Rlyeh

R'LYEH

R'lyeh was founded by strange, large aliens. They fell from the sky a long time ago and survived underwater. They then enslaved a race of fishlike humanoids by sheer strength of mind.

R'lyeh has two huge strategic advantages : it is an underwater nation (being able to strike anywhere against a foe who can't strike back) and is strong in Astral Magic (its best mages can Teleport and Gateway).

Pre-researched spell: Mind Burn.

DOMINION DESIGN:

Income of sea provinces is not affected by cold or warm climates. If you do not intend to leave the oceans it might be a good idea to get yourself a hot or cold dominion, gaining up to 120 design points. Some nations will accidentally benefit from a heat scale, and other from a cold scale, so the decision depends on the game setup.
Supply still depends on the heat/cold scale however, even underwater, and an extreme weather will limit your expansion if you rely on a horde of lobo guards.

You could tolerate some sloth too, knowing that most units have a low resource cost.

Growth is useful because all those squids eat a lot, but not vital since mindless units are not demoralized if they fight on an empty stomach.

All available fortifications can be built both on land and underwater. A Dark Citadel stays a Dark Citadel, but a Kelp Fortress is a Mausoleum on dry ground and a Kelp Citadel is a 40%-admin castle. You can only train your national units under water (only local troops are available on dry ground, plus "hybrids" and Star Children in coastal fortresses) but you can build your militia either place, and your militia always features slave troopers and lobo guards.

SPECIAL PRETENDERS:
- The Void Lord is a large amphibian alien. He is good but awfully expensive if you want to get him up to very high Astral level, to protect him from Magic Duels.
- The Void Lurker is a cheap, ethereal, immobile rainbow mage with strong astral magic. Stationary and aquatic only is rather unappealing though.

If you think of blood magic, remember that you can't hunt blood slaves underwater.

SACRED UNITS:

R'lyeh has to summon sacred units from the Void Gate.
If any astral mage enters the Void Gate, there is an increasing chance every turn of a summoning (you do not get a monster every turn, but after 4 turns you have one for certain). Every successful summoning gives the summoner some experience in a special "summoning skill".

The void gate is meant to be used with priest Starspawns (150 gp), even though it is undocumented. Any astral mage (including pretenders and mage Starspawns) can enter, but normally there's a 75% chance of permanent feeblemind, while priests Starspawns have only a 5% chance, and Cthugul the hero has a 2% chance. They are not better at succeding, but with time and no insanity their skills will grow and they will be able to summon some rather powerful beings.

Sometime the summoner is attacked by the monsters, it then works like an assassination attempt: he cannot retreat, but he keeps bodyguards (a Ring of Warning is useful here) and can escape with Returning (battle spell, Thaumaturgy 1, but you need a level 2 astral mage) or Ritual of Returning (ritual, Enchantment 5).

It is a lottery indeed, some "things" are weak and immobile but others are really, really big and nasty.
According to the designers, to balance the game, the chances for a Vastness drop to zero for very skilled void summoners (probably > 15 or 20). They get multiple Great Othernesses instead.

UNITS

Meteorite Guards are good but resource expensive, desperately slow, and have only average morale. You will never be able to make enough of them anyway. If you stack Meteorite Guards and Lobo Guards together, they should stay on the defense: if they attack, the lighter lobo guards will outrun the MG and they never see combat. Their excellent magic resistance (13) give them more survivability against magically powerful nations however.

Lobo guards are cheap (the cheapest recrutable unit of the game in fact), mindless (they never flee), and magic (you need mages to lead them in battle). They are lightweight troops but you can make them in very large numbers.

The other Slave Troopers/Guardians are fairly worthless as anything but cannon fodder, so use Lobo guards instead. Magical leadership should be no problem with R'lyeh. Hybrids Troopers/Soldiers are available in coastal forts, but they are too light for the cost. Coastal forts in R'lyeh dominion also brings 1-3 free Hybrids /t (irrespective of Order scale), they are too light to fight effectively but are perfect patrollers. They have a monthly upkeep (like a 10 gp unit) and they eat 1 supply point each.

When fighting Atlantis, make sure to have your screens of infantry be Crab Hybrids : their extra hit points will allow them to survive the poison attacks. Guards are more vulnerable to poison. But the crabs cannot leave the sea, however, so Atlantis has a definite early advantage on dry land. And Atlantian War Lobsters are really hard to beat : they trample and are larger than any of Rlyeh's troops.

