The crafty pretender rune journey is a tale about deception and trickery. In this journey, the crafty pretender rune takes on various forms to deceive and manipulate others. The protagonist of this journey is a clever and cunning individual who uses their skills to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain. Throughout the story, the crafty pretender rune disguises itself as a trusted advisor, a loyal friend, and even a powerful magician. However, its true intentions are always hidden beneath its deceitful facade. One of the main themes of this journey is the danger of trust and the consequences of falling victim to the crafty pretender's deception.
T'ien Ch'i in the Early Ages is in a formative state, still immersed in somewhat-violent and macabre legends reflective of the Warring States Period. For an early nation, the army is more advanced than most, featuring three tiers of infantrymen based on their armor coverage, with Light Cavalry and overly-ambitious Nobles on chariots providing support. An ancient Magic tradition known as the Way of Five Elements (the four Elemental paths plus Nature) rises to the limelight between two other ancient traditions, one borne out of ancestral worship and another learned from Heaven itself. Practitioners of the Way can be found almost anywhere, but they generally have thinly-spread powers.
T ien Ch i in the Early Ages is in a formative state, still immersed in somewhat-violent and macabre legends reflective of the Warring States Period. Men and women are starting to build their culture s iconic Magic and religion, with the Priestesses learning from Mountain Nymphs while the Mystics learn from quiet study of the world around them.
One of the main themes of this journey is the danger of trust and the consequences of falling victim to the crafty pretender's deception. The crafty pretender rune preys on the vulnerabilities of others, using their trust to gain power over them. The crafty pretender rune's journey also explores the nature of manipulation and its effects on both the manipulator and the manipulated.
The crafty pretender rune journey
Early age Rlyeh is a very hard nation to play, make sure your pretender has air paths to create the items that allow underwater commanders to go on land.
MA tipsMiddle Age rlyeh is very interesting and most of these tips also go for late era rlyeh (except they must deal with insanity and freespawn), I tend to treat it as a ww2-era army. Here are some general tips:
quick tips
1) The crab hybrids are good underwater units (useful for early expansion).
2) Don't recruit too much units, just recruit them the turn before you want your army to leave - this lowers upkeep significantly. This can be done due to the low resource cost of your main army units (lobo's / illithid)
3) Mind hunt and Vengeance of the dead are your friend for precision strikes.
4) Always keep a spare void summoner, this way when your void summoner dies/gets lost in space and time you can immediately replace him.
5) Your slow-to-recruit starspawn can (almost?) all cast teleport and quite a few of them can cast gateway as well. This means that you don't need an as large standing army as you would normally, this lowers upkeep further as well as opening up very interesting paratrooper possibilities. e.g. You teleport a few starspawn behind enemy lines and away from his armies to take an underdefended province (elemental summons can really help with this or you can try thugging them out). The moment you take the province you build a laboratory and then gateway in your army. Boom, second front.
6) Voice of Tiamat can be a very interesting research goal, provided there is enough water (you also hit other useful spells on the way). If there isn't enough water you shouldn't set it as a goal.
7) See your illithid (1 resource) as your artillery, see your lobo's as infantry to hold the line. Use thralls sparingly as flanking armored divisions. Use the net-wielding triton slaves as advanced forces ment to slow the enemy down. Use your armored illithid as rearguard tanks (this is mainly to protect the artillery)
8) Commanderwise there are some very important things to realise: Middle age the slave mages are useful whilst late age they are prone to insanity. The star children are cheap and effective astral 1 communion mages and if used correctly can assassinate most commander types. They are reasonable useful as scouts as well though generally I consider this a waste (and use independent scouts instead). The priest starspawn should mainly be used for entering the void and if upkeep starts to get high as a "cheaper" alternative. The expensive starspawn mage costs almost 20 gold per turn in upkeep but is very powerful when utilised correctly.
9) Prophet, do not prophetize your first commander, your commander is already useful with his mind blasts. Prophetizing your starting scout is a possibility as long as you are willing to sacrifice him around the middle of year 1. The reason you should be willing to sacrifice him is so that you can prophetize one of your starspawns that can teleport/gateway. This gives you a teleporting throne claimer which costs 0 upkeep. (always a nice surprise to be able to claim throne after throne) since you don't have an H3-recruitable, .
