Dominions Nations Evaluations ;)

[thejeff]

The 5 F9W9 Helhirding beating their gold cost equivalent is the problem.

You're going to need 1 big slinger army to win and he's going to have 4-5 small stealthy Helhird forces that can slaughter everything but that big army.

[MaxWilson]

But if you catch one of his little stealthy forces by guessing where one of the 4-5 is going to go, you can annihilate it with your big army. That's 610 gold right there, assuming he's using a cheap commander.

Again, Helheim is clearly stronger, but Marverni's troops aren't bad. My original reason for mentioning the slingers was mainly just that I wanted to point out that going for elite troops like Ambibates vs. Helheim is a losing game.

-Max

[JimMorrison]

My point about the logistical difficulty with the massed slingers is just that, logistics. While every turn your enemy is probably putting out a death squad of 5 Helherdings with a blesser, a single turn worth of slingers in one province isn't going to do much, and is going to require a lot more leadership. If he has 20 sacreds in one force, the amount of slingers needed becomes very cumbersome to wield in the early game. Also if he were to go for W9/E9, you might find that the slings just don't accomplish much. And in the case of Marverni, if you are trying to combat melee troops, those shields may be more of a liability, by increasing cost, or reducing training rate.

[MaxWilson]

Yes. He could also research Const-3 and cast Legions of Steel, and/or Ench-3 for Strength of Giants. Helheim has great troops and yes, logistics matters.

Shields don't increase cost but they do affect resources. I think that's why Marverni's slingers cost 3 resources instead of 2.

-Max

[quantum_mechani]

Also, I actually consider f9w9 somewhat suboptimal for Helhiem. I'd rather e9f9 (often just e9 with an awake pretender), and I think the extra protection would significantly help them against slingers.

[thejeff]

Hmmm, haven't experimented, but the quickness gets them across the field a lot faster. This often makes a difference against missile, which are their main weakness.

The extra protection helps too of course.

[MaxWilson]

quantum_mechani said:
Also, I actually consider f9w9 somewhat suboptimal for Helhiem. I'd rather e9f9 (often just e9 with an awake pretender), and I think the extra protection would significantly help them against slingers.

I concur. E9 keeps them at zero fatigue which means they kill all the day long, and also boosts protection. I view W9 as counterproductive for elite units.

-Max