Sauromatia: Lawful Evil

[Wrana]

There was a separate thread on the question. May be also noted in Baalz guide discussion.

[Rytek]

I do have a comment about the way you outfit your Gorgon. Doesnt the petrification actually do all of the killing? Why bother with the snake bladder stick? I think it better to load up on more items to keep her alive. Another shield would fit the bill nicely. How about a lucky coin to free up another misc slot. (not sure if that is const 4?) or is it too hard to get the S2? And the horror helm is nice and all, but first chance I get I would replace it with a starshine cap for even more MR (although I realize that is const 6)

[Renojustin]

Snake Bladder Stick has an enormous AOE attack dealing 5 AN poison damage. I believe that it actually has a higher damage potential than any other weapon in the game. If your opponent throws high MR attackers against you, and some nations like Pangaea even have high MR chaff, you are going to have a very tough time dealing enough damage to win the battle. Which is something that you definitely want to do, because as a flyer, the Gorgon is often behind enemy lines, and to retreat is to die.

It also works great with the Fear factor beacuse the damage forces morale checks. Otherwise you're stuck with Useless Kick and 5 hair attacks, which don't deal a whole heck of a lot of damage... any unit with decent Protection and MR is going to hold her.

What this all points to is that you really have to have a damage dealing weapon with the Gorgon. Fire or even lightning is ideal but extremely hard to get by the time you want to be using your Gorgon in earnest. The same for a Frost Brand... that relies on getting lucky in site searching, but a Snake Bladder Stick will always be available to forge.

Later on you'll want to switch to more powerful items that also help her resistances, reinvigoration, whatever, but for starters, nothing beats the Stick... in Russia, Stick beats you!

[Wrana]

And Stick note is helpful, thanks.

[Immaculate]

While i agree that bee-lining enchantment is a strong opening for Sauromatia, another option, should you not wish to invest in 'enchantment 3' right off the bat (maybe you want to go evocation first or construction first) is a quick hop over to conjuration before anything else. Instead of going 3 layers deep into enchantment, go 1 layer deep into conjuration then go for whatever you would normally go for.

Why conjuration first:

1) Tangle vines: yes, they aren't GREAT... but what they do, they do adequately for what you need. Every warrior sorceress can cast this (instead of bringing a witch king to cast death-based enchantment spells) and its available earlier. What it does is tie up those heavy cavalry and elephants that make attacking independents troublesome. Lots of androphag archers and some tangle vines (and maybe a few amazon spearwomen to protect your archers/casters) makes a pretty competent expansion party. The advantage is availability. This comes much earlier then enchantment three.

2) Death/Nature Warrior Sorceress cast summon ancestor. Again, not a GREAT spell, but it does what you need it to do... suck up enemy movement while your archers pound on the enemy. Sure they only have 1hp but they have ethreality and because they are charging out beyond your caster/archer ranks, the enemy will converge on them, try to pound on them (usually successfully so within a turn or two) and finally kill them. During that time you've hit the indies with another round of arrows and you've summoned another ancestor. The indies will still charge at you but hopefully that heavy cavalry has used up its lance attack and you've bought more time to fire on them. And thats what its about isn't it?

3) Black Servant. Summon a black servant as soon as you hit conjuration 1, make him into your prophet and use those corpses that accumulating from patrolling your capital (with taxes jacked up >140%) to summon longdead horseman. One important thing about longdead horsemen is that they are immune to hydra poison. Think about that and about the first year of expansion and you can see how those indies that aren't suitable to fighting with archers can still be conquered with tools that you can get rolling with very quickly.

Anyway, while i fully recognize that enchantment 3 is a VERY awesome opening and very impressive, it does take a bit to get rolling with and does require the use of witch kings (which cost more and research much more effectively then do warrior sorceress)

So consider the conjuration 1 path next time... maybe...?

[Graeme Dice]

Originally Posted by Immaculate

3) Black Servant. Summon a black servant as soon as you hit conjuration 1, make him into your prophet and use those corpses that accumulating from patrolling your capital (with taxes jacked up >140%) to summon longdead horseman.

Corpses are only needed for soulless. Longdead don't require corpses.

[Immaculate]

Oh... haha... thats even better... (and explains why my corpses aren't being used up as fast as i expected)

[Illuminated One]

Can Sauromatia really do horsemen? Or can all nations with h3 undead?
I already see Marignon (un)suiciding a ton of inquisitors.

[Redeyes]

Originally Posted by Immaculate

So consider the conjuration 1 path next time... maybe...?

With an awake researcher pretender you can have both after turn 5. If you have a pretender with 36 research, and get magic 1, your starting soothsayer + pretender duo can give you conjuration turn one. You'll be done with enchantment at the start of turn 7, before that if you hire more researchers.

I actually tried this in a game recently and it went pretty well; I rushed another nation, who had an awake cyclops, before turn 10.

Originally Posted by Illuminated One

Can Sauromatia really do horsemen? Or can all nations with h3 undead?
I already see Marignon (un)suiciding a ton of inquisitors.

Yeah, it's an option that's open for everyone. You can do the same with prophet demons if you are a nation that has them.

[thejeff]

I thought Longdead horse were limited to a few nations. Possibly just Ermor (MA/LA?) and Sauromatia.