MA Ulm Pretender

Baalz · #1 November 23rd, 2008, 11:07 PM

Yes, I just recently obliterated dual bless (W/S) Vanhiem with the black halberds in a rush. The best they could do was zapping me with a bunch of lightning bolts, but as the black halberds aren't sacred, I just overwhelmed him with numbers - mixing in flail black plate infantry from my second castle to soak up some damage. It was funny, his infantry actually did better than the vans or Valkyries, but you're not really gonna win slugging it out infantry vs infantry against Ulm....

sum1lost · #2 November 23rd, 2008, 11:12 PM

Actually, my experience says that it depends. Black halberds are dangerous against small sacred elites, but against lower-tier massable sacreds, they can be less effective- I used Mictlan every effectively against them, and although they did more damage than the average ulmish troop, they fell quickly as well.

Baalz · #3 November 24th, 2008, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sum1lost

Actually, my experience says that it depends. Black halberds are dangerous against small sacred elites, but against lower-tier massable sacreds, they can be less effective- I used Mictlan every effectively against them, and although they did more damage than the average ulmish troop, they fell quickly as well.

That doesn't sound right. I just tested the following couple scenarios with a F/S blessed Mictlan.

40 Black Halberds vs 30 jaguar warriors - Mictlan spent a little more gold to get a priest to bless, not counting the opportunity cost of a double bless. Result - 30 dead jags, 6 dead halberds.

40 Halberds vs 50 jags - Mictlan spent a bunch more gold and managed to outrecruit the non-sacred halberds somehow. Result - 45 dead jags, 21 dead halberds.

As this is MA, considering the more likely matchup of eagle warriors - 50 eagles vs 40 halberds. 5 dead halberds, the eagles broke after 22 deaths.

Thing is, even "cheaper" sacreds are limited by your "holy" recruit points, and given the standard Ulmish prod-3 you're not going to be able to outnumber the black halberds until you've got more than 3 castles, with temples (and labs for mages)...pretty far outside the "rush" range.