Blowpipe paralyze
 

Well, this was quite a surprise.

I decided to give the Sidhe Lord strategy another try. Much to my surprise, they got whacked by Woodsmen Blowpipers. My reaction was "WHAT???!!!"

It turns out that in CBM 1.92 (and maybe earlier versions, I don't know), Woodsmen Blowpipes now do *paralyze* damage instead of fatigue damage. So you really get pegged hard instead of just getting hurt a bit.

I *presume* that casting resist poison before going into battle will take care of this, but... it's just yet another example of Dominions always finding a way to mess you up.

Re: Blowpipe paralyze
 

Technically, the blowpipes do normal damage. On a hit, they will have an additional effect. Paralyzing poison occurs on a few units in addition to woodsmen.

The effect 'paralyzing poison' can be resisted with poison resistance, I believe, in the latest version of CBM. Previous versions may have handled blowpipes differently,.

Re: Blowpipe paralyze
 

Yes they are overpowerd. Thery are super cheap and you can wipe out a whole army of SC's with them.

Re: Blowpipe paralyze
 

They're good, but they are not that good. I've seen paralyzed SC's force a rout by virtue of low fear/awe or even aura effects like fireshield or chill.

Blowpipes + specialised thug or SC support, will ruin an opposing SC's day, but i don't believe that they are by themselves an effective counter to SC's.

Due to the short range, even massed blowpipes do not stand up well against a similar number of chaff units. They are great at breaking up formations, but are not neccesarily something that can't be countered easily.

I may have some misconceptions based on my play experience though. If so, I would appreciate being corrected.

Re: Blowpipe paralyze
 

Remind me not to build SCs

Re: Blowpipe paralyze
 

No, you build SCs anyway but use them against appropriate targets.

Re: Blowpipe paralyze
 

If you mix blowpipes in with shielded front line chaff, do opposing archers with "fire archers" target them?

Even if not, that mix set to "fire closest" can do some intriguing things to any army that's relying on mortal assault troops, especially tramplers. I think you have to arrange for the first unit in the group to have a ranged weapon (blowpipe or javelin work).

Against heavy trampler armies or thug groups, a mix of blowpipes and wolf tribe dagger dudes or indy lizards with their two attacks per round could do some damage.

I kind of like the archers that come with those provinces, too - they have a slight boost to Ranged, don't they, making them superior to Deer Tribe or equivalent indy archers?

Re: Blowpipe paralyze
 

Isn't it unethical to mix troops like that? Or perhaps All's Fair in Love & MP...

Re: Blowpipe paralyze
 

Un... ethical?
MP games could have agreed-upon rules that prevent it, I suppose, but I don't think rules against troop-type mixing are at all common. Mix elephants with slower, high-morale units to pump up the average morale of tramplers. Mix big units (giants, bandars) with tiny units (vaetti, markata, hoburgs) to give more targets per square and increase the survivability of the big dudes. Mix shielded units with offensive (zweihanders, say) units to up the chances of getting through missiles or spells with enough punch to crack through tough screens.

If you think certain tactics give you too much advantage against the AI and using them makes SP unfun, by all means don't use them, but it's worth understanding the mechanics that make those tactics valuable under the right circumstances.

Re: Blowpipe paralyze
 

Very interesting! I don't do any of the above, just seems too sneaky against AI to me. Or perhaps I just wouldn't like seeing them all mixed up on the tactics screen, I like to keep types all separate, maybe some OCD :)