Pythium and Hydras

[General Tacticus]

Originally posted by st.patrik:

quote:

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Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Someone posted a tactic of using one commander with a poison-resistance ring and some 5 Hydras across the front. Position them way forward into the battle. Have them hold 1 turn then retreat. You paint a path of poison cloud that the other army runs thru to try and reach you. One or two of those runs can be a good softener on an army.

I experimented with this and couldn't get it to work very reliably.

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I saw someone using that tactic in MP against indies (I had a scout wathcing the fights). It did work at softening the indies (who had knights), but it also cost the user a few hatchlings and even one hydra when he was being chased. Turning your back on the enemy is not the best of tactics, even if by doing so you poison him...

Playing pythium, I usually start by making a more conventional army. Once that is done, I work on a second army with Hydras, some hatchlings (until I can get 10-15 hydras, which is enough not to get mobbed), and one or two poison resistant commanders. Then I keep 25 gladiators near them, on standby. For easy fights I send only the hydras, for tougher ones I add the gladiators on the front line. Gladiators are cheap, quite good, and have excellent morale : perfect for a disposable force with a punch.

[Master Shake]

For the price of 10-15 Hydras, you could have 10-15 Master Theurg's. They cost a bit more (360 vs 250), but their upkeep is less because they are sacred. I've rather have the Mind Burns/Paralyze/Air&Water magic with 100 precision then some unpredictable poison machine that I can't mix with regular troops in MP.

[licker]

Originally posted by Master Shake:
For the price of 10-15 Hydras, you could have 10-15 Master Theurg's. They cost a bit more (360 vs 250), but their upkeep is less because they are sacred. I've rather have the Mind Burns/Paralyze/Air&Water magic with 100 precision then some unpredictable poison machine that I can't mix with regular troops in MP.

They cost "a bit more"??!?!? ~40% is 'a bit'? Anyway, play serpent cult and your Hydrae will be sacred too... then bless them with something cool and watch them stomp even more so than they already do

Besides its really not that hard to manage your Hydrae (well when blessed with at least nature4 anyway...) and not that hard to keep your non poison protected troops away from them on the battlefield, all it takes is some thoughtful planning.

[GavinWheeler]

Originally posted by tinkthank:
But what about Hydras? Who uses them, and how? I havent found a way of using them properly yet.

I've used them very successfully (in single player) with a Wyrm no-magic pretender, before getting to the point where I could supplement or replace them with tarrasques. The slow movement rate was a pain, but you can eventually gate them into a convenient location with an ArchTheug.

Edit: when I say "use with", I meant that the (poison-immune) Wyrm was leading them in battle. They made quite a good stand-alone province grabber, with indie strength 8, even against Knights and Longbows. The main army was more conventional troops, and I never tried mixing hydras with non-poison-immune troops.

[ February 27, 2004, 19:02: Message edited by: GavinWheeler ]