Gave Pariden a good try in my latest game... and I actually like them. First of all let me say that the Decalon power is downright AMAZING. Seriously. I'm not just talking about the damage, that's a given, I'm talking about all kinds of strategic utility spells such as city enchantments (Gentle Rain comes to mind).
Champions.
Anyway, with Decalon in mind I specialized all my early champs as Mages. Even had an Ironeer mage (wasn't my idea, but she came already specialized, so I took her). I thought it would be a risk with so many casters considering that it takes time to build up solid sources of mana. It ended up not being a problem because of the Mantle of Oceans. This is quite honestly the most awesome mana-saving spell for a mage AND it has no maintenance costs. Casting Flame dart for 6 Mana? Yes, please. Heck, even the Ironeer cast the spell at a discount. Speaking of the Ironeer, she came with a 0 Mana cost spell that summoned a big bad bear. VERY handy. So, there I was, able to fully power 3 mages at a pittance of a mana cost.
Cities.
Essence, man. It's all about essence. Screw, food, screw production, with high essence + Scrying Pool I was able to buff up my cities beyond wildest expectations. High essence count meant that the Cleric handled unrest VERY well. Boosted food in my Food town, production in my Fortress, and maxed out mana and research in my conclaves. On the topic of cities and expansion I can't forget the awesome Arcane Monolith spell. At 50 mana it is not cheap and early on you won't be casting more than a couple of them, but the ability to instantly pop an outpost at ANY previously explored location (it can even be covered by FoW, as long as it's not black, you can cast there) is GREAT. The Ultimate resource denial tool.
Units.
Won't lie to you, the early game was carried by the Champions + some random bonus units I got from the goody huts. As far as what I trained, my first mass produced real unit was a slightly modified Fire Staff wielder. Completely ignored archery and only had staff users (both fire and frost) for my ranged needs. As far as melee went, well... it went better than I expected. From the outset I decided that armoring up my guys would be counterproductive, so I went the opposite route: Soldiers with just a Sword (yes, Sword), a Shield, a +Dodge Robe and a Warg. As far as their traits went, I took the stuff that maximized dodging. Worked out much better than I expected EXCEPT vs Axe troops (backswing is a real bitch). These guys were perfect at tying up enemy troops just long enough for my Champs and staff users to burn everyone down. Sure, those riders were squishy IF you could hit them. Anyway, with a couple of Air Shards in my posession these guys came off the assembly line with 30+ initiative. They rocked.
Research.
Ended up going heavily into the Magic and Civic tree from the start, at the expense of the military tree. Ignored armor and archery techs. With several conclaves going (some settled, some conquered), research flowed smoothly, and the ability to research at a faster-then-a-snail pace is great.
As of this writing I'm still in the midgame and doing well. Still haven't decided between going for Conquest or Spell Mastery victory, as both are very valid options. Anyway, in conclusion I'd just like to say that Pariden has pleasantly surprised me. For the record, I am using a custom Sovereign (hate Procipinee's Inefficient trait).
rvgr
