Nature High Men Warlord Experiences

[zitro1987]

Observations from a Nature warlord high men game. Primarily about spells and races.

Advanced difficulty, small map, 6 players.

Summary: Nature warlord high men is among the most powerful setups I've ever played. Many nature spells were excellent support to High Men's economic and military might and helped cover its weaknesses. It has a strong early game for the needed gold to rush War College and Fighter's Guild, leading to elite crusaders, knights, and pikemen. Giant Spiders, ice bolt, survival instinct, and petrify were probably the most influential spells to my game

High Men Race: B+

Economy: B+ – The increase in unrest was not a major barrier to getting gold. The mid-tier military units had fairly low upkeep and it was easier to get economy buildings built faster. More importantly, buying buildings was also cheaper.

Military: B – Early units are of course a disappointment. However, the goal is to get knights and crusaders, some of the best mid-tier arcanus units. Crusaders I consider the best unit you can get in all arcanus races – with just 60 cost and low upkeep, you have a sturdy albeit slow unit that has a healing spell and deals good damage with experience or buffs. Magicians deal excellent damage and when elite, 25 caster allows spells such as lightning bolt or petrify. Paladins are expensive but very tactical and quite good at dealing damage later in game – however, the cheaper units were often the priority.

Nature Magic experiences:

Resist Elements: B+ (helped conquer sprite nodes, fight magician garrisons, great to include for all summons and higher-level military units like crusaders)
Fairy Dust: B (surprisingly powerful, not much inferior to fireball)
Wild Boars: B+ (Reliable way to suffer fewer losses, good as garrison, stays relevant with survival instinct)
Earth Lore: B (You can explore in other ways, but this is simply convenient and improved over the earlier versions)
Water Walking: B (Convenient way to attack surprise galleys – cast water walking to a fast moving unit like spiders and go for the kill. Helped me more than I expected in this very specific way. Not very useful for me otherwise)
War Bears: A (easily my favorite common summon in game – there isn't anything this cost-effective and 'advanced' other than maybe ghouls)
Sprites: B- (very niche role but when it works, it works very well. I don't understand why AI uses them as garrison – they are not that dangerous)
Nature's Eye: C (I like being able to see a bit farther, and the research bonus pays for itself eventually, but seemed hardly essential to my game)
Earth to Mud: B (didn't use it that much except when using stacks of high men magicians. In the right circumstances, it can save you)
Web: A- (tactical and it helps that magicians can cast it – extremely useful when using races with little ways to hurt fliers. Some uncommon spells partially replace it)

Ice Bolt: B (excellent for elite magicians and good substitute to web in some circumstances)
Giant Spiders: A+ (probably the best summon in Caster of Magic: available early, mostly obsoletes 'web', high resistance, mobile, very low cost for what it offers, useful through entire game)
Great Lizard: B (not by current experience but seems unchanged from earlier – useful with certain strategies otherwise not worth the research and casting cost – you need to wait for survival instinct or have resist magic – it is hard to get a stack of 9 but once you do they are good)
Nature's Cures: A- (extremely useful spell to speed up your conquests and lair hunting. Also excellent to defend the city you just conquered or to protect a city against multiple attacks)
Construct Catapult: D- (kind of terrible for 30 cost and high research cost – vulnerable and hard to deal as much damage as 2 war boars. I modified it to 25 cost and it is maybe barely adequate that way)
Crack's Call: B- (too luck-driven to be useful for me, but good for elite magicians mass-casting it, landing a few hits)
Change Terrain: B (An average spell that improved a few towns pretty well (desert, swamp) and I revisited it when I had gaia's blessing on. Hardly essential, but nice to have)
Transmute: B+ (Very niche, but if you happen to have 'gold' it is worth the high research cost to cast it just once)
Cockatrices: A- (another very powerful unit that helped me in difficult battles (lairs, nodes, and especially opposing wizards. Fairly durable given the sheer amount of damage it does. There's also that focus magic + resist magic + resist element combo )
Land Linking: B (Not that essential, but nice to be able to have access to pathfinder and a cheap buff to mass-cast)

Elemental Armor: B+ (ranks high because AI loves to put magicians, sprites, water elementals and other ranged magical units in cities)
Stone Giant: B- (probably, didn't use – I remember it being a solid, well-rounded but unspectacular unit)
Gorgons: B (has the potential of being massively game-changing with the right combination of buffs and survival instinct, but without such strategies, it dies to curses)
Survival Instinct: A- (Needed for gorgons, great lizards, and quite helpful to anything else. Very good for doom mastery)
Blizzard: C (probably, didn't use – just a way to weaken a stack a few hit points, not generally that useful )
Earthquake: C+ (it technically brought me the 'win' button but I was already winning. Somewhat useful if it can hit the right buildings)
Earth Elemental: B (Good for battles of attrition and to save a poorly defended city)
Petrify: A (novice magicians can mass-cast this rather powerful spell – so the best rare nature spell)
Gaia's Blessing: B- → B (with upcoming updates it is a good way to use up your casting skill when not in danger to improve city production and other benefits)
Iron Skin: B (it was nice to have on paladins and gorgons)
Abundance: C → B- (with upcoming updates it is a good way to use up your casting skill when not in danger. Benefit was very limited before upcoming 1.10 version update)
Call of the Wild: B- (Was a bit useful at getting some of the best treasure, but rather expensive spell)

