[Scott Hebert]

Originally posted by Zen:
Actually since the Virtue flies, she will cast her buffs, (say Mirror Image, Mistform, Air Shield, Resist Lighting) then set her to attack (1 Round) to get close to masses of the enemy, then cast with the Last order being casting spells. She'll do the smart thing and chaincast Shockwave as long as she has nearby units that the game finds feasible to cast on (I think as long as the squares are 50% full of units around her)

Nice trick. IIRC, though, what are the chances she'll be able to cast it while in melee? 50%? To put up those buffs sounds like Alteration-3 and Evocation-2 to me. The Shedu needs none of that to take provinces. True, the Shedu should have an army, but an army of Peltasts is sufficient for the purpose, at least on Indep5.

And, if I may, at the same time the Virtue gets Thunder Strike (far safer than the above, though not nearly as cool), the Shedu gets Blade Wind. That's a wash, to me.

What I've heard from people 'in the know' is that GE Arco needs someone to help them take early provinces. The Shedu, to me, looks like one of the best candidates to do so. Take your beginning army, make a Priestess + a whole bunch of Peltasts. Attack a Province with Shedu/Priestess/Peltasts, with the Shedu doing anything you want for two turns, and then attacking the rear. This basically times the first or second Javelin volley from your troops for when the Shedu starts trampling, and that _will_ rout almost any Indep5 province, and probably would do a good job on higher Ratings. This starts province taking on turn 3.

Also, I believe it was mentioned that the Philosopher isn't as big as an advantage as people think because it was capital-only, and therefore its importance lessens as you build more forts.

I think there is some merit in this statement, but the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Look at it this way. _Most_ nations can hire their best mages only in their capital, and their secondary forts can only hire the researchers. The ramifications of this is that it takes time for the 'good' mages to get to the front, and the researchers are more exposed, if an enemy can get through the fort.

GE Arco inverts these conditions. Now, your Researchers are based in your Capital, and your 'good' mages are based in any of your Forts. This allows for faster deployment of your mages, and gives greater security to your researchers.