Military Race Rankings(Life+Warlord)

[massone]

There's no need for a solution, because there's no problem. Alchemy doesn't benefit Klackons any more than the other economy races, and isn't necessary either as gold isn't their main strength. Klackons have low unrest but so what? You can max tax rates as a Life Wizard anyways as almost any race using Stream of Life. Besides, a little unrest in your cities isn't a big deal. You only get 13 unrest in a max pop city at 55%. With 8 unit garrison and full religious line, you get -10 unrest. -11 with Coliseum. 2 rebel pop is only a loss of 4 gold and 4 umodified production. You have 0 unrest for any city up to 20 pop even without Stream of Life. How many >20 pop cities do you expect to have in a normal game, if you aren't playing Nature or Guardian?

There isn't any need for an automatic Alchemy for Klackons. Their real strength is in getting production up fast, not gold. They're also not necessarily a swarm race. They can produce all the key magic buildings, and can be used for rushing magic as well. That's another reason I don't think Alchemy should be free for them. They can already get enough magic from the buildings, why should they get more from gold conversion too?

[Anskiy]

Lizardmen:

Economy:

Lizardmen have a functional, unimpressive economy. They get the important economic buildings for early game, but not much else. There's no production or population bonuses, and their production boosting buildings stop at the Sawmill. This is definitely not a race that can become an economic powerhouse. Overall, it's a C. While it could be argued that Gnolls should be ranked lower, missing the Magic Market and thus the Wizard's Guild, missing the Miner's Guild makes them rather slow builders, and they don't have bonuses that compensate for it, unlike the Barbarians.

Military:

Lizardmen have a fairly straightforward benefit: they gain 1 HP in exchange for 1 resistance. This makes their regular troops durable but more susceptible to statuses. It must be noted that in most situations, the extra HP helps more than the defense bonus of the Klackons; there are many effects that pierce or outright ignore armor in the game, and HP is a more relevant stat against them. In addition, more HP lets them take more attacks without losing figures, as it can cover up failed rolls on the armor. With that said, the regular unit lineup misses ranged units and cavalry, which is a serious concern. Thankfully their halberdiers are quite robust to take on most battles, but they still take more losses than needed. Overall it's a D, the military bonus is good but their early game is very suspect.

Of their unique units, Javelineers are a very robust ranged unit. Their attack isn't spectacular at first sight, however they are very durable and have good melee attacks. This makes them incredibly versatile, and they lend well to offensive buffs with their six figure count. Javelineers are the cornerstone of most Lizardmen armies, they make up for the lack of regular ranged units while still being effective melee fighters. They even surpass the above average halberdiers in most situations.

Dragon Turtles are an interesting contrast to Javelineers. They are tanky, durable units with very high resistance - but have little in the way of offense. Their lightning breath atleast lets them target fliers, and the armor piercing effect is situationally useful. However, they are clearly built as a defensive unit, and they excel in that role. The high resistance helps Lizardmen stand up to statuses in the mid and late game, and Fire Immunity cancels the often used tools of Chaos wizards. They are generally best used for either forming a defensive wall in front of the Javelineers, or dragging out fights long enough to use casting skill effectively.

Overall, the unique units rate a B. There's no real powerhouse option, but Javelineers are very solid all rounders that make for an effective army, and Dragon Turtles are excellent on the defense.

As for their navy... well, Lizardmen can all swim naturally. They don't need much of a navy. A stack of Javelineers can easily take on ship stacks and win. The Carrack is somewhat of a below average ship, however the speed of 4 provides some much needed maneuverability over the water. They don't need their ships to actually fight other ships at any rate. Lizardmen are clearly masters of the ocean, and rank a big A here.

Wizard support:

Lizardmen get all three major buildings. However, getting them completed can be a chore, as they get no production bonuses. Javelineers are pretty great for lair hunting, their all rounder nature lets them do decent ranged damage to many creatures while surviving retaliatory shots. Dragon Turtles have situational use in lairs, but their defensive properties should let the wizard cast important spells and tank for higher damage units. On occasion, they can even fight units that are heavily reliant on resistance checks, like Night Stalkers or Chaos Spawns, and win.

