Daemons

Titan - Balora

Click Balora to hear her speak

Whenever Daemons invade the lands of Etheria, it is usually at the command of a mighty Daemon King or Queen like Balora. It is then ultimately the Daemons' goal to open up a portal at a Chaos Shrine and summon their master or mistress. This is an expensive process and takes much time to accomplish. Balora is quite psychotic - she hates all mortal creatures - and desires nothing more than to roam the world meting out doom and destruction upon all those who will not submit to her.

Race

No such luck. Daemons represent the only clear career path (outside politics) for school bullies. Lets face it; your typical school bully has already spent years refining the most exquisite methods of inflicting pain and suffering. When they leave school, what else is there to do except sell their souls to dark forces, and be outfitted with the whip, the demonic voice, the mottled red skin, and a license to keep doing the only thing they’re already good at.

For those and other reasons, the Daemons turn out to be quite a handy side in a fight. They have tough armies that have quite a few tricks up their sleeve, and their tougher armies can inspire debilitating psychological affects in their susceptible opponents. And of course there are the whips.

Pros: Tough, versatile armies, psych effects, evil laughter

Cons: Huge appetite for crystal, builders are expensive, Hydras are agonizingly slow

To taunt a Daemon: Ask him how to spell Demon, then call him a girly try-hard for inserting the extra ‘a’.

To make friends with a Demon: Leave behind a map showing locations of the weak and vulnerable (orphanages, scout camps, old folks homes) as you cunningly transport yourself to an astral plane the Daemon can’t reach. (Daemons can’t spell gratitude, either).

Motto: When too much pain is never enough

Quasit:

It’s not out of the question to use Quasits as a fighting unit. Their stats aren’t bad, but they’re so expensive that you’d never get value for money. It costs over 30 Gold and 40 Crystal to make a Quasit, and does expose a weakness in the Daemon side. When you inflict indiscriminate pain and suffering on all those within reach, then good help will be so hard to find. The hire costs of a Quasit also make you think twice about ordering up a dozen or so for mine duty, but sometimes it’s a cost you just have to bear.

Imps:

Some units you know you’ll always want to produce, others you’ll find are pretty useless. Then there’s Imps. They positively invite Piercing, Slashing and Crushing, but then are strongly resistant to Magic and Fire. They fly, but cost 105 precious Crystal to produce. Then again, if you’ve got Daemons in your entourage, or have managed to make some of your own, then they can summon Imps at a cost of Mana only, and perhaps this is the best way to get them.

Nightmare:

The Nightmare actually lives up to its name, looking like it has been put together from the flesh of many lightly roasted kebabs. For a second level unit its plenty tough, with good armor against all attacks, lots of hits and dealing out large lumps of damage. It does require you to spend more crystal though, and this may temper your enthusiasm for the brute.

Succubus:

For exactly the same production cost as a Nightmare, you can get a Succubus. Most people would regard a Succubus as a creature of nightmare, but there are always exceptions (for instance, artists). Not quite as tough as a Nightmare, but able to fly, the equal Nightmare/Succubus production costs should be taken as a gentle hint to include both in a balanced force.

Daemons:

Lets face it, you’re really only playing this side so you can make lots of the chunky flying guys with the big whips, so you should go ahead and do just that. Daemons can summon Imps, and you should definitely be using them to do this, when you’re not using them to slaughter enemy troops or raze their buildings.

Summoner:

Summoners are the Daemon's General, and they do a damn fine job. To get one you first have to build an opulent and expensive Summoning Tower, then pay a fairly steep price for each Summoner, but the results are worth it. The Summoner has a very handy ranged lightning attack, can summon up Daemons of his own, and for good measure can banish other people's summonings. Summoners are so desirable, that other sides will do everything they can to lure Summoners into their own retinue. To counter this, just say please every time you invoke dark powers, ask them nicely to come to your aid, and promise them an undending supply of victims, without enquiring further.

Firebats:

Firebats seem doomed to be natural scouts. Cheap flying units sent off to flap slowly round the map faithfully reporting back. As soon as they run into the slightest opposition, (such as a determinedly angry sheep, or a goose looking sideways at them), then they die.
However, Firebats do benefit from the general Daemon armor upgrades, and can rendered almost impervious to fire. In which case you have some cheap flying units who are suddenly deadly in the right situations. (If they were deadly in all situations they’d be dragons, so you’re not doing too badly)

Harpies:

Have Harpies gotten a bad press? That’s the question on the lips of some of the more thoughtful elements of our society. Are they just victims of a poor body image? Of course not, they truly are loathsome creatures whose particular pleasure is the disemboweling and subsequent snacking on their live victims, which is why they fit right in with the rest of the Daemon armies, who recognize pure artistry when they see it.
As an army, Harpies do more damage but are less well armored than Succubi. However their other party trick is to drain the mana from units around them, which is a really good way of cutting arrogant, pipe smoking, robe-wearing mages down to size.

Dragons:

Dragons like fighting with Daemon armies, as there’s no chance that they’ll be asked to hang around in dimly lit caves pretending to have accumulated vast store of ineffable wisdom, and to dole this out to the various undeserving types who come crawling by. Instead, they’re out there roasting their victims with the best of them, and are naturally allowed, nay encouraged, to eat any or all of them after the battle, something the more squeamish races (read elves) never let them do.

Balora:

What a woman: independent, feisty and possessed of great fashion sense. (Except maybe for the leggings, but who is going to tell her). Sure she’s about 20 feet tall, with fetching blue skin and large bat-like wings, but that’s just what a girl has to do if she wants to have 750 hits and do 120 damage. Like all Titans, Balora is almost unstoppable, but is susceptible to swarming and mass missile attacks, since she can only kill one opponent at a time. Her flying ability serves, as it should, to elevate her above the reach of the lower classes of fighters. This enables her to concentrate on massacring opponents who, though by no means her equal, are at least worthy of her steel.