[Squirrelloid]

Ok, having just played 15-20 LA Ulm games through turn 12 with C3, it always dropped to C2 by summer. *Always*. I won't comment on the spread of cold, because my dominion was generally low (4-5).

Also, C3/H3 is a great way to afford O3, rather than taking Mf. And elephants are not going to fatigue out that fast against independents, which is the only place they're useful.

Thinking about this some more, I like luck scales, but arco has a fortune teller unit. That makes misfortune more tempting - so long as you're willing to accept you might just get shafted early.

Also, production is over-rated as Arco because their units suck. Seriously. I'd poor my money into mercenaries or independents over that crap. Elephants are about your only national troop worth buying, and then only early for expansion - and you're going to be cash limited more than resource limited. I'd take Sloth 3 every time.

So, if i were playing Arco, my scales probably look something like O3 Sl3 H/C3, which is +120 points, and then it depends on pretender design. An awake Virtue with minimalist paths (A4S4), dom 10, and Gr1 Lk2 Mg1 looks reasonable. (17pts left, but there's nowhere good to spend them). Tweak scales to taste. In CBM, that's basically net-neutral on income in *worst case* scenario (ie, if your temp scale is actually maxxed out on the turn), and has reasonably good luck events, strong research, and an awake SC to help with expansion.