Beware of Ashdod

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by Nikelaos

to be fair black hunters are sacred aswell you know? try it again but give the black hunters a major bless, earth is a no brainer with high protection, a bit o nature also works well after the rider dies, but experiment a bit.

Yes, Black Hunters are sacred, but I was not using them as sacred units, I was just curious if Cleveland meant "Black Hunters" when he said "Spider riders." (He probably didn't.) The problem was that the Black Hunters were basically incapable of damaging the Ahimans quickly enough whereas the Ahimans killed the Hunters quite quickly. Adding an E9N9 bless isn't going to change the equation. You're welcome to test it and prove me wrong, but I was already giving Machaka a 3:1 gold cost advantage (450 gold on Ashdod's side vs. 1250 on Machaka's side) so I didn't think it necessary to explore further. Machakan spider riders are not cost-effective vs. appropriately-blessed Ahimans.

And I don't think people play Machaka as a bless nation anyway, do they? E9N8 Black Hunters look cool on paper, but in practice I've found them a bit lacking (N8 doesn't help the rider much, and E9 doesn't help the spider much once the rider is dead). And they're cap-only. I'd rather spend my points on scales.

-Max

P.S. Hmmm. I should mod Machaka so Black Hunters are recruitable anywhere.

P.P.S. I just tried Machakan Hoplites buffed with Strength of Giants. I had high hopes, because regular Hoplites had almost killed one giant in a previous test, but that must have been luck. Hoplites are not cost-effective either. It looks like Machaka's only hope against Ashdod is pretty much to race for Alteration to get Destruction. I'd love to be proven wrong here but I don't see anything other option.

[Nikelaos]

Originally Posted by MaxWilson

Yes, Black Hunters are sacred, but I was not using them as sacred units, I was just curious if Cleveland meant "Black Hunters" when he said "Spider riders." (He probably didn't.) The problem was that the Black Hunters were basically incapable of damaging the Ahimans quickly enough whereas the Ahimans killed the Hunters quite quickly. Adding an E9N9 bless isn't going to change the equation. You're welcome to test it and prove me wrong, but I was already giving Machaka a 3:1 gold cost advantage (450 gold on Ashdod's side vs. 1250 on Machaka's side) so I didn't think it necessary to explore further. Machakan spider riders are not cost-effective vs. appropriately-blessed Ahimans.

And I don't think people play Machaka as a bless nation anyway, do they? E9N8 Black Hunters look cool on paper, but in practice I've found them a bit lacking (N8 doesn't help the rider much, and E9 doesn't help the spider much once the rider is dead). And they're cap-only. I'd rather spend my points on scales.

-Max

P.S. Hmmm. I should mod Machaka so Black Hunters are recruitable anywhere.

you're right, i could have swore he said something bout spiders though and it didn't seem fair testing spiders with f4/e4 bless (those were the paths on his scorpian king IIRC) against ahrimans with E9/N6.

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by Nikelaos

you're right, i could have swore he said something bout spiders though and it didn't seem fair testing spiders with f4/e4 bless (those were the paths on his scorpian king IIRC) against ahrimans with E9/N6.

E10, not E9. Ashdod is one of the rare cases where E10 is worth it. Otherwise Ahimans pick up 1 fatigue per turn of battle and eventually die to chaff units. It helps in other places too, like trampling Ophanim.

-Max

P.S. Heh heh heh. I'm going to call them "Ahrimans" from now on too, because they are. Death-bringers, that is.

Originally Posted by http://www.themystica.com/mythical-folk/articles/ahriman.html

Ahriman, the principle of evil in Persian mythology, was personified as Angra Mainya, "the destructive spirit," who introduced death into the world. He led the forces of evil against the host of Spenta Mainya, "the holy spirit," who assisted Ahura Mazdah, "the wise lord" and final victor in the cosmic war.