I hoped you enjoyed ManticoreKiller's great Einherjar Guide last week. This week I'm starting the Egyptian Myth Units again. After the new and exciting Atlantean MUs, it feels good to be back at home with my favourite culture - Egypt. And what better than to start with the Petsuchos.

Here are there stats:

Cost: 200 Gold, 15 Favour, 4 Pop Spaces
HP: 480
Speed: 3.60
Hack Armour: 40%
Pierce Armour: 44%
Crush Damage: 12
Pierce Damage: 55
Range: 20

x 2 Bonus vs MUs
x 0.25 Bonus vs Heroes

Special attack: None
Special ability: 100% Accuracy
Upgrades available:
Crocodopolis - Increases the Petsuchos' Range and LOS

So mega attack, reasonable HP, slow and weakly armoured, but the cost! Only 15 Favour!
In terms of favour alone, the Petsuchos is the cheapest Heroic MU - even beating the Satyr. Heck the favour cost in the same as the Anubite's and Wadjet's, and cheaper than the Sphinx. So surely this means there's got to be something about the Petsuchos that makes it different from the other ranged units which cost more. Is it easily massable like the Automaton? Or a nice meaty unit that can survive a lot of damage from other units like the Mountain Giant? Let's see how it does against a basic Greek Hoplite.

NOTE: All units have been upgraded with Medium and Heavy line upgrades and Copper and Bronze armoury 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 second. The Petsuchos attacks every 3 seconds, so its base pierce attack each hit is an incredible 165. Or is it?

Test 1: 1 Petsuchos vs 1 Hoplite (Zeus)

Hoplite Stats:
HP: 143
Speed: 4.70
Hack armour: 47%
Pierce armour: 31%
Hack damage: 11

Petsuchos does approximately 39 damage to Hoplite per hit
Hoplite does approximately 8 damage to Petsuchos per hit

Petsuchos kills Hoplite in 10 seconds.

No real surprise that the Petsuchos won, but the amount of damage it did is interesting. Taking that the Petsuchos' base pierce attack per second is 165 (which is an extremely large amount for any MU), then with the Hoplite's armour, the Petsuchos should in theory have an attack per hit of 116 (115.5) - which it clearly doesn't.

By doing some boring maths sums, I've worked out that the Petsuchos' base attack per hit is approximately 55; not 165 like the stats would have you believe. It's no real surprise that it wasn't as high as 165, and 55 is actually a very decent amount - well it would be if the Petsuchos attacked per second. But it doesn't, and so the real base attack has to be divided by 3 (it attacks every seconds).

This makes the Petsuchos' base attack per second 18.

Unfortunately for Petsuchos fans, it does not have a 55 pierce damage per second rate like the stats say it does: either ES are fooling us, they made a mistake, or I made a mistake. I am personally hoping the second option is correct

That said, 18 is not too bad an attack, and considering that the Petsuchos has 100% accuracy all the time and only costs 15 favour, I suppose we can take it with a pinch of salt and check out how well the Petsuchos does against other units.

Test 2: 3 Petsuchos vs 4 Chariot Archers (Set)

Chariot Archer stats:
HP: 108
Speed: 5.00
Range: 20
Hack armour: 43%
Pierce armour: 35%
Pierce damage: 11

Petsuchos win with all 3 still alive.

Due to the Petsuchos' long range, if you are attacked by CAs or Arcus who also have the same amount of range, simply attack back. Don't let the Petsuchos lose too much HP by pesky, long ranged archers while it is busy attacking melée units.
The Petsuchos also has much better accuracy than the CA and Arcus, so while their arrows are missing, the Crocs' sunbeams will always hit their targets.

But what about more "beefy" units?

Test 3: 3 Petsuchos vs 6 Raiding Cavalry (Thor)

Petsuchos win with all 3 alive.

Although one Petsuchos was close to being killed, it was an easy victory for the Crocodiles. With micro, these laser-gators can make easy work of raiders attacking your gold villagers, although I wouldn't advise you use them for this.

Notice that the Petsuchos has 12 Crush Damage? I tested out 3 Petsuchos against an Oranos Manor, but it really wasn't worth the effort. The crocs do more damage then a Manticore or Satyr would, but it's really not worth using them for seige unless you're finishing an enemy off or you need ranged seige to take out nearby buildings while you're at a stand off.

Unless you have the:

Crocodopolis upgrade:

Petusuchos are now called Petsuchos Ra
+ 6 Range
+ 4 LOS

This now gives the Petsuchos a masimum range of an impressive 26. Not only does this give them an advantage over long ranged units like the CA, Arcus and Chieroballista, but it means they will outrange towers and other fortified building such as the Palace and Migdol Stronghold.
This gives the Petsuchos a great new way to harrass the enemy. Because the Egyptians don't receive any ranged seige weapons until the Mythic Age, the Petsuchos can actually be used as a sort of seige. In a stand off, keep the Petsuchos behind your towers and buildings, and attack the enemy's towers or fortified buildings. Against the Norse it may not be wise due to the fact that their infantry will rebuild the damage done easily, but against Greece, Egypt and Atlantis it could work well; that's if there are no heroes around.

How Eclipse affects the Petsuchos:

Original stats:
HP: 480
Speed: 3.60
Hack Armour: 40%
Pierce Armour: 44%
Crush Damage: 12
Pierce Damage: 55

Eclipsed stats:
HP: 480
Speed: 4.32
Hack Armour: 49%
Pierce Armour: 44%
Crush Damage: 12
Pierce Damage: 82

Now that's one beefed up unit. An amazing 82 attack per hit, or 27 per second; not too shabby at all. Eclipse is definitely worth saving for the Petsuchos, instead of getting it just for Ancestors. If you've massed a few of these crocs, I'd definitely say you should cast Eclipse with a large assault with your army and Petsuchos. Without a lot of heroes (especially ranged) you should do some serious damage to your enemy with these lazer-crocs

Further Notes

The Petsuchos defeats all Heroic and Classical units one on one except for:
Jarl (even though it was very close)
War Elephant

The Petsuchos is defeated by all Heroic heroes (including all Atlantean heroes and the Heroic Priest)

The Petsuchos defeats the following Heroic MUs one on one: