Scions - how do YOU set them up?

This isn't a bug/request/complaint thread. So we can be relaxed!

I'm actually curious from a player standpoint as to how other people play the Scions of Patria. What techs you prioritize, how you plan your cities, wether you're a builder or a conqueror. And any neat tips/tricks you've discovered.

Myself, I tend to go for anything, once all of the best (see: hills/resources) sites have been claimed for Patria Reborn. Glory ensures that I can turn every population point in a city into hammers, then I can cottage all the ground for commerce.

I try to get Sorcery ASAP. It's the tech that unlocks Masoleums, and they go in every city that isn't my GP farm (which gets Heroic Epic, instead.)

I'm normally a conquering player but lately with the Scions and my AI tweaks I've been forced into a position where it was more profitable to sit back, trade, tech, and explore. It's been interesting for me!

Ah, the scions. So much fun.

-I always play as the Emperor Reborn. Flavor wise, it fits as I've never felt comfortable spreading any religion in my cities. Strat wise, it ensures that I have a high strength unit that is able to wreak havoc once I've teched her free.
-I focus on a good starting site [up to 5 turns before settling if I can't find an insta-settle spot]. I then max out the capital as quickly as possible. Usually pop 6 by turn 100 [marathon].
-After that, I settle based on *production* and tech mining. Little cities of 2-4 depending on terrain. These cities start focusing on producing my endless hordes of Headless infantry.
-Tech to God King, and make my capital commerce city. This funds my first expansion wave and the extra production from GK allows me to pump out Reborn slowly but surely.
-By ~500 I've usually got the leaderboard, and can sit back and cruise to victory. I try to capture a complete continent, then engage in punitive wars against mine enemies IOT stock my population.
-I've stopped trying to keep the spawn counter up lately, which has changed my teching and building. Once I actually saw the numbers for them, I realized I could get more cumulative growth by teching towards conversion abilities and engaging in "lifocide".

I played a big scion game a little while ago, in the last patch.

I built only 3 cities, for most of the game. Got each of them to size 12, and founded a fourth, which unfortunately never really got anywhere.

It seemed like suddenly, my spawning just... stopped. It had always been declining slowly, but I remember looking at the spawn rate, and it was 13%. I looked again in what I'm sure wasn't a very long time later, and it was 5%. Next time I looked, 1.3%. A few turns later, it seemed to stabilise permanantly at 0.35%, which for all practical purposes is never. My empire just stopped dead. It disheartened me enough to abandon that game.

I usually go for a massive expansion, little 1 pop cities at prime real estate defended by Centeni from the capital. The capital only recives enough Awakened to build those defenders quick enough.

The expansions build spawn boosters and fixed commerce income. That usually takes a lot of time, but it's not like they are doing anything important.

As expansion becomes impractical; maintenance issues, no good spots left or phyco AI that beg for destruction; new pop goes into making one or two great cities, not including the capital, or working specific tiles.

At this point the game peters out. The AI is far behind and I don't have the energy to move vast stacks of units to kill other vast stacks of units while being bothered by inconsequential decisions all the time.

I played Korinna once, but prefer Risen Emperor. An immortal hero is cool. And I avoid religion diplomacy penalties. On the other hand, despite below average starting position, the game with Korinna was my best Scions game ever.

I try to get 4 cities asap. Halls of the covenant in each is a high priority. I pick one, usually my second city for the first cathedral. The capital can build awakened until I have my second cathedral. Most of my cities remain pop 1 for a long time, if not forever. Their only purpose is to give me more halls of the covenant. In tectonics maps I try to find a nice mountain range and then pack my cities as tight as possible to reduce distance maintenance and make the bunch easier to defend. Because I always get hall of kings and run caste system, I will inevitably win by culture. There just isn't a way I could research omniscience before that. I go heavy on life mana to make put my cathedral city happiness in high orbit. However, personally I find that later on it is impossible to produce enough reborn. At tops I can do 1/cathedral/turn. Usually before that I have won.

I think your awakened spawn rate dropped so dramatically because there is a hard limit on how many can pop out of nowhere.

I played Korinna once, but prefer Risen Emperor. An immortal hero is cool. And I avoid religion diplomacy penalties. On the other hand, despite below average starting position, the game with Korinna was my best Scions game ever.

I try to get 4 cities asap. Halls of the covenant in each is a high priority. I pick one, usually my second city for the first cathedral. The capital can build awakened until I have my second cathedral. Most of my cities remain pop 1 for a long time, if not forever. Their only purpose is to give me more halls of the covenant. In tectonics maps I try to find a nice mountain range and then pack my cities as tight as possible to reduce distance maintenance and make the bunch easier to defend. Because I always get hall of kings and run caste system, I will inevitably win by culture. There just isn't a way I could research omniscience before that. I go heavy on life mana to make put my cathedral city happiness in high orbit. However, personally I find that later on it is impossible to produce enough reborn. At tops I can do 1/cathedral/turn. Usually before that I have won.

I think your awakened spawn rate dropped so dramatically because there is a hard limit on how many can pop out of nowhere.

