10 natural protection making them high-prot as soon as they put on armor. Combine that with innate weapons like Venomous Fangs (which scales with strength and applies 35 damage Death Poison) and an area of effect damage Tail Sweep, and Ryujin are a very solid thug chassis. All Ryujin can use ??Liquid Body??, ??Quicken Self??, and ??Breath of Winter?? in their thug scripts as well, although these should be balanced around fatigue at end of script. |
| | |
| | While the chassis itself is very strong, it’s also sacred, which allows it to take whatever bless your pretender also has. Ryujin don’t need a strong bless to be powerful and functional within a Jomon build, but it is an extra consideration that whatever you take will also effect them, and any bless that is settled on is usually taken for Ryujin as opposed to any of Jomon’s other sacred troops or summons. In addition, the temporary water gem and high Water magic in general allow Ryujin to be fearsome magi underwater, where they can summon a ??Water Elemental?? for free in any combat they’re a part of. This can help give Jomon an edge over their strong competitors once you’ve massed enough Ryujin. |
| | |
| | Ryujin are important as well for forging and casting. With their insane map move they can often switch from research to front-line combat or raiding instantly, meaning that they can surprise an enemy force by jumping 3 or 4 provinces to drop, for example, ??Foul Vapors??. As well, Ryujin can easily solo province defense or, with support buffs, become difficult-to-dislodge army thugs seeded in with your other troops. In terms of combat casting Ryujin are by far your most durable option, and they can spam out all the Elementals, big nature magic like ??Howl??, ??Foul Vapors??, or ??Mass Protection??, important buffs like ??Arrow Fend??, ??Quickening??/??Quickness??, or just cast strong damage spells like ??Liquify??, ??Bone Melter??, ??Acid Storm??, or ??Freezing Mists??. They’re very versatile, very mobile, and in general just incredibly strong. |
| | |
| | Ryujin do come with 2 major downsides, however. First is the Dragon Pearl itself, which while useful to aid in Water magic, also blocks one of your miscellaneous slots (the item is cursed), and can be picked up by friendly commanders in the case of a Ryujin dying, in theory blocking the slots of other mages. Second is their classification as [[magic beings]], because of which Ryujin are particularly vulnerable to counter-thugs wielding ??Moon Blade??s. |
| | |
| | It’s difficult to describe in detail just how impactful Ryujin are to Jomon. At practically every stage of the game after gaining access to them, you’ll be able to find a good use to put them to, although here’s the general thought-process behind how to use each variation: |
| | |
| | <tabbox Fire> |
| | <WRAP column 40px>{{ :magicpath:path_f.png |}}</WRAP>{{path>F2W3}} Fire Ryujin are in many ways the least straight-forward to use. They don’t have the same kind of self-buffing utility as the other 3 variants, so they end up being largely the worst raiders outside of specific circumstances (think Regen bless with ??Phoenix Pyre?? active). Despite this, they’re largely the best forgers since they’re able to make ??Rune Smasher??s and, eventually, a ??Staff of Elemental Mastery?? which can be used to boost up to high-level Elemental globals. Fire-randoms are also some of Jomon’s most reliable Fire mages in general, able to spam out Elementals, put up important battlefield spells like ??Fire Fend??, and spam out fire damage spells like ??Incinerate??. In addition, the {{path>F2W3}} crosspath opens them up to the Acid spells like ??Acid Rain?? and ??Acid Storm??, the latter of which can be effective at cutting down low-protection enemies like ??Swarm?? bugs or Longdead. |
| | |
| | <tabbox Air> |
| | <WRAP column 40px>{{ :magicpath:path_a.png |}}</WRAP>{{path>A2W3}} Air variant Ryujin are vitally important as a mobile form of Air magic in the early mid-game. They’ll be crucial for spells like ??Arrow Fend??, ??Wind Guide?? and ??Thunder Ward??, although they’re not high-level enough to cast ??Storm??, ??Fog Warriors??, or ??Mass Flight??. Despite this, they’re still useful as Air Elemental casters, and like all Ryujin are strong Water casters. Air Ryujin aren’t as strong of solo-thugs as the Earth or Nature variants, although with some form of sustain they can do ok by relying on ??Mirror Image?? and ??Mistform?? buffs. Those same buffs make them fearsome with external buff help, as they can take on the same buffs Earth and Nature Ryujin do (??Mossbody??, ??Regeneration??, ??Ironskin??, ??Enlarge??, etc.) while still having ??Mistform??, which can be difficult to deal with if counter-thugs are absent. |
| | |
| | <tabbox Earth> |
| | <WRAP column 40px>{{ :magicpath:path_e.png |}}</WRAP>{{path>W3E2}} Earth Ryujin variants are in many ways the most straightforward of the Ryujin to use. They use prot-buffs and ??Summon Earthpower?? to be fairly reliable solo-raiders, and are a useful Earth mage to apply more in-combat buffs. As more complex counters come out, they tend to fall off as solo-thugs, but they’re useful in that role throughout the game. Unlike the Fire/Air versions, the only thing they really bring to combat magic that you don’t already have is their Water magic, as Master Shugenja are rather likely to end up as {{path>E2}} mages as well. Still, an overconfident or under-prepared enemy can be pretty easily rocked by an ??Earthquake?? or two, something Ryujin with their general tankiness and flying ability can pull off with much less risk than Jomon’s other mages. |
| | |
| | <tabbox Nature> |
| | <WRAP column 40px>{{ :magicpath:path_n.png |}}</WRAP>{{path>W3N2}} Nature Ryujin are similar to Earth Ryujin in that they’re fairly competent raiders early via ??Mossbody??, ??Personal Regeneration??, and ??Enlarge??, while their in-combat role is also somewhat taken up by Jomon’s other mages. Still, they’re more or less innately immune to ??Foul Vapors??, and with their excellent mobility can surprise the enemy with it in unexpected places. As well, they’re more durable ??Howl?? casters (Howl is a 300 fatigue spell, it can be a bit dangerous for Master Shugenja to cast it), and their crosspath also allows them to cast ??Bone Melter??. Unlike Master Shugenja, they can’t cast ??Strength of Gaia??, so they’re actually not as strong of Nature mages themselves, but they still have plentiful uses. |
| | </tabbox> |
| | </WRAP> |
| | |
| =====Other Builds===== | =====Other Builds===== |
| While the exemplified builds above are typical of some of the “main” build ideas that I have for Jomon, it’s true that there are still a lot of other possibilities out there, some more serious than others. Instead of going in-depth for each of these, and making an already long guide even longer, I’ll just give some brief thoughts on a variety of builds that I think would be fun to play with. | While the exemplified builds above are typical of some of the “main” build ideas that I have for Jomon, it’s true that there are still a lot of other possibilities out there, some more serious than others. Instead of going in-depth for each of these, and making an already long guide even longer, I’ll just give some brief thoughts on a variety of builds that I think would be fun to play with. |
