Re: More praise for Baalz
 

hmmm I'm now using a few small hydra's and/ or 1 large hydra as screen for archers and it seems to work very well, the multiple heads make them survivable and they are poison resistant.

I went for a E9N1 dom 9 awake gorgon... great expansion but gorgon is a bit vulnerable (and dead now) and not easily called back by sauromatia.

Due to the bless my scales suck a bit (sloth 3 and I went for turmoil 3/luck 3 (doesn't seem to be paying of yet apart for a free castle.)

Would it be worth it to skip the bless and go for better scales or would that totaly nerve the effectiveness of the gorgon? Making it dormant is an option too.. but kinda not what a SC is about.

Re: More praise for Baalz
 

In this case the dormant Gorgon may not be such a big deal if you can develop a very effective early expansion utilizing what your getting in return.

Re: More praise for Baalz
 

Well I doubt it'll give me that much province.. the gorgon was taking 1/turn till it died (turn 10 ish)

Luck doesn't seem to be giving me much cash btw maybe order/misfortune and less sloth would give me much more archers.. but I doubt I'll expand as quickly as I did with the gorgon

Or is it luck to have the gorgon survive against 12 indies w/o items?
How is a gorgon SC usually used?

Re: More praise for Baalz
 

Did you have Dom 9 (Awe) and crafted a hide shield? That increases its survavility a lot.

Re: More praise for Baalz
 

Naw, it wasn't luck she survived so long. On the contrary it was bad luck or bad battle selection that she died at turn 10ish. Normally I hit soft provinces with her at turn 2 on, and I forge her some ghetto gear to get her through the early turns. This means that she has to come home at some point, and that point for me is usually when there are not soft provinces left close to my capital. She comes home, gets some gear, maybe some gems if she is going to be casting anything, then she is back out building her reputation in the HOF http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: More praise for Baalz
 

Your quick expansion rate is useless because your scales devalue the usefulness of your provinces.

Re: More praise for Baalz
 

I was attacking a Hinnom warband of about 40-50 ish pplz so that would be poor selection I guess.. avvite archers and swordsmen (with no shield the archers did me in with their high damage if I retrack it.. probably the most dangerous units for the gorgon, high damage ranged attackers.

turmoil 3/luck 3 is an accepted strategy is it not?

it is said you end up with about teh same cash. Personally I could easily spend all my cash (even with sloth) though I don't think it was close to order 3 income (a few 100 gc bonus and a castle).

More prod would mean more androphag archers though since they are capitol only so building more castles isn't helping on that part.

sum1lost:
But would it be worth it to go dormant and then about O3 M2 and S -1?
your reply is a bit too easy: give me your adviced strat for sauromatia then so I can try it out http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: More praise for Baalz
 

That's untrue. It depends on how "quick" you mean with "quick". If he has a 50% less gold compared to a nation with good scales, but he conquer 60% more provinces, then he is doing well.

With sauromatia i would not go with turmoil luck. It's a valid strategy, but i would take order-misfortune instead. The Gorgon is awesome, althoug sauromatia has some problems to equip them properly early on. However, put her a Raw Hide shield to start with and high Awe, and should not has any problem to crush weak indies for a few turns. Once she can cast ironskin, summon earth power, wears vine-shield, pendant of luck and hydra skin she can kill most armies without a sweat.

Re: More praise for Baalz
 

I did it to try it once (I always go order 3 usually and misfortune 2 to luck 1 depending on scales.

I also have E9 dom 9 for a high protection and a bless (the guide in this thread seems to think the WS can be good thugs with a bless.. though personally I couldn't see the use for a small nature bless with such low HP and couldn't go awake with N9 bless)

I guess I could take some death scales to make neutral production since the androphag archers could be produced in much greater numbers with more production.

I'll be sure to get a shield if I use the gorgon in combat again (since archers seem the biggest of her problems.)

Still I'd like to see a build others use for sauromatia.

thanks for the gorgon kitting advice btw

Re: More praise for Baalz
 

Hey Aezeal

I'm not an expert at Sauromatia - however I have been on the receiving end of them many many times.

I think poison archers, with a screen of hydras - rock.

I guess my .02 would be that you have great troops - hydras are relevent into the end game. I'd maximize the scales (I think) and crank out troops rather than trying for gorgon SC.