Not another elf chick? HidingKneel beats a dead horse. (Spoilers!)

[HidingKneel]

Other players begone, or I'll turn them to frogs.

[Commodore]

So clearly, you're going for Rhoanna?

[HidingKneel]

Alright! New game. Big builder map. So it might not be a bad idea to pick a civ with some good late-game potential. As my thread title suggests, I'm thinking of trying to go up the arcane line this game.

So, what are some good civs/leaders for that purpose?

Luchuirp: Garrim Gyr is Fin/Arc. Financial's been nerfed, but mud golems have been boosted. To the point where Kyan claimed the Luchuirp are broken. But he was probably talking about the Ind leader, who makes the mud golems speedy quick. I dunno... technically the Luchuirp have some synergy with the arcane line with their special golem powers, but I doubt it would work that well in practice. 5/10.

Kuriotates: Cardith can be arcane if he needs to be. Or he can be arcane with his first swap, build lots of experienced arcane units, then switch to Cha and score a bunch of additional promotions. The Kuriotates are a pretty solid builder civ, at least early on. But on a huge map they'll eventually lag behind. Besides, I just played the Kuriotates. 6/10

Malakim: Varn's adaptive too, so he could be arcane if he needs to be. And I hear there are nifty tricks for getting instant mages out of lightbringers and Altar layers. And the Malakim have a unique summon? Eh, it could work. 7/10

Elohim: Thessalonica sounds like a pretty solid builder. Tempting, but doesn't go with the arcane theme. 4/10

Bannor: Sabathiel's Cha/Org is good for getting quick mages out. But otherwise not much synergy with the arcane line. Besides, if I wanted to play the Bannor, I'd want to go up the religious line and crusade... nah, not this game. 4/10.

Sidar: Shekinah's an Arcane leader for the Sidar. And Sidar might be able to get a fair number of wanes if we're playing on deity or immortal. But I don't see a lot of synergy. I'll pass. 5/10

Grigori: Now we're talking. Another adaptive leader who can be arcane or charismatic if need be. More importantly, if we actually make it to the late game, can have a full crew of twincasting archmages. Of course, agnostic is a -huge- downside. 8/10

Hippus: Rhoanna's a solid builder, even with the nerf to financial. And the Hippus have solid military options. But they don't synergize with the arcane line. So, pass. 5/10

Khazad: Special mechanics reward turtling up; they'll be terrible on a huge map. Also, can't build mages. 1/10.

Ljosalfar: Thessa is Arc/Exp. Exp is very useful on a big map. Boosts to the cottage economy and Hidden Paths have
given the elves a huge boost in EitB. Elves are great builders, and this will be a builder's map. 10/10.

Amurites: Both leaders are Arcane. Huge map and high difficulty make Valledia's Org/Arc/Ing combo look appealing. Expensive hawks and sorcery in EitB mean that Amurites get recon info sooner than anybody else (floating eyes at KotE). Civ is built around synergy with the Arcane line. 8/10

Lanun: banned in this game.

Illians: Cha/Arc is a great trait for getting mages out. Guaranteed ice mana. Could be a decent arcane civ, but agnostic hurts too much. Besides, if I pick Illians my proposal to boost the Illians will seem self-serving. Let Selrahc have them. 7/10.

Balseraphs: Keelyn's banned, but Perpentach's awesome. Technically I've played Perp already, but it was over so fast... it would be fun to do so again. Perp is Arcane at the start, but that's sort of irrelevant since he'll almost surely swap traits before he gets his first arcane units out. Even so, an arcane-focused Perpentach can be insanely powerful thanks to the mobility that puppets give you: as Plako taught me in XXI. 9/10.

Svartalfar: Faeryl is Arc/Rai. Pretty good, but seems strictly worse than Thessa's Arc/Exp. Besides, I'm already playing the Svarts in XXIII. 7/10

Calabim: They can make the strongest mages of them all, by gifting vampirism and feasting. But that requires either unlocking Losha or Vampires, plus going down the arcane line. And even then, they can make quality mages but not any great quantity of them. If I was playing the Calabim, I wouldn't want to focus on mages. Since I want to focus on mages, the Calabim are out. 3/10.

Sheaim: Tebryn is Arc/Sum, which is a potentially terrifying combination. Huge builder map opens the possibility of actually making it to terrifying late-game technology like Eaters of Dreams. Could this be the PBEM where they finally make an appearance? On the other hand: no economic boosts to speak of. He'd probably get outclassed by someone else reaching the endgame toys first. Worth a shot, maybe? 8/10

Doviello: Mahala can upgrade adepts to mages for half-price! Um... no. 2/10

So... I'm leaning toward picks of (1) Thessa, (2) Perpentach, and (3) ???.

Any lurkers want to weigh in?

[HidingKneel]

So clearly, you're going for Rhoanna?

I was looking at Rhoanna as my #3 before I titled the thread...

[Commodore]

Exp/Chm/Ing actually sound great for mages.

[HidingKneel]

Exp/Chm/Ing actually sound great for mages.

Who's Exp/Chm/Ing?

[Merovech]

Exp/Chm/Ing actually sound great for mages.

Who's Exp/Chm/Ing?

Nobody?

[Commodore]

Dovello leaders, mentally conflated!

[UnforcedError]

HidingKneel, do you mind if I dedlurk this thread? (Saw you were looking for dedlurkers in the planning thread.) I do plan to join in as a player on later FfH games too, but thought I'd assist in some games first. Don't have too much experience with EitB actually (playing my SPs with Tholal's mod atm), and no MP experience with FfH as yet (and only neglectable BtS MP experience prior to joining these forums). So I'm basically looking to improve in these departments. Nevertheless, I could probably make myself useful in testing out micro plans or whatever

[flugauto]

HidingKneel. Why do you dislike Agnostic so much? What I want to say is that if you want a focused arcane game, all the priest techs are not necessary, but the benefits of the agnostic leaders/civs are quite big.