After years of civil war, the Iron Kingdom crumbled. During the Night of Treason, a great Malediction was placed upon the kingdom. The forests became dark and hostile. Wolves and creatures even worse stalked the land. Slowly the kingdom recovered, but it was not what it once was. The knightly order was all but destroyed, and the Master Smiths had disappeared. The secrets of blacksteel were forgotten. An order of Black Priests emerged in Ulm in the last days before the civil war. They formed an Iron Cult, consolidated their position, and forbade the use of magic. Magic outside religion was announced to be sacrilegious and the few surviving Master Smiths were put to the flames. Although magery is forbidden, there are some fortune tellers and members of the Order of the Illuminated Ones who secretly ply their trade in the arcane. – Nation Description
This is the most-magical of the three Ulms. It also has the least Magic depth, however, not counting the Communions you can create with ease. Its troops are also WORSE than they were in the previous Age, not counting a few holdouts who've either found God or entered a living Hell.
The major draw of Late Ulm is the Illuminati, which provides Blood Hunters from basically anywhere and Communion Slaves in even greater numbers. Since any of your Mages can have Astral magic, they let Ulm punch far above its weight class in terms of Combat Magic, though not without cost. They start somewhat behind other Blood nations in depth, but they can pile up Patrollers for free with their Wolfherds, allowing them to better-balance their Blood and Gold economies than most in this Age; such balance is what makes MAGNIFICENT Ind of the previous Age so feared.
Oh yeah, and there are also Vampires or something.
Race | Military | Magic Access | Priests | Buildings |
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Ulmite (compared to baseline human) +2 HP -1 MR +1 STR | Gold efficient infantry Efficient crossbows High prot, hard hitting elites | 2 (Rare 3) 2 1 (Rare 2) 1 1 1 (rare off-cap) 1 (cap only) Heroes: 32, 2, 2, 2 Summons: 3*, 3* *Cannot summon natively | 2 in all Forts Inquisitor | Citadels Forts produce +25% resources |
The Ruined Keep | The Black Forest | The Black Temple |
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Enables recruitment of Ghoul Commander, Ghoul Guardian Produces 2 per turn | Enables recruitment of Wolfherd, Fortune Teller Produces 11 per turn | Enables recruitment of Hochmeister, Black Templar |
Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
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Ranger Captain 45 8 1 | Forest Survival Stealthy (40) | Stealthy commander, can be used to lead stealthy groups of rangers and packs of wolves. Also useable as a scout, although much cheaper indie Scouts are relatively easy to find in the Late Ages. | |
Commander of Ulm 70 24 1 | Standard 80 leadership commander. | ||
Black Acolyte 45 1 1 | 1010% Sacred Inquisitor | National indie priest. | |
Illuminated One 75 1 2 + Foreign Recruit | 17 Stealthy (65) Spy | These are your communion slaves, researchers, and spies. Being stealthy allows you to materialize a surprise communion, reinforce your existing communions safely, and stealth away from a bad situation whenever you'd like. Keep in mind that these have a low upfront cost, but not being sacred means they are less efficient researchers than many other nations' research monkeys. ( ). Watch your upkeep. The ability to recruit these in any lab does mean that you can accumulate many of these quickly, and without the upfront cost of a fort. | |
Member of the Second Tier 150 1 2 + Foreign Recruit | 21010%11 Stealthy (75) Spy | Your blood hunters and one of your communion masters. Being stealthy and recruitable outside of fort are great traits for hunters. On the other hand, the great tragedy of LA Ulm is that these are very inefficient hunters. 150 and a high upkeep makes for relatively poor B access, particularly in LA where most of your blood nation competition will have sacred hunters or guaranteed access to B2 or above. | |
Black Priest 160 2 2 | 121100%9 Sacred Inquisitor Forge Bonus (1) | A strict upgrade from the Middle Age, the Black Priests have done very well for themselves during the malediction. They're now recruit everywhere, so you can now recruit as many Iron Blizzard casters as you'd like to, and are virtually guaranteed access to S/E and A. Their roles will depend on their randoms and they will be important mages for you throughout the game. | |
Wolfherd 50 2 1 Capital Only | Animal Awe (2) Stealthy (40) Mountain Survival Forest Survival Inspirational (-1) Beastmaster (+3) Summon Allies (Wolf×2) | Can summon two wolves per turn. Wolves make decent free patrol chaff, but have limited combat utility. | |
Ghoul Commander 100 42 1 Capital Only | Resist Poison (25) Undead Need not Eat Castle Defence Bonus (2) Darkvision (50) | 80 undead leadership for leading Ghoul Guardians. | |
Hochmeister 115 73 1 Capital Only | 1 Sacred Inquisitor Combat Caster | Priest heavy cavalry commander. Similar to MA Ulm's Black Lords, this can act as a light thug with a Greatsword of Sharpness and Burning Pearl. Unfortunately it also competes for capital recruitment points. | |
Fortune Teller 95 1 2 Capital Only | 11100%9 Fortune Teller (15%) | Provides access to communicable Nature and Death. The Blood random also makes them more cost-effective blood hunters. |
Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
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Villain 10 5 4 | Stealthy (40) Undisciplined Mountain Survival Forest Survival | Militia with a shortbow. | |
Pikeneer 10 20 9 | Various medium infantry options. The Pikeneer is unlikely to be repelled, the Halberdier does the most damage, and the Infantry of Ulm has a shield to absorb crossbow fire. | ||
Halberdier 10 22 9 | Castle Defence Bonus (1) | ||
Infantry of Ulm 10 23 9 | |||
