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STRATEGY:
LA Pythium has been claimed as a weak nation by many players and there is some justificiation for this. However, if you accept the inconsistencies of the nation and focus on its strengths a solid strategy can be devised. First and foremost is the extensive magical research and site searching ability of this nation. Its a top contender in research surely, and probably the #1 race in the game for site searching. Consistent application of these two things will net the Serpent Cult a strong research lead and access to more gems and site-based mages than any other nation throughout the entire game. Secondly, there is the Hydra. Don't turn your back on this unit, just because it has no synergy with the regular troops. Instead, make it the centerpiece of your forces by investing your resources in a deadly poison-immune army.
Early-Game:
In the early part of the game there is only one strategy: Hydras! So many heads, so many indys to eat!! Used correctly, Hydras are devastatingly powerful expanders. Set your starting army to patrol and set your taxes to maximum - you're going to need that money to buy Hydras. Initial expansion is done by teams of a single Serpent Priest leading 4 Hydras. Set the Hydras towards the back of the battlefield and the priest a little further so he doesnt get shot by stray arrows. Script him to cast Bless and the Hydras to Hold and Attack (to string out the indy formations). Once they go into the attack you will see that Hydras totally slaughter almost any indy type. Make high-income provinces a priority so that you can build more Hydra teams.
Don't be afraid of the traditional "tough" indys like Heavy Cav: the Hydra's heads will absorb one lance attack each and their counterattack will eat the horses for breakfast - literally! What you do need to watch out for are particularly large masses of non-xbow missle units. Hydras will be ok vs. a moderate amount of fire but not against large volumes (slingers are particularly dangerous due to thier numbers). Once you have enough gold, immediately build your second team to leverage another advantage of the Hydras - they have no resource requirement. You can literally scale up your expansion rate as fast as you get gold income!
On the magic side of things, your early game goals should be to immediatley build your second fort and begin producing more mages. LA Pytiums forts are expensive on every terrain type except swamp so if you have one available you should build there, as crappy as they are. You wont be able to produce troops but Pyth's strength lies in its excellent research and site searching so the more mages you can build a turn the better.
The first research target is Conj 3 (Summon Vine Ogre) and Const 2 (Ivy Crown). The goal being rapid production of poison-immune troops to accompany your Hydras as soon as possible. Since you will be recruiting Serpent Priests in your capital every turn and they often get 3N, we can leverage that by turning them into an early VO factory since they wont need the traditional Thistle Mace. Once you complete this research goal, the next target is Ench 3 (Raise Dead). Once you have this spell, you can give poison rings to your 2D Renatus and send them into battle with the poison immune army to produce undead chaff to fill out your ranks.
Mid-Game:
Your research priority now is leveraging the power of the poison-immune army that you have been building up. The first and foremost spell to research is Foul Vapors. While not the most powerful battlefield damage spell it is available at a comparatively low level (Ench 5) and synergizes perfectly with your Hydra force. Next you should research Arrow Fend and find a mage who can cast it in order to protect said Hydras. If you havent found one from a site, research Const 4 and build a booster for one of your air Theurgs. Const 4 doesnt hurt anyway since it gives you access to the Thistle Mace for more VO summoning.
Beyond that, you have some freedom in what to research next. If war is imminent, its a simple matter of researching up to Evoc 5 to get spells for your regular battle mages. Fireball and Falling Fires for the Heliodromus, Nether Bolt and Shadow Blast for your Renatus. These will give your regular armies the extra punch they need to compete. If war is less pressing then you might consider boosting your Conj and Construction up in order to begin thug production.
As you build more forts to expand your mage production, it is useful to set one fort up exclusively for the production of Heretics. Even tho they have a tendency to rant and blaspheme, they do have thier uses! You dont want to produce them across your empire because it will wreck havoc with your dominion. Concentrating them at one point that you choose sacrifices the dominion there to save it everywhere else. At this fort, you should build Revelers (if you want an assassin factory) or Heliodromus (for battlefield artillery). Dont forget to continue site-searching! Excellent path coverage is a key strength of LA Pyth and you must get as much gems and sites as you can out of it.
At this point you should have the foundation of your poison-immune army assembled: Hydras, VOs, and skelly spamming Renatus. Command the army with a Serpent Priest scripted to cast Foul Vapors and you are ready to go! Put your troops way in the back, set them to Hold and Attack, cast entanglement spells, etc. Anything you can do to drag the battle out as long as possible. Eventually your enemies men and mages will succumb to the poison and fear. Additionally, once you get Arrow Fend you no longer need to be wary of masses of archers and can attack any enemy army at will.
When you go to war, make sure to bring both poison armies and non-poison armies. While the two cannot work together on the same battlefield, they will cause your opponent no end of trouble trying to defend. If they try to deploy thier key mages to defeat your normal forces, withdraw them and move in the poison army to wipe them out. If they develop a poison-resistant strategy, switch your poison forces to raiding and attack with your normal men when they least expect it.
Late-game:
As a strong Nature / Death nation, it is unsurprising that the primary late game goal of LA Pyth should be Tartarians. The tradition path to mass producing Tarts is via Demi-Liches, which synergizes with the work already done in Enchantment (you should be at 5-6 already) so continue on to Ench 8 for Lichcraft. Along the way you will acquire some very handy spells: Rigor Mortis, Relief, Life after Death, Carrion Reanimation, Mass Regeneration, but more on those later. The next step on the path to Tarts is to secure either the Gift of Health or the Chalice. As a strong nature nation, Gift of Health should be doable, however a Serpent Priest with an astral pick can be boosted up to forge the Chalice if needed. After that, it is the long march up to Conj 9 to open the Tartarian Gate.
In the meantime, all this Enchantment work will also be going to the advantage of your regular armies. First off, you get Relief: a very powerful spell in its own right, not only for your troops but also your mages. They can really rain down the hurt with the reinvig it grants them on top of any from your bless. Another trick that becomes available earlier on is Relief + Rigor Mortis. The spells wont cancel each other out evenly, but they will hurt your enemy more than you in the end. Mass Regeneration is also quite handy, tho somewhat harder to cast, and will be particuarly effective if you have the Gift of Health. When you finally have time to research Alteration, you will also gain access to Will of the Fates via boosted 2S Theurgs - always a plus!
For your poison forces, Ench will give you access to undead chaff which you can use to fill out your ranks and drag out those battles to maximize your poison damage. A lowly Renatus with a Skull Staff can cast Carrion Reanimation to generate 100 soulless in the field - expensive at 10D but if used well very much worth the cost. For a more long term solution, it is useful to employ the Life after Death trick to mass-produce undead priests. To do this, recruit a bunch of indy priests, then give them a Hydra bodyguard, bring them to battle and cast Life after Death. The hydra will poison and then kill all the priests who will return as undead priests. Following this they will gain access to the Reanimate command which you can use to produce unlimited longdead chaff.
At this point in the game, no doubt the superior site-searching of the Serpent Cult has revealed sites which can produce some powerful indy mages. Since there is no way to know what you will get I cant give any specific advice othter than to say: always be open to the possibilities that these new mages represent. Dont be afraid to change the course of your research if you discover a powerful mage and see a way to employ them against your enemey.
So, there you have it. A guide from start to finish on our old, quirky friend, the Serpent Cult. And last but not least, don't forget... Adopt a Hydra Hatchling: They need love too.
