Like the Phoenix, I've always liked the Wadjet. Well, the way it looks, sounds etc. NOT how strong and powerful it is

The ranged, venomous cobra with a powerful attack that can regenerate.
Or the weak, cruddy, slow MU that loses against everything.

Let's look at the Wadjet's stats:

Cost: 150 Wood, 15 Favour, 3 Pop spaces.
HP: 240
Speed: 3.80
Hack armour: 20%
Pierce armour: 30%
Pierce damage: 16
Range: 18

So quite cheap, reasonable HP for a classical myth unit (higher than Centaur, Troll and the Anubite) quite low armour, great range and very good attack but very slow.

So why is the Wadjet so disliked?

The Wadjet is best against infantry and archers, and weakest against cavalry because of their speed.

Testing the Wadjet against an un-upgraded basic infantry unit of each culture seemed like a good place to start.

NOTE: All attacks are in Damage done per hit, not second. But don't worry, all the units attack once per second, so it works. The Wadjet does not have 100% accuracy, so it sometimes misses it's target. Also, all units are un-upgraded.

Test 1: 1 Wadjet vs 1 Hoplite

Hoplite stats:
HP: 115
Hack armour: 34%
Pierce armour: 15%
Hack damage: 9

Wadjet deals 20 damage per hit to Hoplite
Hoplite deals 8 damage per hit to Wadjet.

Wadjet takes 8 seconds to kill Hoplite in 5 hits.

Not too much damage done to the Wadjet, it will regenerate it anyway. Nice an easy to kill the Hoplite with it's low pierce armour.

Test 2: 1 Wadjet vs 1 Spearman

Spearman stats:
HP: 70HP
Hack armour: 40%
Pierce armour: 20%
Hack damage: 7

Wadjet deals 20 damage per hit to Spearman
Spearman deals 6 damage per hit to Wadjet

Wadjet takes 5 seconds to kill Spearman in 4 hits.

Easier than the Hoplite because of lower HP.

Test 3: 1 Wadjet vs 1 Ulfsark (classical)

Ulfsark stats:
HP: 80
Hack armour: 30%
Pierce armour: 5%
Hack damage: 9

Wadjet deals 27 damage per hit to Ulfsark
Ulfsark deals 7 damage per hit to Wadjet.

Wadjet takes 4 seconds to kill Ulfsark in 4 seconds.

This is where the Wadjet really shows it's strength. Against the Norse Ulfsarks and Throwing Axemen, the Wadjet will have no problem because of their extremely low pierce armour.

Well we know that the Wadjet is best against infantry, but how does it do against the other ranged classical MUs?

Test 4: 1 Wadjet vs 1 Centaur

Centaur stats:
HP: 220
Hack armour: 25%
Pierce armour: 34%
Pierce damage: 12
Range: 12

Wadjet deals 16 damage per hit to Centaur.
Centaur deals 26 damage from its special attack to Wadjet.
Centaur deals 36 damage per hit normally to Wadjet.

Centaur takes 7 seconds to kill the Wadjet in 6 hits.

Now what's wrong with this picture? Not only does the Centaur do more damage than the Wadjet, but it does less damage in its special attack than normally. Strange. The Centaur wins because of its bonus damage against MUs.

How does the troll do?

Test 5: 1 Wadjet vs 1 Troll

Troll stats:
HP: 200
Hack armour: 50%
Pierce armour: 50%
Pierce damage: 12
Range: 14

Wadjet deals 12 damage per hit to Troll
Troll deals 38 damage per hit to Wadjet

The Troll also gains 10 HP for each attack it makes on the Wadjet.
Yet another MU that does bonus damage against other MUs. It also has very high pierce armour that makes the Wadjet's attack even weaker.

Hmmm, looks like the Wadjet dies miserably to all other MUs, heroes, and Jarls.
On the other hand, it beats every single un-upgraded human unit 1 on 1. Which it should do, like all MUs should do.
(It takes 6 un-upgraded toxotes to kill 1 Wadjet)

But this still doesn't make up for how terrible the Wadjet is. I think my tests have proven that the Wadjet does well against human units, particularly infantry, and is really terrible against other MUs and heroes.

The Wadjets are only really good against the Norse. Against Greek and Egyptian it's just a waste of wood and favour. Sure Eggies don't need much wood, but you be saving it for economic upgrades and seige instead of wasting it on Wadjets. But against Norse, especially Thor who might have lots of Ulfs, sure, make some Wadjets, but don't rely on them to raid or attack anything but infantry.

Massed they might be ok, but do you really want to waste all that pop space on Wadjets instead of axemen and slingers? And only ever make them in classical. If your opponents are in Heroic or Mythic, your Wadjets will die horribly to upgraded heroes, Jarls and other STRONG MUs

Conclusion

The Wadjet is, in my opinion, the worst myth unit in the game at the moment, followed closely by the troll, and really does need some sort of boost. They need to be improved to at least match the strength of the Anubite and Sphinx.

Enjoy NOT using Wadjets in game (unless you're playing against Norse) because they really aren't anything special.

EDIT: Also, it looks like the Wadjet does splash damage like Phoenixes and Manticores do to units when attacking. However, the animation is deceiving. Wadjets do no splash damage to units or buildings.

[This message has been edited by ArtemisChimera (edited 08-30-2003 @ 04:15 PM).]