vanarus-guide
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| **Items**\\ | **Items**\\ | ||
| - | Construction 6 is the most important research priority for Vanarus due to the necessity of forging magic boosters. Otherwise, most mages do not have deep enough magic paths to cast powerful spells and rituals. Fire1 Vanabogs can forge a Skull of Fire, which can be used on an Empowered Fire2 Vyedun to forge Flame Helmet (or he can summon a Flame Spirit for the job). Old Bear Thunder can forge a __Winged Helmet__ and put it on to forge a __Bag of Winds__. Vyedmas can forge Water Bracelets and Water2 ones can put them on to forge a Robe of the Sea. An Earth/Blood Vanarusian Sage can Empower in Earth (1->2) to forge Earth Boots, then equip a Blood Thorn, Empower in Blood and forge a Blood Stone, which in turn opens up the ability to forge an __Iron Face__ for your Vanabog warrior-mages. Old Bear Thunder can Empower in Astral to forge a Starshine Skullcap. Baba Yaga can forge a Skull Staff and equip it to forge a Skullface. Old Bear Thunder, Baba Yaga and uncommon forest mages can forge a Thistle Mace, while Old Bear Thunder in particular can also forge a Moonvine Bracelet and put both of these on to forge a Treelord' | + | Construction 6 is the most important research priority for Vanarus due to the necessity of forging magic boosters. Otherwise, most mages do not have deep enough magic paths to cast powerful spells and rituals. Fire1 Vanabogs can forge a Skull of Fire, which can be used on an Empowered Fire2 Vyedun to forge Flame Helmet (or he can summon a Flame Spirit for the job). Old Bear Thunder can forge a __Winged Helmet__ and put it on to forge a __Bag of Winds__. Vyedmas can forge Water Bracelets and Water2 ones can put them on to forge a Robe of the Sea. An Earth/Blood Vanarusian Sage can Empower in Earth (1→2) to forge Earth Boots, then equip a Blood Thorn, Empower in Blood and forge a Blood Stone, which in turn opens up the ability to forge an __Iron Face__ for your Vanabog warrior-mages. Old Bear Thunder can Empower in Astral to forge a Starshine Skullcap. Baba Yaga can forge a Skull Staff and equip it to forge a Skullface. Old Bear Thunder, Baba Yaga and uncommon forest mages can forge a Thistle Mace, while Old Bear Thunder in particular can also forge a Moonvine Bracelet and put both of these on to forge a Treelord' |
| As for items for combat, the possibilities are almost limitless. From __Vine Shield and Frost Brand__ for combatants, to __Flying Carpet__ and __Ring of Returning__ for Vanabog Wind of Death casters, to __Soul Contracts__ and Lifelong Protections for summoning infernal forces, to Skull Talisman/ | As for items for combat, the possibilities are almost limitless. From __Vine Shield and Frost Brand__ for combatants, to __Flying Carpet__ and __Ring of Returning__ for Vanabog Wind of Death casters, to __Soul Contracts__ and Lifelong Protections for summoning infernal forces, to Skull Talisman/ | ||
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| ==== Common points ==== | ==== Common points ==== | ||
| - | * Vanarus | + | * Vanarus |
| * In most cases, Vanarus needs to have a Growth scale of at least 1 in order to offset their blood hunting, unless in a small game.\\ | * In most cases, Vanarus needs to have a Growth scale of at least 1 in order to offset their blood hunting, unless in a small game.\\ | ||
| * Productivity scales have little effect on national unit generation for Vanarus due to their lack of heavy cavalry or heavily armored troops. The difference between Sloth 3 and Productivity 3 is a difference between producing 9 Chud Hirdmen per turn and 13 Chud Hirdmen per turn. Moreover, your non-capital forts are going to produce 7 Chud Hirdmen per turn under Sloth 3 //or// Productivity 3 because usually you will run out of recruitment points sooner than you will run out of resources. This gives you an opportunity to gain design points by lowering Productivity scale during Pretender creation. High Order and high Growth scales give much better benefits, because they increase resources and recruitment points at the same time, which is what you need, because Chud Hirdmen have a balanced resource/ | * Productivity scales have little effect on national unit generation for Vanarus due to their lack of heavy cavalry or heavily armored troops. The difference between Sloth 3 and Productivity 3 is a difference between producing 9 Chud Hirdmen per turn and 13 Chud Hirdmen per turn. Moreover, your non-capital forts are going to produce 7 Chud Hirdmen per turn under Sloth 3 //or// Productivity 3 because usually you will run out of recruitment points sooner than you will run out of resources. This gives you an opportunity to gain design points by lowering Productivity scale during Pretender creation. High Order and high Growth scales give much better benefits, because they increase resources and recruitment points at the same time, which is what you need, because Chud Hirdmen have a balanced resource/ | ||
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| * Minimal resource cost of Chud Skinshifters means that you can use them to set up aggressive borders instead of clearing provinces around your capital during first turns of the game.\\ | * Minimal resource cost of Chud Skinshifters means that you can use them to set up aggressive borders instead of clearing provinces around your capital during first turns of the game.\\ | ||
| * If a Skinshifter becomes crippled, leave him in a province garrison for a few turns to recuperate, then bring him back into the army.\\ | * If a Skinshifter becomes crippled, leave him in a province garrison for a few turns to recuperate, then bring him back into the army.\\ | ||
| + | * Your three types of stealthy mages can make taking your forts extremely difficult by summoning creatures during turns and casting spells from the backline during battles. If they are faced with an overwhelming opposition, they can safely sneak away to make the next fort very difficult to take as well. In order to produce a large amount of stealthy mages and have them cast many spells, much gold and many gems are required, which requires strong scales like Order 3, Growth 3 and Luck 3.\\ | ||
| + | * If your opponent is using a combatant Pretender, but doesn' | ||
