After a close poll last week, the Dryad just managed to creep up to the top spot, making it the subject of this week's guide. Having to cast a God Power to get these units makes them quite unique, and I'm sure we've all seen them walking and screaming around the battlefield. But can these tree-nymphs (or drag queens as some call them) actually cause an opponent some real harm? Cost: 150 Gold, 0 Favour, 0 Pop Spaces Special attack: None Weak, light, moderate speed with no real special attacks or ability. But just look at how Sure it's mega cheap, but just how strong is it? Let's see how it does against a Greek Hoplite All attack rates are tested per hit, not second. The Dryad attacks every 1.5 seconds, so it's base hack attack each hit is Dryad does approximately 12 damage to Hoplite per hit. Dryad kills Hoplite in 18 seconds with 146 HP left Interestingly, the Dryad only just managed to do worse than the Satyr. No real shocks or surprises here, although it did manage to lose quite a large proportion of its HP. Now, I had quite a problem with running some of these tests, in terms of making them as fair as possible; because the Dryad costs no pop, how can I make each side balanced? I've decided (for the purpose of these tests alone) to make the Dryads equivalent to 3 pop spaces. This doesn't affect in game battles and games in any way, it is just a way of working out how many units to use vs so many Dryads CA stats: Dryads win with 2 still alive Not really a surprise here. When there's a battle between myth units and human soldiers, then myth units Because these units are so versatile, just how do they do against buildings? House stats: Dryad does 16 damange to house per hit Dryad takes 47 seconds to destroy house. Maybe not the fastest building killer in the game; certainly by the Scarab, Behemoth and Heka-Gigantes standard. Still, it's better than the ranged units, and sending 1 Dryad to attack a building isn't really going to help you very much. But what about more than one of them? Dryads take 50 seconds to destroy the Palace You see, when massed, they can take down a building with as many HP as a Palace in approximately the same time it takes for one to destroy a house. From my experience of using Dryads in games, They're useful to aid in an attack on an enemy base. Once their army is out of the way, send Fire Siphons with the 5 Dryads to pick off any lurking villagers or milita while the rest of your army heals or moves on to another base. They may not be the game's most powerful unit, but any unit that costs 0 favour and no pop spaces must be good for something. Just don't forget how easily they die to heroes, particularly with that low HP. Also remember that if your opponent takes the Hesperides Tree, they can also create Dryads, so have some heroes ready The Dryad defeats all human units with Heroic upgrades one on one except: The Dryad is defeated by all heroes in the Heroic Age except for the priest; although it was very close The Dryad is defeated against Dryads can be affected by If Dryads are owned by other civs they can be affected by: If the Tree is owned by Dryads are affected by: Mainly for army support. Using them alone in a battle is just suicide and a waste of gold. An even battle between Atlateans can quite easily decided if you use these Nymphs correctly. Although they die miserabley to heroes, they make nice general melee units; you could pretty much call them human soldiers if it wasn't for the fact they fall to heroes so badly. Saying that, they're main usage is not siege; Dryads can do pretty much anything - including raid, although they'd be a little slow to run away if a hero comes along. Use them for backup, siege, raiding or just a diversion to draw out your enemy's heroes while you send in the Stymphalian Birds or Behemoths. Just try not to waste them - sure you won't be using up favour and pop space, but 750 gold is a heck of a lot to waste if they just get slaughtered. The Dryad is not an amazing unit; and for only 150 Gold, it shouldn't be. They're excellent support units, just don't expect to win because you have a few crazy=haired trees walking around. Cheap, quite weak and strange looking (not to mention sounding); the Dryad seems to fit in with the Atlantean culture quite well, and can certainly help win you clinch close battles. They may not defeat your opponent by themselves, but they can definitely help your army to do so. Please vote for whether I should carry on with the EDIT: Oh BTW, my old name, ArtemisChimera kinda went a little screwy and I can't get into it anymore, so I re-created as the same name I use on ESO for less confusion Creator of the Egyptian Myth Unit Guides - Phoenix, Wadjet, Scorpion Man, Scarab, Petsuchos [This message has been edited by ChimeraArtemis (edited 02-22-2004 @ 07:28 AM).]
HP: 275
Speed: 4.50
Crush armour: 99%
Hack armour: 40%
Pierce armour: 50%
Hack damage: 15
Special ability: None
Only
Hoplite does approximately 8 damage to Dryad per hit
HP: 108
Speed: 5.00
Range: 20
Hack armour: 43%
Pierce armour: 35%
Pierce damage: 11
Luckily for Oranos and Gaia players, we don't have another Satyr on our hands, and the Dryad at least seems to do as expected for a cheap, Heroic myth unit. But also, we don't have another Heka-Gigantes which out-performed even itself.
HP: 495
Crush armour: 14%
Hack armour: 30%
Pierce armour: 95%
Jarls
War Elephants
I'd say use them to harrass an enemy's buildings, especially houses. 5 Dryads should manage to take down a few before the heroes come along, and they certainly won't fall to villagers as bad as Fire Siphons do.
Particularly for Gaia who doesn't receive a single siege bonus, along with Theia's Contarius, you could do some pretty severe damage to your opponents buildings while they're not looking.
Use your head - don't just train Dryads because you can and you think win with them; after seeing you've just worshipped Theia, your opponent should be expecting to see some Dryads, and will probably perpare for them. And like most MUs in AoM, Dryads need micro; if you keep them away from heroes and attacking the weaker units, you should be fine.
I will be taking a short break from guide writing, and will return soon to carry on. ManticoreKiller will be handling the Greek and Norse Myth Units, which leave me to do do the Egyptian and Atlantean ones.
ESO user name - ChimeraArtemis
Favourite Major Gods: Isis, Hades, Gaia, Loki, Ra, Thor
And the Atlantean Myth Unit Guides: Stymphalian Bird, Satyr, Lampades, Heka-Gigantes, Man O'War, Dryad, Automaton