Following the surprising results of the Heka-Gigantes, the winner this week was the Man O'War. This being my first water myth unit guide (and after hearing conflicting reviews of the Man O'Wars), I was excited to see how well they really do

Can this lightning-attacking jellyfish compare anywhere near to the Heka-Gigantes? Does Helios have two of the most powerful land and water myth units in Age of Mythology:The Titans?

Let's look at their stats:

Cost: 300 Food, 25 Favour, 5 Pop spaces
HP: 900
Speed: 6.00
Range: 8
Crush Armour: 80%
Hack armour: 50%
Pierce Armour: 69%
Hack damage: 25

Special attack: None
Special ability: Chain lightning attack (see further information on special ability later)
No specific upgrades available

In general, very expensive (same price as Kraken), high HP with reasonable armour, reasonable attack and very short range.

Normally for land units, I do a test with the MU vs a Zeus Hoplite. For water myth units, I'm going to use a Zeus Trireme.

NOTE: All normal water units have been upgraded with Copper, Bronze and Iron armoury upgrades, and line upgrades (i.e. Naval Oxybeles). All land units have Copper, Bronze and Iron armoury upgrades and Medium, Heavy and Champion line upgrades. All buildings have been upgraded with the Masons and Architects upgrades. Any other upgrades will be stated
All attack rates are tested per hit, not per second. The Man O'War attacks approximately every 3 seconds, so it's base attack is tripled per hit.

Test 1: 1 Man O'War vs 1 Trireme {Zeus)

Trireme stats:
HP: 348
Speed: 6.00
Range: 20
Hack armour: 48%
Pierce armour: 41%
Pierce damage: 8

Man O'War does approximately 12 damage to Trireme per hit
Trireme does approximately 11 damage to Man O'War per hit

Man O'War kills Trireme in 1 minute 24 seconds with 264 HP left.

I was very surprised to see how badly the Man O'War did against a simple arrow ship. In fact, the Trireme did better than the Man O'War because it attacked every second with 2 arrows.
Strangely though, the Man O'War should have a base attack of 8 attack per second if the stats are correct. However, the base attack is 25 per hit, not second. But surely if the stats are correct, than it's base attack should be 75, which it clearly isn't.
This only leads me to believe that ES have made a mistake; either with the stats (in reality, making the Man O'War extremely weak) or with the Man O'War itself, making it a bugged unit.

Maybe the Man O'War's base attack is supposed to be this weak. After all, it does have chain lightning. How well does this jellyfish do against more than one unit at a time?

Test 2: 3 Man O'Wars vs 5 War Barges (Set)

War Barge stats:
HP: 528
Range: 30
Hack armour: 34%
Pierce armour: 63%
Crush damage: 9

The Man O'Wars win with 2 still alive.

I found the result of this test even more interesting than the first. Against multiple units the Man O'Wars thrive; particularly when you can get a good shot to use their chain lightning on more than 2 units at a time.

How about hammer ships?

Test 3: 2 Man O'Wars vs 5 Drakkars (Loki)

Drakkar stats:
HP: 264
Speed: 7.00
Hack armour: 48%
Pierce armour: 38%
Hack damage: 28

Drakkars win with 5 still alive.

Hmmm, not really a surprise because of how well hammer ships do against water myth units, but still quite disappointing because of the Drakkars low HP.
Also, it's much harder to use a chain attack on units once they surround you.

So how exactly does the Chain Lightning attack work? Is it like Son of Osiris' and can it be effective in water battles?

Here's some information on this attack:

1. The chain lightning is not a special attack. It is used every time the Man O'War attacks
   
2. The chain lightning attack does the exact same amount of damage to units of the same type with the same attack (e.g. 2 Biremes owned by the same player will receive the same amount of damage when attacked)
   
3. The maximum number of units or buildings the chain lightning can affect is 4
   
4. It can affect multiple units, multiple buildings and units+buildings in one hit.
   
5. The maximum range the chain lightning can reach is about 60-70. However, units and buildings must be within 10 range of the first unit attacked to be affected by the lightning
   
6. The lightning is sent in the direction that the Man O'War is facing If there no units/buildings in front of the unit/building that the Man O'War attacks, then the chain lightning will affect the nearest unit.
   
