Agartha, from my under-the-works demo guide

[Daynarr]

Order 3, sloth 3, heat 2 (better then cold since they are cold blooded), growth 0, misfortune 1 and drain 2.
Dominion strenght 4 and you still have 10 design points.

Btw, I made and error, its W9E9N4. Enough to give 5% regeneration and protect sacred units from afflictions.

[Nerfix]

Hmmm, interesting. A tad extreme for my tastes though.

[Meglobob]

I am enjoying playing Agartha.

I have found a bless strategy of W9, N8 works really well.

Regeneration is key, to take advantage of those high hps. Well 2 high damaging attacks allow them to rip through enemies with ease.

Had 20 ancients ones blessed with W9, N8 supported by a mage/priest slaughter 1 vampire lord, 20 vampires, and a 110 strong supporting cast of longdead, thralls. Took 4 afflictions, thats it. This was around turn 10.

[Nerfix]

I just played Agartha. Got into an early war with Abysia, trounced them with the help of PoW's and Troglos/Troglo lords with Black Steel armor/Piercer.

The C'tis attacked.

Then Atlantis.

The Caelum.

I did quite well I'd say, but I would have like to test out some thug builgs instead of hauling around random troops as firebrigades.

[Lich]

Great guide, thanks Nerfix.

I'm new Dom3 and picked EA Agartha for my first full game; turn ~20 and things are looking good, mostly due to the tips in this thread

Couple of small things I noticed though.

the Earth Reader has 1 Holy, 1 Earth and 1 random pick of either Earth, Fire, Water or Death.

While this is almost always the case, I've had an earth reader come up with 1 earth and 1 blood so there must be a very small chance of getting at least B as the random school and possibly A/S/N too, although I haven't seen one yet.

Something else I found out to my expense was that Agartha benefit a lot from a high base dominion. Especially if you're pursuing any sort of bless strategy. This is because all their strongest units (except troglodytes) are holy and with low dominion you'll really suffer in the middle -> end game because you can't recruit them quickly enough. As you mentioned, pale one's really aren't useful for anything other than chaff past about turn 25.

[Agema]

Some quick thoughts from my experiences with EA Agartha:

Trogs are really expensive. Yes, they cut through independents. But you've got one of the best nations for a bless strategy in the game. Giants with a good bless (nature, should have earth, think about fire to up the Att values?) will cut through independents also. They also have good MR (14), so they'll be spell-resistant and useful later on as well. As they tend not to die, they can quickly get 2-3XP, which will make their Att respectable. Most critically, as they're sacred they cost half upkeep. The money saved can go towards oracles and castles.

Summoning strategies are important. Umbrals, magma children and earth elementals are all great for the cost, and can be summoned by earth readers, so won't distract your Oracles.

Earth readers need to do your research and national summoning. They might be fairly cheap, but they're pretty average researchers. Drain might hurt, although with lightless lanterns you can make up the deficit later. Get +Magic and you'll be well in the game.

Heat is important for Agartha. The cold blooded fatigue penalty is astronomical, even a max E bless will barely dent it in cold 2-3. I wouldn't even recommend neutral temperature, take +1heat minimum. Death is also advisable (maybe 1-2!) as you don't need supplies, and the points are better spent elsehwere.

Being amphibious and having Water mages (albeit only E3-4, W1-2, very rarely W3 or E5), Agartha can compete underwater. Don't expect to outclass a water nation, but Agartha can put up a very respectable performance. There are also obvious strategic advantages - pop underwater and come out on land on the other side. What I would stress about Agartha is that although you CAN build fortresses underwater, DON'T unless the province supports indy mages. You cannot build ancient ones, troglodytes or earth readers underwater: without indy mages, you've just build a useless castle.

[Agrajag]

Just a note for any recent readers - this thread is almost two years old.

[Lich]

Aye sorry, I came across it in the strategy index and didn't notice how old it was until after I'd posted. Most of the info is still current anyhow.

Agema, I went with a F4E4N6 Forge Lord pretender; I considered a E9W9 Ageless Olm for a strong bless strat but it would have required some pretty extreme scales, and given that EA Agartha don't really get any decent thugs (in the early game at least) I figured it probably wouldn't be worth it. Any thoughts on this?

Also, are you sure that ancient ones and earth readers can't be recruited underwater? Being amphibious I'd have thought there wouldn't be a problem.

[Agema]

Underwater, for commanders you can recruit only pale one captains with - I think - a spear and sharkskin armour (11 prot?). Unitwise there are are wet ones with and without sharkskin armour. Whatever, they ain't worth it.

EA Agartha does have good thugs, right from the start! Ancient Lords and Oracles. Oracles have big advantages: they can self-bless, cast earthpower to regen fatigue, and an armour spell like stoneskin, ironskin or invulnerability. They are however incredibly expensive (400 gold), and some suffer from old age, bad for thugs. Ancient Lords might need to be blessed/buffed by items or an outside source, but are much cheaper and can be bought outside the capital.

F4E4N6 I think is a decent bless for Agartha. 4F is good not just for the bless but for getting fire boosting items. E4 is a pretty low reinvig bonus, you could think about increasing it if you have points as it won't make a big difference. N6 is a solid +10regen bless, giving giants plenty of lastability.

[sector24]

The troglodyte commanders are decent thugs too.