Dominions 5 - EA Xibalba - Pretender Design

[@dogebestest7187]

Hmm I'll be watching this game closely. Xibalba is a nation that teases you with a prospect of awesomely powerful mages, hordes of jaguar fiends, vampires and tartarians, but fuck me if I know how to pull them through the early game without getting mauled to death by almost anybody

[@dakka123]

The big rock head seemed very solid.

[@Scarletraven87]

Ba dum tssssss

[@Mewobiba]

One issue with Berserk + Blood Bond for a nation like Mictlan is that most of your mage lineup is sacred, and even worse you're using sabbaths. So in a big battle, one stray lightning bolt can take out a large chunk of your mage lineup either by killing them or berserking them. And with communions this can transform into destroying your whole slave battery.

[@Scarletraven87]

Why is no one going for fire explosion bless? Sun Guards + Bats = the cheapest, most numerous sacred, and they're fire resistant

[@KrasnayaArmada]

Fighting the expendable nature of your bats at all costs

[@TheArmored123]

hey lucid, just finished your hinnom playlist, glad youre still uploading

[@jhoxha]

I think picking luck over magic scales with this nation is a mistake ( by that I mean I would have dropped the luck to get out of drain ). You said it yourself that if you survive to turn 30 with a healthy enough empire you would feel more confident about winning it. If reaching certain research goals is paramount , the gold benefit of luck events is offset by drain because you will need more production centers and more mages to reach the research goal without losing tempo. This will also net you fewer troops because mages are an all or nothing unit cost wise so you won't even afford a constant trickle of gold requiring units.

[@LucidTactics]

generally i take drain if i can make lots of research boosters. So im fine with the pick there. What i didnt think about was the fatigue from spells which is very important with blood magic. So if i did it again, would go magic 1.

[@ChristopherPisz]

You ranked this an A tier nation! and all I hear is "I'm gonna have problems with this and problems with that!" lol.

[@LucidTactics]

Yeah they have some major weaknesses and challenges, but they might have the best late game of any nation.

[@jhoxha]

This xibalba game is a bit ironic considering the current events 😅

[@dakka123]

T'ien Ch'i casts Send Disease Demon

[@coldrage20t8]

So I will say my MP experience is limited to some for friendly casual games between friends but I do actually like sun guides with Decay weapons and bloodsurge. And the reason why is some guys aren't bad that they need meat Shield units wish to be fair you have plenty of and with Decay weapons there's a decent chance that's a if you're fighting giants who are rushing you you might be able to kill an additional two or three in the fight thanks to that. Which is often weigh more than investment for the Giant player than it is for you giving you a chance to attrition down there Army as you are also rating their lands. And blood surge is good for your demon Jaguars. I'm sure it might just be better to get a bigger buff bless for jags and ignore the sun boys but it's helped me turn the tide a few times in a rush

[@vagrant2863]

I like the choice of music.

[@RamenAwesomeNoodles]

Any thoughts on the Great Camazotz? You can take him imprisoned with a rainbow bless of +Att, +Str, +MW, +Blood Surge and other utility stuff like Swift or Maj/Min Shock Resist and still have good scales (only really having to dump luck or magic based on preference).

[@akunokami1290]

Would have swiftness helped with the sacreds ? You said that first attack is really important with the bats to not take damage. It might work well in combination

[@KeepStay]

wait, how magic weapons are gonna help against army of gold/lead? It is legit natural prot and magic weapons helps only against ethereal etc.

[@LucidTactics]

They are going to help against fog warriors + army of gold + army of lead. If someone drops both of those then ozzies cant get through it without magic weapons. (If they just drop fog warriors - ozzies hit hard enough they will pop fog warriors kinda fast)

[@kelva1304]

Luck over magic? Did you research with Ah Itz and rushed research boosters?

[@werotan]

snake lady doesn't have astral maybe parrot name...

[@Yarkoonian]

What is an Ozzie?

[@Bill_Garthright]

An ozelotl, a sacred, flying jaguar Xibalba can summon with Bind Jaguar Fiends (Blood 4) or Rain of Jaguars (Blood 8). You probably figured that out by now. But I was here and noticed your question. :)

[@callumfinlayson-palmer8393]

Magic weapons doesn't affect claw and bite attacks, right? Or am I mistaken?

[@Mewobiba]

It definitely affects natural attacks. The only exception to weapon blesses applying is that weapon bonus effect blesses (eg flaming weapons) doesn't apply to ranged natural attacks like Mind Blast. And of course +Str only works on weapons that use Str.

[@callumfinlayson-palmer8393]

@@Mewobiba oh wow, thanks for the clarification and info!! I've been missing out.

[@RareCondition]

@@callumfinlayson-palmer8393 The bless bonus doesn't apply to the attacks made by mounts of sacred cavalry though. Notable for Bandar Tiger Riders especially.

[@Mewobiba]

@@RareCondition That's not accurate; the game makes no distinction between riders and mounts in such a way. What you might be thinking of is +Str blesses; mount attacks generally don't benefit from these because their weapons have a 'strength not added' tag. For this reason, when it comes to sacred cavalry, weapon bonus effect blesses (eg flaming weapons) are typically better. For the Bandar Log's tiger riders, the tigers themselves aren't sacred so they lose the bless in secondshape if the rider dies, but as long as the rider lives all attacks from the unit get the bonus. And there's other sacred cav where the secondshape is sacred, like zhayedans and hunter spiders.

[@RareCondition]

@@Mewobiba Yeah, I noticed it not applying strength bonuses. That's good to know, thanks.

[@jb9515]

No consideration for inspiration from the fire tree? larger groups of bats with better moral stay longer. Maybe luck or some hp to keep your mages alive. Cold res for mages in cold provs. Also maybe air shield? Might let you field some archers without worrying about poping your own dudes

[@kelva1304]

Cold res doesn't cancel coldblooded. Inspiration is pretty expensive just for bat expansion imo. Ozzies have good morale.

[@Mewobiba]

Unfortunately inspiration is kinda overpriced in general; it's rarely worth it, including here. +HP would be a nice benny if you got another bless with points over, but it's not worth taking a bless for; most things that will kill a 9hp unarmored mage will also kill a 13 hp unarmored mage. If I were to go for a bless for mage survivability, I'd rather get barkskin or stygian skin or something, since it also helps your sun guard. Luck wouldn't be a bad bless per se, and comes with a good pretender path, but it's incarnate, costly, and requires specific scales.

[@jb9515]

@@kelva1304 cold res wont cancel CB it but it will mitigate regular cold based fatigue when fighting in a cold prov. Inspiration opens up your tookit to all sorts of units beyond ozzies and beastbats. The moral buff is one part..the larger unit stacks also help prevent routing and help with surrounds

[@kelva1304]

@@jb9515 You have Reinvigoration for fatigue though... going out of your way for cres just seems suboptimal to me. Air shield is a weak bless that forces you to take an awake, and it won't mitigate losses much. At that point you are better off going Luck imo.

[@Mewobiba]

@@jb9515 The command bonus can be relevant if your sacred leaders have extremely low leadership, but in this case they're at 120 base. Going from that to 150 won't change much. Unfortunately inspirational doesn't really open the toolkit, the bonus is simply too small. And you have national access to both Horns of Valor and Helmet of Heroes (and champion's skulls and sceptres of authority if you want larger stacks) if you really want to bump up that morale. Inspirational is just an overpriced bless in general, and competes against two excellent small blesses, fire resistance and attack skill. Even at 3 points I'd be hard-pressed to find a scenario where I'd take it.

[@sheepthief2785]

bro u gotta switch up the song in the back.