LA Pythium - Much more than you were expecting

[WraithLord]

Thank you Baalz. What a lovely way to pass the evening, armed with a cup of cool beer, reading your guide for my favorite nation

[quantum_mechani]

Originally Posted by Baalz

That's unlikely to happen if the RNG is actually working randomly. If 25% of them get a blood random then you've got a 97% chance of landing at least one blood random after recruiting 12. Sounds buggy unless you're exaggerating.

The chance of a random was only 10% base, and in CB versions before 1.7.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions about giving the Mystes a niche?

[Jarkko]

A mystes was supposed to learn things by reading texts, learning lore, listen to elders and/or by following rituals performed. Maybe they should have a research bonus, because effectively researching various stuff was what they were doing?

[Corinthian]

You're right Baalz, there is much more to LA Pythium than I imagined. Though I would design my pretender quite different from you. I have never seen the appeal of a Forge Lord.

After experimenting in CBM 1.6 a bit, I found two pretender builds that I like.

The scale build sphinx: There is few nations that benefits as much from a scale build than LA Pythium. Not only because they require huge amounts of gold for their hydras. But also because the pythian capitol starts with the Great City fortress. And in Dominions, all money multipliers multiply each other!

Let me break down the math for you: A capitol starts with 30k pop. That translates roughly into a 300 gold income. 300 (base) * 1.21 (order) * 1.09 (prod) * 1.09 (growth) * 1.30 (Great City) = 560 gold/turn from the capitol alone! Remember that you can always over-tax this amount and that your income will grow over time thanks to the growth scales.

Depending on whether or not you want some magic on your pretender (starts with E1S3) you could choose between asleep or imprisoned. Another option is to choose magic 3 scales. Your cheap but weak researchers will benefit from more this than other nations would.



The other pretender build I like is the Imprisoned Mother of Rivers with a W9 bless. This build also allows for decent scales. Although the fact that you miss out on her "flood of water gems" special ability is a waste.
The water 9 bless is pretty much the only bless that is not overpriced on a hydra. Improving their abysmal speed? Check! Strike two different squares in one round? Check! Improve their defense in melee and thus improve their offence? Check!
This bless also work well enough to warrant buying Serpent Catapracts and maybe also Sirruses.
Serpent Catapracts might not seem like a good unit but remember that you get four and some, for the cost of one hydra. Also, they have a second shape with 28hp and prot 17 witch makes them very survivable in the big battles. Thats 40 hp on a cavalry unit!


The only thing i cant figure out is what to do in mid game. Even if your researchers are cost efficient, they are also very slow and even if you build one in every castle you will be behind in research in the early game. This in combination with pythiums rather lackluster battle mages and lack of recruitable thug chassis, make for a miserable mid game.

[WraithLord]

I like your suggestions, but why take sphinx over oracle?

W9 is nice. I wonder if you could get any juice from this on mid/end game as LA Pyth. Meaning access to thug/SC chassis that'd benefit from it.

[Corinthian]

Originally Posted by WraithLord

I like your suggestions, but why take sphinx over oracle?

W9 is nice. I wonder if you could get any juice from this on mid/end game as LA Pyth. Meaning access to thug/SC chassis that'd benefit from it.

The Sphinx and Oracle are mostly interchangeable. The only difference is that the oracle have fortuneteller 50 and the Sphinx has more hitpoints and earth 1. The earth is the most important, because Pythium can never get higher than earth 1 on its mages. A sleeping sphinx with earth 4, could forge earth boots for the Epoptes, witch could in turn cast Gnome Lore. The Sphinx could later, with a ring of wizardry or earth ring, cast important earth spells like, Riches from beneath and summon earth king.

Also, have you ever tried thugging with a teleporting Sphinx? Neither have I, but I assume its Great!

Edit: When I looked again I see that the oracle have 4 misc slots versus the Sphinx 1. That change things a bit, but I would still go with the Sphinx as it is cheaper than buying earth on an oracle. the oracle would probably be better if you wanted to cast Wish, but without gemgens and with late age only having 35% site chance, it might not be the must have tactic it once were. Also, the oracle is vulnerable to poison for some strange reason?



LA Pythium lack sacred bless chassies, unfortunately.

[P3D]

The Sphinx is supposed to be immobile, even regarding teleporting spells.

[TheConway]

Originally Posted by Corinthian

I have never seen the appeal of a Forge Lord.

You don't like the idea of Rings of Sorcery and Wizardry for 75% off? Granted, this isn't true with 1.7, but still, those very expensive forges are much easier. Plus he's not the worst rainbow SC chassis you could get.

[Baalz]

Originally Posted by Corinthian

I have never seen the appeal of a Forge Lord.

The Forge Lord had a 50% forge bonus (didn't realize it had changed), which meant you saved:

10 gems on a crystal shield
13 gems on a skullface/fire helm
20 gems on a ring of sorcery
33 gems on a ring of wizardry
etc.

Wasn't hard at all to save 100+ gems per year. He can also, in a pinch, make a good SC. Dropping him down to 25% forge bonus is a good change, it makes him one viable option out of a few others.

[13lackGu4rd]

LA Pyth doesn't have any unique sacred SCs like MA's angels, so unless you wish for them or use shroud than I don't see SCs that will benefit any bless. I generally prefer W4N4 MoR instead of W9, better bless for the hydras and more useful magic paths for later on. N4 is much easier to get to 6 for GoH and stuff than N1/2 and W4 is enough for all the W you'll ever need, W6 and even 7 is easily obtained, and that's more than enough even for Maelstrom(assuming you manage to get enough W gems for it in the first place).