[kasnavada]

Hum, some questions, about armored units... I've been trying a few games with pangaea against the Ai and am about to start a multiplayer game with it. The main problem I faced is that I'm always having trouble against armored units.

The only things I've found that can actually hold the line without suffering huge losses are the armored units you control (I mainly used centaurs), and manikins (probably due to the stun effect). Manikins are rather hard to get though... a few times I got them with independant shamans (the ones that costs 110 and have 10% chance of death, since they are sacred, they are as good as dryads for research purposes and spellcasting), the other times I used a pan to summon them (but it seemed like a waste of time for a 350 gold unit). So I can't really rely on that. Using my pretender seems even more of a waste. Finally, armored units don't come cheap when you try to max out maenads numbers (turmoil 3, building forts in forest if possible).

What I actually want to ask is, apart from destruction, mass protection which are given in the opening post, what other spells or units can be used to handle them in early game and later, relying on national units mostly ?

What I currently do is giving the armored units something to waste their attack on (either the armored centaurs or maenads) while the bulk of my forces attack the archers behind, eventually causing enough killing to rout them, surrounding them in the process, and pelting them with centaur archer fire. That works well with independants but against human players or AI, obviously, this leads to an army of armored troups I won't be able to handle later on, and won't work against a army with high defense.

Another idea I thought of was making minotaur thugs. They seem best suited for it since the white centaurs commander already have a bow and don't need to go melee... other commanders are mages, and expensive ones. I've got little experience with making thugs since I just got the game though, so I'd like some advice on that. Again, only relying on national capabilities if possible. But since Pangaea has good access to earth, and access to nature magic goodies like ring of regen and invigoration, it looked like a good idea.

So... any advice on that ?