Is Orthus too easy?

[Grey Fox]

So what do you think, is Orthus too easy?

Or maybe you think he is too hard, or just fine? What is your experience with Orthus?


Me, myself, find that usually, Orthus spawning near you is a godsend. Killing him usually means sacrificing 1-4 warriors and then finishing him off. And building these warriors while you know where he is, is usually never hard. If he spawns far away, you don't have to, and can continue with whatever you were doing. But then again, I usually play on quick so this might be why.

But also, I'm not sure if it's a good idea to make him stronger, as if Orthus only manages to survive long enough, he can become a real menace.

Anyways, please vote and if you want to explain why you voted like you did, go ahead.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

The way I've modded him he is just hard enough. I made the Barbs start with the Agresive, defensive, magic resistant and raiders trait, but made his death cost them all their traits. He benefits from 4 extra promotions, plus I made his axe grant +1 movement and and an extra attach strength. He's harder to beat, but its more important. (I also raised the Max hero xp to 500, max animal/barb xp to 200 and applied the changes to the Sureshot Svaltafar/Snarko's options modmod, where barbs can fight animals)

p.s. I usually cheat a little in the first few turns since I don't have enough patience to play without the new advanced start, which is probably why he's so easy to beat.

 

[wicshade]

Sometimes orthos can be fairly easy to take out and sometimes he can take out one of my best cities with several defenders that is especialy the case if he is attacking from wooded hills with combat V

 

[Uberness]

His difficulty is based only on where he spawns, there been times where he has spawned on top of workers or units inside culture and lost his axe the same turn to AI, there been times when he wanders outside the borders building experience, or you might be unlucky and he will spawn outside a capital with 1 warrior, I would much rather have orthus spawn outside culture borders, lose defense bonuses, and get a very small beef up to bronze/iron weapons if he is around long enough.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

If you start the game in the Classical age, he (and all other barb melee units) start with bronze weapons, but he usually appears within the first five turns.

He should definately spawn outside of Cultural borders, but I see no reason for him to be unable to get defensive bonuses.

 

[Sarisin]

I've never had a problem with Orthus because I play all my games with raging barbs and have plenty of defenders who usually have numerous promotions. Last game, by the time he got to me (after wiping out 2 AI civs who did not build defenders!), I had several Warriors with Combat 5, Orcish, and Shock 2. I may have lost 1 lesser Warrior before getting the axe. Like Grey Fox, I usually hope he comes my way.

One thing that would help him, and other barbs in AI, would be if they would wait to heal before attacking again. Orthus, if he does attack, will usually attack again even at low strength and he is often killed this way.

 

[woodelf]

I feel he's gotten easier as the game has evolved for whatever reason. When he was first introduced having him spawn anywhere near you meant a WB erase of him or a restart. Now he normally gets killed by the AI within 2 turns.

I still hate seeing him though since I'm emotionally/mentally scarred from early testing.

 

[thomas.berubeg]

damn, voted NO... i meant yes.

 

[sgrealis]

I think he's just fine the way he is. In the last game I played (Hippus), I got lucky and took him out with a horseman (who then proceeded to dominate the game) but in my current game (Kuriotates) Orthus took out 2 AI civs in the span of about 20 turns before being killed. Keep him the way he is.

 

[Vehem]

He can be either very influential to the game (taking out a whole civ early on) or have little impact at all. I think that's about the right balance.

He's not guaranteed to be a major swing factor for the game, but he can be - just one of the variables that make for a unique game. The opponents you start against (if random), the start location and subsequent expansion of Hyborem (or the fact he never arrives) and the random spread of barbarians/animals/Acheron can all have similarly strong or negligible influence on the flow of the game.

 

[Antheanian]

I feel that Orthus is balanced right now. You can defend against him in case he shows up, but he will do damage for sure! At least, in normal speed...

I had to start over again once, because Orthus killed everybody, including razing my cap.

But last game I played with Khazad, I had 3 cities when he came, and he took one of them, defended by warriors with the guerilla 1 promotion. But After lossing maybe 6-7 warriors, a newly trained soldier of kilmorph killed him, making huge XP on this kill.

 

[Micky Onimusha]

I've lost a city to him before on several occasions, even with several warrior defenders, if he picks up a promotion at the right time he can knock it down. There's been several times when a civ gets wiped out after he's spawned (and I assume their elimination was caused by him), so he certainly is capable of knocking out opponents.

I find him to be balanced, although when that Axe gets in the hands of a human player I find it to be slightly unbalanced in favour of the human (guys like Rosier the Fallen with the Axe's blitz ability can turn into unstoppable forces early on). I don't think I've ever seen the AI use the Axe effectively. Most of the time, if the AI gets the axe, I never hear about it "Changing hands" ever again.

So, he’s a bit of both. Balanced and imbalanced =/ I just assume that was the intention though. Risk-Reward and so forth.

 

[vorshlumpf]

In all the games I've played, Orthus has been a non-threat. The main reason for this is that he doesn't attack intelligently. Just stack some warriors on a wooded hill next to him and he's done.

 

[Sureshot]

might be nice if everytime he kills a living unit he gains an equivalent clan of embers unit with the same promotions heh

that would make him more interesting

 

[Lurch]

too easy, i am usually irritated if he does not spawn near, since I have accrued the defensive benefits of playing 'raging barbarians'. i think orthus should lead orc crusades... gaining followers with each kill, but i don't know if this interferes with CoE storyline.

 

[BCalchet]

Hmh, I was about to vote 'yes, too easy', but my last game has me hesitating.

Orthus vs Hill City Warriors:

Turn n: Orthus kills hill city warrior. Takes no damage.
Turn n+1...n+4: Orthus kills another hill city warrior. Takes no damage.
Turn n+5: Orthus kills yet another hill city warrior. Takes some damage!
Turn n+6: Second-to-last hill city warrior attacks Orthus at 85%. Dies miserably, Orthus takes no damage.
Turn n+6, enemy turn: Skeleton attacks the last remaining warrior, kills it and razes hill city.

 

[Nimbus]

I think Orthus took a turn for the worse as a threat when the Heroic Strength promotion split into offense and defense. He concentrates mainly on offensive promotions. I can't remember seeing him take a heroic defense promotion on the times i have killed him.

 

[wicshade]

it would be most interesting if orthos axe added the march promotion,
+10%healing in enemy territory and healig while moving,

edit: I agree with Nimbus's statement below

Or maybe giving all of the barbarian state units this promotion would make things more challenging, and it would not give me more xp farming, and it kinda of helps counter the AI's strategy of attacking without stoping to heal.

 

[Nimbus]

it would be most interesting if orthos axe added the march promotion,
+10%healing in enemy territory and healig while moving,

I would rather see Orthus himself get that promotion as the Axe by itself adds enough to the lucky unit that owns it.

 

[Jarlaxle135]

Maybe Orthus can have an ability like Barnaxus, where some of his promotions are passed on to barbians (while he is alive). Or, perhaps his combat promotions can work like empowerment--like summons.