Overall:

Lizardmen are a unique flavor of rush race. Rather than rely on speedy units like Gnolls, high production like Klackons, or high conditional damage like Barbarians, they rely on sturdy, versatile units that can cross the ocean. They are decently suited for boom strategies too, settlers crossing the water lets them grab good land before other races can get there. In some ways, this can even be used as a substitute for their poor production, at the cost of using up land that could've settled more economically inclined races. What it lacks in raw power, it makes up for in sheer versatility; indeed, there are few situations it can't face.

Edit: Lowered ranking of Lizardmen regular military some with explanation.

[Anskiy]

Nomads:

Economy:

Nomads have a rather awkward economy. They get most of the economic buildings, but miss out on food production outside of the Forester's Guild. This means that they are short on effectively 5000 population for every city they build. That's not trivial, and while it can be compensated for somewhat with production boosting buildings, their farmers remain less efficient, and you get less taxes from them. For this reason alone, they land on a B, mostly salvaged by having all the production buildings around. They do benefit from a road bonus at all times, but it's often too insignificant to really count.

Military:

Their swordsmen are slightly better than usual, as they can defend themselves with a ranged attack. However, this is a token tool, and should not be used seriously for conquest. Their standard lineup doesn't stand out much, and Horsebowmen, while good, doesn't quite make up for the loss of bowmen. However, the extra resistance is actually quite useful, and helps defend against a wide array of early and mid game curses. This is a standard B.

Horsebowmen are a very solid early game unit. Their attacks are seemingly mediocre, however they are ranged, move fast at speed 4, and so kite a lot of enemies. With some buffs, this makes them good not only for defense but also for conquest. Their armor is glaringly low, so they should be careful against magical units. However outside of ghouls, sprites and priests, there are few real threats to them.

Following them up are the Pikemen. Pikemen are a curious take on the halberdiers, having less effective strength but being able to pierce armor. Nomad pikemen don't quite have the potential damage of the High Men flavor, but are still decent at what they do. However, given what this race can build, they too are sadly overshadowed.

Rangers are essentially souped up Horsebowmen. Their damage is pretty high, and stays strong over a distance. They move fast both on the world map and in combat, thanks to their pathfinding. In addition, they can also scout from three tiles away and are immune to poison. They are a very potent unit, held back mostly by their ranged damage being easily counterable and having bad defenses.

Where Rangers can't help, Griffins are more than welcome. They are very durable flying units that can also deal strong armor piercing damage. To counter this, they have low figure counts and so less buffing potential. Despite this, they are still excellent doomstack material.

There's a lot of good things here. No magical units, but Nomads get magicians anyway so they aren't missed. Having good units for almost every phase of the game is hard to complain about, even with most of their core units having an easy to counter damage style. This gets them a good A.

As for their navy, it's very standard issue. No Warships, but they do atleast get War Colleges and Galleys. Having all production buildings lets them keep up with most race's navies. A straight C for this one.

Wizard support:

Nomads get all three major buildings, and the production buildings to speed them up. While they can never field as many workers as other races, having the production boosts does compensate for that. Their units are generally excellent for lair clearing, Horsebowmen can consistently kite most early and even mid game lairs, Rangers decimate anything that's not too armored or counters arrows, and Griffins handle the rest. They can even hurl magicians for the few times ranged magical attacks are really required.

Overall:

Nomads take a while to get going economically. However, this weakness is mostly papered by the Horsebowmen being pretty good early on, and once they are set up, they have a great selection of units. Their racial trait is beneficial against wizards relying on statuses, and even stays relevant for most of the game. They are a strong late game race with considerable early game potential.

[Anskiy]

Orcs:

Economy:

Orcs get all of the major economic buildings, and have no hidden downsides. Their unrest with High Elves and High Men is pretty notable, but otherwise they get along fine with most Arcanus races. They don't really get an economic bonus here, but they don't need one. A pretty strong A here.


Military:

Orcish military is kind of the "baseline" for other races' military. As such, they get nothing special for their stats, however having all the regular units gives them decent versatility, and saving 1 gold off their upkeep really lets them field huge armies as the game progresses. Quantity is by itself a quality. This rates a decent B.