| * If you happen to have a surplus of Death gems due to random sites, consider investing into Likhos. If you send several of them into an enemy province at the same time and also cast unrest-causing spells such as Wrath of Pazuzu, they become hard to detect by conventional means due to high unrest and will also cause various bad events in enemy territory, which might result in them losing the province to independents or to you (due to the Oath-Bound attack random event). If you have Vengeful Water or The Wrath of God up, or use remote attacks or assassins, Likhos will be very difficult to patrol out while they devastate structures and population with events, as long as they sneak within enemy provinces with your dominion or in border provinces where they can safely retreat.\\ | * If you happen to have a surplus of Death gems due to random sites, consider investing into Likhos. If you send several of them into an enemy province at the same time and also cast unrest-causing spells such as Wrath of Pazuzu, they become hard to detect by conventional means due to high unrest and will also cause various bad events in enemy territory, which might result in them losing the province to independents or to you (due to the Oath-Bound attack random event). If you have Vengeful Water or The Wrath of God up, or use remote attacks or assassins, Likhos will be very difficult to patrol out while they devastate structures and population with events, as long as they sneak within enemy provinces with your dominion or in border provinces where they can safely retreat.\\ | ||
| - | | + | * The spells you research, and their order, depends heavily on what happens during the game. Vengeful Water + The Wrath of God + blood sacrificing Alkonosts is powerful, but contradicts other strategies. The combination of Dark Skies, Wailing Winds and Blood Rain is also powerful, and Dark Skies is also the only thing that makes your Rusalkas any useful as seducers, but it will likely contradict the strategy of using Vengeful Water due to the high cost of upholding globals and due to the fact that Summon Rusalka has a steep cost of 16 Water gems. Overcharging your armies with buffs is also a strong strategy, but it is incompatible with other options such as casting globals due to the high cost of boosters, overcasting and Empowerment on which the buffing relies. Mother Oak is a useful and conveniently placed gem-generating spell which you should try to secure for yourself in most cases, but you probably should not waste gems or research on it if there is a Nature nation such as Pangea on the map. Picking a pretender who can cast Riches from Beneath will also greatly boost your ability to field large amounts of mages and troops, but such option is a lot less attractive when there are strong Earth nations like Ulm, Agartha or Vanheim on the map. Similarly, if you have a lot of death gems, you might consider focusing on researching Conjuration for undead armies and heavily-geared Tartarians, but if you do not, then your Death gems will be better spent for casting Wind of Death and Soul Vortex. If you have Drain+Luck scales, then you should create 10 initial Mound Kings to carry Soul Contracts (overall, you might want to have up to 20 Soul Contracts, depending on the size of the game), but the way to maintain Devil production differs depending on the gem income you happen to have. If you mostly have Nature gems, then you should recruit Vyedmas (hopefully with Nature2, but a booster item can help if not) and have them cast Transformation. This will give you mindless insects which can carry Soul Contracts without attracting Horrors, and also some powerful size 6 warrior-mages as an added bonus (luckily, your nation is pretty versatile in terms of making good equipment). If you instead happen to have a lot of Astral |
| - | | + | * If you get a Madman or a commander version of a Lumber Construct in an event, give them a Soul Contract. Since they are mindless, horrors will never come for them. If you get a Vampire commander in an event, give it gear and use it as an immportal raider.\\ |
| - | * If you get a Madman or a commander version of a Lumber Construct in an event, give them a Soul Contract. Since they are mindless, horrors will never come for them.\\ | + | |
| * Do not overlook Holy site searching. With your first Vanabog, and later with just a Gode, you can always hope to find a couple Ancient Temple sites with Astral income, which you need badly.\\ | * Do not overlook Holy site searching. With your first Vanabog, and later with just a Gode, you can always hope to find a couple Ancient Temple sites with Astral income, which you need badly.\\ | ||
| * Blood slaves won't drown in underwater provinces with Pills of Water Breathing equipped on your Alkonosts.\\ | * Blood slaves won't drown in underwater provinces with Pills of Water Breathing equipped on your Alkonosts.\\ | ||
| * If you are using Soul Contracts, keep in mind that new Devils won't appear if the commander with the contract is using Stealth.\\ | * If you are using Soul Contracts, keep in mind that new Devils won't appear if the commander with the contract is using Stealth.\\ | ||
| * If you find a Knightly Order site, you may try to start producing Knight Commanders and giving them inexpensive items like the Barkskin Amulet to attack enemy provinces. It's a cheap way to hit your opponent' | * If you find a Knightly Order site, you may try to start producing Knight Commanders and giving them inexpensive items like the Barkskin Amulet to attack enemy provinces. It's a cheap way to hit your opponent' | ||
| + | |||
| + | **What magic to research**\\ | ||
| + | |||
| + | **What does each mage do**\\ | ||
| ==== Awake Dragon (WIP) ==== | ==== Awake Dragon (WIP) ==== | ||
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| //Research order// | //Research order// | ||
| - | Alteration | + | Enchantment 2 (Reanimation, |
| // | // | ||
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| The Pretender' | The Pretender' | ||
| // | // | ||
| - | Pretender is weak in combat until powerful items and Phoenix Pyre become available. At that point, she is very vulnerable to Curse, Stolen Strength, Mind Burn, Soul Slay, mind blasts. First turns of expansion are difficult unless you research rush for early Fire Evocation spells, which would be hard to do with Drain 3. High Order scales reduce | + | Pretender is weak in combat until powerful items and Phoenix Pyre become available. At that point, she is very vulnerable to Curse, Stolen Strength, Mind Burn, Soul Slay, mind blasts. First turns of expansion are difficult unless you research rush for early Fire Evocation spells, which would be hard to do with Drain 3. High Order scale reduces |
| // | // | ||
