Well, Body Ethereal and Luck are wonderful spells that make any units much better at fighting. Some of Pythium's Legionaries are very good fighters even on their own... Principes are good, something cheaper might be more cost effective. It isn't worth actually mixing the units in my experience. Any way, Pythium has cheap 1S mages. So researching Alteration 3 (Body Ethereal) really gives your armies a big boost. This ALSO works to give a big boost to your big bad (e.g. Wyrm, Manticore) pretender; and as long as it gets to the actual fight and attracts enough attention, even a lone mage isn't in danger (although he could be killed by archers in the first turn, so place the Pretender and the Etherealizer in the very back of the battlefield).
Of course, as Alteration 2 and 3 hold many other protection buffs (Mirror Image, Mistform in Air, Earth spells for protection, Quickness in Water), a tough pretender with one or several of those could work very well.
Pythium has mages with all of water, astral and air. They also have cheap Communicants. The communicants and ALL their mages are sacred. Communicants share the casters' fatique among themselves, if the casters cast Communion Master (Pythium start spell). If EVERY Communicant has reinvigoration thanks to Earth 4 or more on the pretender...
It pays off very well. Relief would be another good spell for Pythium, but you DON'T want Nature 4 and Berserker blessing for all those mages. Nature 3 would be nice, if you can afford it. However, you should be ready to lose Communicants in all long-lasting battles.
Communicants ALSO increase the mages' paths. 2 communicants are enough to raise e.g. common Theurg to S3, W2, A2 (or +1 to everything, I might have remembered Theurgs' magic wrongly). This only works in fights, but can give you much better Evocations, especially Air ones. Also, remember that Thaumaturgy has Mind Burn, Paralyze and then... Enslave Mind. All pretty nice spells, and Mind Burn is very useable even early on as it completely ignores armor and always hits.
As you want to build lots of Castles to recruit lots of Communicants, you want a cheap castle. If you want to have armies, Wizard's Tower is the choice. It is very expensive, though, so I wouldn't try this in multiplayer...
However, here are some possibilities:
Wyrm,
Water 2 and Earth 4,
1) to get Quickness, Iron Skin, and Reinvigoration 2 for all your mages and your Communicants; also access to Breath of Winter in Enchantment
Wizard's Castle, to pump out lots of troops, lots of Theurg Acolytes for Etherealizing the troops, and to build communicants once you have more mages and can really use the extra spells the mages can cast thanks to them.
Scales:
Order 1, Growth -1, Magic 1
More money, faster research. Simple, maybe overly so, but it gets you both a tough combatant to play with and bonii to your mages.
Early goals: Alteration 3 for Body Ethereal, Wyrm's boosters. Then Enchantment 1, to further boost the Wyrm. Then probably Thaumaturgy for mind attack spells, then maybe Construction, and more Evocation... The Wyrm already has Regeneration, so he probably won't gather too many battle afflictions.
Some other interesting builds to strive for could include Water and/or Earth blessings, and ways to utilize them. Unfortunately Pythium doesn't get many viable pretenders (Cyclops, Daughter of the Land, Blue Dragon). They aren't bad, but only Cyclops is a good bless pretender. Water 9 isn't bad for Pythium either: all the mages get 50% Quickness, and you can research Evocation for weak Lightning Bolts and Star Rays (or something), or already quite nice Thunder Strikes, and... Falling Frost!
I'm sure you know of that one. Simple E4 or E6 Cyclops can be very useful for Pythium, especially as even one Earth-pick Arch Theurg can make some very useful items with Earth Boots your Cyclops can forge him (Crystal Coin, Faithful, etc).
Stellar Cascades could overfatique opponents' ground troops if enough mages were casting it, Orb Lightning is good but has a poor range. It might be worth it to go first for Alteration 3/Thaumaturgy 2 for Quickness/Mind Burn on all your Theurgs, and the above-mentioned Ethereal Legions for the ground troops.
With Pythium, always try to take some Magic, and Order if you can afford it. Luck -1 usually isn't too bad, although even it can hurt pretty badly if you e.g. lose your temple early. You can afford a scale or two of Sloth if you plan to advance EARLY using your pretender, but Falling Frost is NOT early enough. A pick of Death probably doesn't hurt your supplies too much.
Lastly, try doing without a super-pretender. It is a big chance in style judging from the one pretender of yours I know, but an Oracle with some magic that benefits your nation and most points in good fort, scales and dominion can fare very well. As an example, S3E4 Oracle can have Wizard's Tower, Dominion 6 and 6
positive scales. Wizard's Castle probably isn't worth picking over a cheaper Castle, which would get you another scale, or a 60-point Fortress which would give you the scale and two more levels in Astral. Don't underestimate Order 2, Production 2, Magic 3 nation! This works with most other nations as well, but you might want to change the 4 in Earth to something else. This works especially well with anything that can take negative scales. Ulm, for example, can afford to be a economical powerhouse with good scales and slightly more expensive, but mobile rainbow mage pretender. 4 is probably too much in any path then, as Ulm has no sacred units or commanders, unless you want a spesific Global (like Forge of the Ancients).
Pythium Strategies
Hybrid Mode
