Joys of EA Abysia

[thejeff]

At drain 2 it's a long way to Construction 6 for lanterns. Especially if you want anything else along the way.



Edit: As Tifone just said with more detail

[Tifone]

Originally Posted by Psycho

Against Abysia you just slap a ring of fire resistance on your guy and he's untouchable.

Tell that to my morningstars and axes lol (j/k, I get what you say, still Abysia has some Astral too )

[Psycho]

Warlock are capital only and old. You won't have them running around. They will be busy researching, casting horrors, etc.

[Tifone]

Yes, but with just a S3 one in an army you already horror mark the guy up to 10 times before passing out, and then "casting horrors" means you can have him attacked by let's say 3 lesser horrors at once, maybe not killed but surely further horror marking, then he'll meet the hunter of heroes and bye bye (also researching with Warlocks isn't cost effective, IMHO, they aren't sacred so higher upkeep; I'd use them to blood hunt instead )

[Xietor]

I defer to the guys that have played mp games with EA Abysia.

That said, 100 percent fr does not mean you win. I lost a banelord with 100 fr, boot quickness and ring regen(also had firebrand and vine shield and dragon helm) in Kingmaker to EA Abysia pd. It was about 40 pd, but those flails add up.

My thoughts(flawed perhaps) was go evoc 2 conj 3 then const 6.

You get a fast start with your blessed troops. hopefully you can buy about 5 per turn after you take all the provinces around your capital. You have decent evoc, phoenix fire, and summon lesser fire ele., you also have summon fire drake.

That may tide you over to constr 6. at constr 4 the annoited ones become a force to be reckoned with properly outfitted. But without ever having played a large mp game with them, it is all speculation on my part.

The most comparable race i have played successfully in large mp games with 2 drain is ma pangaea, and as someone pointed out, the fit may not be perfect. You do have communion capability and mind burn/solar rays for some anti thug capability at the lower level.

[Micah]

Tifone: That's 2 S boosters, plus the AI doesn't usually keep casting horror marks after the script runs out. Not a great strat IMO.

EA's S and B access are pretty marginal, and the Anointed are a much better choice for that cap-only slot. I'd play them with an E9 bless for sure for the Anointed and Burning Ones, since their usefulness transitions pretty well. One of Aby's best answers to SCs is gonna be a handful of Anointed dual-wielding fire brands (or some other nice AP weapon) after dropping Pyre...they'll take some afflictions, but should be pretty much impossible to kill, since they won't end up in melee with > 100 fatigue by necessity, since they can't run in while unconscious, and ironskin should keep them reasonably safe from any PD or chaff. The reinvig from the bless (and optional additional armor) is pretty much amazing for that strat.

[Psycho]

@ Xietor: you missed a support mage casting body ethereal and luck on the bane.

I never played Abysia either, but played against them once. They are too predictable, that is the main problem.

[vfb]

Sure, the initial Phoenix Power+Falling Fires is predictable (and effective in the early game), but after that Aby (even EA) should be diversifying using Blood.

[Xietor]

no i did not. i had a pendant of luck on him, and a support mage cast body ethereal then retreated. He still died.

Banelord: fire brand, vine shield dragon helm luck pend. ring regen boots quickness.

And he had body ethereal(:

After that I was not feeling lucky so i sent in Ruin with soul vortex and 100 fr as well. that did the trick.

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by Xietor

I defer to the guys that have played mp games with EA Abysia.

That said, 100 percent fr does not mean you win.

Datum: in my current game, F9 Burning Ones killed many of my E10N6 Ahimans and Adonim, even ones with Body Ethereal. I'm not sure about the gcost efficiency offhand, but with Ashdod's 50 FR I'm pretty sure that it was not the weak "Fire Weapons" effect nor the Heat aura (it was over too quickly for fatigue to rise). Morningstars are painful, moreso when dual-wielded by high-Strength units like Burning Ones with attack 18+. Thunkthunkthunkthunkthunk, I still hear it in my nightmares.

Anyway, just wanted to agree with Xietor that Abysia's conventional arms demand respect.

-Max