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| 2) On the second turn, you may use the Pretender to assist in the first battle if you feel the need for her Fire Flies castings and a morale boost for troops under her command. Careful consideration is required to determine whether or not her assistance will actually change the outcome of the battle. Sometimes you just need to wait for one more turn to build up your Chud Skinshifters. Since you don't have a powerful monster or a combatant titan as a Pretender, and your weak economic scales do not allow you to quickly rebuild an army, it is always better to err on the side of caution instead of risking losing your troops, which are your only source of military strength at this point. Set your Skinshifters to flank enemies, hold and attack rear. Your starting troops need to be sufficiently forward positioned to distract enemy troops, allowing Chud Skinshifters to run to the back unimpeded. The prophet should be set to Cast Spells at a distance that's close enough to hit enemy melee fighters, but not close enough to be hit by enemy arrows (one step closer to the enemy from the middle of the field is enough). If Deives of the Sun is on the battlefield, | 2) On the second turn, you may use the Pretender to assist in the first battle if you feel the need for her Fire Flies castings and a morale boost for troops under her command. Careful consideration is required to determine whether or not her assistance will actually change the outcome of the battle. Sometimes you just need to wait for one more turn to build up your Chud Skinshifters. Since you don't have a powerful monster or a combatant titan as a Pretender, and your weak economic scales do not allow you to quickly rebuild an army, it is always better to err on the side of caution instead of risking losing your troops, which are your only source of military strength at this point. Set your Skinshifters to flank enemies, hold and attack rear. Your starting troops need to be sufficiently forward positioned to distract enemy troops, allowing Chud Skinshifters to run to the back unimpeded. The prophet should be set to Cast Spells at a distance that's close enough to hit enemy melee fighters, but not close enough to be hit by enemy arrows (one step closer to the enemy from the middle of the field is enough). If Deives of the Sun is on the battlefield, | ||
| 3) On the next few turns, secure a full circle of provinces around your capital (unless there is a strong defense somewhere), followed by a forest province, if it is not too far away. As your capital gains resources, you should start prioritizing Chud Hirdman recruitment. Eventually, you will be able to recruit 4-5 Chud Hirdmen and 4-5 Chud Skinshifters every turn. This is because your scales give you a lot of recruitment points, but not as many resources, so you should try to expend both your recruitment points and your resources by balancing between Hirdmen and Skinshifters. For example, you can recruit Hirdmen until you have around 20 resources left, and then recruit 4 Skinshifters with the remaining resources and recruitment points. By doing so, you will be able to recruit 8-10 elite fighters instead of just 5 Chud Hirdmen every turn. A party of around 35 Chuds can take most neutral provinces even with strength of independents set to 9. Just keep in mind that Chud Skinshifters are fairly expensive in upkeep and just because you can recruit so many, does not mean you should. Recruit commanders: four Godes, multiple Vanarusian Sages, a Vanabog. Scouts are not particularly necessary, since your strong dominion will provide information about nearby provinces and enemy players. Enemy army composition can still be checked with a retreating Gode. After a few battles, you should bring your prophet scout back to capital to preach and then to do blood sacrifice. Use Godes for bringing reinforcements and building structures. The Vanabog will become a site searcher.\\ | 3) On the next few turns, secure a full circle of provinces around your capital (unless there is a strong defense somewhere), followed by a forest province, if it is not too far away. As your capital gains resources, you should start prioritizing Chud Hirdman recruitment. Eventually, you will be able to recruit 4-5 Chud Hirdmen and 4-5 Chud Skinshifters every turn. This is because your scales give you a lot of recruitment points, but not as many resources, so you should try to expend both your recruitment points and your resources by balancing between Hirdmen and Skinshifters. For example, you can recruit Hirdmen until you have around 20 resources left, and then recruit 4 Skinshifters with the remaining resources and recruitment points. By doing so, you will be able to recruit 8-10 elite fighters instead of just 5 Chud Hirdmen every turn. A party of around 35 Chuds can take most neutral provinces even with strength of independents set to 9. Just keep in mind that Chud Skinshifters are fairly expensive in upkeep and just because you can recruit so many, does not mean you should. Recruit commanders: four Godes, multiple Vanarusian Sages, a Vanabog. Scouts are not particularly necessary, since your strong dominion will provide information about nearby provinces and enemy players. Enemy army composition can still be checked with a retreating Gode. After a few battles, you should bring your prophet scout back to capital to preach and then to do blood sacrifice. Use Godes for bringing reinforcements and building structures. The Vanabog will become a site searcher.\\ | ||
| - | 4) Identify neighboring nations. Even though Chud Hirdmen and Chud Skinshifters are strong, you won't have many of them with the scales you are using. Use rivers, summoned Longdead, Crocodiles, Horned Serpents, Ogres and even Fiery Imps if you are desperate to secure borders. An undead nation such as MA Ermor would require producing many more Godes than you would usually make at the start, and little to no Chud Skinshifters, | + | 4) Identify neighboring nations. Even though Chud Hirdmen and Chud Skinshifters are strong, you won't have many of them with the scales you are using. Use rivers, summoned Longdead, Crocodiles, Horned Serpents, Ogres and even Fiery Imps if you are desperate to secure borders. An undead nation such as MA Ermor would require producing many more Godes than you would usually make at the start, and little to no Chud Skinshifters, |
| 5) With your first Vanabog, build a lab in a forest province, preferably not next to your capital. Recruit a Vyedma in the lab. Vyedmas have a chance to get a Fire path, which means that you won't need to buy and maintain a Vyedun if you get lucky. If the Vanabog has a Fire path, then that's just as well. While the Vyedma and the Vyedun are being recruited for 2-4 turns, the first Vanabog can site search and then blood hunt in the same province. The two (three) of them can do light site-searching in all paths except Astral.\\ | 5) With your first Vanabog, build a lab in a forest province, preferably not next to your capital. Recruit a Vyedma in the lab. Vyedmas have a chance to get a Fire path, which means that you won't need to buy and maintain a Vyedun if you get lucky. If the Vanabog has a Fire path, then that's just as well. While the Vyedma and the Vyedun are being recruited for 2-4 turns, the first Vanabog can site search and then blood hunt in the same province. The two (three) of them can do light site-searching in all paths except Astral.\\ | ||
