[st.patrik]

It seems to me that GE Arco is designed to not be able to have many quality troops. My first impulse when playing a nation is to get the best troops in the largest quantities and buff them so that they are a force to be reckoned with - but I think this approach is fundamentally the wrong one with GE. It seems to me that the way to go is with strong elemental attacks - multiple mages casting direct-damage elemental attacks, while protected by a small bodyguard of myrmidons. Of course this isn't an early game strategy, but with the philosophers and a magic scale you can get to mid levels of evocation fairly quickly.

later game it should be possible to get some tough-guy summons (kings and queens of the elements come to mind) to bolster your offense.

The other thing that strikes me about GE is that it lends itself to multiple castles in a big way - firstly to get as many myrmidons as possible, and second, because your defense does not lie in standing armies, but in castle walls - with your engineers you can hold an enemy army at bay.

So I'm thinking for GE a cheap castle, but with a decent admin and defence value, and a strong magic scale to get research done quickly and decrease opponents MR, and a pretender who can forge path-enhancing items for your mages.

Note that I haven't actually tried this out yet, but I think something like this would maximize GE's strengths.