Dragonslayers
12-13-2003, 09:07 PM
Seed has released the next unit [after Beastriders] to a few folks on Legend server. It's called the Dragonspeaker Mage:
http://www.digisonline.com/tactics/human/dragonspeakermage.html
Essentially it's a Pyro, but it has a special ability. If you have a Dragon it goes to 0 Power and the 28 Power it used to have is split equally among the DSM and any Pyros, with a max bonus of 12. When the units die the power goes back to the Dragon.
This new unit is perhaps among the best new units in the game, a fact I'll demonstrate in my analysis. Essentially, the DSM does not merely "transfer" the power from the Dragon to the Pyros. Because the power is split up among multiple units which have multi-square attacks, the Dragon's power is really exponentially increased.
With two Pyros [that is, a DSM and a Pyro] you get the 12 max; with 3 Pyros you get 9 power each, and with 4 Pyros you get 7. Thus your power per Pyro is:
2 Pyros - 27 power
3 Pyros - 24 power
4 Pyros - 22 power
Let's say that a Pyro can manage to hit 2 units at a time. Three at a time would be a better estimate against the very popular cluster defense formations, but let's err on the side of caution ;)
2 Pyros - 54 damage each
3 Pyros - 48 damage each
4 Pyros - 44 damage each
Let's give each team 12 turns. Each Pyro has a recovery of 3. By numbering each Pyro [1, 2, 3, 4] and using a "0" for a turn where no Pyro can hit because all are resting, we get:
Two Pyros: 1, 2, 0, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0 = 6 hits
Three Pyros: 1, 2, 3, 0, 1, 2, 3, 0, 1, 2, 3, 0 = 9 hits
Four Pyros: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 = 12 hits
Multiplied by their damage potentials we get:
2 Pyros - 324 damage
3 Pyros - 432 damage
4 Pyros - 528 damage
And divide by 12 for damage per turn for the team:
2 Pyros - 27 damage per turn
3 Pyros - 36 damage per turn
4 Pyros - 44 damage per turn!
These numbers look amazing. They ARE amazing! For the six slots taken up by 4 Pyros and a Dragon, you can do huge amounts of longterm damage. Suppose this 5-unit, 6-slot army went up against an army of 6 Knights? How much damage could the Knights deal per turn? Despite their quicker recovery time, only one Knight can hit per turn, which means they are limited to 22 damage per turn, average. That is HALF of the damage-per-turn of a Pyro army. And best of all - Pyromancer attacks are UNBLOCKABLE.
Let's be even more generous. Give the enemy an army of SIX LIGHTNING WARDS, the most damaging unit in the entire game. You can do the math yourself, but you'll find that this is still a MERE 30 damage per turn - again the enemy units interfere with each other because they can't work "in rotation", so some potential is wasted. That 30 dam/turn is still not enough to beat a Pyro Army! The Lightning Wards have 222 real HP, divided by 44 damage a turn gives about 5 or 6 turns to kill them - theoretically. That's around one Ward a turn - that's as much damage as the Lightning Wards themselves can dish out, killing a Pyro every turn! When the Pyros are armored by a Stone Golem, which gives them as many HP as an unStoned Scout, they don't even die in a single hit from a Ward.
Imagine - all this damage coming from a single slow unit, the Dragon-Tyrant, that can only deal out 28 damage every 4 turns - barely a 7 damage per turn average. Compare to a Scout [6 per turn] and a Knight [11 per turn]. These five units in six slots [1 DSM, 3 Pyro, 1 Dragon] working as a team can deal out 44 damage a turn; no other team of six units can even come close. The second-best is the Ward and the Dragon working at 30 and 28 damage per turn - but when are you going to encounter an army consisting solely of Dragons or Lightning Wards? I doubt any REAL army can do more than 25 or so damage a turn.
Remember, even if you can't hit 2 units, you can at least hit one. That's 22 damage - as good as slashing it with a Knight!
Personally I think an army of:
Dragonspeaker Mage - 1
Pyromancer - 3
Dragon Tyrant - 1
Stone Golem - 1
Knight - 3
would be nearly impossible to beat! I'd prefer Scouts instead of Knights, but I think some "heavy" units [high HP, high blocking, high armor] are necessary for mopup, and they also protect the Stone Golem and the Dragon which are the weak spots of the team.
