I think that this was prbably the first MU I used in AOM in the vanilla spc and I remembered being very pleased with it. Big, slow one eyed dudes with a club. Those familiar with pro wrestling (WWE) may see the resemblance this unit has to 'Kane'. They even have the same chokeslam.
Special: Picks up any human unit (even elephants) and throws them a distance (between 8 and 14 metres) causing splash damage where they land. The amount of splash damage depends on the unit's hitpoints (well done ES!). Values I got were between 37 hack damage (for a hoplite) to over 70 (for a war elephant). If the poor unit's corpse bounces (ugh!), the damage is multiplied per bounce. Typically, they bouce 2-3 times. This is very inconsistent but inconsistency is this unit's middle name as we shall see later. Recharges in 20 seconds. Some important points to note are- 1. The throw is in the direction it was pointing when it lifted the unit up. Bonuses: 3x damage vs other MUs Cost: 250F 20Fv 4Pop Looking at the stats you might be forgiven for thinking this was a heroic age MU. It isn't though it acts and costs as much as one. I have always believed that food is the most important resource in calssical so it is unlikely that you would be using large groups of cyclopes. The upgrade is hideously expensive but is huge in terms of the amount it improves this unit. I did not mention that it also reduces training time by 25% (Not as if you can afford to queue them up like that). What I want to know is- where in all of Erebus do you get 25 Favour in classical without wrecking your econ??? In absolute terms as a unit, this looks good even if you compare it to the heroic and even some Mythic MUs. It's also really, really slow. Let's see how it does in the tests. For the tests, I have usually considered an unupgraded Cyclops because of a few factors that make using the upgrade in classical next to impossible. Firstly, the Cyclops is so expensive in all aspects that getting the upgrade could be suicidal by delaying your heroic age. Second, the upgrade also costs food- usually, upgrades cost a different resource but this one adds to the food cost of an already expensive unit. It just isn't viable. The only scenario I see a need for this upgrade is if you choose Apollo in heroic and need a big, poweful meatshield for your Toxotes and Manticores. In all other cases, you get all round better MUs in heroic which will do the same job much better. The Elder Cyclops What about the normal Cyclops- more likely to get into a fight with a classical MU The Cylops is affected by These tests prove that the Cyclops is an exceptional combat unit which has a few problems with pathing without which it would be even better. While it all looks very impressive, in all honesty, I found the cyclops a very slow unit, almost too slow to be useful. Ranged units would be able to eat them alive by adopting a shoot- move- shoot strategy. The early rush described earlier can be sucessfully used vs all civs except the Egyptians. vs Greeks- Great to use a few against the greeks' expensive military buildings in classical. If properly microed, the special can also take out key greek units like hippkons and the UUs later on. vs Norse- Not advisable because of the Hersirs you are sure to encounter. Still, with weak buildings, its a better choice than the Minotaur. One of the few classical MUs with no problems agianst Jarls. vs Egyptians- Rather not. With their priests and pharohs, they can take out a Cyclops in no time at all. If you really want to use it, this unit is a successful counter to the war elephant but that's only post heroic. vs Atlanteans- Weak Attie buildings makes this a temptation to use this against them. The only problem is that this unit is very easy to kill with Turmae which can shoot- move- shoot with no problem as the Cyclops is one of the slowest units in the game. This is even more pronounced when valor is used on the Turmae. Right- now vote for Try making your choice in
Cyclops (Greek Classical age MU)
Melee MU with superb capability against buildings.
Available to players who choose Ares (Posiedon/Hades)
Can be upgraded to the Elder Cyclops by researching the
Stats (Stats of the Upgraded unit with a breakup of how the upgrade affects the original unit ):
HP: 650
Hack Damage: 22 (15 + 7)
Crush Damage: 24 (12 + 12)
Hack Armour: 50%
Pierce Armour: 50%
Crush Armour: 80%
Speed: 3.50
2. It takes 5 seconds to act. The cyclops takes damage while it is up.
3. The range has nothing to do with the size of the unit. It throws a War Elephant farther than an Arcus! (Really!!)
4. The AI works such that without any micro, a cyclops will follow a pre-targeted unit in a group round and round until it is able to 'chokeslam' it taking damage all the time without retaliating. This causes the infamous pathing problems it has given its slow speed.
5. The Area of effect of the special is only a small circular area around each place the flying corpse bounces.
6. Buildings and heroes do not get damaged.
7. MUs take 3x damage if hit by a flying corpse even though they cannot be lifted by the Cyclops
8. Whew! this is confusing. If someone has more light to shed on this please do so.
Note: all human units have full classical upgrades (Medium All and Copper All)
First of all, the Cyclops normal attack takes two forms. First, it has an underarm swing of the club which it does about once a second. Second, it has an overhead swat which it does once every two seconds. Which shot it uses is random and though they might do varying amounts of damage per shot, they will do the same damage on a per second basis. To cut a long story short the cyclops kills the hoplite in 15 seconds finishing with 570hp.
