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Ceyah Strategies

[Wyldrage's Tactics] [Wyldrage's Tactics-Units] [Orional's Tactics

WyldRage's Tactics: Ceyah

FORMAT
These articles will be divided in the following sections:

Introduction: the faction's advantages, as well as weaknesses.
Start: How to survive the few first minutes, trying to find a balance between military strength and economy.
Economy: Useful buildings
Military: How to design the faction's army, including information for their specific units.
Team: This is to describe their role in a "perfect" team of 4 players. This means: all factions played and good teamwork.

INTRODUCTION

Serving the Dark Master is very different than fighting him. That is why I have dedicated an entire article for those who want to follow the dark path. This is meant to be used as a complement for the other subjects: most of what is written there can be used for Ceyah too. Included in here are concepts that are unique to Ceyah, separated in these sections: Basics, Company Design, Regiment Design, Combat, Beginning and Economy.

BASICS

As the Ceyah, you will notice that your main units are weaker and slower than those of the other factions. They, however, have three useful advantages. The first one is that most of their units won't rout. The greatest one is that some of their units require no maintenance. The last one, and decisive one, is that their support units are more powerful than the other factions'.

Alone, those advantages are useful, but nothing is really game winning. Together, they can be truly frightening. No maintenance = more companies = more support units. Not only that but since they don't break often, the enemy have to go through every melee units before reaching the support.

COMPANY DESIGN

There are two kinds of main units for the Ceyah: expendable and shock. You have to reach a balance between these two types. Too much expendables mean a weak military. The opposite means a less numerous one.
Expendable: Those are the Zombies and shadelings. As they don't require maintenance, you can have as many as you want at the same time. Give them some support units since they usually can't win by themselves. However, at the beginning, you may leave support at home: they require too much gold. Afterwards, you can always disband support-less companies to recruit them with support.
Shock: Those are the units who require maintenance: skeletons and beasts. They are stronger, but you can't have as much. Always give them the support units as they will most usually survive longer.

REGIMENT DESIGN

A regiment, if you don't know, is a group of 2-6 companies. Always make them the same speed: you don't want some to reach the enemy before others. I have three kinds: Zombies, Skeletons and Reaction.
Zombies: This is a group of (surprise!) zombies. They are very slow and will need support. I recommend wraiths: they are very strong, won't slow down the zombies and require less mana than others.
Skeletons: Composed of skeletons and bone bows, they are faster than zombies, stronger and extremely resistant to archers. However, they require maintenance and will be less numerous than zombies. Most support units will work in companies here, except the wraith, since he will slow them down. If you want to put bone bows in zombies regiment, give them one.
Reaction: These regiments are the (relatively) fast one. Composed of shadelings and shadow/void beasts, they will go twice as fast as the zombies. The only support unit you might put in them is the shadow demon, the others will slow them, but I don't recommend it. Only one shadow demon will double the cost of the company, and they aren't worth that much. Also watch for the number of beasts: they use mana that could possibly be better used for support.

COMBAT

There is one great principle for using Ceyah in combat: DON'T BE FLANKED. If you are, you will lose your support and, without support, winning will be difficult. Keep some companies, preferably support-less expendables, unengaged, along the flanks of your main army to occupy possible flankers. You can afford to lose those companies.
In offense, make sure you outnumber his troops. You may want to keep some companies back home for defense: your zombies will never reach anything in time.
In defense, remember to use the terrain: you might double the defense of some units. Making them live longer give more time for support to finish the enemy.

ECONOMY

There are three resources that are critical to the Ceyah's war effort. The other resources are little used: often by only one unit.
Mana: All those support units, even the shadow/void beasts, require mana. It doesn't come cheap, but there is a greater possibility of mana extraction by Ceyah town: they can give up to 14 mana (Mage College, Temple and Mana Forge). Never have a deficit in mana: it costs 5 gold for each minus. You may want to trade mines for khaldunite fields/spires in team games.
Money: To recruit all the companies you need you need much money. Not for the main units, but for the support units. Remember, mana doesn't come cheap. An intersting twist of the Ceyah is that you might wish to use the bazaar instead of the bank: you won't need much of the three basic resources.
Maximum number of companies: This is often overlooked for other factions. Without maintenance for some units you may want to raise the limit. There are only two ways to do it: get more cities or upgrade them. But also don't forget this: always try to reach it your maximum.

BEGINNING

Ceyah needs time to expand to be really effective. The beginning of the game is a critical time for them, more so than other factions. They are very slow at first. This part will contradict the rest of the text, but the most important thing to remember in the beginning is that, since you don't have enough money for support, leave them at home. You only need them once you establish first contact with the enemy. This is especially true in a low starting gold game.
Early, you will need 3 companies: 1 shadelings to scout around, and 2 to conquer cities (one is not enough for Ceyah). I personally prefer to use a full company of skeletons and a company of 4 bone bows. I upgrade my city early and put in a carpenter guild first, a bank and a blacksmith. I also awaken my Kohan since he will be very useful to fight independents and I still have some money. In all new settlements, I put in a bank. Believe my experience, you will need that gold soon enough.
However, as soon as you capture a city from a different faction, you can use it to recruit standard units. It is easier than to use only Ceyah units earlier. A mixed army from those two factions can be extremely powerful later in the game too. Or you can just use the other's strong company as support for your own companies. The choice is yours.

CONCLUSION

Ceyah is very different from other factions and here are some things to remember when playing them:
-Use other factions/races city to complement your Ceyah companies with more conventional companies.
-Your strength lies in your support units, not in your main units.
-Always try to max out your maximum number of companies.
-Balance your weak units with strong ones.
-Don't slow down your companies too much by having slower support. If you play Ceyah, you need all the speed you can have.

ANNEX - PLAYER TYPES

There are two main kinds of Ceyah players: the Zombie and the Beast (named after their favorite unit).

Zombie: He is the player who likes the maintenance-less units of the Ceyah: Shadelings and Zombies. He usually has only hordes of them, with no other units. While he understands the Ceyah's advantage, his army is EXTREMELY low on attack power. Any company with a high defense, and access to healing, will completely eliminate him.

Beast: He is the player who likes the Shadow/Void Beasts and uses them almost exclusively. He puts the Shadow Priest and Prophet with them. This combo does make a great company, but it will be beaten easily by Mareten players, since he will be inferior in number.

If you recognize yourself in those two extremes, read on.

ANNEX - WHAT TO DO?

You are Ceyah. You have the weakest and the most powerful (non-elite) unit in the game. There is one thing to remember: BALANCE! You need both to reach victory. So, for the Zombie: if you have pluses in any resource, you don't have enough high quality units. For the Beast: if you don't have your maximum number of companies, you don't have enough.

ANNEX - WAR

So, you have many Zombies/Skelies and some Beasts for support, now what do you do? You attack, of course! My tactic is to send my infantry in first to engage the enemy and draw his melee units away from the support. The Beasts may dome some damage in engaging the main line, but they will create so much more havoc if you sneak them past him. They can destroy his irritating archers/mages/priests and, as an added bonus, they stand right in his retreat path. They are very strong when it comes to exterminating fleeing companies.

ANNEX - DESIGN

You have the best support in the game: USE IT! Don't let your infantry leave home without, at the very least, a Prophet. Send some wraiths with your Zombies, the shear quantity is to be feared.

Ceyah Strategies
[Wyldrage's Tactics] [Wyldrage's Tactics-Units] [Orional's Tactics]