Best MA sacred unit

Xietor · #1 April 9th, 2007, 03:13 AM

I think for the cost, it is the Heart Companion, with a f9 4n
bless, followed closely by the temple guard, w9 n4 bless.

There are tougher units, but the cost of these, and their staying power, make them a hardcore nucleus to an army.

Vans are better but they cost 70 gold.

calmon · #2 April 9th, 2007, 03:31 AM

Well, vans costs 70 but only 16 resources compared to heart companions 30 resources.

I'm quite sure vans win the battle with the same blesses and the double (maybe triple) amount of heart companions. If i find the time i'll make a test how many heart companions needed to win against 50 vans.

In adition:
Vans have +20 stealth and are undetectable in own lands which give you a very big strategic advantage.

Vans have movement 3/26 movement, heart companien 1/7 which makes them inflexible in strategic move and slow in battles.

Sombre · #3 April 9th, 2007, 04:33 AM

Gotta go with Vans.

Shovah32 · #4 April 9th, 2007, 09:43 AM

I would probably have to go with vans although, in single player, i personally like my F9W9E9N4S4 Knights of the chalice(baphomet, imprisoned, LA Ermor style scales) as they are really nasty. Sure i have to take max negative scales(only 1 misfortune and 2 drain) and imprisonment but my knights(and thug paladins) are great and once you get the national angelic summons/SCs with shrouds of the battle saint(and boots of stone probably for protection) your really having fun.

Blitz · #5 April 9th, 2007, 11:11 AM

Heart companions are durable, but most experienced players would consider them a poor choice for a bless strategy. Likewise, the temple guard. When playing against the AI, and facing massed PD-type light infantry, the two units (and frankly any bless troop) tear through them with few losses. In multiplayer, where massed light infantry are less common, players tend to go with high-damage, low-resource sacreds such as Ermor's Shadow Vestal or Marignion's Flagelant. With that said, I think the Van, which is recruitable in any Vanheim fort, with a movement of 3 and stealth/glamour is clearly the strongest, most durable MA sacred.

Huzurdaddi · #6 April 9th, 2007, 02:34 PM

In terms of cost effectiveness I think it is a toss up between the Jaguar Warrior and the Van.

I still do not know how many HP a Jaguar Warrior has ( I think it is 30 ).

Xietor · #7 April 9th, 2007, 04:24 PM

Heart companions cut through about giant's best troops as well as light infantry. heh. And they dispatch Ermor's sacreds with ease. They are slow though(:

With solar imprisoned, you can have a f9 4n bless plus very good scales.

Though slow, they form a good front wall, while the elephants, which are fast, circle to rear troops. And provide protection for the astologists which are paralyzing.

Micah · #8 April 9th, 2007, 05:48 PM

Good bless strat sacreds need to have something really special about them to be worth it. Shadow vestals are Eth and reasonably high defense, Vans and white centaurs are stealthy/glamoured and have 3 map move. Niefel giants are tough as hell, have enough HP to make regen amazing on them, and have a chill aura, plus the Jarls gain a lot from a good bless. The various Abysian sacreds dual wield, berserk and hit like a ton of bricks (and are still not really good for a pure bless strat). Jag warriors are cheap, really damn good, and can be made everywhere. All of the sacreds except Abysia all also have very low resource costs so you can take some sloth picks to offset the bless cost, and Abysia needs production anyhow because all of their units are resource hogs. The Heart companions don't stack up at all. They're great blocker units for your mages, but they do that just fine without a bless. Sinking in the points to make them a little bit better is a massive waste...if your mages were sacred I could see a high earth bless for reinvig (9 encumberance on them too, seriously, they're NOT GOOD) and the prot bonus, but since your mages won't get the reinvig that's right out the window. MA Arco is not a bless nation. I think you'd be much better served with an awake/dormant pretender to help expansion and good scales.

Xietor · #9 April 9th, 2007, 07:11 PM

You opinion is well reasoned, but Acrosphale with a f9 4n bless, with the Solar as the pretender(imprisoned), still has very good scales. With a few heart companions and elephants, you do not need any help with early expansion from your pretender.

The fire bless turns the heart companion from a good blocking unit, to one that takes down giants, ethereals, and any other tough units with relative ease. The 4 nature is something I find useful on a pretender anyway. Solar starts with 3 fire, so getting to 9 is not too bad.

So I actually agree with you that the heart companions may not be worthy of a bless strategy, if you had to sacrifice scales. But it still allows 3 growth, 3 order(with 2 heat).

Also, similar to pangaea's infantry, since afflictions are healed, by midgame they have 3 stars which makes them even tougher. Since astrologers are brutal with paralyze, having a solid wall of these troops shielding them, while cutting other players elites to ribbons, makes a good combo.

Now a heart companion is not going to catch a KOA or Van, but that is what flanking elephants mixed with the quicker hyperists (high morale) are for. And for 25 gold, you can have tons of these guys and not notice if a few are fireballed etc.

At 75 gold a pop, and no way to heal afflictions, you have to wince when 20-30 vans are destroyed by some nasty spells.

And someone said above, he would pit 50 vans against 50 Heart companions. at 3 times the cost, you would have to pit 15 vans against 45 heart companions. With no simulator handy, my money would be on the 45 heart companions, who with the fire bless, would hit those vans.

I like the vans, but they can be killed or get afflictions from 10 gold ind archers quite easily.

Shovah32 · #10 April 9th, 2007, 07:20 PM

With the way your using heart companions my reccomended bless would either be E9(great prot+reinvig), E9N4(same as before+less afflictions) or, my personal choice for blocking, N9. With N9 you get 2 regen rather than 1(quite helpful on an armoured unit) and get the very helpful berserker ability which gives you extra prot, makes you do more damage and makes you practically unroutable(very important for a meatshield). You will do a bit less damage vrs regular troops and quite a bit bless vrs ethereals and high defence troops but the berserking and extra regen really helps you hold the line.