Overview []
A human kingdom ruled by a royal family of great men. Machaka uses many different animals for warfare and has light to medium infantry as well as archers. Priests and Witch doctors from various clans give Machaka a wide range of magical skills. Machakans dislike cold lands.
Background []
Machaka is an old sacral kingdom divided into totemic clans. The clans follow their totemic spirits and worship them as bringers of civilization and tell myths about their interactions with men. For centuries the Lion Clan has dominated the others and formed a unified kingdom under their wise rule. The Lion Clan is blessed by Lion and are superior to other men. The Great Men of Mababwe, called 'Colossi' by Arcoscephalian historians, have ruled the plains since Hyena was coerced to teach metalworking to men and Rhino was defeated by spears longer than his. From Great Mababwe, the semi-divine Colossi of the Lion Clan rule their lesser kin as sacred Kings and Queens. There are many totemic clans, but some have been more influential. Hyena, Rhino, and Spider all serve Lion with their totemic masters' skills and guidance. Recent contact with Berytos and other nations has seen the rise of ambition among the Colossi royalty and the Lion Kings are preparing for the Awakening of Lion. Machakans prefer hot lands.
Commanders[]
| Unit Sprite | Unit Name | Cost | Res | Magic | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Machaka Scout | 25 | 3 | No | Average scout |
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Rhino Clan Commander | 40 | 13 | No | No morale bonus for squads, weaker version of Lion Clan Commander. |
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Lion Clan Commander | 75 | 8 | No | Able to lead 3 squads, with +1 morale bonus and 80 units overall. Basic commander. |
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Voice of Lion | 80 | 2 |  1  1
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The only non-capital priest and the only beastmaster (+2 morale for animals under his command). Can serve as a soft support with N1 spells. Able to lead up to 40 units.
|
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Hyena Clan Witch Doctor | 165 | 1 |  1  1  2
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Usually recruited in decent numbers, as they can acces to spells like banefire, shadow blast etc. |
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Bouda | 215 | 3 | 1 2 2 1
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Very strong mage with various possibilities on battlefield and strategic map. Can serve as a thug if properly equipped, smith or to increase unrest and spread heresy (Boudas are able to change a form into hyena, which is stealthy). Slow to recruit. |
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Voice of Spider | 75 | 3 | No | Spy |
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Spider Clan Witch Doctor | 80 | 1 | 1 1 1
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Basic non-capital choice, if a player doesnt want to decrease his own dominion too much, or needs to focus on research for a cheap cost. |
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Spider Clan Sorcerer | 175 | 1 | 1 1 1 2
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Cap-only. Highest research / turn , which will likely make him a main mage for early recruitment. Very capable for its cost and its not slow to recruit. |
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Lion Queen | 320 | 8 | 3 1 2 1 0
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Cap-only. Provides good acces to F magic. Depending on strategy, Lion Queen may be crucial mage for mid-game. Slow to recruit.
|
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Lion King | 350 | 11 | 2 1 3 2 0
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Cap-only. Simmilar to Lion Queen. Less straight-forward in usage, also very dependant on strategy and prefferences. Slow to recruit.
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Units[]
| Unit Sprite | Unit Name | Cost | Res | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Pygmy | 5 | 1 | Situationally useful , can be a core unit combined with flaming arrows spell. |
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Machaka Militia | 7 | 2 | Very weak troops |
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Bird Clan Archer | 10 | 3 | Average archer |
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Machaka Warrior | 10 | 2 | Weak troops. Due to low resource cost, shield and better stats than militia, could be used for siege-power, castle-defence rebuilder or optionally as a chaff. Otherwise is not recommended. |
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Hyena Clan Warrior | 10 | 5 | Situational and support troops. Useful mostly due to their javelins, which can pop glamour or kill unarmoured enemies. |
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Rhino Clan Warrior | 12 | 13 | Core unit. Weak in comparison to almost any warriors. Doesnt stand a chance against almost any elite units. |
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Lion Clan Warrior | 14 | 6 | Core unit. Comparable to Rhino Clan Warrior (-1hp, -1 str, +1 atk, +1 def, +1 morale, lighter armor, no helmet). |
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War Lion | 20 | 1 | Situational and flanking unit. Also, depending on prefferences and independent forces, they can serve as a core or support of an expansion forces. Strong offencive force, but also vurnable. |
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War Elephant | 100 | 20 | Has +1 morale compared to other War Elephants. Used properly, can greatly help in expansion or support the army. Rage of cornered rat will prevent them from routing. |
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Spider Clan Archer | 15 | 4 | Cap-only. Situational support. Depending on prefferences, it can be used to poison targets with high hp or protection. Otheriwse, its easily outclassed as archer |
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Spider Clan Warrior | 12 | 5 | Cap-only. Situational support. Simmilar to Spider Clan Archer. It is very comparable to Machaka Warrior, but its poison is strong (15 damadge overall). Potentially can help with low-defence, high-hp targets. |
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Spider Rider | 50 | 4 | Cap-only. Situational support and situational flanking unit. High cost makes this unit almost always worthless and very costy to mass. Its too vurnable to fight with competent fighters, but has good offensive skills. Unless their web and poison are utilized well, they will be propably heavily outclassed by lions in that matter. |
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Lion Warrior | 40 | 26 | Cap-only. Situational offensive force and situational flanking unit. Its high damadge from magic spirit club can destroy high hp targets. Also, when used properly with fatigue inflicting spells (like sleep or sleep cloud) can be very effective against some elite units, eg. giants.
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For a more detailed unit description please see page 167 of the manual.
Strategy Overview []
EA Machaka is a nation with very strong magic overall. It lacks blood, astral, water and air. But in all other magic paths, this nation can easily reach 3. With such strong, various magic and situational troops, Machaka is flexible and organic. Fire and death, especially togother gives huge variability in offensive spells, while nature and earth provide a bit more universal utility. Acces to dwarven hammers and foge bonus on Boudas opens many forging possibilities. One of them is massed production of lightless lanterns, but also boosters or thugging equipment. The weak spot is in their troops - none of its units are capable of holding a frontline against decent warriors.
A pretender design is quite open in terms of physical form and magic, but good scales play important role for Machaka. Due to weak troops, they are needed in big numbers and will consume big portions of gold. For that reason, sloth can also be dangerous, even with low resource cost of units.
Machaka is vurnable to arrows and various ranged attacks. Especially in early game this nation will struggle heavily against numerous strong armies like T'ien Ch'i , Pangea or Sceleria. Player also will find it harder to spread and maitain dominion, due to heretic Boudas and Hyena Clan Witch Doctors.
Strategy Guides []
- Guide by Gregstrom : http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/index.php?showtopic=1682