How to deal with elephants - Page 8

konming · #71 September 30th, 2007, 01:10 AM

15 Vestal is only 300 Gold, that compare to 10 mammoths at 1200 Gold is certainly not a fair comparation. Still I believe 15 S9W9 shadow vestals will still beat 10 mammoths.

Lazy_Perfectionist · #72 September 30th, 2007, 02:27 AM

I don't remember, do elephants stop when they encounter an enemy, or do they just trample straight on through to your back lines?

Hmmm... an awake pretender could definetly help with research, as well as a few other things, but I'll assume for simplicity's sake that you've recruited a Thaumaturg each turn, dedicated to research. (4+40)/2 * 10. So, maybe 220 rp to commit. Say... level three in one school, give or take.

I am curious whether Astral Shield responds to tramplers at all, or only melee attacks.

Well.. have you considered throwing in a few dozen Retarius? Even 10 of them are cheaper than one elephant, let alone ten elephants. And if they manage to net one or two elephants, it'll cover the cost. As a small bonus, they have a higher combined damage of 19+DRN versus the Shadow Vestal's 14+DRN. I hate to recruit one-use troops, but elephants seem like a good enough cause. I'd use the vestals to hold the center, and the retarius to hold the flanks.

Aezeal · #73 September 30th, 2007, 10:59 AM

hmm I've just started this game.. what you say will take half the current turns to plan and reach the damn beasts... I wasnt expecting this betrayal. His mammoths are in the provinces a bit away from my capital.. I guess I'll try to avoid them for now just switching provinces a bit and if my (what previously was an expansion) army meets him then hope for the best.

Mean while I'll crush his other armies and race for his capitol

Autochthon · #74 September 30th, 2007, 06:49 PM

Lord Blackadder: How to deal with these rampaging herds of elephants? I need a plan...

Baldrick: My Lord, I have a cunning plan. If I may?

Lord Blackadder: This had better be good - Let us not forget you tried to solve the problem of your mother's low ceiling by cutting off her head.

Baldrick: My Lord, I have heard tales from those who have been to far off "La Brea", and they speak of a thing that devours even the mightiest of elephants without fail.

Lord Blackadder: Oh? And what is this "thing" you speak of?

Baldrick: They call this most dreadful of incantations, "Summon Tar Pit", my Lord.

-Time passes. Some mana and fatigue are spent. The elephants sink beneath a tarry mass the suddenly appears under their feet. Interestingly, some wandering Sabertooth Tigers are also caught in the trap.-

Lord Blackadder: HA! Got them with my subtle plan!

Baldrick: My Lord, that was -my- idea...

Lord Blackadder: Baldrick, you wouldn't see a subtle plan if it painted itself purple and danced naked on top of a harpsichord, singing "Subtle plans are here again!"

Apologies to Blackadder

Forrest · #75 October 16th, 2007, 02:43 PM

While I have never played MP, every time I face elephants I know who to call.

Wolf tribe warriors. Stick them in the very front with attack large orders. They will have those big boys carved up and on the grill before anyone else can move. If I know it's coming I keep a stack of them in reserve for just this purpose.

Also, how about a food bonus for a turn for each elephant kill. I know my troops are eating them even though I don't see a bonus for it.

Aristander · #76 October 16th, 2007, 09:18 PM

My .02

In my first multiplayer game I was elephant rushed by Arcoscephale. I was playing Machaka and stoped his initial rush with Black Hunters. It seemed to me that the web ability slowed down the elephants enough for me to beat them off. I wonder if any of the troops with nets may be used as well?

Yrkoon · #77 October 17th, 2007, 06:45 AM

Aristander, I think black hunters are size 6 and therefore cannot be trampled. Are you sure it's not their size rather than the webs that stopped the elephants ?

As for nets, I think high strength allows to break free from them. And elephants are very strong so the nets would work only for 1 turn. Same for tangle vines. But slime should work : it's MR negates and elephants have an abysmal MR. I'm not sure about earth meld.

Endoperez · #78 October 17th, 2007, 06:48 AM

Earth Grip, after which Earth Meld is modeled, is strength-based.

thejeff · #79 October 17th, 2007, 08:27 AM

But it takes a turn to break free. That's a turn you're not being trampled and a turn you can hit them easily.

You'll need a lot of net troops, but you can keep netting them.

Probably doesn't scale. Large enough numbers of elephants should be able to overwhelm any number of net troops, but large numbers of elephants are expensive...

Yrkoon · #80 October 25th, 2007, 06:31 AM

I have found that indie woodsman blowpipes are really really good against the pachyderms. I am in a SP game at the minute and dealing with Caelian mammoths.

The blowpipe are easy to recruit (10 gold, 3 resources), they have a ranged attack and they paralyse the beasts. I think it's 25 fatigue per shot and size 6 elephants are, well, easy to aim at. 4 shots and you have a sleeping mammoth that cannot move, cannot defend, and takes lots of critical hits. Plus they cannot run away it's easy to slay them all.

I acknowledge that blowpipes are random indies so they are not a surefire way of dealing with elephants. If you can't recruit them, tough.

Does anyone know if a MR check is necessary for the paralysing poison to work ? I don't think the darts need to inflict damage to paralyse but even with mammoth (prot 13) they fell asleep in no time. Darts should be efficient with other large animals like hydras I guess, or troglodites, minautors and the like.