[RonD]

Originally Posted by Squirrelloid

The following things stand out to me:
(1) You were even in research with Ulm. As pythium. You should have been *leaps and bounds* ahead of him in research. You should have been matching his Alt6/Const6 with Alt 9, artifacts, and high conjuration or evocation. Pythium has no excuse for being only tied with Ulm in research.

Seriously?

Alt6+Const6 = 2080 RPs
Alt9+nothing else = 4600
Alt9+Const8 = 7420

The system is designed so that it is always much easier to bring several schools up to a medium level than it is to bring any one to 8/9. So Pythium maybe ought to have more research than Ulm, but 3 1/2 times the research? (and that is without the "high conjuration or evocation" part)

(2) Fatigue spam definitely works. Specifically the 'no MR' kind. Thunderstrike is pretty good (<100 SR is not enough). But Solar Cascades is the real star here, and *every single pythium mage worth a damn* can cast it without communioning.

I love Solar Cascades spam (especially in a reverse communion). But it is 25AP stun, so maybe 15 fatigue each time you hit a typical Ulmish infantry (without factoring in the Relief that Ulm had in every big battle). It is going to take 8-10 hits, at least, to fatigue out each infantry. The problem with Cascades vs Ulm BR is that "*every single pythium mage worth a damn*" will be torn to shreds by the 2nd or 3rd round of combat.

(3) Losing your armor? Marble Warriors/Army of Gold/Army of Lead is the best response. And you should have the research advantage to pull this off. If you're still relying on regular troops by the time Ulm has multiple 6 level research, you absolutely need at least one of these spells in every fight. Being able to drop AoG/L round 1 can also pre-empt earthquake to a large degree.

Research advantage - maybe. Earth mages? From where?

(4) Fog Warriors. Every fight.

Absolutely. Maybe not enough to face down Iron Blizzard spam (someone would have to test that), but is sure as heck the first thing I'd go for as Pythium.

(5) Mist of Deception could also be a pretty disruptive spell.

Very much worth trying.

(6) Summons to use:
-Manifest Vitriol (can you tell I love alteration yet?)
-undead like Wights can work (admittedly not so much for pythium). Anything less than 100CR is going to fatigue out, and wights are pretty solid infantry otherwise.
-Mechanical Men or Living Statues make for a resilient frontline that isn't especially vulnerable to armor destruction.
-Thugs with good defense, good magic armor, and AoE weapons.

Vitriol is hard to get a mass of anyway - and only 1/4 of Pythium's cap-only mages can cast it. Maybe worth a try, but not something you could rely on by turn 30.

Mech Men / Statues - earth again. Not Pythium's strong point.

(7) Other spells of note:
-Acid spells are relatively accessible to Pythium, and ignores all elemental resistances, and damages armor!
-Your armor getting destroyed? Return the favor! Destruction isn't full battlefield, but its still brutal.
-Magma Eruption is only half fire. The other half doesn't care about elemental resistances.

Destruction (and Magma) = that earth mage problem again. And here you hit on a huge advantage for BR Ulm. Even if you try to match the battlefield-wide Destruction w/ the regular version, you will need a bunch of casters who will all have to be positioned way forward, making them vulnerable to all kinds of bad things. The full-field Destruction from a single mage positioned safely in the way-back is simply a ridiculous advantage.