[Verjigorm]

I always enjoy Arco as well. They're my favorite nation, but EA is my least favorite version as they have neither astrologers nor heart companions. The Astral/Nature combo Sibyl with her Fortunetelling (15) ability is also a unit I'm quite fond of, though not as much as the Astrologers as 1/4 astrologers can Mind Hunt without a booster whereas Sibyls are 1/4 can hunt with one booster.

I have run many strategy variations with Arco, and they are relatively robust all around. I always find that people playing arco tend to overlook the Myrmidon for some reason. They're incredibly resource intensive (and Arco has very little resources), but Myrmidons are a nasty little swarm of units. They have 12HP, 11 Strength, and 17 protection. The last item being the best part about them. They have an extremely low gold cost which makes them more "cost effective" if you take a less-than-rich arco. Lots of people tend to take arco rich which isn't strictly necessary--granted, it is useful since Orieads and Mystics are not the cheapest mages around (in fact quite the opposite).

It's also not impossible to recruit Wind Riders, either. Wind Riders are very nice troops and I love hiring them and Icarids quite frequently--not because they are necessarily a superior individual unit mind you, but Icarids are VERY fast on the map and in battle. This speed and their low resource cost allows them to swarm archers and back line units easily and their large numbers usually allows for good flanking which tears apart lightly-armored units early on.

I think people give Arcoscephale's units too little credit.

Heart Companion is still my favorite even though they're cap-only. I usually give them either Twist Fate or Flaming Weapons, but don't go for a double/triple bless since they're cap only. Now in LA, I was thinking that, since Sibyl's are sacred, an E9 would be quite appropriate bless for them since the rejuv makes up for the Sibyl's lack of Earth magic relative to the Oriead (even though I would never presume to say that a Sibyl could ever compare to an Oriead), but then again, E4S9 might still be better... and you could still get away with a bit more E like E6 maybe... so many possibilities. I hate to limit myself to just one "standard" build... so boring.

On another note, I've also taken Arco builds that don't incorporate Sloth which reduces the attractiveness of the Philosopher (since Production scales give research penalties) and increases the attractiveness of the Mage Engineer as an early researcher and item forger. You will only end up with just a handful of Mage Engineers since your income should be good enough to get Orieads every turn a bit more quickly for non-sloth arco. It also opens up swarms of Myrmidons, Chariots, and Wind Rider cavalry. This, of course, was an SP game, though I wouldn't be above trying it in MP sometime given the opportunity.

Taking Sloth-1 Magic-1 can also free up production quite a bit and doesn't do too bad on research--though you'll switch to Oriead production asap. Sloth-3 Magic-1 I think is quite common.