[Daynarr]

So you use them for the equivilant of a Caelum Drop Squad (3 Mages and some Guards).

That is exactly it! Same tactic I would use as Caelum. Only with Arco I get much more ground troop choices/power.

Of course not, but a good comparison for them would be Valkyries, or would you disagree?

Valk
60 Gold 12 Resources
Hp 13
Prot 13
Morale 12
MR 14
Enc 5
Str 11
Att 13
Def 15
Prec 13
Mv 3/11
Stealth +25, Flying, Glamour, Sacred
Spear, Chain Mail Curiass, Helmet, Round Shield

Wind Rider
125 Gold 35 Resources
Hp 13
Prot 17
Morale 14
MR 12
Enc 5
Str 11
Att 12
Def 16
Prec 10
Mv 3/22
Flying, Sacred
Lance, Spear, Hoof, Bronze Hauberk, Full Helmet, Round Shield

Did I miss something or were the positive changes (In Bold) worth double the resources and gold cost of the unit? The ones in italic are the ones that are negative from the Valkyrie.

I agree it should be more expensive, but I don't know if quite to that extreme.

Well, the difference in protection is not so small (difference between light and medium infantry) so it justifies resource difference. They do get initial powerfull strike with lances which makes them much more devastating on their first attack comparing to Valkyries although Valkyries have glamour that gives them sort of 'mirror image' protection.
It's quite valid question and I'm not sure if they really should cost so much if you compare these units alone, but I think developers took into account overall unit strength for both nations. If you compare what Arco and Vanheim have at their disposal you will see that Arco has significant advantage in choices/power comparing to Vanheim in both magic and 'might' (most of them I already mentioned in initial post). It’s probably a global picture where Vanheim is given advantage of making more cheaper sacred units to make up for other disadvantages. I do believe that giving Wind Riders cost less then 100 gold would make it unbalancing - that protection and powerful first strike is significant factor and if Arco is allowed to build Riders in great numbers they could simply overwhelm large armies.

Edit:

And Wind Guide and Archers works on "Fire Fliers" like a charm. Even while they are waiting to charge. More significant with Flaming Arrows (common) or xbows (common).

You will not use Riders to attack that force so I assume your Riders will get attacked.
That requires that enemy gets both fire and air mages to attack them and bring a significant force of archers/crossbows with them. Like I said, not easy to do since they will rarely stay still in same province and as flyers they have lots of optional destinations.
Additionally, you can bring a wind mage of your own with them to cast Arrow Fend on your archers and solve the problem (if Riders are defending they get to do it first!).

[ February 17, 2004, 10:07: Message edited by: Daynarr ]