Golden Age Arcoscephale

[Blitz]

If you can't figure out how to use the Asynja

I'm sure there's some obscure strategy that makes her better than Odin in the world according to Graeme. Right then, let's hear it.

[PvK]

How about if you have two or more Groups on Guard commander (guarding the same commander) - maybe that would disable the safety feature, if you want to.

PvK

[PvK]

Ok, first injuries were from an unlikely source - Blowpipes and Woodsmen!

A lucky blowpipe shot managed to kill a Myrmidon! Very lucky shot, I guess. Then, the druid put my Shedu to sleep with the Sleep spell! Of course, I had timed the attack properly so that, even though I still had no flying escorts for the Shedu, they barely hurt him while he was unconscious, and the Myrmidons and Cardaces arrived the next turn to wipe them out. The Shedu took a chest wound though - time to heal. My luck improved the next turn though as I set my priestess to heal as the Shedu flew in for repairs, and he was healed immediately. Back to action, and now I have a few fliers for escort.

Sadly, I do need to get some sleep, as a ridiculous work week lies ahead, so the experiment will be on hiatus for a while. However, I am not at all displeased with the results so far. The only real weak point I see is the low resources versus the costs of the good units. However Cardaces cost almost no resources, and serve the purpose of having men to help kill indies with at first. When a Shedu is scheduled to go wipe out the rear (especially when escorted), Cardaces can fill the gap for a while.

PvK

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Blitz:
I'm sure there's some obscure strategy that makes her better than Odin in the world according to Graeme. Right then, let's hear it.

Well, the Asynja is not what I would call "good", but she's not unplayably awful. However, she seems to fall into an uncomfortable middle ground between the Titan and Allfather: Not quite as good an Air-bless chassis as the Titan, as the Titan gets to A9 more cheaply, and not as good a fighter as the Allfather, since she is not immune to armor encumberance and her paths are less versatile.

The primary problem with the Asynja is not really her stats, but the fact that she fails to fill any niche that the Allfather or Titan cannot do better.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
The primary problem with the Asynja is not really her stats, but the fact that she fails to fill any niche that the Allfather or Titan cannot do better.

Depends on what you're aiming for: if it's a small boost in air magic (up to air@6, say) and a few levels in a secondary path besides death, then the Asynja is your cheapest option.

[Graeme Dice]

[quote]Originally posted by Blitz:

I'm sure there's some obscure strategy that makes her better than Odin in the world according to Graeme. Right then, let's hear it.

Whether or not she is better than the Allfather is completely irrelevant to the question of whether she is useless or not. Will you please stop bringing up red herrings and pretending that they are valid arguments?

[Scott Hebert]

Originally posted by Blitz:
Pretender: Nataraja
Cost: Squat
Scales: Order 3 Sloth 1 Growth 1 Magic 1
Cost: 160
Fort: Castle
Cost: 80
Paths: Earth 4 Astral 4
Cost: 222
Dominion: 5
Cost: 21

Total Cost: 0 + 160 + 80 + 244 + 21 = 505

Cut 5 points off your design and you can have the 4-armed beatdown of death. Dunno about you, but I'd rather have a fortress and the Natty. Of course with 4 astral you may as well take an immobile, for all the good he'll do outside the capitol.

Well, first, as even you point out, you _can't_ get the Nataraja like that (which number is correct, 222 or 244?). Second, I've used both a Shedu and a Nataraja, and without equipment (i.e., very early in the game), a Shedu is much better.

Also, IIRC, the Nataraja only gets one miscellaneous slot. This causes problems when you want to boost his paths. Ironically, the only slots that matter for boosting Astral magic are the Head and Misc. slots, and that means that the Shedu can boost his Astral magic more than the Nataraja.

Something else you miss is that the Shedu is more economical than the Nataraja at boosting his initial paths past 4. This means that, should I want to have a better blessing than a simple 4S4E, the Shedu is definitely the better choice.

Finally, a friendly piece of advice for you: "Those who say something cannot be done should get out of the way of the people doing it."