Sauromatian units

[Dedas]

The Hydra Tamer
Have anyone found a use for this unit? I know he is the only commander with poison resistance in the Sauromatian arsenal, but besides that he pretty much stinks. He cannot lead more than 10 units and he doesn't have any armor. Could you perhaps outfit him somehow to make him useful?

I believe he is meant to lead the hydras into battle but the Soothsayer does it so much better. With a ring of poison resistance he can also cast body ethereal on the hydras.


The Soothsayer
Pros

- Astral magic (1). Though the Enarie also has it but for 150 gold.
- Cancels bad events in the province he visits. How high is this bonus anyways? But the Enarie can do this too.
- Comes with a ring mail cuirass.
- Good at leading and buffing hydras. Needs poison resistance first.

Cons

- Starts with old age.
- 70 gold for 3rp when the Spirit Guide cost 60 gold for the
same research. So not a good researcher. Is this unweighed by the "cancels bad event" ability?
- Comes with a ring mail cuirass. But what use is it really? It costs resource points.

How do you use these units?



Anyone thought of good blesses for this nation?

[Kristoffer O]

> - Comes with a ring mail cuirass. But what use is it really? It costs resource points.

Makes him look nice

> - Cancels bad events in the province he visits. How high is this bonus anyways?

5% IIRC

> Anyone thought of good blesses for this nation?

Seems everyone answers W9 to this on most nations . Works well with high def troops.

[Dedas]

Thank you for you answers!

A water bless with Sauromatia would directly point to Lady of Springs as the chosen pretender. However, the Gorgon is looking more tasty.

The problem is the blesses with the Gorgon. High earth is perhaps nice on the Androphags and Oiorpatas, but nature?

Perhaps there are better alternatives?

[Kristoffer O]

You might not need a bless strat with a gorgon ?

Androphag archers ?

[Dedas]

But the Gorgon is so cheap you can afford blesses.

Also made a discovery, the call ancestor spirit is sacred, how interesting...

Androphag archers are hard to use with anything but hydras and undead (like shades and spirits). Not something Sauromatia has a hard thing to muster though.
I wish there was a way to to make the androphags and oiorpatas resistant early on. Oh, wait, there is, poison ward!

Another question:
How high is the Enaries chance to prevent bad events?

[Dedas]

An example pretender I came up with:

Dormant Lady of Springs

Dominion 5
This may be too low but the sacreds cost a lot initially so you can't really afford that many. Plenty of time to build temples to raise the dominion.

Magic: 9W; 4N

Scales:
Order 2
Production 2
Heat 1
Misfortune 2 (you have Enaries and Soothsayers)
Magic 1


I haven't tested it yet so I don't really know if it is any good. Feel free to post your own Sauromatian pretenders.

[Aethyr]

Demas,

One of my favorite builds with this nation is the Blood Fountain (imprisioned).

Magic: F4; W9; E1; B6

Scales:
Order 3
Heat 2
Growth 1
Drain 2

If the drain bugs you, substitute the misfortune instead. Or, tip misfortune twice & add 2 production. This nation's blessable troops with the enhancements derived from above, backed up by poision archers, will chew up almost anything in the game. Also, by the time your Blood Fountain breaks free you're ready to make your first Soul Contract without the need of enhancement items. Nasty.

[Dedas]

Indeed! That is a nasty fountain! I must try it someday. Maybe a bit much with a drain scale as Sauromatia's researchers aren't really that good. But you can, as you wrote yourself, switch it for misfortune. And with the help of Enaries, Soothsayers and order it isn't so bad.
Thanks for sharing.


I made some changes to my pretender's scales:
Production lowered 2 to 0. Found no use for it at all. When you have the sacred quickness blessed cavalry you don't really need the heavy cavalry. Also raised dominion to 7. Nature raised to 5 with the spare points. Maybe it will come in handy later on?

Found out that building a Witch King early on, making him your prophet, giving him some Androphags and then setting out on a crusade of mayhem against the enemies provinces is very effective. But why is that effective I hear you say?
1. He is your prophet, spreading your dominion.
2. He is very though when blessed with above bless and made prophet. And accompanied by his fellow Androphags he is hard to destroy.
3. He causes fear and is very fast making him an ideal pillager.
4. He has blood and can blood hunt, so why not on enemy territory!
5. Has his own standard so you don't need to worry about bad morale in enemy territory. This is true for many of the thematically supposed raiders of Sauromatia.
6. It is thematic that he rides around killing people, eating them, making some blood slaves and then rides home to sacrifice them in some gory ritual

Try it yourself, it is fun and messy.


Made some changes to the pretender again: Production 3, sloth 1. Too much resources...

[Baalz]

I'm just trying Sauromatia now, I'm using a 9e 4n 4w bless. Once blessed Oiorpata have 17 protection and 20 defense (more once they get some stars, which happens fast), and regenerate 1 hp per turn which is perfect for letting them mix with the Androphag archers who compensate for the Oiorpata's relatively low damage output (for elite units) and the reinvig gives them some serious staying power. That blessing also allows Warrior Sorceresses to become pretty effective thugs for real cheap. Give them a frost brand, script blessing, protection, (plus quicken self if they get a water bless), attack closest...pretty ridiculously effective for 160 gold and 5w, and recruitable anywhere so have swarms of them! Let them lead small-medium groups of Androphag archers for extra nastiness (cast resist poison if you do this).

Speaking of which, Enaries make better leaders for the hydras than Soothsayers, if you cast resist poison round one it'll go off before they get effected by the poison cloud so no need to use gems on a snake ring. Also, if you send extra Enaries they can skellispam which gives the ethereal hydras some serious staying power.

No use for production?!?! The units are not particularly resource intensive, but you do have several *very* good units which are capital only. I've found production-3 pays off in spades long term as it lets you recruit a steady flow of Oiorpata as well as a hoard of Androphag archers. The Androphag archers are not only just generally devastating, they're also an answer to most things which can threaten your Oiorpatas in EA (Jaguar warriors, Vans), but they need critical mass to work right. Obviously you can play it a different way, but I've found Androphags are far and away the best recruitable archers in the game and they alone justify production scales as I can never get enough. Even in your non cap fortresses the Lancers and Cataphracts are quite a good uses for resources.

[Dedas]

Nice tips Baalz!

Maybe I didn't play enough for production to pay off? Probably not as I had lots and lots of resources left once I used up all my gold.

Oh, have you tried using Androphags instead of Oiorpatas? On paper they seem pretty much the same but when the Androphag rider dies you have a nifty blessable lizard left with about 30hp. Quite nice for 60 gold I'd say! They are capital only of course, but that don't stop you from recruiting Oiorpatas everywhere else.

Sorry, I just noticed that Oiorpatas are capital only too. Anyway, I believe the Androphags are a bit better, not as fast but tougher and stronger.