The Horde essentially builds on the same idea, being a cheap, spammable Armorer's Guild unit. It's fairly durable and has decent damage output, being sized eight figures. This makes it a solid core unit of the army, without being particularly outstanding. Wyvern Riders, on the other hand, are incredibly specialized fighters. They rely upon dealing poison damage, and thus want to target low resistance units. This makes them gradually get obsolete, though they are still useful as support units and skirmishers, being 5 speed and flying.

Their unique units thus provide a reliable fill for most situations, and a niche that requires smart play or the right conditions to exploit. This is more than adequate to stand against foes, without being particularly powerful. Yet another decent B here.

The Orcish navy has all the ships, and the production buildings to boost them. Pretty straightforward rank here, an A.

Wizard support:

Orcs get all three important buildings, and have all production buildings to speed them up. They have adequate, though not amazing tools for lair clearing. Early archers work well for securing most easy lairs and even some medium strength ones. The durability and general cheap costs of the Hordes makes them good for tanking various hard lairs, especially if buffed appropriately. Wyvern Riders are quite effective when they can hit low resistance monsters, but otherwise are not particularly useful for lairs.

Overall:

Orcs are as close as a race gets to being "average". They don't excel in their unit's stats, however they can get many of them to compensate, and having all the regular units available gives them a lot of versatility. Similarly, being able to build everything makes them quite strong economically without really making them rich. It is quite surprising how well this race plays out despite its complete lack of unique advantages. The Horde is perhaps the only exception to this.

[Suppanut]

Is horde suppose to be unit design to be exceptionally good when being buffed? As it has something exceptional like cheapful 8, horde would be exceptionally working well with chaos buff which disregard survivibility like flame blade or turn them into suicide bomber with mystic surge and work very well with bad boss. For other realm, it may also doing good but not quite as spectacular but at least those orc would love you back more.

[Anskiy]

Beastmen:

Economy:

Beastmen get all of the major economic buildings, and don't have any downsides to them. In addition, they produce a small but not insignificant amount of power from their population, especially considering that they get all the food buildings and have a decent growth rate. Overall easily an A.

Military:

All Beastmen units get +1 attack and hp. In practice, this makes them fairly formidable, with the extra hp doing a lot to make them durable. Beastmen lack regular cavalry, however they get everything else. In particular, their halberdiers hit hard, as do their archers. Even their priests are no slouch in melee combat. This is way above average, easily an A.

Centaurs are very solid skirmishers. They function as souped up Horsebowmen with more ammo and survivability. Of course, Horsebowmen require merely a Stable while they need a Fighter's Guild, but they're quite effective in groups nonetheless. Minotaurs are fairly straightforward: bulky, tough fighters who can take a beating and give one in return! Their low figures makes them scale badly for buffs but besides their(still decent) resistance and defense their stats are amazing. Manticores are overall fairly average, their ranged poison attack is fairly weak and they end up being little better than Wyvern Riders in practice. If anything, they're worse at their job, having one less move to get within striking range and having each figure deal less poison damage. 

Overall, their unique units are a fairly solid core without any real powerhouse options. Minotaurs come close, but are hindered by being a melee unit with low figures. They rate a B.

The Beastmen navy isn't anything special, they get everything that would boost their ship production or stats, but they can't make Maritime Guilds and so can't build Warships. This makes them slide to a C.

Wizard support:

Beastmen can make all the important wizard buildings, and have the production buildings to support them. Their durable regular units helps in lair clearing, and Centaurs are great for many lairs, being fast ranged units. However they lack strong non magical ranged damage, and hitting flying units can get dicey, considering Manticores aren't particularly strong and most of the other units are ground melee fighters.

Overall:

Beastmen are a formidable military race with decent economic potential. Their unique units are solid without being exceptional. They are a fairly decent introduction to Myrran races, being more flexible while still being a noticeable upgrade from the Arcanus offerings.