For the same price, Shambler Thralls are more fragile (poor armor, very weak MR) but mindless and can leave the seas, which makes them a better choice in general (i.e. not against Atlantis). They require magical leadership however, whereas the crabs don't.

The Illithids are much more expensive than archers but their mindblast always hit, even underwater, in storms or in the dark, and even at long range. They do mostly paralyzing blasts (MR negates), and sometime a light physical damage too (1-5 hp). Mindblast makes an excellent super-combatant or pretender killer (order "Fire largest") as it effectively removes them from battle but still lets you kill them. But it is useless against undeads and other mindless beings.
Illithids have an excellent MR.

Traitor Princes and Illithid Lords are tough combatants and deserve some extra equipment. Note that Illithids Lords are magic and can lead 25 Lobo Guards, but Princes can only command ordinary troops. Hybrid Lords are cheaper than Illithid Lords but no so good, and you probably want to buy Star Children in coastal forts anyway.

On land use independent troops to supplement your squids, as just a few squads of heavy inf/cav or archers provide a cheap and effective supplement to your mind-blasting army.

MAGIC

All R'lyeh mages have some astral power, so Communion is a must (Star Children are cheap communion slaves).
The Starspawn mages are great army gaters (they can gate 85 lobo guards or shambler thralls + 10 non magic units), but R'lyeh astral income is limited, and it is not easy to find a water 2 Starspawn to forge Clams early to make up for it. They are available in all underwater fort with lab.
Gateway is really important for strategic moves and a network of well placed labs helps R'lyeh quite a bit here. It might take the Spawns a couple turns to react, but when done, it's done in force.

Star Children are both mages (astral-1) and assassins. They can research your first spells but are physically too weak to engage a knight in duel without magic. In the first turns, they could still kill their victim with a Mindblast with some luck (MR negates the blast). Later, Body Ethereal and Astral Shield will help them to survive longer.
Star Children are available in all sea/coastal forts.

If you fight the Atlantis War Lobsters, remember that etherealness works when trampled. Try using Starchilds "etherealizers" within your best troops on "hold and attack" orders. Add unbreakable fodder. A bunch of Starspawns in the rear also help with Soul Slay - a spell Rlyeh should get very early as a byproduct (Thaum. 5) of Gateway. With Communion, a Nature Starspawn with a few green gems can also cast Poison Ward.

On dry ground, R'lyeh is very vulnerable to massed archery fire, so try to forge (if you pretender has Air 3) or trade a Staff of Storm to hamper archery and shut down flyers.

PRIESTS

R'lyeh can only train priests with 3 holy levels and must take special consideration when dealing with an undead army (Ermor, C'tis, Jotunheim etc). Prests Starspawns have one astral and one random pick however, and can cast Smite Demon. They are available in all underwater fort with lab and temple.
Furthermore, independent aquatic priests are uncommun (the Amber Clan tritons have some) and expensive, so this is not a solution.

NATIONAL HEROES

Shadhul Ummush, the Traitor King (amphib mage with water 5) "is an ancient Atlantian King who foresaw the downfall of the Atlantian kingdom. R'lyeh would conquer and enslave the marine world regardless of his actions. Better to serve than die. Thus he chose to betray his brethren in exchange for a position of power in R'lyeh. Shadhul is now the most powerful water mage in R'lyeh".

Cthugul the Stargazer, a level 3 priest and a powerful mage (Astral 4, Water 1 + one random pick)"is one of the ancient Starspawns that survived the fall of the star. This horrible being led the construction of the incomprehensible city of R'lyeh. His knowledge of the stars let him foretell the conquest of Atlantis and he was the one who found out how weak-willed the Atlantians are. Cthugul is now in charge of the bonding of the Atlantians".

Auluudh, the Aboleth, "is an ancient member of an ancient race sprung from the depths of the ocean. Aboleths once ruled the deeps, but the falling star crushed their empire and allowed their slaves to free themselves and build kingdoms of their own. Now the aboleths are returning and Auluudh will lead the way. While waiting he has decided that the minds of the illithids are to his taste and they will be useful as food for the small aboleth population and as slavemasters over the weaker races. Auluudh is very powerful and he can enslave weaker beings by force of mind alone. He is also a powerful mage". He is a big (110 hp) aquatic monster, with Water 4 and Astral 4. He can lead or gate 135 magic beings.

Last update Feb. 19, 2004.