After a few weeks break, I am back to cover another Atlantean MU: The Automaton. I hope you have all been enjoying ManticoreKiller's Greek and Norse MU guides - I know I have, and I think he will be doing one on the As for the Automaton, they are well known for being cheap, weak and good in groups; and as being Leto's (apart from Spider Lair) only weapon in the game. Cost: 90 Gold, 8 Favour, 2 Pop Spaces x3 Bonus vs MUs Special attack: None In general, quite slow with quite low armour and attack, low HP, but look at that cost! Less than 100 resources and only Being cheap is one thing, but being effective in battle is another. How does an Automaton do one on one with a basic hoplite? Hoplite Stats: Automaton does approximately 7 damage to Hoplite per hit. Automaton kills Hoplite in 20 seconds with 88 HP left. As any melée myth unit should, the Automaton beats a basic infantry unit, although I was a little surprised with how much damage the Automaton received. Not bad for it's cost though, how does it do in groups? Slinger stats: All slingers die in 21 with 5 Automatons still alive Not really a surprise due to the slingers weak armour and attack, it was just a way to show how they do in groups. Remember, that the Automatons heal each other after this battle to full health to fight again. Also remember that any ranged unit faster than a non-ranged unit it is attacking will win with good micro. Well what about cavalry? Can Automatons be used effectively to defend from raiders? Automatons win with 5 still alive Now this was a surprise. I thought the RC would actually manage to kill one or two of those metal warriors, but no, seems that Automatons make nice defenders again cavalry in the Classical Age. From these tests we can see that Automatons are pretty weak fighters by themselves, but in groups they can be used effectively against weak ranged units like slingers or toxotes if they can get to them, and to defend against raids. What about against buildings? Guild stats: Automatons destroy guild in 15 seconds Maybe not as effective as the Cyclops, Einherjar or Sphinx, but their low pop cost means you can make more from the pop space; 2 Cyclopes only destroy the guild about 2-3 seconds faster than 4 Automatons. Well now we've looked at their basic attack, it's time to examine their special ability: being able to Cost: 200 Gold, 15 Favour In my opinion, the only reason to get this tech is for the extra HP, which is quite a substantial considering that Automatons only have 200 HP to begin with. The fact that it lets Automatons regenerate I find very strange. It isn't really necessary considering that Automatons can heal each other. Cost: 200 Gold, 50 Food, 18 Favour Quite a basic tech, but a bit pricey just for an armour improvement. Considering that Leto only has 2 techs, and that both affect Automatons, I don't think that either one is anything spectacular, and should The Automaton defeats The Automaton is defeated by all Classical MUs apart from Automatons can be affected by Automatons are affected by: However, The Automaton can be rebuilt when affected by Medusa, Perseus and the Mummy's instant kills - but not by the Argus' Automatons are cheap. That's their main strong point. You could practically call them human soldiers in terms of their pop space. They are not mega-powerful classical units like the Cyclops or Sphinx, but don't be fooled that they are as weak as some say they are. If you're going Leto, Automatons will be the only offensive thing you have: No free heroes, no healing and no military techs. Automatons can be used effectively, but once your opponent sees you advance through Leto, you can expect the heroes to be around the corner. Saying that, if kept away from heroes, Automatons can stand they're ground pretty well. Defending from Raiding Calvary and Hippikons works very well, and keeping 3 of them at your base can be useful to keep attackers away. If you're going to mass them and use them offensively, split them into 2 or 3 groups of 4-5. Send one group with your army as support. This should draw out your enemy's heroes, leaving the other groups of Automatons to take out a few houses or raid gold miners away from the main base. As Leto's only real weapon, Automaton's need to be strong, or at least they need something. That something is their cost. Considering the amount of wood and food you'll be spending on Turmae and Villagers, hopefully you should have a bit of gold to spare. Definitely make Automatons to defend a TC when you're booming as Gaia, and use them to put pressure on the enemy. They may sound funny, and you can always hear them coming by the sound of their metal boots marching towards your base, but the Automatons were designed with one thing in mind: the price. Massing them is easy, and keeping them alive is even easier if you manage to retreat them in time. They may not be able to lead an assault on a base like the Cyclops or Einherjar, and they may not stand up to units as well as the Anubite or Minotaur, but they make excellent defenders and reasonable support units. When your opponent goes Leto, as long as your they have gold and you're low on heroes, you should expect to hear the men of metal marching towards you at some point. Next week ManticoreKiller will be doing a guide on the Einherjar I believe. The week after I will be continuing with the Egyptian Myth Units. Creator of the Egyptian Myth Unit Guides - Phoenix, Wadjet, Scorpion Man, Scarab, Petsuchos [This message has been edited by ChimeraArtemis (edited 03-21-2004 @ 09:33 AM).]
HP: 200
Speed: 3.75
Hack Armour: 40%
Pierce Armour: 44%
Hack Damage: 11
Special ability: Ability to rebuild and heal other Automatons
Upgrades available:
All attack rates are tested per hit, not second. This is fine as the Automaton attacks every second.
HP: 126
Speed: 4.70
Hack armour: 41%
Pierce armour: 23%
Hack damage: 9
Hoplite does approximately 6 damage to Automaton per hit
HP: 78
Speed: 4.00
Range: 16
Hack Armour: 31%
Pierce Armour: 28%
Pierce Damage: 3
HP: 460
Crush Armour: 14%
Hack Armour: 34%
Pierce Armour: 95%
All Automatons are now called "
The Automaton is defeated by
Please vote for the Egyptian Myth Unit I should do in 2 weeks:
Sphinx
Anubite
Petsuchos
Leviathan
Avenger
Mummy
War Turtle
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