Can someone tell me about Machaka?

[rdonj]

Yeah, according to past discussions we've had about this on the forums, 75 is the hard limit on turns.

[BigDaddy]

Originally Posted by vfb

The fetish is mindless and will die on turn 50, he won't run away. I don't think a berserker pelt will do anything at all (except replace his steel plate armor)

For expansion against indies, you could give him 5D for fear. But Machaka does not need an awake god to expand, it's got spiders. So A is probably good, especially since it gives you Rain of Stones, always nice to have.

I think a frost brand (if you can get your hands on one somehow) or snake bladder, plus a charcoal shield, will work better than trampling, if you want to trapeze around and fight stuff.

It's like a cheaper EA cyclops, that can't be mind hunted.

Well, I knew that, but he can mind hunt (I think I even named him Bastardo). I though Astral would give him use past the expansion phase. I was not thinking of how that might cause him to absentmindedly kill himself with gifts from heaven.

[Maerlande]

I decided to reply to this thread.

No I can't tell you about Machaka. I don't know anything about them.

[rdonj]

IIRC units that are berserk will fight on until round 75 instead of the normal 50 rounds before fleeing. So it would buy you more time.

[Maerlande]

Hey rdonj
Stop chasing my trolling posts you silly noob!

[rdonj]

No wai!

[BigDaddy]

Yes, I suppose. I've killed many early and mid-game SCs with Emerald Guard squads. Their skills are good and they pack better than serpent cataphracts, but I think it's their morale that really does the trick.

[vfb]

I'm using a dormant rainbow S4N4E4B4A?W???, whose minor paths I can't remember because he's currently dead (as the result of a failed experiment). 2 or 3 or something.

@ ChrisP: I agree that black hunters are good for expansion against indies. Rings of Regen, not so much. That was the point I was trying to make.

@ BigDaddy: Mindless units with S can *cast* Mind Hunt just fine. I'm saying a Collosal Fetish can't be targeted by it.

@ Amorphous: I think the Black Hunters are underestimated because outside of CBM they have MR 5 in spider form, and are more expensive to boot.

I don't think that putting a berserker pelt on a Collosal Fetish is a good idea. It's kind of broken: his morale will remain at 50, but he'll gain fatigue from the beserk and won't be able to self-buff. A morale-50 unit is not going to retreat ever anyway. The only exception is if you order him to retreat, which is actually a terrible idea, because he'll have some sort of positronic meltdown and just die.

I'm pretty sure mindless units dissolve on turn 50 whether they are berserk or not.

I don't like to hire the sorceresses because the (also) cap-only sorcerers are so much better.

[Amorphous]

Originally Posted by vfb

@ Amorphous: I think the Black Hunters are underestimated because outside of CBM they have MR 5 in spider form, and are more expensive to boot.

You are probably right in part, but I doubt that is the whole of it. MR really does not matter during indy expansion and though some may stare themselves blind on the price tag of the hunters, I doubt that most fail to compare the cost to what else Machaka has available.

In vanilla, Black Hunter expansion parties are cheaper in gold but more expensive in resources than parties of Spider Riders. In past versions of CBM the cost of the riders were significantly lessened while hunters had a cost the same as in vanilla, which made the rider parties cheaper in gold and resources - outside of a some ridiculously expensive bless. The hunter cost decrease in the latest CBM version changes the situation to one similar to vanilla.

[Jarkko]

Aren't the Black Spiders still 100 gold each? 10 Spider riders (ie an investment of 300 gold) can take most indy provinces, but can 3 Black Spiders do that too? The usual upkeep advantage sacreds have is not relevant with spiders (riderless spiders are free from upkeep), so just the basic investment matters. I've been under the impresion one needs 5 or 6 black spiders to do the job of 10 brown ones, but I haven't tested this out in a loooong time.

I think I have to try this out If 3 Black spiders, even with a bless (build a temple in a province, and build indy priests to cast Bless ad nauseautum, and you can still recruit mages from the fort(s)), can act as an expansion party, then that has to be done for the shere coolness factor. Black Spiders *are* cool, there is no question about that (I think), but just being cool has not been good enough for the steep price (except to eat elephants and giants, but those are not common enough usually).