| 6) Once you eventually have gold to spare thanks to random events and Distill Gold, use one of your Godes to build a fortress in the labbed forest. Start hiring sages there. Try to get at least 30 researching sages in total throughout the whole game, but watch your gold balance. Once Owl Quills become available, use all your sages to forge a quill for each in one turn, then dedicate one Vyedun or sage to forging quills every turn. Have a random Vanabog with Death 2 forge Skull Mentors once they become available (or you can have him forge a Skull Staff and give it to a sage to forge the skulls, while the Vanabog does something more important). Depending on the situation, you might want to summon Simargls to counter stealthy attacks and assassinations on your mage base. Either way, Simargls can be useful if you intend to keep multiple blood hunters in one province, so you can have a Vyedun or Yngvar summon around 15 of them initially. Although this build has Order 3 + Dominion 10 and can afford to spread its blood hunting.\\ | 6) Once you eventually have gold to spare thanks to random events and Distill Gold, use one of your Godes to build a fortress in the labbed forest. Start hiring sages there. Try to get at least 30 researching sages in total throughout the whole game, but watch your gold balance. Once Owl Quills become available, use all your sages to forge a quill for each in one turn, then dedicate one Vyedun or sage to forging quills every turn. Have a random Vanabog with Death 2 forge Skull Mentors once they become available (or you can have him forge a Skull Staff and give it to a sage to forge the skulls, while the Vanabog does something more important). Depending on the situation, you might want to summon Simargls to counter stealthy attacks and assassinations on your mage base. Either way, Simargls can be useful if you intend to keep multiple blood hunters in one province, so you can have a Vyedun or Yngvar summon around 15 of them initially. Although this build has Order 3 + Dominion 10 and can afford to spread its blood hunting.\\ | ||
| 7) Do not attack anyone if you can before you have hordes of Devils from Soul Contracts, or at least large summoned armies. Do not look for fights, and avoid pitched battles with a possibility for big losses. Your path to victory lies in the late game, so you are already winning as long as you continue to develop undisturbed. This doesn' | 7) Do not attack anyone if you can before you have hordes of Devils from Soul Contracts, or at least large summoned armies. Do not look for fights, and avoid pitched battles with a possibility for big losses. Your path to victory lies in the late game, so you are already winning as long as you continue to develop undisturbed. This doesn' | ||
| - | 8) Do not recruit a lot of Godes unless you need to defeat undead armies. However, you still should gradually increase the amount of Godes you have for several reasons, the earliest being as a form of defense against strong population-killing dominions. Later on, if you decide to use the Pretender as a combatant, increase the number of Godes to around 55 in total for instantaneous effect of Call God. Do not keep your Godes stored in a castle doing nothing and instead use them to transport troops to your frontlines. Another very important use for them is... just standing in your provinces. That is because your Order 3 scale will oftentimes give you a bad event which says: " | + | 8) Do not recruit a lot of Godes unless you need to defeat undead armies. However, you still should gradually increase the amount of Godes you have for several reasons, the earliest being as a form of defense against strong population-killing dominions. Later on, if you decide to use the Pretender as a combatant, increase the number of Godes to around 55 in total for instantaneous effect of Call God. Do not keep your Godes stored in a castle doing nothing and instead use them to transport troops to your frontlines. Another very important use for them is... just standing in your provinces. That is because your Order 3 scale will oftentimes give you a bad event which says: " |
| 9) As you mass-produce your Vanarusian Sages, look for the ones with a random path in Blood. Separate them from the rest and make them into your blood hunters. With a Blood Thorn and a Sanguine Dowsing Rod equipped, they can be quite effective. Your Pretender can make Blood Thorns without items, and she can give a Blood Thorn to a Blood2 Vanabog to do the same. Try to get 20 blood hunters or more, depending on your needs and the size of the game. Dominion 10 and Order 3 scales allow fairly intense hunting. However, if you see a sage with an Earth+Blood crosspath, keep him safe in your fort. You may need him for Earth forging. After Empowering in Earth and Blood, this rare sage will be able to forge Earth Boots in order to then forge a Blood Stone, and then put both on to forge Iron Face for your titan and Vanabogs.\\ | 9) As you mass-produce your Vanarusian Sages, look for the ones with a random path in Blood. Separate them from the rest and make them into your blood hunters. With a Blood Thorn and a Sanguine Dowsing Rod equipped, they can be quite effective. Your Pretender can make Blood Thorns without items, and she can give a Blood Thorn to a Blood2 Vanabog to do the same. Try to get 20 blood hunters or more, depending on your needs and the size of the game. Dominion 10 and Order 3 scales allow fairly intense hunting. However, if you see a sage with an Earth+Blood crosspath, keep him safe in your fort. You may need him for Earth forging. After Empowering in Earth and Blood, this rare sage will be able to forge Earth Boots in order to then forge a Blood Stone, and then put both on to forge Iron Face for your titan and Vanabogs.\\ | ||
| 10) Start remote site-searching as soon as you can. Be on the lookout for independent Astral mages such as lizard Shamans. They can be used to find Astral Pearl sites by manually site searching and later by casting Arcane Probing. Also use a priest to manually site search for Ancient Temple, a common Holy site with Astral income.\\ | 10) Start remote site-searching as soon as you can. Be on the lookout for independent Astral mages such as lizard Shamans. They can be used to find Astral Pearl sites by manually site searching and later by casting Arcane Probing. Also use a priest to manually site search for Ancient Temple, a common Holy site with Astral income.\\ | ||
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| //Research Order//\\ | //Research Order//\\ | ||