7. The chain lightning does work on flying units
   

Here are some results I found from various tests showing how the chain lightning affects different units and buildings:

8 damage to all fishing ships
11 damage to all transport ships
18 damage to all docks
9 damage to all Greek Villagers, Egyptian Labourers, Norse Gatherers and Dwarves
Interestingly, it does 18 damage to all Atlantean villagers.

Strangely, the Atlantean villagers have more hack armour than the other civs' villagers, and yet they receive more damage....

Further notes

The Man O'War defeats all human water units one on one (only just) Excluding units with Heroic Fleet and The Argo.

The Man O'War wins one on one against the following water MUs:
Servant
Leviathan
And against the Phoenix and Stymphalian Bird

The Man O'War loses one on one against the following water MUs:
Scylla
Carcinos
War Turtle
Kraken
Jormund Elver
Nereid

Man O'Wars are affected by:

Medusa Stone Gaze
Perseus Stone Gaze
Mummy's Minion Change
Argus' Toxic Acid
Lampades' Chaos
Nereid's Shark Attack
Frost Giant's Ice Breath

Suggested Usage:

Not particularly an effective melee fighter if used on its own. Used as backup for a strong naval army is a good idea though. Try sneaking the Man O'War round to use the chain lightning on as many units as possible; best against the ranged ships.
Also, the chain lightning works particularly well against buildings near the water. If the opponent has no defences there, then the jellyfish will certainly manage to do some damage to any barracks sitting by the ocean.

Also they work against any villagers or units by the land trying to build or gathering resources. Zapping them full of lightning makes raiding easier if you manage to get some units in there. Also it will stop builders and gatherers in their tracks; making them stop what they're doing for a brief time. If they decide to start doing what they were doing, then zap them again.
Any buildings or units close to each other are prime targets for the Man O'War to attack. You might even manage to damage a nearby TC through the chain of lightning, which is a very effective way of attacking; as we know from Son of Osiris.

Unfortunately, most water battles are over by Heroic, so seeing Man O'Wars is certainly a rare occurance, and it's rare that you would ever need to use them. Saying that, if you've won the water, then use your free Man O'War to attack buildings near the shore; your opponent will have no response to this except ranged units. Heal your Man O'War with a Servant or Caladria. If you're still being plagued by priests or Odysseus, then move to another spot.

Conclusion

I was very disappointed with the Man O'War's base attack, and how poorly it does against units by itself. However, combined with a fleet of ships, its chain lightning attack can seriously help you win battles. This attack is even more useful against buildings close to the shore which are easy for your Man O'War to attack. With a whole group of them against lots of buildings, then you have an evil and effective way of destroying buildings.

However, because most Water battles are sorted out in Classical and sometimes Heroic, unless you've won the water, Man O'Wars won't really help you out too much.

Against Greece: Watch out for the Ranged Heroes and The Argo, but use them against Siege ships and Buildings
Against Egypt: Priests are the bane in the Man O'Wars tentacles. Watch Man O'Wars when they're attacking buildings. Other than that, use them against weak ships, War Turtles and Leviathans
Against Norse: Man O'Wars are the best against the Norse once you've won the water. They have no real counter to them except for Trolls, Ballistae and their mega-powerful sea myth units.
Against Alantis: Again with Atlantis, it all depends on how well you're opponent is doing. If badly, then use them against fishing ships and buildings. If well, keep Man O'Wars away from Nereids and ranged heroes.

Unfortunately, the Man O'War doesn't seem to be on the same level of power as the Heka-Gigantes. Perhaps if ES fixed their stats (or the actual unit) then they'd do better. Maybe even give them a small increase in range and attack if their stats are correct.
Nevertheless, they're not particularly bad units if you know how to use them effectively. Buildings near the shore, ranged ships and fishing ships are your safest bet. If water battles last a bit longer, perhaps we'll see a few more floating around...

Thanks for reading guys, please vote for the MU guide I should do next week from the following MUs

Promethean
Caladria/Servant
Carnivora
Automaton
Nereid
Behemoth
Dryad
Argus

EDIT: Removed general stupidness and spelling errors

[This message has been edited by ArtemisChimera (edited 02-14-2004 @ 04:01 PM).]