AoW4 Factions, 23

AoW4 has managed the odd feat, unequaled since City of Heroes, of inspiring me to not just write up a character bio but constantly create new factions and give them all more or less whimsical flavor text. So here they are, one by one:

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I've always hated the roleplaying stigma against death and necromancy, so last year I made several Shadow factions playing the evil either up or down as the mood struck me. This ended up my favorite one of the bunch. Shadow/astral have great synergy in terms of spellcasting, though these guys aren't as specialized for pure nuking as my syrons or Cheshire cats. In contrast to my usual summon/buff-heavy routine (though I do miss my beasts 'n weeds) this faction needs a scant few summons to shore up the front line (made up of skeleton cannon fodder in the first place) before they simply debuff and nuke everything in some truly spectacular displays of pyrotechnics (cryotechnics?) especially with various casting point bonuses meaning you can really let rip with the big guns. (Caveat: always starved for mana.) Strategically, the economic side's a struggle but rapid research at least widens my bag of tricks quickly, freebie skeletons ease the recruitment pressure and the Keepers of Knowledge diplomatic bonuses help more than expected. Also, a Defender giant avatar combined with back-row evokers allows for faster than usual early expansion, for a nerd faction. Love it, and replayed it a few times after ascension.