| - | Alteration 1 (Distill Gold) → Enchantment 1 (Reanimation) → Blood Magic 1 (Bind Fiery Imps) → Enchantment 2 (Revive King) → Conjuration 2 (Summon Crocodiles, Summon Fire Ants, Summon Simargl, Summon Ogres, Summon Horned Serpents, Summon Killer Mantis) → Construction 2 (Corpse Man Construction, | + | Alteration 1 (Distill Gold) → Enchantment 1 (Reanimation) → Blood Magic 1 (Bind Fiery Imps) → Enchantment 2 (Revive King) → Conjuration 2 (Summon Crocodiles, Summon Fire Ants, Summon Simargl, Summon Ogres, Summon Horned Serpents, Summon Killer Mantis) → Construction 2 (Corpse Man Construction, |
| // | // | ||
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| * On small maps, feel free to replace Growth 1 and Luck 3 with anything else, like a higher Fire path or a better Productivity scale, or a better Magic scale. Although Luck 3 still might be more useful for income depending on random events. A higher Fire path will give you more gold with Distill Gold and better combat magic on the Pretender.\\ | * On small maps, feel free to replace Growth 1 and Luck 3 with anything else, like a higher Fire path or a better Productivity scale, or a better Magic scale. Although Luck 3 still might be more useful for income depending on random events. A higher Fire path will give you more gold with Distill Gold and better combat magic on the Pretender.\\ | ||
| * On large maps, instead of Deives of the Sun, you may consider choosing an imprisoned Fountain of Blood pretender with the following settings: magic - Fire 4, Astral 3, Blood 5, scales - Dominion 10, Order 3, Productivity 3, Heat 1, Growth 3, Luck 3, Drain 3, bless - Superior Morale, Major Fire Resistance, Strong Vitae, Blood Surge. This will allow using the same strategy as described above, but will also give you enough recruitable troops to be reasonably dangerous from the start of the game, discouraging early aggression and allowing you to develop your Devil factory. However, Fountain of Blood is not as versatile in combat, and you will not be able to start blood hunting from the first turns of the game, and will have no choice but to use your capital to blood hunt with the Pretender until Teleport ritual is researched. Pretender' | * On large maps, instead of Deives of the Sun, you may consider choosing an imprisoned Fountain of Blood pretender with the following settings: magic - Fire 4, Astral 3, Blood 5, scales - Dominion 10, Order 3, Productivity 3, Heat 1, Growth 3, Luck 3, Drain 3, bless - Superior Morale, Major Fire Resistance, Strong Vitae, Blood Surge. This will allow using the same strategy as described above, but will also give you enough recruitable troops to be reasonably dangerous from the start of the game, discouraging early aggression and allowing you to develop your Devil factory. However, Fountain of Blood is not as versatile in combat, and you will not be able to start blood hunting from the first turns of the game, and will have no choice but to use your capital to blood hunt with the Pretender until Teleport ritual is researched. Pretender' | ||
| - | |||
| - | ==== Awake Ghost King (WIP) ==== | ||
| - | **Ghost King E1S6D5 Dom10Tur3Pro0Hea1Gro1Luc0Dra3 Awake** | ||
| - | |||
| - | Bless: Twist Fate, Stygian Flesh | ||
| - | |||
| - | (stealthy domkill rush, sacreds) | ||
| - | |||
| - | ==== Awake Great Enchantress (WIP) ==== | ||
| - | **Great Enchantress F1A1W2E2S2B3 Dom4Tur3Pro3Hea1Gro1Luc3Mag3 Awake** | ||
| - | |||
| - | Bless: none | ||
| - | |||
| - | (Astral access and income, conjurations, | ||
| ==== Dormant Father of Winters (WIP) ==== | ==== Dormant Father of Winters (WIP) ==== | ||
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| Pretender is very hard to beat in middle to late stages of the game. Good gold income and a large recruitable army of Chud Hirdmen. National ability to blood sacrifice allows using the pretender offensively and greatly enhances some global enchantments, | Pretender is very hard to beat in middle to late stages of the game. Good gold income and a large recruitable army of Chud Hirdmen. National ability to blood sacrifice allows using the pretender offensively and greatly enhances some global enchantments, | ||
| // | // | ||
| - | Pretender is still vulnerable to Curse, Stolen Strength, Mind Burn, Soul Slay, mind blasts. Until the Pretender awakes, early game is weaker and expansion is slower and more risky. High Order scales reduce | + | Pretender is still vulnerable to Curse, Stolen Strength, Mind Burn, Soul Slay, mind blasts. Until the Pretender awakes, early game is weaker and expansion is slower and more risky. High Order scale reduces |
| // | // | ||
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| 5) Use one of your Godes to build a fortress in the labbed forest province and a castle somewhere else, if you can afford it. Move your sages in either fort and start hiring new ones there. Try to get at least 30 researching sages in total throughout the whole game, as this time you don't need to worry about your gold as much. Once Owl Quills become available, use all your sages to forge a quill for each in one turn, then dedicate one Vyedun or sage to forging quills every turn. Have a random Vanabog with Death 2 forge Skull Mentors once they become available (or you can have him forge a Skull Staff and give it to a sage to forge the skulls, while the Vanabog does something more important). Depending on the situation, you might want to summon Simargls to counter stealthy attacks and assassinations on your mage base. Either way, Simargls can be useful if you intend to keep multiple blood hunters in one province, so you can have a Vyedun or Yngvar summon around 15 of them initially. Although this build has Order 3 and can afford to spread its blood hunting.\\ | 5) Use one of your Godes to build a fortress in the labbed forest province and a castle somewhere else, if you can afford it. Move your sages in either fort and start hiring new ones there. Try to get at least 30 researching sages in total throughout the whole game, as this time you don't need to worry about your gold as much. Once Owl Quills become available, use all your sages to forge a quill for each in one turn, then dedicate one Vyedun or sage to forging quills every turn. Have a random Vanabog with Death 2 forge Skull Mentors once they become available (or you can have him forge a Skull Staff and give it to a sage to forge the skulls, while the Vanabog does something more important). Depending on the situation, you might want to summon Simargls to counter stealthy attacks and assassinations on your mage base. Either way, Simargls can be useful if you intend to keep multiple blood hunters in one province, so you can have a Vyedun or Yngvar summon around 15 of them initially. Although this build has Order 3 and can afford to spread its blood hunting.\\ | ||