Ranger of Ulm 12 8 14 | Stealthy (40) Forest Survival | Easily massable crossbows. They have better-than-average precision as well as a stronger melee attack than most ranged units (a 19 damage axe!). Consider using stealthy groups of rangers to take provinces as part of an initial strike. | |
Zweihander 14 36 18 | With a protection value of 21 and a base damage of 22, these units are heavy hitters. Not having a shield means that they will suffer against crossbows, but their high protection helps them survive until they meet the enemy. Zweihanders absolutely love to be buffed with Body Ethereal and Luck, you can point buff them with your Illuminated Ones as part of an early strategy. | ||
Ghoul Guardian 20 42 47 Capital Only | Resist Poison (25) Darkvision (50%) Castle Defence Bonus (2) Undead Need not Eat | Becoming undead gives the Guardians slightly better stats, but they also suffer from all the weaknesses that come with being undead. The Bane of Heresy attack is still great for fatiguing out enemy Pretenders and sacreds, but the undead leadership requirement makes these units much more finicky to transport compared to the Guardians of MA Ulm. | |
Black Templar 65 73 46 Capital Only | Sacred | Very expensive, but also very well-protected sacred cavalry. Almost identical to MA Ulm's Black Knights, but cost 20 more gold for the privilege of being sacred. |
Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
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Ulrich Patrifagus - Ghoul Baron | Resist Poison (25) Dark Vision (100%) Halt Heretic (+7) Castle Defense Bonus (+5) Summon Allies (Ghoul×5) Undead Need not Eat | ||
Member of the Third Tier | 23219 Stealthy (90) Spy | ||
Member of the Third Tier | 32219 Stealthy (90) Spy | ||
Member of the Third Tier | 23219 Stealthy (90) Spy |
At a glance
Astral (2, rare 3), Earth (2), Blood (1, rare 2), Death (1), Fire (1), Air (1), Nature (1)
Summonable 3, 3, but cannot summon natively
Heroes give 2, 2, 2.
LA Ulm has a widespread of path access but at very low levels. Luckily, you have easy access to cheap communion slaves, so in battle, this isn't a problem; your wide path access allows you to cast any non-water spell you'd like. However, this will require forging Communion Matrices for your Black Priests. (An important use for their Astral random.)
Outside of battle, LA Ulm will struggle to move up magical paths to cast big rituals. Your vampire summons will give you 3 and 3, though you'll likely already have this on your pretender in order to cast Sanguine Heritage in the first place. Your vampires can be used to site search for better income. Since LA Ulm cannot reliably recruit blood over 1, there is a strong argument to lean into the vampire theme and summon Vampire Lords. With blood thorns and brazen vessels, you can get them up to 5, which gives access to many important spells. Once you have Blood 9 researched, you can empower a select few one further to cast Forces of Darkness.
Your heroes will give you limited access to extremely useful blood cross paths, especially fire and air. Use blood/fire to summon Arch Demons, which will break you into higher fire magic as well as give you some excellent commanders. Blood/air will allow you to summon storm demons (which are excellent).
LA Ulm's most common cross path is 2 1, which comes out of the box on every Member of the Second Tier. This allows Ulm to summon lots of horrors, and with an astral booster and blood-booster any of your Members can cast Call Lesser Horror.
When designing a pretender, be sure to consider how you can build them to cast Sanguine Heritage. While your summons aren't absolutely necessary for your success, without at least 2 (ideally, you'll want 3) and 3 you'll be locking them away from your reach for some time. In doing so you'll also lock yourself out of further access to blood and death.
Note that unless specified otherwise, all vampires have Regeneration 10%, Resist Fire -5, Resist Cold 15, Resist Poison 25, Darkvision 100%, Stealthy +40, Invulnerability 25, and Immortal (1 Month), and dominion spawn Thralls
Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
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Ludolf von Achenbach - Vampire Count | 2213 Kills Population 10 | ||
Burkhard Nachtzehrer - Blood Marshal | 29 Does not have fire vulnerability Pillager (20) | ||
Erzsebet - Blood Countess | 311 Blood Searcher +2 | ||
Mircalla - Vampire Countess | 2111 Seduction (morale vs. 9) | ||
Artur Von Dirksen - Vampire Count | 2213 | ||
Lothar Blumenreuter - Vivisectionist | 2221 Adept Researcher (8) Causes Unrest (+1 Per Month) | ||
Orlak - Vampire Count | 3113 Fear +8 | ||
Hellenbrecht - Blood Graf | 21315 Fear +6 |
National Overview - LA Ulm by Lucid (2018)
National Overview - LA Ulm (Dominions Enhanced) by Lucid (2021)
Nations | |
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Early Ages | Arcoscephale • Ermor • Ulm • Marverni • Sauromatia • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Mictlan • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Agartha • Tir na n'Og • Fomoria • Vanheim • Helheim • Niefelheim • Rus • Kailasa • Lanka • Yomi • Hinnom • Ur • Berytos • Xibalba • Mekone • Ubar • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Therodos |
Middle Ages | Arcoscephale • Ermor • Sceleria • Pythium • Man • Eriu • Ulm • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Asphodel • Vanheim • Jotunheim • Vanarus • Bandar Log • Shinuyama • Ashdod • Uruk • Nazca • Xibalba • Phlegra • Phaeacia • Ind • Na'ba • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Ys |
Late Ages | Arcoscephale • Pythium • Lemuria • Man • Ulm • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Jomon • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Midgård • Utgård • Bogarus • Patala • Gath • Ragha • Xibalba • Phlegra • Vaettiheim • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia |