Joys of EA Abysia

[Tifone]

Lightless lanterns aren't so fast to reach at constr-6 imho... Maybe with your build you can do a lot without mages in battles, so you don't need to rush up evoc and thaum, and you can afford that drain-2 with which your mages fatigue 20% more in battlefield spells But if you went to evo-5 instead, you would have had mages casting Flares and Fireballs and Fire Clouds and Falling Fires on enemies and around your fire-immune troops soon

[thejeff]

At drain 2 it's a long way to Construction 6 for lanterns. Especially if you want anything else along the way.



Edit: As Tifone just said with more detail

[Psycho]

Warlock are capital only and old. You won't have them running around. They will be busy researching, casting horrors, etc.

[Tifone]

Yes, but with just a S3 one in an army you already horror mark the guy up to 10 times before passing out, and then "casting horrors" means you can have him attacked by let's say 3 lesser horrors at once, maybe not killed but surely further horror marking, then he'll meet the hunter of heroes and bye bye (also researching with Warlocks isn't cost effective, IMHO, they aren't sacred so higher upkeep; I'd use them to blood hunt instead )

[Xietor]

I defer to the guys that have played mp games with EA Abysia.

That said, 100 percent fr does not mean you win. I lost a banelord with 100 fr, boot quickness and ring regen(also had firebrand and vine shield and dragon helm) in Kingmaker to EA Abysia pd. It was about 40 pd, but those flails add up.

My thoughts(flawed perhaps) was go evoc 2 conj 3 then const 6.

You get a fast start with your blessed troops. hopefully you can buy about 5 per turn after you take all the provinces around your capital. You have decent evoc, phoenix fire, and summon lesser fire ele., you also have summon fire drake.

That may tide you over to constr 6. at constr 4 the annoited ones become a force to be reckoned with properly outfitted. But without ever having played a large mp game with them, it is all speculation on my part.

The most comparable race i have played successfully in large mp games with 2 drain is ma pangaea, and as someone pointed out, the fit may not be perfect. You do have communion capability and mind burn/solar rays for some anti thug capability at the lower level.

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by Xietor

I defer to the guys that have played mp games with EA Abysia.

That said, 100 percent fr does not mean you win.

Datum: in my current game, F9 Burning Ones killed many of my E10N6 Ahimans and Adonim, even ones with Body Ethereal. I'm not sure about the gcost efficiency offhand, but with Ashdod's 50 FR I'm pretty sure that it was not the weak "Fire Weapons" effect nor the Heat aura (it was over too quickly for fatigue to rise). Morningstars are painful, moreso when dual-wielded by high-Strength units like Burning Ones with attack 18+. Thunkthunkthunkthunkthunk, I still hear it in my nightmares.

Anyway, just wanted to agree with Xietor that Abysia's conventional arms demand respect.

-Max

[Xietor]

In one of my mp games on the old New Orleans forum I played on prior to katrina, I had my Cyclops lose his only eye. Here is a question for you dominion experts.

What good melee options are there for a Cyclops that has lost his only eye?

There are actually several.

I will give one. Boots of the behemoth.

[Amhazair]

[quote=MaxWilson;659062]

Originally Posted by Xietor

Thunkthunkthunkthunkthunk, I still hear it in my nightmares.

Hah! That's right. I had forgotten the thunkthunkthunk noise. I played MA Abysia in one of my first ever MP games, and I fondly remember the fire&blood atmosphere, and especially the 'smoked battlefield' look at the end of battles, but the thunkthunkthunk had faded from my memory. MA sacreds are of course not quite of the same level as the burning ones, but they still mowed through the opposition (admittedly no heavily blessed giant sacreds. ) with enjoyable speed. And noise. Thanks for reminding me.

[Xietor]

"Vine shield was probably not a good choice, since they are very strong. Gold shield would have done the trick."

Absians have good morale too. And the Burning Ones go berserk, making the gold shield useless. See I have to plan the shields for more than one fight. I had already tried the eye shield(without success). With the flails getting 2 attacks and so many of them, they hit anyway.

Besides ask Admiralzhao about gold shields. He had one on his harbinger(who already has awe), as well as a fear helm, and attacked a handful of my elephants. The theory being, i guess, that the low morale elephants would rout because of the awe/fear combo.

Unfortunately things do not always work out in game play as they do on the chalk board. And none(as in zero) of my elephants routed and they trampled that harbinger to death.

[Micah]

Tifone: That's 2 S boosters, plus the AI doesn't usually keep casting horror marks after the script runs out. Not a great strat IMO.

EA's S and B access are pretty marginal, and the Anointed are a much better choice for that cap-only slot. I'd play them with an E9 bless for sure for the Anointed and Burning Ones, since their usefulness transitions pretty well. One of Aby's best answers to SCs is gonna be a handful of Anointed dual-wielding fire brands (or some other nice AP weapon) after dropping Pyre...they'll take some afflictions, but should be pretty much impossible to kill, since they won't end up in melee with > 100 fatigue by necessity, since they can't run in while unconscious, and ironskin should keep them reasonably safe from any PD or chaff. The reinvig from the bless (and optional additional armor) is pretty much amazing for that strat.