Pythium (MA) strategy

[Aezeal]

I'd like a few pointers for pythium

1) what do you advice for pretender scales and paths
- I figure I need him/her to cast the summons later (the theurgs won't be able to do it I think)
- Do I want death magic on him or should I just forget it completely
- minor Earth bless might be nice I figure
-I wonder on which scales I can save some points most seem needed

2) troops
-for early expansion should I use velites or more prot (and resource) heavy troops?
-are serpent riders ever worth it?
-I figure I'll leave the hydra's out my army at start

3) mages
-arch theurg are expensive but a turn not buying one means one less... should I start buying arch theurg right from the start or better just regular theurgs?
I mean with arch-T's I won't have any army adn I can't use them to full potential anyway...

4) at start how would you advice starting research..
first a lil thaum and then conjuration? Plz tell me the first goals you think are important and why?

[Aezeal]

and next: how good is that standard bearer and the standard commander..I never really figured out how much use they are in combat..

6 or 10... what is the difference and how exactly does that bonus work?

[Aezeal]

and next: how good is that standard bearer and the standard commander..I never really figured out how much use they are in combat..

6 or 10... what is the difference and how exactly does that bonus work?

[Horst F. JENS]

scales:
you need order for your expensive mages and troops.
Your heavy inf makes taking sloth scales a bad idea.
your old-age mages and troops speak against taking death.
Your crappy Province Defense won't help you much against misfortune events.
Your mages are destined to cast astral spells, so taking magic scales will help them with reseach as well as with overcoming your opponents magic resistance (enslave mind etc.).
Your mages and troops suffer from extra fatigue fatigue in cold/hot provinces.

All in all, try to go with order and magic. You can risk a bit misfortune if you need points.

Your excellent troops and mage-priest can fight on their own, so save points by taking a dormant or imprisoned pretender.

Pretender:
take as much earth as you can to help your sacred casters and communion slaves.
Take nature if possible for regeneration. You should aim to summon a fairy queen to heal mages damaged by Mind Hunt. Better yet, have a pretender that can heal.

Troops:
Mix the standard bearer into your other troops. Watch out for different movement speed. Give all your troops "fire closest enemy" command
Don't bother with the serpents. Build a castle in a knight/longbow province if you need lances.

Research:
Your arch-theurg can smite out of the box if i remember correctly. Concentrate on Alteration for Body Etheral and learn how to buff your troops.
Learn Solar Rays soon.

[ano]

Horst F. JENS said:
Your crappy Province Defense won't help you much against misfortune events.

Hm. Why do you say pythian PD is crappy? I am sure that pythian and ermorian PD are one of the best for the price in the whole game. And it really does help not only to deal with unlucky events but with invasions too.

[Torin]

Never forget the non-mage communicants that have auto communion slave. If an arch theurg has the crystal matrix that auto casts communion mater, then you don´t loose a turn and the first thing you do could be a really powerful spell like master enslave.
PD is probably the best I´ve seen with tower shields and javelins. MA Ulm is ok too.
Magic 3 is really good to race to the cool spells. expand quickly and build additional forts to feed the communions as they are more important than armies.
Maybe it would be a good idea to pick mother of the rivers with added nature to forge clams. to feed astral pearls and summon angels as raiders.
all in all if you survive the early game surely you are a gifted nation.

[ano]

MA Pythium, like MA Man obviously needs two things from a bless. First is regeneration for old archtheurgs (those diseased ones may be sent to battle and have a very long life healing using the bless regeneration or just being given Shroud of the Battle Saint and left home), second is reinvigoration for sacred battlemages and communicants. Second is not necessary but very good. So, I think that a very good pretender for them would be a dormant combat pretender with N4E4, probably the Earth Mother. This build as well as in the case with MA Man aims several targets at once: decent combat pretender, good bless suiting the needs and access to earth and nature.
I don't like the idea of forging clams with pretender without a forge bonus. It is just not worth the price, especially comparing to the benefits you can get otherwise.

[sector24]

I think Sloth is ok with MA Pythium because your focus is on communions, not heavy infantry. At some point your national troops are all chaff, so hire as many as you can in the early game but focus on building castles to recruit more mages. Sloth 3 might be too much, but you could probably do well with 1 or 2. Depends on your playstyle.

[Aezeal]

hmm if possible could someone answer all my other questions too... so I can have a complete view of what each of you think is the best way to play pythium?

I can see the benefit of a E4N4 pretender as in ano's advice.. both for diversity and the minor bless

But to cast angelic host you need about S5 to cast it decently (+ the easy accessable skullcap and coin)
wouldn't it be best to have that (and the 2F) on my pretender?
How else should I cast it.

I think the research of pythium is decent.. do I need magic scales to increase it or should I leave that neutral?

My other most pressing questions:
1. which troops to use for early expansion?
2. which commander to start recruiting first 10-20 turns? the arch-theurg or the theurg? an archtheurg means no troops that turn...

[ano]

You will have many ArchTheurgs with S4. Add a skullcap and get S5 for Angelic Host. As for Heavenly Choir, it requires S7F2. If you are lucky enough (as Jazzepi counted in a neighbor thread about MA Man, the probability is about 1,25%) to get an ArchTheurg with S4F1, then use ring of wizardry, skullcap and crystal coin (you will probably have access to all by that time). If not, add some unique astral booster like dimensional rod. You may also aim to cast Wish instead of Heavenly Choir using a S5 ArchTheurg.