[Aezeal]

Now I'm experimenting with a A7 (and i take that over A6 cus it gives extra effect and I had the points for it) and E6 and I notice that while I now totally chew through anything which shoots heavy cavalry is getting nastier.. I think the heavy attack bonus and AP from F9 makes a huge difference here.

Maybe Fire and air (on a nice immortal phoenix chassis) might be a nicer way to go.

Also the mages seem to be a weak point in the strategy.. sometimes falling to stray arrows (before bless is up) autorouting the hydra's and then in early expansion you have to wait till another mage gets there to start again...
not to mention that any huge army will still be lethal in the end.. All cash goes into hydra's but you need more mages out with the armies then other nations early in the game (less research) and you still those 2-3 hydra armies might not be all that against an opponent trying to take you down. (I'd like to test it in a MP game though when I find my "perfect" bless for the hydra.)

Without bless I'm not yet convinced (as OP) that hydra's are worth all the effort and cash with LA pythium except for maybe one early expansion/anti-SC protection. (and since I'm not all that impressed by the rest of the nation that would just mean it's a weak nation over-all)