Ah ha, a MA Pythium question...

[Xietor]

Hydras are good at 2 things-killing elephants and discouraging a rush. In my present mp game, i bought 5 hydras early since i had a sleeping pretender. They are good for expansion, and give me peace of mind from aggressive neighbors before my pretender awakes.

4n is crucial, as it prevents your 380 gold mages from dying of old age.

It is my 1st mp game playing pythium, but my Mother of Serpents, sleeping with nature, earth, death, and air worked well. Went early for mother oak, then later goh.

The Mother of Serpents with these paths and decebt gear is a beast, and killed a gor tartarian fairly easily that ported in next to my capital. And at the time, she was my only unit that could fight tartarians. And i think she could have killed 3-4 of them alone.