MA Abysia... mmmh.

[Tifone]

Hey there guys.

I'm giving my first try to MA Abysia, in MP.
I'd say... meh. A bit disappointed. Abysia is among my favourite nations in EA... and MA really seems to me not to do justice to their past.

They seem to lose all the nice things of the EA without any other modification or gaining. They lose the mighty Anointed of Rhuax, the Burning Ones, the flying assassin and stealthy troops, not to talk about the advantage of being the only heavy infantry in EA, which they lose (and his anyway reduced by crossbow) in MA where good armoured infantries show around.

They only get this not exceptional 2F2B flying mage, the cheap but quite useless Humanbred with less Prot value of their pure-Abysian shielded counterparts and don't even have the Heath aura, and the new sacreds, the Lava Warriors, which not only aren't worth 1/10 of the old Burning ones, but also have a sprite undistinguishable to the other normal Abysian soldier which morningstar...

I'm wondering why the nation in this era deserved so little love and what people think about this. At least the Humanbreds, not being (literally) hot as the other Abysians, might have longbows or crossbows instead of shields which other national troops of Aby already have and with better Prot values...

[sum1lost]

Their warlocks, and blood in general, is incredibly potent. Check it out.

[Ironhawk]

I havent played MA Aby in ages but to say that the Humanbreds are worthless is not fair. Arent they cheap? Dont they have a tower shield? Don't they have the built in fire res? All these things make for a really good troop, IMO. You might just need to change your conception of how to play them.

[SlipperyJim]

Early Game:
Heavy Infantry + Heat Aura = Good Expansion versus Indies

Middle Game:
Fire Summons + Fire Evocations + Fire-Immune troops = Deep-Fried Pain for Anyone Who Crosses You

Late Game:
Fire + Blood = Swarm the World with Devils

Abysia was one of my favorite nations in Dom:PPP (AKA Dom1). MA Abysia is basically the same as Dom1 Abysia. I wouldn't call them an unlimited powerhouse, but they're certainly not weak.

PS: Humanbreds are chaff. They catch arrows to allow your Abysians to get into melee range.

[Tifone]

I'm sorry, looks like my limited knowledge of English didn't allow me to make my point correctly.

What I was saying is that I was a bit deluded not by the nation itself. I still like the blood and the fire evo and the troops and the fire lizzies.

Just that there's nothing that MA Abysia can do that the EA can't do the same or better. Sacreds: Burning Ones vs Lava Warriors. Troops: Heavy infantry when nobody has them + flying stealthy troops vs heavy infantry when other nations have them + chaff. Fire evo: The Anointed + the other less powerful mages vs just the other mages. Blood: exactly the same capitol only Blood mages except for the Demonbred, decent I admit but you aren't recruiting a Warlock. Catching Arrows: while more expensive, the pure Abysians with shields will defend from them better than the Humanbreds, and also survive better and do some damage if the enemy reaches them (which is likely as to catch enemy arrows you need to put them in the front) before the slow damage-dealers come to help.

I'm just saying that for love of thematicness I would have liked some changes more. Like, as the cross breeding of Abysians with humans and demons has caused the losing of purity of the mighty Burning One's race, one would suppose that it has given at least some useful effect - like sacreds lava warriors flying with demon wings, or humanbreds who, not having an heat aura, can handle missile weapons without having to rely on pure humans (indies) for that.

I still like the nation but I was only noticing that IMHO it misses some cool opportunities for more interesting themes and mechanics to play.

Love to y'all <3

[cleveland]

Originally Posted by Tifone

They only get this not exceptional 2F2B flying mage,

He makes a fantastic thug. Give him a Demon Whip (aoe=1, did anyone know that?), a lucky pendant, and shield of the accursed. Ring of regen if you're a good statesman.

Flying. Fire Shield. Phoenix power. E9 bless plus shroud. Or simply Hell Power and let the horrors do the job. Goodnight Irene.

[Micah]

The only thing the Warlocks share between ages is a name, MA is S2B3 with a full random and then 2 10% shots. EA is S1B2 with 1 10% random. This makes them very good mages, as opposed to glorified slave hunters that can cast arcane probing.

The other thing MA gets is slightly better non-cap mages, since the Dragons are H3 in MA, and can thus smite, and get around the problem of FR = insta-lose. Sadly, this is offset by the fact that they are hideously overpriced, especially compared to the EA versions, and the salamanders also get significantly more expensive for a useless 2nd point of H, cutting into their research:gold ratio, as well as being old due to the extra path.

Yeah, MA aby could use some love. Don't think that was ever in doubt.

[vfb]

A 10% D random would be really nice on the salamanders, to give you a chance of casting Summon Spectral infantry without empowering an indy mage or a revenant.

[WraithLord]

I've had the chance to play two MP games with MA Abysia.
Usually I can find the good points in whatever nation I'm playing. With MA Abysia I found little and certainly its worse than it used to be in dom-II and I.

Old age is major factor in making it bad.
Then you have the death scale issues - Which was explained by length in previous threads.

E9 bless is nice for Aby but not very practical since they really need a rainbow pretender.

Also, they should have a low level fire summoning spells. Like spectral infantry but fire only.

Oh and I certainly agree the "2F2B flying mage" is the best thing about MA Aby. I usually recruit them exclusively.

[lch]

I only played Abysia in Dom2, but there they rocked, thought my Newbie self. Heavy infantry and heat aura, what's not to love about that?