How do you beat the teleporting sphynx?

[Zarimax]

With hundreds of hit points, the sphynx is nearly impossible to destroy with a conventional army. A sphynx using the Astral teleport can move into and out of any territory, including ocean territories. It can be a real pain in the ***..

Does anybody know an effective counter to this?

[General Tacticus]

Well, as you said, he is nearly impossible to destroy by a conventional army. So try non-conventional means. Here are a few :

- Black bow of Beowulf -> Feebleminded sphynx that can't teleport anymore. Takes care of at least one problem
- Ethereal Crossbow -> instant death (well, if it hits and passes MR)
- There's also an Axe that forces a MR check to avoid Death.
- Mind Duel. A teleporting Sphynx must have astral, so he is vulnerable.
- 400 Ulmish Arbalest on "fire and flee". Should at least net you an affliction or two Add Wind Aim and flaming arrows if possible. Curse him beforehand for maximum effect. Watch the afflictions pile up. Can also be used with heavy infantry or cavalry...
- Target and destroy the enemies labs. Without labs, the sphynx can't get the gems he needs to teleport.
- Burden of Time, pretenders are not immune
- Decay, disease, blindness...
- An good ambush. The point is to make the Sphynx teleport and attack inside your territory, and hold 40 turns (or is it 50 ? ). Use paralyse, fatigue inducing weapons, or endless supplies of imps, whatever you can come with to keep him occupied (and you alive) thses 40 turns. Then the attacker (him) routs, finds he has nowhere to retreat to, and die.


I am sure there are other ways as well

[Saber Cherry]

Have you patched to 2.06? Immobiles are not supposed to be able to teleport.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
Have you patched to 2.06? Immobiles are not supposed to be able to teleport.

They still can. I've used it to play around with a single unit campaign with various nations.

I'm not sure what use the immobile pretenders are though yet, especially the Sphinx, if you can't move him at all.

[Endoperez]

I have had this strange idea for some time... Although the sphinx cannot move, the spirit inhabiting the sphinx COULD if there there was somthing to move in.
As sphinx is just a pile of rocks just as castles why couldn't we build a new sphinx and let the pretender change 'bodies'. Of course, this also means that the physical Sphinx could be destroyed. It should be expensive (even 1000+ gp?), and it also would make it harder to call it back if he died. Also, shouldn't the sphinx be unable to heal? That should help out a lot. Few armor negating bows, high precision and some fodder, and time, and that would do it.
Also, isn't there an Earth spell giving out awesome amounts of damage to constructs? Does it need a MR check?

Same things for oracle, especially Blood Fountain would benefit from this.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Endoperez:
Also, shouldn't the sphinx be unable to heal?

The only way for a Sphinx to heal should be Arcane Masonry.

[Saber Cherry]

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:
I'm not sure what use the immobile pretenders are though yet, especially the Sphinx, if you can't move him at all.

Cheap, high dominion strength, and high in a path. If they had cheaper new paths or some unique ability (like spawning baby sphinxes) I might actually use them. The only one I'll consider currently is the FoB, which actually works wonders if you choose blood 9 and growth 3.

[Norfleet]

I wouldn't say the immobile pretenders are cheap. The sphinx is 100 points! That's comparable to some of the more high-end pretenders, and his magic power isn't THAT great: only astral-3. Without the ability to teleport, that astral 3 could prove to be a complete liability. 100 points is a pretty steep price for what would otherwise be a completely useless chunk of masonry.

Besides, if the Sphinx isn't intended to teleport, why does he have Amphibious with his Astral-3?

If the Sphinx were unable to teleport, he'd be thoroughly inferior to the Sacred Statue, which is a mere 20 points, which *DOES* make it cheap, and comes with exactly the same stats: Astral3, Dom4, 40 points for a new path. The Sphinx is physically tougher, but as a permanently immobile piece of useless masonry, physical toughness is rather irrelevant. That 60 points extra you're paying is CLEARLY for the potential value achieved in teleportation.

[Saber Cherry]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
The Sphinx is physically tougher, but as a permanently immobile piece of useless masonry, physical toughness is rather irrelevant. That 60 points extra you're paying is CLEARLY for the potential value achieved in teleportation.

No, silly - once you research Enchantment 10 and get "Animate Stone", the sphinx starts walking around and kicking rear, while the oracle still sits around drooling on itself. And the sacred statue can be killed by militia. The Sphinx's walking animation ranks up with best in the game!

It's unfortunate, though, that it cannot patrol; it only fights when stormed.

[ January 23, 2004, 22:28: Message edited by: Saber Cherry ]

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
No, silly - once you research Enchantment 10 and get "Animate Stone", the sphinx starts walking around and kicking rear, while the oracle still sits around drooling on itself. And the sacred statue can be killed by militia. The Sphinx's walking animation ranks up with best in the game!

There's no Enchantment 10, nor is there an Animate Stone anywhere I can find.

The oracle may be sit around uselessly drooling on itself, but at least it's CHEAP, costing NO POINTS. The Sacred Statue may be killable with mere militia, but let's be serious here: Assuming that the statues were unable to teleport at all, so what if they're killable by militia? If people are regularly assaulting your capitol, I think you're SOL in ways that go beyond the fact that your God is an immobile chunk of useless masonry. Maybe if you hadn't spent 100 points on being a very TOUGH chunk of immobile masonry, you wouldn't be in that mess to begin with. Either way, if your immobile chunk of useless masonry manages to get caught in a fight with no useful magic and no defenders, it's not a fight, it's a demolitions project.

100 points for a level 3 magic, 4-dominion god isn't cheap. The fact that you're tough and hardy tends to go out the window when you have no means to leverage it. Teleportation changes this and makes having the Sphinx an actually viable option. Otherwise, you're no different from all the other useless chunks of rock.