Dealing with Gilden Silveric in MP

[SwordofStriker]

The ability to solo Orthus is negligible IMO. A warrior with no promotions can solo Orthus given the right terrain bonuses. I know because last time I played Orthus just gave me his axe by attacking one of my fortified warriors. Therefore, that really shouldn't be part of your argument about Gilden being overpowered.

 

[brainpan]

That's a good point, Striker. I think the Axe is much more of an "unbalance multiplier" in the hands of a mobility-enhanced Rosier the Fallen than Gilden.

And, as you say, a warrior--or more likely a few warriors--can handle Orthus quite easily. Virtually every game I play Orthus gets taken out by a humble warrior.

 

[Vatras]

So far, Gilden has not shown himself to be a real menace in my games, because he cannot best defending archers (playing with raging barbarians guarantees strong defenders with lots of promotions too).
The only heroes I fear are the ones with higher base movement, like Rozier, the Baron or Kithra.

 

[brainpan]

Rosier can be a menace. I had fun playing with a vampiric Rosier with Orthus' Axe last game. He's great for running behind lines of overconfident players and taking out weakly defended cities in a single turn.

 

[SwordofStriker]

Indeed, Rosier is much more dangerous than Gilden, especially when he has the axe AND is a vampire on top of that. I'd take on Gilden any day if it meant not having to deal with an enemy Rosier. I often don't even bother with anything to reduce city defenses as my Rosier tends to be able to solo entire cities consistently. He doesn't even need backup unless they have a large stack in one and even then he only needs defensive units to keep the enemy at bay while he does nothing but attack-heal-attack.

Honestly, I'd like to see Orthus beefed up a bit as a barbarian king he is rather unimpressive, and you'd think someone with his reputation would be tougher to take down. He could stand to be a 7 or 8 with perhaps a bonus versus melee units and a first strike if he is intended to be intimidating. Then, if Gilden could consistently solo him at that point, I'd say maybe he was overpowered unless you had him fully promoted. I just think Orthus should be stronger than a newly created hero unit but should be pretty manageable after a few promotions.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I still prefer having the Barbarian state start with some traits (like aggressive, raider + protective, charismatic in BtS) which they loose when Orthus dies. Orthus would also benefit from these promos directly. It might also be interesting for him to have the fear promotion.

 

[SwordofStriker]

I still prefer having the Barbarian state start with some traits (like aggressive, raider + protective, charismatic in BtS) which they loose when Orthus dies. Orthus would also benefit from these promos directly. It might also be interesting for him to have the fear promotion.

Sort of like regicide with Orthus as the king. Not a bad idea at all.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I've been playing that way since either .21 or. 22 (originally with aggressive, defensive, raider, magic resistant). Its not a hard change to make, I just changed the xml defines and copied part of the python code for what happen when Hyborem/Basium die.

I haven't tried the fear promo yet. That might make him too strong (it would certainly make starting with spirit mana more important, if you can manage to get an adept or two before he strikes). If Orthus can stick around until the horsemen and Avatar of Wrath appear, the world is really in trouble.

 

[MrUnderhill]

In my game I didn't change the Barbarian leader traits, but I did give Orthus a free March promotion, and his axe now gives +1 moves and +1 attack strength (I figured it was a good way to beef Orthus up and make his death all the more rewarding).

He's MUCH fiercer now than before, since he can now take out 2 units per turn and he doesn't stop to heal anymore. I threw 6 or 7 warriors at him and he still took out my capital. It was the first time I had to restart due to an Orthus-bomb since v.16.