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ulm-la

LA Ulm, Black Forest

Lore

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

General Overview

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.

National Features

Race Military Magic Access Priests Buildings
Ulmite
(compared to baseline human)
+2 HP
-1 MR
+1 STR
Gold efficient infantry
Efficient crossbows
High prot, hard hitting elites
astral 22 (Rare 3)
earth 22
blood 11 (Rare 2)
fire 11
air 11
death 11 (rare off-cap)
nature 11 (cap only)
Heroes: astral 33blood 22, fire 22, air 22, nature 22
Summons: blood 33*, death 33*
*Cannot summon natively
holy 22 in all Forts
Inquisitor
Citadels
Forts produce +25% resources Resources

Capital Special Sites

The Ruined Keep The Black Forest The Black Temple

Enables recruitment of Ghoul Commander, Ghoul Guardian
Produces 2deathgem per turn

Enables recruitment of Wolfherd, Fortune Teller
Produces 1naturegem1astralpearl per turn

Enables recruitment of Hochmeister, Black Templar

National Units

Commanders

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Ranger Captain
Gold 45
Resources 8
Recruitment points 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
Gold 70
Resources 24
Recruitment points 1
Standard 80 leadership commander.
Black Acolyte
Gold 45
Resources 1
Recruitment points 1
holy 11random010%
Sacred
Inquisitor
National indie priest.
Illuminated One
Gold 75
Resources 1
Recruitment points 2
+ Foreign Recruit
astral 11rp 77
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
Gold 150
Resources 1
Recruitment points 2
+ Foreign Recruit
astral 22blood 11random010%rp 1111
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 Gold 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
Gold 160
Resources 2
Recruitment points 2
earth 11holy 22random1100%rp 99
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
Gold 50
Resources 2
Recruitment points 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
Gold 100
Resources 42
Recruitment points 1
Capital Only
Resist Poison (25)
Undead
Need not Eat
Castle Defence Bonus (2)
Darkvision (50)
80 undead leadership for leading Ghoul Guardians.
Hochmeister
Gold 115
Resources 73
Recruitment points 1
Capital Only
holy 11
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
Gold 95
Resources 1
Recruitment points 2
Capital Only
astral 11random1100%rp 99
Fortune Teller (15%)
Provides access to communicable Nature and Death. The Blood random also makes them more cost-effective blood hunters.

Troops

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Villain
Gold 10
Resources 5
Recruitment points 4
Stealthy (40)
Undisciplined
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
Militia with a shortbow.
Pikeneer
Gold 10
Resources 20
Recruitment points 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
Gold 10
Resources 22
Recruitment points 9
Castle Defence Bonus (1)
Infantry of Ulm
Gold 10
Resources 23
Recruitment points 9
Ranger of Ulm
Gold 12
Resources 8
Recruitment points 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
Gold 14
Resources 36
Recruitment points 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
Gold 20
Resources 42
Recruitment points 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
Gold 65
Resources 73
Recruitment points 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.

Heroes

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
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 fire 22astral 33blood 22rp 1919
Stealthy (90)
Spy
Member of the Third Tier astral 33nature 22blood 22rp 1919
Stealthy (90)
Spy
Member of the Third Tier air 22astral 33blood 22rp 1919
Stealthy (90)
Spy

Magic

Magic Access

At a glance Astral (2, rare 3), Earth (2), Blood (1, rare 2), Death (1), Fire (1), Air (1), Nature (1)
Summonable blood 33, death 33, but cannot summon natively
Heroes give fire 22, air 22, nature 22.

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 death 33 and blood 33, 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 blood 11, 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 blood 55, 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 astral 22 blood 11, 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 death 22 (ideally, you'll want death 33) and blood 33 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.

National Magic & Summons

Combat

  • Evocation 3 earth 11holy 11: Iron Darts
    The signature spell of Ulmish priests, firing a spread of 3 magic armor-piercing darts that deal double damage to magic beings. Now only castable by the Black Priests
  • Evocation 6 earth 11holy 11: Iron Blizzard
    Trades some range and damage for a truly astonishing 30 darts per cast. This is an powerful evocation spell which is particularly lethal to magic beings.
  • Enchantment 4 astral 11: Gift of the Moon
    Grants wolves 15 invulnerability in an inexplicably small aoe of 1.
  • Thaumaturgy 5 earth 33: Tempering the Will
    Effectively a national version of the Antimagic spell against the usual MR-negates threats such as mind blasters or Charm. Unlike MA Ulm, LA Ulm's magic access makes Thuamaturgy a useful school to research, meaning this spell will often be picked up at some point on the way to spells like Soul Slay. However, earth 33 is less accessible for LA Ulm and the generic alternative, Antimagic, is much easier to cast while also guaranteeing the MR buff.

Ritual

  • Conjuration 3 nature 22 for 8naturegem: Sloth of Bears ( Great Bear×10+lv)
    Summons high strength blobs of hitpoints. Can work as evocation bait, as the bears have more HP than your troops and even lower MR, but otherwise unremarkable.
  • Blood 0 blood 33death 33 for 44bloodslave: Sanguine Heritage
    Summons one of several unique, immortal Vampire Counts. These are similar to Curse of Blood's Vampire Lords at Blood 7, but each Count has special abilities and their own magic paths. This spell also requires no research whatsoever to cast!

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
Ludolf von Achenbach - Vampire Count blood 22death 22rp 1313
Kills Population 10
Burkhard Nachtzehrer - Blood Marshal blood 22rp 99
Does not have fire vulnerability
Pillager (20)
Erzsebet - Blood Countess blood 33rp 1111
Blood Searcher +2
Mircalla - Vampire Countess blood 22death 11rp 1111
Seduction (morale vs. 9)
Artur Von Dirksen - Vampire Count death 22blood 22rp 1313
Lothar Blumenreuter - Vivisectionist death 22blood 22rp 2121
Adept Researcher (8)
Causes Unrest (+1 Per Month)
Orlak - Vampire Count death 33blood 11rp 1313
Fear +8
Hellenbrecht - Blood Graf earth 22death 11blood 33rp 1515
Fear +6

Notable Generic Magic

Magic Items

Strategy

Power Curve

Expansion Strategies

Example Pretenders

ulm-la.txt · Last modified: 2023/09/01 11:51 by exasperatedcultist