So what is Pythium's weakness?

[Huzurdaddi]

A friend of mine have been playing a few game together and after trying a few races we settled on Pythium and Arcoscephale.

So I look through this forum a little and I find that they are considered two of the strongest nations! Woohoo, we're not tards!

Sadly he got Pythium.

So ... uhm ... what the heck is the weakness of Pythium? Their normal troops seem "ok" nothing to write home about, a distinct lack of ranged troops but their melee troops are fine. Their casters OTOH are insane. Not only are they insanely powerful and very well setup for commune (which is gosh darn powerful) but they are sacred! So he can afford to have plenty of them. That's freaking scary.

I mean during the early parts of the game I think I can get the upper hand on him with the elephants and such. But once the mid game rolls around and he gets a critical mass of those Theurg's, Arch Theurg's and Theurg Acolytes I'm in for a real hurting (not to mention if he reads the forums he's going to do one of Alex's "The Perfect Storm's", eg: Cloud Trapeze + Wrathful Skies + Storm).

So what the heck is Pythium's weakness? Do they have one? Or do I have to basically hope that I am luckier than he is during the game to give me an edge?

[Norfleet]

Pythium doesn't really have any particularly glaring weaknesses, as far as I can tell. Mostly everything about them as at least average, if not superior.

[Graeme Dice]

You are playing Arcoscephale, which is another nation with few weaknesses. In the early game, your elephants and chariots can make short work of his troops. You don't have quite as easy access to communion, but your mystics are extremely powerful and versatile. You can always use the ones that don't have the skills you want as communion slaves, or use an earth 1 mystic to forge slave matrices and put them on the cheapest mages you can find. Druids, sages, magus and the like are good choices here.

You will also be fairly likely to have an air 3 mage, which can forge the boosters necessary to bring you much more common air 2 mystics to the point where they can easily cast wrathful skies. Of course, you also have access to all the fire, cold, and earth spells as well. Astrologers are very useful as well whenever you want to gate troops to the front quickly (give them a starshine skullcap and a whip of command). They are also useful as communion masters to give you access to death, blood and nature magic on the battlefield.

Your hoplites are great to hold the centre line, and you can always cast thunder ward to make them Last longer. The Hysapists are also very useful, and can be counted on to bolster the morale of any elephants that are in their squad.

Basically, as Arcosephale, you have access to heavy infantry that is the equal of any nations, elephants, all four types of elemental magic, astral magic, and basic nature magic. They don't have much in the way of weaknesses.

Pythium doesn't have any weaknesses per say. In order to fully utilize some of their more delicious abilities they have some things that they have to strive past.

Communions require Communion Slaves: Find a way to kill or cut the Slaves the mages will be much less effective in combat. Try Assassins/Artillery spells.

Hydras are slow and incompatible with certain army types without certain spells: Look and try to scout out your enemy so you know what he is combining and what spells they have access to, so you will have less of a disadvantage.

Early game, Pythium's javalins are extremely potent (as nearly all their troops carry them and allow them to soften before engaging). This can make a difference later in the game when the Pythium Player can Gateway in huge armies of troops to front lines, make sure you null this advantage (with Storm or Arrow Fend).

Wrathful Skies Combo and Foul Vapors Combo are both possible. Watch for them or null their effect on your large armies. Both Cloud Trapeze and Teleport work in their favor. Don't be caught unaware.

Orb Lightning/Soul Slay/Paralyze/Mind Burn + Quickness are all very common, as well as Smite from Communions with Arch or Normal Theurgs. (Also Falling Frost is fairly common). A Pythium player can also use most of the spells considered too expensive or gem heavy because of it, so dedicated 'magekillers' must be made if you want to kill large armies with mage support.

[Huzurdaddi]

BTW, Norfleet is your icon a picture of the commander from Total Annihilation? If so, kudos on having the taste to appreciate the best RTS currently in existence!

On and thanks for the reminder about their javelins Zen. Yeash.

I will need luck and lots of it (or � ahem � more knowledge of the more unbalanced spells in the game).

So .. uhm one more question, why are all of their casters sacred? Yes I know that they are priests and all but goly that�s quite an advantage.

[Pocus]

One of their few weaknesses is that they are not that versatile, when it comes to magic. The sole mage which has a random slot is the A-Theurg, costing a whopping 380 gold. Compares this to Arco. So you know what is coming at you (pretender excluded) when you deal with Pythium : air/astral mages.
Not that it does you much good, because air & astral are both very potent magics. But at least you can think lightning ward and antimagic as soon as you see them.