For an Elder Cyclops, the story is the same- only shorter. It takes just 10 seconds to kill the hoplite with 600 hp left.
I disabled the special for this test.
In this test, I hope to show you that a Cyclops can be used as a rush unit to take down a town center (undefended). I used two normal cyclopes (unupgraded) costing a total of 500 Food, 40 Favour and 8 pop slots. You can take down the town center unassisted in 95 seconds losing one cyclops in the process. In comparison, using one Elder Cyclops (costing with the upgrade- 450 Food 45 Favour and 4 pop slots) only results in leaving the TC with 1600 hp left. This could be a viable strat for an early greek rush particularly for Hades players using a supporting force of toxotes to keep heroes away. You could advance to classical early and build an academy (or a stable for poseidon players) and an archery range. Build another cyclops to add to the free one you get with the age advancement. Rush your opponents base using your archers to keep away heroes and take down the TC with your cyclops. Cast pestilence on his rax/LH only well into your attack so that he loses any units he queued. Use your hoplites or hippkons to attack his/her houses and rax. Once the TC goes down move your toxotes to take out those villies that are left and use your remaining cyclops to take out his remaining buildings. It's just a suggestion but I think it should work.
I decided on the Mountain Giant to demonstrate how this unit rules vs MUs. Not only does the Cyclops get an uber bonus but it also does a huge amount of crush damage which MUs are more suceptible to. The MG is almost like a bigger, badder Cyclops. True, it does not have the Cyclops' bonus against MUs but it still does reasonably well. I used an Elder Cyclops for this one coz the MG is a heroic MU. The Elder Cyclops does between 39-51 damage to the MG per shot (two attack styles). The MG does between 15-26 damage per shot (two attack styles as well- the kick and the swat). Net result- the Elder Cyclops kills the Mountain Giant in 42 seconds with 75 hitpoints left. In general-
The Elder Cyclops aso
Nemean Lion
Mountain Giant
Manticore
Satyr
Petsuchos
Battle Boar
It loses to all other MUs not mentioned
It
You must be thinking that I just lost my marbles. This is no contest- the Cyclopes will win. Well, they didn't. The pathing is so bad that two of the three spent almost 15 seconds going round in circles after particular units. In the end the three Cyclopes were all killed with 5 hoplites and 2 toxotes surviving in 65 seconds
First of all, let's look at the overall Ares package. The techs are very useful and the GP can be a superb foil for an attack. This is a great unit per se. The only problem is that it can be prohibitively expensive to use in Classical. Poseidon players are definitely better off going in for Hermes who has a better overall package with an all important cavalry tech. Hades players however, would do well to go with Ares as Athena is a weak package overall, the excellent Minotaur notwithstanding. Hades players can also use the upgraded Cyclops as a weaker substitue for the Hydra in heroic given they can't take Dionosyus. However if Hades players want to take Aphrodite in heroic, the Nemean Lion is a better all round unit so the Cyclops would not be much use in that case.
After that long technical discourse- let's come to the unit. There is no denying that as a unit- it's awesome. It has a few minor weaknesses, but nothing to deflect from its near invincibility one on one. The problem is that it is so costly that a player is unlikely to have more than two or three Cyclopes until the later ages where it will be largely outmatched by stonger later age MUs. As a unit, I will admit that I stuggled to find a use for this one. True, it is great against buildings but so are almost all the Greek MUs. In addition, both Hades and Posiedon get great building killing UUs in Mythic which add to the already formidable Petrobulos and Heliopolis seige capability. What is worse is that the Cyclops quickly becomes redundant unless you are a Hades player planning to take Apollo. Even by Heroic standards, it is a very expensive unit. The only viable strategy I could think of for the Cyclops is to use it for a rush in classical which I have described before. Barring that, I cannot repeat enough how costly this is for a Classical MU. Food is the most important resource in Classical and Heroic. This is because not only do you need it for an age up, but you also need a lot of it for infantry and cavalry. Most important of all is the fact that you need 50 food for a villager. It is my conclusion that using more than a couple of Cyclopes in classical will not only set you back for your Heroic advancement, but it will also wreck your economy by denying you the food for more villies as well as weakening your human unit force which is quite frankly, still the most important component of any army. In short, the Cyclops is a self contradictory unit. It is awesome, but is impossible to use when it really has its edge. It has one of the best upgrades in the game, but it is almost impossible to research it when it counts. It is a great unit, but it is not something anyone can use to its full potential.
Einherjar
Troll
Valkyrie
Battle Boar
Frost Giant
Mountain Giant
Kraken
Fenris Wolf
Fire Giant
Jormund Elver
[