So - what are your thoughts on the new Dragonspeaker Mage? ;)
http://www.digisonline.com/tactics/human/dragonspeakermage.html
Essentially it's a Pyro, but it has a special ability. If you have a Dragon it goes to 0 Power and the 28 Power it used to have is split equally among the DSM and any Pyros, with a max bonus of 12. When the units die the power goes back to the Dragon.
This new unit is perhaps among the best new units in the game, a fact I'll demonstrate in my analysis. Essentially, the DSM does not merely "transfer" the power from the Dragon to the Pyros. Because the power is split up among multiple units which have multi-square attacks, the Dragon's power is really exponentially increased.
With two Pyros [that is, a DSM and a Pyro] you get the 12 max; with 3 Pyros you get 9 power each, and with 4 Pyros you get 7. Thus your power per Pyro is:
2 Pyros - 27 power
3 Pyros - 24 power
4 Pyros - 22 power
Let's say that a Pyro can manage to hit 2 units at a time. Three at a time would be a better estimate against the very popular cluster defense formations, but let's err on the side of caution ;)
2 Pyros - 54 damage each
3 Pyros - 48 damage each
4 Pyros - 44 damage each
Let's give each team 12 turns. Each Pyro has a recovery of 3. By numbering each Pyro [1, 2, 3, 4] and using a "0" for a turn where no Pyro can hit because all are resting, we get:
Two Pyros: 1, 2, 0, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0 = 6 hits
Three Pyros: 1, 2, 3, 0, 1, 2, 3, 0, 1, 2, 3, 0 = 9 hits
Four Pyros: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 = 12 hits
Multiplied by their damage potentials we get:
2 Pyros - 324 damage
3 Pyros - 432 damage
4 Pyros - 528 damage
And divide by 12 for damage per turn for the team:
2 Pyros - 27 damage per turn
3 Pyros - 36 damage per turn
4 Pyros - 44 damage per turn!
These numbers look amazing. They ARE amazing! For the six slots taken up by 4 Pyros and a Dragon, you can do huge amounts of longterm damage. Suppose this 5-unit, 6-slot army went up against an army of 6 Knights? How much damage could the Knights deal per turn? Despite their quicker recovery time, only one Knight can hit per turn, which means they are limited to 22 damage per turn, average. That is HALF of the damage-per-turn of a Pyro army. And best of all - Pyromancer attacks are UNBLOCKABLE.
Let's be even more generous. Give the enemy an army of SIX LIGHTNING WARDS, the most damaging unit in the entire game. You can do the math yourself, but you'll find that this is still a MERE 30 damage per turn - again the enemy units interfere with each other because they can't work "in rotation", so some potential is wasted. That 30 dam/turn is still not enough to beat a Pyro Army! The Lightning Wards have 222 real HP, divided by 44 damage a turn gives about 5 or 6 turns to kill them - theoretically. That's around one Ward a turn - that's as much damage as the Lightning Wards themselves can dish out, killing a Pyro every turn! When the Pyros are armored by a Stone Golem, which gives them as many HP as an unStoned Scout, they don't even die in a single hit from a Ward.
Imagine - all this damage coming from a single slow unit, the Dragon-Tyrant, that can only deal out 28 damage every 4 turns - barely a 7 damage per turn average. Compare to a Scout [6 per turn] and a Knight [11 per turn]. These five units in six slots [1 DSM, 3 Pyro, 1 Dragon] working as a team can deal out 44 damage a turn; no other team of six units can even come close. The second-best is the Ward and the Dragon working at 30 and 28 damage per turn - but when are you going to encounter an army consisting solely of Dragons or Lightning Wards? I doubt any REAL army can do more than 25 or so damage a turn.
Remember, even if you can't hit 2 units, you can at least hit one. That's 22 damage - as good as slashing it with a Knight!
Personally I think an army of:
Dragonspeaker Mage - 1
Pyromancer - 3
Dragon Tyrant - 1
Stone Golem - 1
Knight - 3
would be nearly impossible to beat! I'd prefer Scouts instead of Knights, but I think some "heavy" units [high HP, high blocking, high armor] are necessary for mopup, and they also protect the Stone Golem and the Dragon which are the weak spots of the team.
So - what are your thoughts on the new Dragonspeaker Mage? ;)