Best Researcher for LA Abysia ?

[coobe]

im wondering what is better for research purposes:

Warlock
270gold not sacred 8rp

or

Anathemant Dragon
330gold sacred 6rp

cant really decide

both should be great later on for battle purposes. or should i even go with a cheap 5rp mage (sacred) ?

any tipps on la abysia are also welcome...

[Sombre]

I believe anathemant dragons are more likely to suffer afflictions from old age, since fire magic reduces their maxage considerably. I could be wrong though.

Both are cap only, correct?

Anathemant dragon upkeep = 11
Warlock upkeep = 18

Pretty sure those figures are right. So if you consider that the anathemant has about 75% the research power of the Warlock for 60% of the upkeep cost, in the long run the anathemant is clearly better. After 9 turns the anathemant dragon has made up the cost difference between himself and the warlock in terms of upkeep, however being out of pocket early in the game often leads to reduced gold income from expansion.

They're pretty even all things considered.

[thejeff]

Of course, while you may make up the cost after 9 turns, you've also got 18 less rp out of him. And he's more likely diseased and dying (unless you've got boots of youth on him)

I'd build whichever looked more useful for other purposes. Mostly warlocks since they get randoms so you'll want a decent crop to get the useful picks.

Cost efficiency of research is really more of a factor with non-capital researchers later in the game. Early on amount or research and usefulness of the mages trumps it. And of course what you can afford to invest in long-term goals and still expand/fight.

[sum1lost]

I would say cost efficiency is more important early on, so you can get your expansion machine going.

[Edi]

Both the warlock and the Anathemant Dragon are old, so both will get afflictions. The AD can more easily get Death picks from randoms than the warlock, so it is actually less likely to get afflictions.

[Hadrian_II]

I would use cheap mages. They are better for research, as they dont die from old ages. But after you can forge boots of youth, i would only recruit warlocks, and maybe some anathemants.

[JimMorrison]

I always use the Dragons as Abysia. When the going gets rough, the Anathement Dragons get going - spamming Fire Cloud and Falling Fires, that is. Abysia is one of those nations that I feel benefits greatly from rushing towards mass evocations as fast as possible. Apparently with your late game so weak, you need to push your early-mid game strengths as much as possible, so at least by late game you are HUGE, and thus somewhat powerful.

[coobe]

hm i actually used to rush for construction6 asap while keeping me alive with e9s9 blessed guardians of the pyre. what do you think ?

[JimMorrison]

< shrug > I never have seen a big bless to be very great with Abysia, least not a dual bless. I did have a lot of fun with a W9 once, but generally I would think that LA would especially benefit from really strong scales, so you can mass Warbreds (they're so cool).

Of course, you COULD go Warlocks, and go for Thaum, playing them as an Astral nation with Warbred shock brigades looks pretty cool. Or you could save money and go with Salamanders, and rely on Phoenix Power to get your evocations up, but it's a lot more research before you're up to speed.

Of course, there's also Ench for mass Ethereal/Luck spam on your already impressive infantry..... LA Abysia is really interesting, with no real standout focus (other than good national troops) but a lot of feasible options of where to go as things progress. Of course, all of these options start to lose relevance in the later game, other than the heavy Thaum strat, but it is also the weaker option early on, IMO.

Seems to me that you want the good scales, because if you can afford M3, you can push a lot of cheaper researchers and develop all of your options, using versatility as your weapon against foes who have had to specialize more.

Help me, I can't stop typing.

[coobe]

im currently toying around with a s9e9 sphynx....

isnt the 50% fire resistance a downside on the warbreds ?

s9e9 bless is really a boost for your mages also