| 6) Ideally, you should enter your first war with an awakened titan and have your capital produce Vanabogs, Chud Hirdmen and Chud Skinshifters, | 6) Ideally, you should enter your first war with an awakened titan and have your capital produce Vanabogs, Chud Hirdmen and Chud Skinshifters, | ||
| - | 7) Initially, try to get at least 20 Godes. This will help you in case your Pretender dies, and also will make you more or less immune to early attacks from undead nations, as well as safeguard you from strong population-killing dominions. Later on, increase the number to around 55 Godes in total for instantaneous effect of Call God. Do not keep these Godes stored in a castle doing nothing and instead use them to transport troops to your frontlines. Another very important use for them is... just standing in your provinces. That is because your Order 3 scale will oftentimes give you a bad event which says: " | + | 7) Initially, try to get at least 20 Godes. This will help you in case your Pretender dies, and also will make you more or less immune to early attacks from undead nations, as well as safeguard you from strong population-killing dominions. Later on, increase the number to around 55 Godes in total for instantaneous effect of Call God. Do not keep these Godes stored in a castle doing nothing and instead use them to transport troops to your frontlines. Another very important use for them is... just standing in your provinces. That is because your Order 3 scale will oftentimes give you a bad event which says: " |
| 8) As you mass-produce your Vanarusian Sages, look for the ones with a random path in Blood. Separate them from the rest and make them into your blood hunters. With a Blood Thorn and a Sanguine Dowsing Rod equipped, they can be quite effective. In order to start producing Blood Thorns, you will either need to get lucky with a rare Blood3 Vanabog or Empower one (preferably you should Empower one with a Fire path or at least a Blood2 one). Try to get 10 blood hunters or more, depending on your needs and the size of the game. Order 3 and Growth 3 scales allow fairly intense hunting. However, if you see a sage with an Earth+Blood crosspath, keep him safe in your fort. You may need him for Earth forging. After Empowering in Earth and Blood, this rare sage will be able to forge Earth Boots in order to then forge a Blood Stone, and then put both on to forge Iron Face for your titan and Vanabogs.\\ | 8) As you mass-produce your Vanarusian Sages, look for the ones with a random path in Blood. Separate them from the rest and make them into your blood hunters. With a Blood Thorn and a Sanguine Dowsing Rod equipped, they can be quite effective. In order to start producing Blood Thorns, you will either need to get lucky with a rare Blood3 Vanabog or Empower one (preferably you should Empower one with a Fire path or at least a Blood2 one). Try to get 10 blood hunters or more, depending on your needs and the size of the game. Order 3 and Growth 3 scales allow fairly intense hunting. However, if you see a sage with an Earth+Blood crosspath, keep him safe in your fort. You may need him for Earth forging. After Empowering in Earth and Blood, this rare sage will be able to forge Earth Boots in order to then forge a Blood Stone, and then put both on to forge Iron Face for your titan and Vanabogs.\\ | ||
| 9) Start remote site-searching as soon as you can. Be on the lookout for independent Astral mages such as lizard Shamans. They can be used to find Astral Pearl sites by manually site searching and later by casting Arcane Probing. Also use a priest to manually site search for Ancient Temple, a common Holy site with Astral income.\\ | 9) Start remote site-searching as soon as you can. Be on the lookout for independent Astral mages such as lizard Shamans. They can be used to find Astral Pearl sites by manually site searching and later by casting Arcane Probing. Also use a priest to manually site search for Ancient Temple, a common Holy site with Astral income.\\ | ||
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| //Research Order//\\ | //Research Order//\\ | ||
| There are several paths, depending on your situation: | There are several paths, depending on your situation: | ||
| - | **Your troops are stronger than your enemy' | + | **Your troops are stronger than your enemy' |
| - | **Your troops are weaker than your enemy' | + | **Your troops are weaker than your enemy' |
| - | **Your enemy can attack from multiple directions thanks to freespawn and/or stealth:** Alteration 1 (Barkskin) → Construction 2 (Blacksteel Full Plate, Blacksteel Helmet, Blacksteel Tower Shield, resistance rings, Boots of Long Strides, Ranger' | + | **Your enemy can attack from multiple directions thanks to freespawn and/or stealth:** Alteration 1 (Barkskin) → Construction 2 (Corpse Man Construction, |
| // | // | ||
| * As previously mentioned, this build only needs Earth2 in order to forge a Blacksteel Full Plate and to cast Earth buffs after the titan' | * As previously mentioned, this build only needs Earth2 in order to forge a Blacksteel Full Plate and to cast Earth buffs after the titan' | ||
| - | * Additionally, you may replace Growth 3 with better Luck and Magic scales in situations | + | * On small maps, you may replace Growth 3 with better Luck and Magic scales. |
| + | |||
| + | ==== Imprisoned Idol of Sorcery (WIP) ==== | ||
| + | |||
| + | **Idol of Sorcery**\\ | ||
| + | Magic: Astral 4, Death 5\\ | ||
| + | Scales: Dominion 10, Order 3, Productivity 0, Heat 1, Growth 3, Luck 3, Magic 3\\ | ||
| + | Imprisoned\\ | ||
| + | |||
| + | //Bless//\\ | ||
| + | 4x Arcane Command, 5x Undead Command\\ | ||
| + | |||
| + | // | ||
| + | Rapid expansion, large recruited and summoned armies, global enchantments and dominion push.\\ | ||
| + | |||
| + | //Pros//\\ | ||
| + | Nation becomes able to use a wide range of summons with different abilities. Pretender can be used offensively to cast powerful province attacks, army attacks, army-wiping spells or army transportation spells | ||
| + | //Cons//\\ | ||
| + | High Order scale reduces the chance of getting much needed national heroes and frequently causes your provinces to rebel. High Magic scale and no national Astral mages make commanders vulnerable to remote attacks. Hellblessed giants can be dealt with, but remain a serious threat.\\ | ||
| + | |||
| + | // | ||