I played Korinna once, but prefer Risen Emperor. An immortal hero is cool. And I avoid religion diplomacy penalties. On the other hand, despite below average starting position, the game with Korinna was my best Scions game ever.

I try to get 4 cities asap. Halls of the covenant in each is a high priority. I pick one, usually my second city for the first cathedral. The capital can build awakened until I have my second cathedral. Most of my cities remain pop 1 for a long time, if not forever. Their only purpose is to give me more halls of the covenant. In tectonics maps I try to find a nice mountain range and then pack my cities as tight as possible to reduce distance maintenance and make the bunch easier to defend. Because I always get hall of kings and run caste system, I will inevitably win by culture. There just isn't a way I could research omniscience before that. I go heavy on life mana to make put my cathedral city happiness in high orbit. However, personally I find that later on it is impossible to produce enough reborn. At tops I can do 1/cathedral/turn. Usually before that I have won.

I think your awakened spawn rate dropped so dramatically because there is a hard limit on how many can pop out of nowhere.

triple post.

WarKirby said:

I played a big scion game a little while ago, in the last patch.

I built only 3 cities, for most of the game. Got each of them to size 12, and founded a fourth, which unfortunately never really got anywhere.

It seemed like suddenly, my spawning just... stopped. It had always been declining slowly, but I remember looking at the spawn rate, and it was 13%. I looked again in what I'm sure wasn't a very long time later, and it was 5%. Next time I looked, 1.3%. A few turns later, it seemed to stabilise permanantly at 0.35%, which for all practical purposes is never. My empire just stopped dead. It disheartened me enough to abandon that game.

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Yeah there's a point where your new population of Awakened will stop coming, and you need to switch to getting Reborn instead.

I preferred to fed several citys ( 4) and waited til enemies parked their cities close to me. Waited til they growed 10+big and started conquest.Size normal, mountain coast map, normal speed. Worked on monarch. I'm sure higher level it is YOU who will be attacked from every side, but fun will be guaranteed


...or treat scions like kurios, you know how.

One of the things I find vital is making sure I get a city I can turn into a major commerce center quickly. The scions have such a wide tech tree requirement for reborns, and also for regular techs everybody needs, that doing otherwise is eventual suicide.

Drama + Religious Law + Code of Laws isn't as small as it seems.

I pretty much try to settle them up like HadesScorn does. Although I usually do the mistake to not search for a beginning settling site, which cost me quite a bit in the longrun.
I, too, do not try to keep the counter up. Usually my spawn rate is bellow 9%, and ater in the game drops to 1% or so. Hopefully, by that time, I can build Awakened in the rate of 1 per 10-15 turns, or I have been able to create the Cathedral of Rebirth.

*nods* I agree trying desperately to buff the awakened counter is kinda useless compared to getting the capital's production up for building them and getting Catehdrals of Rebirth in cities.

I may try a smaller opening number of cities approach, getting Honored Bands for defense and just force-belining Reborn.

It is not exactly right thread, but it is scions related, after all: how do you play Alcinus and what type of mana you prefer from thaumathurege's keep? (sp?)

for me Alcinus is pure stack booster and therefore enchanement mana is a must, 2nd type is debatable: shadow for shadowwalk/blur or body for haste/regen?

I'm inclined toward body mana: mainly b/c of of shadow 3 summon misform helps you only take out unsuspectible workers and tier2 units but nothing more but body3 allows some fun...

I put Alcinus to sleep and never upgrade him with combat or useful spells, since he goes insane too often. I just keep him around for the Keep and the Council, after that I don't care what he does.

Iceciro said:

I put Alcinus to sleep and never upgrade him with combat or useful spells, since he goes insane too often. I just keep him around for the Keep and the Council, after that I don't care what he does.

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Exactly what I do. Of course, I tend not to use adepts much anymore as the Scions... Originally, it was all I used. Probably what turned me off of it.

Lately when I play Scions, it's in my modmodmod with Iceciro, who gets Arcane flavored priest units anyways. That's a lot of fun. Chuck a fireball at somebody with a legate, then kill them for a reborn

Even the vanilla Emperor benefits a lot from Adept support, and lets face it, you need Sorcery for Necropolises and to get the reborns from razing. Plus he gets mages in no time (lol arcane/charismatic.)

Alcinius get's Sun I and Water I then goes on tour to make my entire empire into plains.

scutarii said:

body for haste/regen?

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Although I usually love haste and regeneration: as Scions, not so much...

Iceciro said:

Lately when I play Scions, it's in my modmodmod with Iceciro, who gets Arcane flavored priest units anyways. That's a lot of fun. Chuck a fireball at somebody with a legate, then kill them for a reborn

Even the vanilla Emperor benefits a lot from Adept support, and lets face it, you need Sorcery for Necropolises and to get the reborns from razing. Plus he gets mages in no time (lol arcane/charismatic.)

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Honestly, Necropolises are bottom on my list. Post-Haunted Lands even. Most of that is because I don't really get their in time.... I blitz with Korinna and a few god units promoted from my original few centennis.

Ahh. I usually play Scions as a slow, marching army of death as opposed to rushing with upgraded Alexi (I assume she's now called Korinna? Why the name change?)