Better Know a Pretender: The Green Dragon

[LDiCesare]

I wouldn't compare a dragon and a wyrm. They fill different roles in my opinion. Wyrms are pure SCs, expendable, better used with awe and 0 magic path.
Dragons are early expanders, not expected to last long in this role (whereas a magic-less wyrm remains efficient longer) and a good single-bless chassis.
I prefer blue dragons over the rest because an F bless is somewhat limited, while W increases the dragon's defense and is more useful in general (at W9). Nature can be a good bless, but those nations that benefit from it most will likely want an E bless on top (all giants). The bile attack of the green dragon in vanilla is just worthless, whereas the ice breath is useful, if not much.

In my opinion, your pick a dragon because you want to expand fast and benefit from a bless (I got some good results with W9 blue dragons with EA T'ien Ch'i for instance). Once you've built enough armies that your dragon no longer has indies to take out, bring him back to a lab, or a province where you want to push your dominion, and have him forge stuff/research until he is needed for a battle with some army support.

[OmikronWarrior]

Originally Posted by LDiCesare

I wouldn't compare a dragon and a wyrm. They fill different roles in my opinion. Wyrms are pure SCs, expendable, better used with awe and 0 magic path.
Dragons are early expanders, not expected to last long in this role (whereas a magic-less wyrm remains efficient longer) and a good single-bless chassis.

Care to explain why Wyrms remain as efficient SC's longer than Dragons?

Just looking at stats, the Wyrm does have the advantage of natural regeneration, some extra HP, and a second head. That is not really a deal breaker either way.

I think you mean to say that Wyrms can be killed and do not loose paths because they did not have them to start. OK, there is a lot of truth to that. Still, a good player can manage risk and still use a Dragon very effectively in combat depending on the opposition. Also, there is not a lot of difference that I can think of between a Nature-5 and a Nature-6 human mage. Meaning if enough Nature is bought, loosing one in a path is not a deal breaker.

I prefer blue dragons over the rest because an F bless is somewhat limited, while W increases the dragon's defense and is more useful in general (at W9). Nature can be a good bless, but those nations that benefit from it most will likely want an E bless on top (all giants). The bile attack of the green dragon in vanilla is just worthless, whereas the ice breath is useful, if not much.

In my opinion, your pick a dragon because you want to expand fast and benefit from a bless (I got some good results with W9 blue dragons with EA T'ien Ch'i for instance). Once you've built enough armies that your dragon no longer has indies to take out, bring him back to a lab, or a province where you want to push your dominion, and have him forge stuff/research until he is needed for a battle with some army support.

There is really nothing here that is not in my write up, except the bit about the Blue Dragon being best (nothing else considered), which is probably true. I do disagree about the breath attack being worthless. A sideshow, yes, but it can and will kill enemy troops. Yet, the reason to pick any Dragon is the extra path is provides (and flying).

That being said, I think Pretenders should be approached in a more general sense when writing guides about them. There are multiple reasons to pick a Pretender, I view my job is to explain those reasons, then explain what the Pretender can do, and then leave it up to reader to figure out what he or she (OK, he) wants to do with the Pretender. This is especially important because a lot of Pretenders are available to multiple nations and giving a specific strategy for one nation might not easily transfer to others.

[LDiCesare]

Originally Posted by OmikronWarrior

Care to explain why Wyrms remain as efficient SC's longer than Dragons?

Just looking at stats, the Wyrm does have the advantage of natural regeneration, some extra HP, and a second head. That is not really a deal breaker either way.

I think you mean to say that Wyrms can be killed and do not loose paths because they did not have them to start.

Yes I mean wyrms remain as effective as they were in the start even after dying a few times. The regen is somewhat useful, but the green dragon can get personal regen pretty fast.
Also, although wyrms don't fly, they are amphibious. That is a huge difference that must be considered in my opinion. Dom2 blue dragons were really worth considering because they could go underwater, but in Dom3 they can no longer do that unequipped.