What's the best Esus civ?

[Qgqqqqq]

I've always felt that Esus could be a pretty good trick in multiplayer - get OB maybe 10 turns earlier, research and immediately adopt/invade. Maybe even with a side order of delaying adoption and pretending you only wanted it for nox.

 

[avalonnn]

I have not tried this but I suspect it would be very good. Also not that on defense, against a stack of doom, having Nox Noctis can be extremely helpful because they cannot (usually) see stranded units near their stack. And Calabim need an economy boost and have a lot of magic from the vampires. But Calabim may work better as Order or Veil (just flip a coin).

Edit: Because Esus is a late game civ, it's likely to be your second religion. So perhaps, for Calabim, rushing OO or Kilmorph and then Esus would work, but it won't be _the best_ strategy.

 

[Calavente]

well, however, Nox Noctis is not dependant on having CoE as state religion... it is a "try to get it" wonder ...
indeed, it is more a "wonder blocked by tech" thus easier than other wonder where you need both tech and ressource to harness the wonder.
but it is not really a bonus linked to a religion.

 

[Akbarthegreat]

An Aeron's Chosen Shadowrider is much better than many religious heroes. Mine got 500 xp in my Sidar game.

 

[A Moon]

Yes, the fact that one of the Council's coolest tools doesn't actually require the player to follow it is a bit off.

 

[Calavente]

shadow rider can upgrade from assassin ?
woa ..
that's a cool feat for CoE... so that Aerus Chosen is not "wasted" on a unit that will only target the weaker units.
maybe there could be other "tricks" that could be taught to assassins and that could be leveraged to "more normal" T3 / T4 units... and that could only be leveraged with CoE as state religion ..

 

[scutarii]

shadow rider can upgrade from assassin ?
woa ..
that's a cool feat for CoE... so that Aerus Chosen is not "wasted" on a unit that will only target the weaker units.
maybe there could be other "tricks" that could be taught to assassins and that could be leveraged to "more normal" T3 / T4 units... and that could only be leveraged with CoE as state religion ..

great idea ! unique "assasin upgrades" ....very thematic for CoE!

 

[Akbarthegreat]

Nope, I did it with a nightwatch (on Magister Modmod, dunno if it will work on vanilla).

great idea ! unique "assasin upgrades" ....very thematic for CoE!

That is a good idea.

 

[A Moon]

Nightwatches can upgrade to Shadowriders outside of Magister's, but they wouldn't have the marksman promotion, nor would they be eligible for the Aeron's Chosen promotion.

 

[Calavente]

Nightwatches can upgrade to Shadowriders outside of Magister's, but they wouldn't have the marksman promotion, nor would they be eligible for the Aeron's Chosen promotion.

that's why I thought he upgraded from assassin...

 

[BvBPL]

You can upgrade assasins to night watch to shadow riders. I think they do not lose marksman but I could be wrong.
So your aeron chosen can be a shadow rider.

My favorite Esus civ is the lizardman civilization from Orbis. I think it is called the Mazatal and may be available in other modmods.

These lizardmen play very differently if evil or good. If evil, the civ is very Esus focused. They get national units and a hero that are disciple units with marksman. These units are incredibly powerful in part because they are disciple units meaning they can receive the command promotions (up to command III, I think). This makes converting channeling units, like archmages, a breeze because those units are targeted first by marksmen. Plus, the units must be upgraded from a unique priest unit or assassins. Upgrading from assassins allows for powerful disciple units with flanking and mobility II. Impressive.

On top of that, there's a loophole with the civ. They have an evil hero, outlined above, and a good hero. The good hero will leave the civilization if it is no longer good, but the evil hero has no such limitation, although the civ needs to be evil to build the evil hero to start. This means that you could build the evil hero, convert to Order, and then build the good hero. In so doing you'd lose some advantages, but having two cultural heroes plus the national disciple-marksman units is pretty sick. Of course, it is a loophole so it isn't exactly fair.

 

[A Moon]

Nightwatch upgrade to assassins, not the other way around.

 

[Calavente]

You can upgrade assasins to night watch to shadow riders. I think they do not lose marksman but I could be wrong.
So your aeron chosen can be a shadow rider.

My favorite Esus civ is the lizardman civilization from Orbis. I think it is called the Mazatal and may be available in other modmods.

These lizardmen play very differently if evil or good. If evil, the civ is very Esus focused. They get national units and a hero that are disciple units with marksman. These units are incredibly powerful in part because they are disciple units meaning they can receive the command promotions (up to command III, I think). This makes converting channeling units, like archmages, a breeze because those units are targeted first by marksmen. Plus, the units must be upgraded from a unique priest unit or assassins. Upgrading from assassins allows for powerful disciple units with flanking and mobility II. Impressive.

On top of that, there's a loophole with the civ. They have an evil hero, outlined above, and a good hero. The good hero will leave the civilization if it is no longer good, but the evil hero has no such limitation, although the civ needs to be evil to build the evil hero to start. This means that you could build the evil hero, convert to Order, and then build the good hero. In so doing you'd lose some advantages, but having two cultural heroes plus the national disciple-marksman units is pretty sick. Of course, it is a loophole so it isn't exactly fair.

you made me wish to play orbis again

 

[BvBPL]

Orbis is a blast. I would love it if someone gave it the MNAI treatment.

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[BobCW]

Generally speaking, whoever can get the best use out of early heroic Archmage Gibbon. Keelyn is an obvious pick, although Perpentarch is okay too since puppets mean he can ignore Gibbon's Illusionist ability. Anyone who starts with body mana can also get an early Flesh Golem, which even as an illusion can become an amazing stack defender and pillager. Or if your land is mediocre and you have nature mana, Gibbon is a nice early terraformer. Or if you're playing SP and have a healthy appetite for cheese, play Elohim, promote him to Life 3 & abuse reviving Corlindale to guarantee endless peace for the rest of the game.


The Esus shrine is amazing for absolutely anyone in regular FFH, but you don't need to actually follow the religion for it.


In EitB Esus has very nice synergy with the Khazad- you can extort cash to fill your coffers quickly, and it's the only way you'll be able to unlock the wonderful Dwarven Shadow units.