[Anskiy]

I have to reevaluate the Lizardmen ranking. Sure, Javelineers and Dragon Turtles are both fine units, and their halberdiers are quite hefty. But their lack of bowmen and cavalry early game, combined with their bad production, is a serious liability for early expansion and conquest. This becomes extremely obvious on lower landsizes where you can't just tech up to Javelineers and then proceed to crush everything.

[Anskiy]

Downgraded Gnoll economy and regular military(not unique units) to a D since a recent game showed how awful they were.

On the upside, levels and some good buffs can cover up Jackal Riders.. but the low defense and resistance still remains a glaring drawback regardless.

[Anskiy]

It's been too long, so let me get back to this with a review of the Dark Elves.

Dark Elves:

Economy:

Dark Elves have a pretty good economy on paper. They generate 1 power per population, which is pretty significant. Unlike High Elf, this is enough to offset their slow population growth.. almost. Dark Elves can make all of the major economic buildings, but they will generally be build slower thanks to the low population in their cities. Overall, it's a B, mostly boosted by the good power bonus from their population.

Military:

For the most part, the military units of Dark Elves are weird in that they don't engage the enemy directly. Instead, they fire four rather weak magic shots before fighting in melee. This has both advantages and disadvantages. For the most part, it means that they can defend themselves well against a decent number of creatures, and engage in offensive battles without putting themselves in much danger. This trait is particularly liked on their cavalry, since it makes them magical Horsebowmen(albeit with worse accuracy and less potential than real Horsebowmen). It also improves with levels, meaning that on max level Halberdiers, the shots can actually be surprisingly damaging, if still dented by good armor. Dark Elves also get 2 more resistance over regular units from other races, which is a decent help against status effects. Overall, I'd say it's a B, the magical range attack provides a lot of utility but outside of it, their units aren't actually special in any way.

For their unique units, Apprentices are an interesting take on magicians. They come rather early, only requiring a Library to acquire. As such their stats are rather weak, but they do come with a small amount of MP, 14. This is just enough to cast a few common spells. They are most useful for defense, but in a pinch, they can be brought to support other units in offensive battles too.

Warlocks are meant to be the most powerful magicians. And in a sense, they are. Each Warlock comes with a cast of Doom Bolt, and fires shots more powerful than those of most other magicians. This is incredibly potent, especially when they are in a group. However, it does mean they have less flexibility than regular magicians. There are times when Web, Confusion, Warp Creature or even Fireball would've been more useful than their Doom Bolt, and they have little to offer during those situations.

Nightblades are an interesting take on the Night Stalker. Much like that unit, they rely on invisibility and a resistance based effect. However, unlike that unit, they have far more potential since they can have many "regular unit only" buffs applied to their stats, and have six figures making those buffs scale well. Poison is arguably worse than a Death Gaze, and they can't hit the air the way a Night Stalker can, but otherwise they're a better and more practical unit overall.

Nightmares are the signature unit of this race. While their overall durability is rather mediocre, they have pretty powerful ranged attacks and can fly. Their resistance also makes them effectively immune to a host of statuses without any buffs or levels. They also have pretty good melee in case they run out, though it's quite risky.

Overall, their units cover a pretty good range of situations. There's no real powerhouse unit, but they all do their job well, and Nightblades in particular have very high potential. This rates a B overall.

The Dark Elf navy is nothing special, and as such they won't be able to bring many boats to a naval fight thanks to their low population. Overall it rates a C.

Wizard support:

Dark Elves are actually pretty good at taking lairs. The ranged magical attack is a pretty good help against various common creatures, and later with levels they can whittle down a few uncommon creatures too. Warlocks are great as a supply of "free" doom bolts, assuming they can survive the first turn. Nightblades are great for launching sneak attacks at most ranged units, and Nightmares are flying ranged units with a pretty potent attack and more survivability, for situations where neither Warlocks or Nightblades work. Dark Elves can also build all of the major magical buildings, and their power generation from population is more notable and relevant than High Elves.

Overall:

Dark Elves are perhaps the most potent race in generating magic power, so long as you can get past their slow growth and get the relevant buildings up. In addition, their racial trait is interesting, if not the most powerful. They have a pretty good selection of unique units, if a little lacking in durability. Overall, they are meant for long term plays, with decent short term power so long as you can use their ability well.