| + | During later stages of the game, the Idol of Sorcery can be used to cast many powerful spells which are otherwise inaccessible for Vanarus. Its Innate Spellcaster and Far Caster (Sorcery, 2) traits make it good at casting army-wiping spells, remote attacks and teleportation spells. Astral 4 allows to easily cast national Astral summons, Dispel and may also protect your capital from some enemy Astral rituals in your high Magic dominion, not to mention the ability to teleport onto enemy provinces with far-cast Teleport. Later in the game, it can be used to far-cast Astral Travel, cast Divine name, Juggernaut Construction. Death 5 allows far-casting Black Death on enemy capitals and other important provinces and far-casting Stygian Paths. Upon teleporting onto enemy provinces, the idol can cast a multitude of offensive spells (Mind Burn, Soul Slay, Astral Tempest, Bone Grinding, Soul Drain, Rigor Mortis, Undead Mastery, Arcane Domination, Master Enslave). The bless (4x Arcane Command and 5x Undead Command) allows using sacred commanders to amass huge and versatile summoned armies or to attack in multiple directions simultaneously without spending gems on summoning specialized commanders and crafting leadership items. Protection from army-wiping spells in the bless is not too big of a concern because of low usefulness of Oath-Bounds, | ||
| + | |||
| + | // | ||
| + | Clear out provinces around your capital with Chud Skinshifters, | ||
| + | |||
| + | //Build order//\\ | ||
| + | 1) On the first turn, make your Scout into a Prophet. This will add some ranged damage to your expansion party at no price, making possible difficult battles during expansion a little safer, while also making any potential Throne claims quicker. Put all 400 of your starting gold into recruiting 10 Chud Skinshifters.\\ | ||
| + | 2) On the second turn, attack a province with weak defense with your starting army and Chud Skinshifters. Sometimes you may need to wait for one more turn to build up your Chud Skinshifters. Set your Skinshifters to flank enemies, hold and attack rear. Your starting troops need to be sufficiently forward positioned to distract enemy troops, allowing Chud Skinshifters to run to the back unimpeded. The prophet should be set to Cast Spells at a distance that's close enough to hit enemy melee fighters, but not close enough to be hit by enemy arrows (one step closer to the enemy from the middle of the field is enough). Recruit more Chud Skinshifters, | ||
| + | 3) On the next few turns, secure a full circle of provinces around your capital (unless there is a strong defense somewhere), followed by a forest province, if it is not too far away. As your capital gains resources, you should start switching to Chud Hirdman recruitment. A party of around 35 Chuds can take most neutral provinces even with strength of independents set to 9. Just keep in mind that Chud Skinshifters are fairly expensive in upkeep and just because you can recruit so many, does not mean you should. Recruit commanders: four neutral commanders or Godes and four scouts (preferably neutral ones), a Vanabog, multiple Vanarusian Sages. The Vanabog will become a site searcher. Scouts should be sent to attack all nearby thrones and provinces with heavy cavalry. After this is done, use more Scouts to assess neighboring nations and to find their capitals.\\ | ||
| + | 4) Identify neighboring nations and their strength. You need to choose someone to fight your first war of conquest against. Try to avoid hellblessed giants and nations with strong harmful dominion such as C'tis and Ermor. All of these threats can be defeated with Chud Skinshifters or Chud Hirdmen and mages, but the losses and risks involved are not really worth it compared to other options, especially since hellblessed giants and high dominion Ermor tend to become relatively weaker with time instead of stronger. If you find yourself close to a rusher with a strong bless, use rivers, summoned Longdead, Crocodiles, Horned Serpents, Killer Mantis, Ogres and even Fiery Imps if you are desperate to secure borders. An undead nation such as MA Ermor would require producing many more Godes than you would usually make at the start, and little to no Chud Skinshifters, | ||
| + | 5) With your first Vanabog, build a lab in a forest province. Recruit a Vyedma in the lab. Vyedmas have a chance to get a Fire path, which means that you won't need to buy and maintain a Vyedun if you get lucky. If the Vanabog has a Fire path, then that's just as well. While the Vyedma and the Vyedun are being recruited for 2-4 turns, the first Vanabog can site search and then research in the same province. The two (three) of them can do light site-searching in all paths except Astral.\\ | ||
| + | 6) Once you eventually have gold to spare, use one of your Godes to build a fortress in a place away from your capital. Start hiring sages there. Try to get at least 30 researching sages in total throughout the whole game, but watch your gold balance. Once Owl Quills become available, use all your sages to forge a quill for each in one turn, then dedicate one Vyedun or sage to forging quills every turn. Have a random Vanabog with Death 2 forge Skull Mentors once they become available (or you can have him forge a Skull Staff and give it to a sage to forge the skulls, while the Vanabog does something more important). Depending on the situation, you might want to summon Simargls to counter stealthy attacks and assassinations on your mage base. Either way, Simargls can be useful if you intend to keep multiple blood hunters in one province, so you can have a Vyedun or Yngvar summon around 15 of them initially. Although this build has Order 3 + Dominion 10 and can afford to spread its blood hunting. Have at least one labbed forest where you can hire Vyedmas and Vyeduns constantly, until you have around 20 of them. These mages will become remote site searchers, summoners and forgers.\\ | ||
| + | 7) Attack a neighbour who is the least dangerous for your Chud troops, such as a stealthy nation, a nation without strong sacred troops (except Ulm) or an undead nation with weak dominion. Preferably attacks someone who is already at war with someone else. Be wary of fort battles against many mages until you research resistance spells or at least Air Elementals. A few Vyeduns and Vyedmas should be forging and remote site searching together with Vanabogs (naturally, forgers and site-searchers should be different units). A few more Vyedmas and Vyeduns, alongside Vanarusian Sages and maybe Vanabogs are needed for casting summoning rituals. Initially, you have the following summons to choose from: with Fire gems, you can get Fire Ants (stealthy, good protection, never rout, good map movement, but expensive and rare for Vanarus), Scorpion Beasts (very strong and tough, but few and slow) and Terracotta Soldiers (amphibious, | ||
| + | 8) Do not recruit a lot of Godes unless you need to defeat undead armies. However, you still should gradually increase the amount of Godes you have for several reasons, the earliest being as a form of defense against strong population-killing dominions. Thanks to the bless, Godes are also your cheapest way of transporting magic beings and undead/ | ||
