Advice on Machaka appreciated

tinkthank · #1 April 27th, 2004, 03:59 PM

thank you all!!

@Rabe: We have a vastly different conception of sexy. The Ear is by far the worst spy in the game, he is *always* getting caught -- for 70 gold I dont like him spying, and for 70 gold preaching? I'll take a Friar for almost half price any day. The Eye can patrol, which is... ok, but certainly not sexy. And what specials does the Voice have? No, a sexy priest is one who can summon cool monsters, fly, have magic paths, have enticing mammary glands (oh wait no forget that), be cheap, etc.

Maybe I must just learn to not want all things all the time....
ok I will try out your suggestions. Nature blessing, never tried that....

Scott Hebert · #2 April 27th, 2004, 04:42 PM

Mm. Machaka is about my 3rd favorite nation, so I think I have at least a few things to say about it.

Generally, I don't go for a Bless Strategy. With my Pretender, I either load up on Earth magic (burn to Forge, go insane with your versatile mages), or do something else. Yeah, I know, very helpful, but... can Machaka get the Great Mother? 4E/4N Pretender would be great for them, IMO...

With regard to the priests, no, they're not very impressive. The fact that you have a _Spy_ priest is rather good, though. OTOH, the others simply don't compare. The Voice costs the same amount as the Seraphine, with none of her benefits. Weird, that.

With regard to the troops, the Hoplites are indeed your best troop. I also like the Spider Knights, though I haven't tried the base Riders. I would think that webbing someone before they get to you and continuing to pelt them with arrows would be good.

But really, I find Machaka's strength is the versatile summoning platforms they have. Vinemen are very acceptable early (which also gets you to Construction 2 for the Fever Fetish), and a little more Research gets you Scorpions and other niceties.

As for PD... eh. My biggest complaint about Machaka is their tissue-paper PD, when I don't see why they have it for terms of balance.

archaeolept · #3 April 27th, 2004, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:

quote:
Originally posted by rabelais:
Astral still doesn't get their post-rider MR into the survivable range.

Their MR without a rider is now either 10 or 11, so astral could easily bring that up a great deal.

what do you mean by this? I just checked my riderless spider in a 2.11 test game, and he had an MR of 5.

5 is not very good

Blitz · #4 April 27th, 2004, 09:54 PM

I'm surprised you are having trouble with Machaka, I find them one of the more balanced nations out there.

Try going with an Enchatress with F3 W3 E3 S6 as your pretender. Early in the game, she finds most sites that your mages won't, and in the later game she's a walking artillery platform after a nice ring of sorcery and staff of elemental magery.

I usually only build a few more than the starting archer compliment for my initial expansion, concentrating more on the exceptional hoplites for the bulk of my army. They stand up to any independant short of knights. Put your javlineers on the edge and have them attack archers. They will die off eventually, but as we have established... they totally suck.

Later in the game, add some archer spiders to your army, not too many since they are a whopping 50 gold, maybe a half-dozen to slow down the cavalry. Another half-dozen spider riders in front of them set to intercept cavalry will result in your opponent's flanking force being quickly webbed and ganged up on. Hoplites still comprise the bulk of your army. They can go toe to toe with most infantry, but adjust your tactics if you see tramplers!

I like to keep a seperate growing force of hunter spiders on their own, led by my prophet. Use this army to quickly reinforce border areas the hunter spider is arguably the strongest recruitable unit, and a group of 12 or so backed by skeleton summonings and priests is a match for many armies 3 or 4 times it's size.

As for the horrendous PD of Machaka, I usually plant a necromancer in my remote border locations, quietly researching until it comes time to back up the 20 strong militia. Give him a +death staff and a cheap regen item and he'll try his best to stem the tide. It's not the cheapest solution, but costs near nothing after the initial investment, and ensures you won't lose provinces to a flock of blackhawks or two knights and a priest =(.

Lastly, remember that your research chicks can morph into spiders. Try the combat sequence (stoneskin, fireshield, change shape, attack). Not bad huh?

hope this helps.

tinkthank · #5 April 28th, 2004, 11:46 AM

Hey thanks very much again.
I suppose my problem is the reluctance to rely on hoplites so much, simply because I find them so unsexy. But surely they are a great unit.

Blitz: I have never been able to script "change shape" -- where and how can one do that?

Nagot Gick Fel · #6 April 28th, 2004, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tinkthank:
I have never been able to script "change shape" -- where and how can one do that?

You can't. They change shape automatically when wounded in battle. The sorceress heroin can change shape at will, though.

En Forcer · #7 April 29th, 2004, 04:35 PM

I'm having a lot of fun with these guys actually. I have a rainbow sage with 4 in everything and I've been having decent results with the shortbowmen and the hoplites have been everything people have said they are. So far I haven't put the spider troops to use yet but it's only turn 25.

It's been a struggle to survive but that has made it all the more enjoyable. Sometimes I wonder about the guys who post specific roadmaps and by turn 10 they have all this crap accomplished. I'm just glad to be holding my borders at that point!