Pretender Design
For pretender design there are several possibilities. I usually prefer going for a mobile awake combat pretender with rlyeh to offset the problem of underwater nations getting on land (the sooner you get that second army up to take to the abovewater lands the better your chances at good provinces and staying on land. The chassis that can be used for this is either the ghost king or the void lord. the ghost king can - when given an armor - pretty much take over all land-based expansion duties but peters out in powerlevel soon. The void lord will need assistance but becomes a formidable Super Combatant in the late mid-game and early late-game. (after that he should be used as a high-path mage).
scales
Since Cold / Heat has barely any influence underwater I tend to go Cold 3 (because most nations prefer hot/neutral scales and should you come across lizard nations or agartha you hurt them for their cold bloodedness). Because you don't need a lot of resources it is quite advisable to get sloth 1 or 2, this frees up points. Growth 1 will - in the long run - allow your underwater provinces to grow in population as well as lock some nasty events away. Magic 1 lowers the magic resistance inside your dominion (by .5 rounded down per point) and increases the research speed you have. Which leaves us with luck/misfortune and Order/turmoil. Taking luck 3 will give you loads of events which will help you get more magic diversity when coupled with the magic scales. Because you don't need heaps of gold all the time this may be interesting to do. Stick with turmoil 1 or neutral if you want to take this option. The other option is Order 3 for consistent income which would help with upkeep. You can take this with either neutral luck or misfortune 1 depending on what your preferences are. This would leave you with enough points to take a dominion score of 9 (unlocking awe on the pretender as well as optimal dominion spread) on an awake pretender.
other chassis
an Immobile pretender opens up research options and higher-level spells as well as magic diversity as well as making your capital nearly untakeable for enemy troops (underwater missiles are very rare). Downsides are low equipment slots (so hard to boost paths) and the fact that they are immobile.
an underwater expansion chassis lets you focus on getting your troops on the land. Downside of this is that without air mages it will become very hard to get your pretender on land.
One more thing to remember: your starspawn have no feet so don't worry about getting them cold feet and just dive in!
E: cleaned it up slightly, added headers and a few new tips.
The crafty pretender rune is driven by a desire for power and control, using its cunning and deception to achieve its goals. As the story progresses, the crafty pretender rune's web of deceit begins to unravel, leading to a thrilling climax where its true identity is exposed. The crafty pretender rune is ultimately defeated by the power of truth and honesty, teaching a valuable lesson about the consequences of deception. Overall, the crafty pretender rune journey is a cautionary tale about the dangers of deceit and manipulation. It serves as a reminder to be cautious of those who may pretend to be something they are not and to always trust our instincts when something seems too good to be true..
Reviews for "Exploring the Crafty Pretender Rune Journey: Unraveling the Mysteries of Deception"
1. Emily - ★☆☆☆☆
I was really disappointed with "The Crafty Pretender Rune Journey". The characters were one-dimensional and lacked depth. The plot felt like a mishmash of different fantasy elements without any real cohesion. The writing style was also very basic and lacked any creativity. Overall, I found the book to be dull and unoriginal, and I wouldn't recommend it to others.
2. John - ★★☆☆☆
While "The Crafty Pretender Rune Journey" had an interesting concept, it fell short in execution. The pacing was uneven, with long periods of slow development and sudden bursts of action that felt disconnected. The world-building was also lacking, leaving many unanswered questions about the magic system and the history of the world. Additionally, the dialogue felt forced and unnatural, making it hard to connect with the characters. Overall, it had potential but failed to deliver an engaging and immersive story.
3. Sarah - ★★☆☆☆
"The Crafty Pretender Rune Journey" left me feeling underwhelmed. The characters were cliché and lacked any real development or growth. The plot was predictable and offered no surprises or twists. The writing style was average, with weak descriptions and a lack of emotive language. While it had some enjoyable moments, the overall experience was forgettable. I was hoping for a more engaging and memorable read, but unfortunately, this book fell flat for me.