| + | 9) As you mass-produce your Vanarusian Sages, look for the ones with a random path in Blood. Separate them from the rest and make them into your blood hunters. With a Blood Thorn and a Sanguine Dowsing Rod equipped, they can be quite effective. In order to start producing Blood Thorns, you will either need to get lucky with a rare Blood3 Vanabog or Empower one (preferably you should Empower one with a Fire path or at least a Blood2 one). Try to get 20 blood hunters or more, depending on your needs and the size of the game. Dominion 10, Order 3 and Growth 3 scales allow intense hunting. However, if you see a sage with an Earth+Blood crosspath, keep him safe in your fort. You may need him for Earth forging. After Empowering in Earth and Blood, this rare sage will be able to forge Earth Boots in order to then forge a Blood Stone, and then put both on to forge Iron Face for your Vanabogs and transformed mages.\\ | ||
| + | 10) Start remote site-searching as soon as you can. Because you are able to recruit a lot of mages with this build, you may choose to instead use magic booster items on mages with path depth of at least 2 in order to search for sites manually, which is less expensive in the long term. Be on the lookout for independent Astral mages such as lizard Shamans. They can be used to find Astral Pearl sites by manually site searching and later by casting Arcane Probing. Also use a priest to manually site search for Ancient Temple, a common Holy site with Astral income.\\ | ||
| + | 11) Research Construction, | ||
| + | 12) Research Enchantment and Alteration to level 7 to be able to protect your armies with battlefield-wide buffs. High levels in Enchantment and Evocation will also allow you to cast damage-dealing battlefield enchantments that synergize with your resistant troops. Casting most of these spells is impossible without researching Construction 6 for magic boosters first. Only national heroes can cast them immediately. You also might use Blood Sabbaths and Crystal Matrixes (if you get lucky) to have your mages form communions to cast powerful spells before boosters, but this option is much more expensive and risky. The biggest advantage from communions you can get is skipping Construction research after level 2 in order to get to Alteration 7 quicker, where your Vanabogs can use Blood Sabbath to cast Fog Warriors.\\ | ||
| + | 13) Use your Idol of Sorcery Pretender to forge Starshine Skullcaps without having to empower your other Astral mages, and then use it to attack enemy provinces and armies with Black Death and Leprosy, as well as to transport troops. Old Bear Thunder will also be capable of transporting troops with Faery Trod. Baba Yaga will also be able to cast Black death and Leprosy (the former is especially useful for double-casting on the same province). The idol can forge an Arcane Lens to cast its spells even further. Avoid using your pretender for casting Astral Projection or Mind Hunt, because your inanimate pretender will never be able to recover from a Feeblemind affliction. In battle, the Idol of Sorcery should be equipped with a Storm Spool and a resistance item, or possibly with a booster like a Crystal Coin, and cast Bone Grinding or Soul Drain. Depending on the situation, you might want to first cast Resist Magic, Body Ethereal and Astral Shield. In long games, after putting on some boosters, Empowering and possibly casting Power of the Spheres and Light of the Northern Star, the pretender becomes capable of casting Astral Tempest, Unraveling, Undead Mastery, Arcane Domination and Master Enslave. In some situations, the idol can be used to assist armies by casting Antimagic, Darkness (to assist inanimates as well as units with Dark Power trait such as Shades and Fiends, Rigor Mortis (to assist inanimates), | ||
| + | 14) Use your blood income and Alkonosts to start eliminating enemy dominion from the map. But before this, you probably should give 10-20 Soul Contracts to cheap commanders such as Mound Kings (from Revive King ritual). Once Enchantment 7 is researched, cast Carrion Reanimation to get mindless commanders to carry Soul Contracts (depending on your gem income, you may consider other ways of keeping your Soul Contracts such as insect commanders from Transformation or anti-horror kits from the Common Points section of this guide). Afterwards, start applying intense dominion pressure through blood sacrifice with Alkonosts to domkill enemies and to enhance your casting of Vengeful Water and Strand of Arcane Power.\\ | ||
| + | 15) If you have Astral-Fire mages, cast Summon Firebird in the capital forever, at a rate of 5 casts per turn or more, depending on your Fire income. This will eventually give you virtually infinite gold and gem income which is not reflected on score graphs. Even if you do not have such mages, you can make them by empowering an Astral mage in Fire or a Fire mage in Astral, depending on your situation and gem income. Given time, even one such mage will pay for itself many times over.\\ | ||
| + | 16) Mass produce Alkonosts to blood sacrifice in every province and cast Vengeful Water to eliminate all opposition.\\ | ||
| + | |||
| + | //Research Order//\\ | ||
| + | Alteration 1 (Distill Gold) → Enchantment 1 (Reanimation) → Conjuration 2 (Summon Crocodiles, Summon Fire Ants, Summon Simargl, Summon Ogres, Summon Shades, Summon Horned Serpents, Summon Killer Mantis) → Enchantment 2 (Revive King) → Construction 2 (Corpse Man Construction, | ||
| + | |||
| + | // | ||
| + | * On small maps, feel free to reduce Dominion 10 and Growth 3 in exchange for a better Productivity scale or a bless.\\ | ||
| + | * If you are playing against opponents with strong sacreds, it is recommended to rush Alteration 1 and Evocation 2 or 3 at first. Continue to research Alteration and Evocation for powerful damaging spells as long as the threat persists.\\ | ||
| + | * If harmful enemy dominion is not a concern, you may choose to design this pretender with a lower dominion score, and in exchange increase the Idol's level of Astral magic. This will save Astral pearls on Empowerment in late game and may allow you to cast Strands of Arcane Power in the late game. | ||
| ==== Imprisoned Frost Father (WIP) ==== | ==== Imprisoned Frost Father (WIP) ==== | ||
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| - | ==== Imprisoned Irminsul (WIP) ==== | ||
| - | **Irminsul N4 Dom7Ord3Pro3Col3Gro3Luc3Mag3 Imprisoned** | ||
| - | |||
| - | Bless: Low Light Vision, Minor Poison Resistance, Major Poison Resistance | ||
| - | |||
| - | (heavy scales army, fast research and flexibility) | ||
vanarus-guide.1785578449.txt.gz · Last modified: 2026/08/01 10:00 by reinc