Earth Gate: A- (probably, didn't use but it is spectacular)
Planetary Mastery: B (the downside is that it hurts your diplomatic efforts when not in war against anyone. Otherwise, if earthquake is your plan, you're getting a free 150cost spell every other turn)
Fairy Ring: B (gave me fairly poor units despite having 200+ skill, but free units is like having a good amount of extra skill)
Entangle: B+ (probably, didn't use but have good memories of it)
Call Lightning: B- (probably, didn't use but it wasn't a bad spell – not very damaging but if you can prolong the battle, the damage accumulates fairly well)
Regeneration: C+ (good for heroes and top summons, but seems like it comes pretty late)
Herb Mastery: B+ (freeing you up from 'nature's cures' with some battle benefits on the side makes this a very good global enchantment)
Colossus: B+ (probably, didn't use but it is a good well-rounded unit that performs much better than stone giants)
Great Wyrm: B+ (not well-rounded, but great when attacking cities)
Behemoth: B+ (I think it performs better than colossus, a small stack of them plus entangle is probably hard to stop)
Clairvoyance: B+ (it was nice to have some more power income and low research cost)
Roots of Genesis: B (it was nice to have some more power income)

[Anskiy]

I agree overall with the rankings. War Bears are good hunks of meat for the early game, while Sprites are more for treasure hunting and skirmishes. I do wish Nature AIs stopped prioritizing Sprites as a garrison unit - they work fine in the early game since they fly and are ranged, but quickly become obsolete as the game goes on. Giant Spiders are definitely the cream of the Uncommon crop - they are fast, do good poison damage, can web fliers, and can incapacitate their enemies effectively. Cockatrices are also very good; frankly I don't know why they have a - 4 instant death effect, - 2 would more than suffice given the generally lower resists across the board. Great Lizards are basically regenerating War Bears but worse for me - they fall too easily to curses, and decently buffed halberdiers from basically any race cut them to ribbons. You definitely have to mass them to be effective, just like Shadow Demons. Construct Catapult and Crack's Call are definitely stinkers, frankly I think they only exist so that AIs can use them.

As for Rares, like I said, most games get decided WAY before Rares and Very Rares get to be relevant, atleast in base unmodded CoM 2. However, I will agree that Survival Instinct and Petrify are the best Rare spells. Petrify is especially nuts since it's so cheap and effective at - 3 resist and being applicable to all units. Elemental Armor is a good close second, thanks to the AI's love for magician/magic based garrisons. Stone Giants and Gorgons are both very mediocre, but atleast Stone Giants have ranged attacks and are immune to Stoning, giving them more utility over Gorgons. I kinda don't care about Nature's city spells because what use is more population when I'm going to win the game or am stuck in battle against powerful AIs?

Very Rares suffer from the same problem as Rares, but more so thanks to their absurd research costs. Earth Gate is not actually that exciting: more often than not my main armies are out fighting in the field, not cowering inside the cities. But it could be good for quickly garrisoning captured cities, assuming that I could reasonably fill my backline cities back. Fairy Ring is utter junk - when I can summon 3-4 Stone Giants in a tun(which happens easily if a game drags on to Very Rare tier) I don't need to have the game produce random Cockatrices or other crap, especially not without my permission. Regeneration definitely comes way too late to be worth it, realistically you are only going to apply it on heroes or massed stacks of very rare summons, and by Very Rare there are so many counters to Regeneration it's not funny. I think the best Very Rare is probably Entangle - reducing enemy speed is definitely very helpful, though it does nothing to stop rival wizard's spells of course. Herb Mastery is also decent for countering Meteor Storm, though the in combat effect is fairly weak.

For the spells I didn't comment on, I mostly agree with what zitro said of them, or am indifferent about them.

[prokolyo]

Quick thoughts:
Construct catapult: absolutely agree.
Transmute: also very helpful to transmute enemy good ores.

[Suppanut]

My thought.
- Sprites is great due to it is early game flyer when enemy lack of counter to it (have anyone see ai made bowmen en-mass?)
- Giant spider is queen of early game here, it could fill roles as cavalry and support.
- Cockatrice is also great unit which would useful until very late of the game
- Great Lizard would easily fall victim to life and sorcery, not much to brag about.
- I would love construct catapult to change to something else, prefer Trents, due to Newton is not the most badass person in CoM universe.
- Crack Call has its role although I would prefer fix chance spell like this to get boost by Fate Mastery if possible (I hope)
- Nature's rare city enchantments is not useful if you prefer quick game, but if you prefer to play till the end and face end-game catalysm, they are your best bet against Armageddon and Doomsday
- Due to how much I end up very much a wizard Stalin, Regeneration seem not help me much and I almost never using it. I using Herb Mastery more as it help me lot for large armies multiple fronts war and reduce my need of reinforcement.
- Clairvoyance is useful in maximal non-earth map as you could easily get lost at sea without it in late game exploration.
- Earth Gate is most useful for some specific kind of gameplay, British Empire. Or else it still help in maximal size map and good for sending reinforcement for warlord style play where your manpower source so far away from front line, but as long as you have Normandy then you are fine.

[Suppanut]

Call of the Wild: B- (Was a bit useful at getting some of the best treasure, but rather expensive spell)

This spell has deadly secret, its effect stacking so well with chaos global curses, once global economic collapses and mass desertion happened this would be coup d'grace land left you with a lot of ruin across the world which easy for caster fo call the wild to loot.

Win without fighting is the best way, right? :D

[Suppanut]

@Zitro1987, What nature realm warlord really look like? Does Nature realm has tool which would properly support normal units? In my opinion, I think chaos-nature warlord is much more fitting due to synergy between chaos channel/doom mastery and land linking/survival instinct as well as chaos-nature mineral generation-manipulation. What really characteristic and how to play as pure nature warlord that different from go non-warlord path by focus on summon?