A Poisoner's Guide to LA Pythium - Page 6

Ironhawk · #51 May 17th, 2008, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Ylvali said:
I tested some blessings. Most sucessful so far is, surprisingly, Air 6 astral 10. Protects agains arrows and cavalry charges as well as giving them MR 18, Which would be great in late game. Also a very useful pretender.

The testing which I did before writing the guide revealed the same kinds of results. Hydra's are so strong that they really dont benefit from any of the traditionally strong blesses like W/F. I am surprised tho that you would even consider Astral bless tho - the heads of the Hydra are basically the same effect as Twist Fate so its a lot of points wasted IMO.

The bless that I ended up using in my game was A4/W4/E4 and I found it surprisingly powerful and nicely cheap! Particular when the Hydras were accompained by a good pois-res army and, later in the game, buffed somewhat.

Aezeal · #52 May 18th, 2008, 06:56 AM

I think F/W might indeed be too much.. but just F9 makes it stronger late age, magic weapon, better against SC and just general high defense troops.

A 4 seems.. well weakish.. of course it's nearly free but why settle for 20% airshield when arrows are your main point of weakness
(and in my test game.. they are tehy really are.. not to mention the fact that the mages tend to die on stray arrows as well.)
I think that .. if you decide to really focus on hydra a good bless can be worth it.. and I think it's either A7-8-9
with F9 or W9 (W9 stronger against masses of chaff and F 9 stronger against stronger opponents --> I think W9 is less needed.. even 4 hydra's close together do indeed kill a lot of what is in front of them.. I think a lot of attacks will be wasted) and if possible (but that is hard the E4)

The mages will benefit from this too.

I wanted to buff my hyrda's (body ethereal) ASAP but it's hard doing it right.. the mage always buffs himself first and then one hydra and after that the hydra's are gone... so you need more mages, which makes the investment a lil annnoying on your research..

I'm gonna try 1 mage, 2 hydra armies trying to get them both ethreal and see fi they remain killers..

in my test SP game I was hit hard by my mighty neighbour after I decided to war him .. tien chi with it's horsearchers is pretty annoying w/o air bless...

I'll try again soon

Ironhawk · #53 May 18th, 2008, 02:12 PM

A4 wasnt entirely for the bless, that was just a bonus side effect. The intent of A4 was access to air boosters for Arrow Fend, Staves of Storms, and eventual summoning of air queens.

Its your call to try a F9 bless, but IMO you will find the results very disappointing in the late game. The correct way to counter SCs is to build your own or use mages. If you try a W9 bless you will need an earth bless to balance out your fatigue.

You have to keep in mind what you are losing when you tries these high blesses tho. How will you fund your Hydras with the bad scales you need to take for a high bless - they cost a fortune! Plus, how will you build your regular armies without Production? Where will your earth magic come from to build Hammers?

Ylvali · #54 May 18th, 2008, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Ironhawk said:
The testing which I did before writing the guide revealed the same kinds of results. Hydra's are so strong that they really dont benefit from any of the traditionally strong blesses like W/F. I am surprised tho that you would even consider Astral bless tho - the heads of the Hydra are basically the same effect as Twist Fate so its a lot of points wasted IMO.

I thought the same at first, but as I said: it showed up to make a huge difference. Yes the twist fate is a bit similar to the heads, that is what makes it powerful. Hydras often get attacked first and then gets to counterattack. Having all the heads left makes a big difference. It also reduces the number of permanently beheaded hydras a lot. try yourself.

I would also recomend A6D9. Tried it and it works great. But I still think astral wins the day in late game.

Aezeal · #55 May 19th, 2008, 01:17 AM

I wonder.. does each form of rth hydra get the twist fate or is it really gone after the first hit? That would be the only reason I can see astral being as good as you say it is.

There are no permanently beheaded hydra's with the correct mod

Lingchih · #56 May 19th, 2008, 03:03 AM

Yes, in the next patch, Sacred Hydras will always fully recuperate after each battle. (There is also a mod for it.)

Ylvali · #57 May 19th, 2008, 03:50 AM

No the twist fate is only for the first head. Still I say astral is a good bless for hydras, but why argue?

Cheezeninja · #58 May 19th, 2008, 05:59 AM

Not actually proposing it as a serious strategy, but does the death of each hydra head provoke a curse attempt from a B9 bless?

Twan · #59 May 19th, 2008, 06:13 AM

The only time I tried LAP I took A7/E6 and rather recommand it.

The titan start with these path, so you can have decent income and magic scales (ie order 3, growth 1, misf 2, magic 1) taking a low dominion (4) with a dormant titan (or a stronger dominion with an imprisoned one).

Then the bless is excellent for both hydras and mages, and the paths allow your pretender to forge hammers and boosters, protect even more hydras against arrow with storm etc, and use the terrific rain of stones.

Aezeal · #60 May 19th, 2008, 07:23 AM

Twan I was just about to try something like that.. E4 or 6 and A somewhere highish since every arrow turned is good.. 8 or 9 might be a bit high since there are no spells to cast with that requirement I think.. shock resistance might be nice though. but maybe a bit expensive to do it just for that.