Help with Arco

[Jasper]

Body Ethereal works great on elephants, just make sure to group them with Hypaspists for morale.

LI javelins should be good too, but don't put them front and center. They get massacred by bowfire or melee contact, and you really want to find something less vulnerable to take the brunt.

As was stated before, you should put Hyps and Elephants together, but you should note that the Elephants will far outdistance the Hyps and one or two may die. My common configuration for Indy stomping is 4 Elephants 12~13 Hyps. You can get away with 3 sometimes, but more often than not, a headstong elephant will run out in front of the rest and try to stmapede his way to the back and get caught and killed in the middle.

But with 4 or 5 Elephants, most things will rout by the pure carnage that the elephants bring.

Also using Hyps instead of Hoplites allows Map movement of two.

You should be able to build an army like that every turn or two as you expand. Then have a 4 Astral Astrologer equipped with a Crown of Command play the role of ferry. Have him grab large amounts of troops and Gateway them to your borders (with a lab).

Also never stop making Mystics, with their magic versitility, ability to communion, 2 astral base (for paralyze, stellar fires) and good research capability you'll have a very decent search force (for sites) and an incredibly versatile magic resource for when you can't count on the pure elephant factor. Also save an Astrologer who gets 1 in Death for any SC's you happen to see marching around, and as soon as they enter your domain hit them with a Vengance of the Dead.

[1000yd_stare]

Send plenty of gems and gold to the Tien Chi player. Thus is the way to victory.

[Unwise]

Bureaucratic scum! I am going to send you home sobbing to your ancestors! I am going to get bronze-age Greek on your ***!

Actually, strike that Last bit.

[Unwise]

Following the example of my hated foe, 100_yard_stare (otherwise known as the Most Honorable He Who Will Soon Buy Me Beer), I would like to thank you guys for your advice.

This afternoon while pretending to watch the kids while my wife was in class, I played a quick game against an easy AI Version of my impending opponents. Implementing your hints I was able grind them beneath my elephantine feet while hardly ever routing... much.

Truly your collective wisdom is stupendous, and as I move out of the newbie stage, take my place in the board-sponsored MP games and begin to smite you in a most egregious fashion, I hope you will be able to look back on the service you did me now and not feel too much despair.

A few other points on Arco.

Arco has great access to multiple paths of magic. As such they can search and forge alot of different items. Most of the spells, summons and items with a path 4 requirement or lower you will be able to use. If your pretender has a physically strong form you might want to put some of the better items on him and send him out to crush armies with only a light vanguard.

Hoplites while slow are very strong. They can hold back and fight even very strong odds because they have shields and very long weapons. They are best used at a front building in a castle. They are resource intensive, but well worth the costs. They also have very decent morale.

Priestesses can heal Afflictions as well as cast Protection. Don't be afraid to have these around healing whoever happens to be in the province they are. The magic phase is before the movement phase so someone can get healed and move out in the same turn.

Arco's scrying domain lets them know quite a bit about what is coming and how to react. Don't be afraid to use your instant access spell of Astral Window as soon as you find an opponents capital in order to look know what's going on in each of their production centers. This will also let you know who and when people are going to 'change their mind' and attack

One Independant you might want to look for/keep an eye on/build a castle on is a decent archer. Woodsmen and Hoburg Xbows are both very good for this.

Watch out for using chariots in the same fashion you use Elephants. They rout and will trample through your own lines unless they have a strong backbone. They are also size 4, so if you do put them on a flank, and your opponent uses cavalry, you will be able to trample them.

I'd shy away from building any mounted with Arco, as none of them have lances.

Slingers make excellent patrollers if you don't happen to have any air gems for a Call of the Wind.

[LordArioch]

My advice: bless heart companions. They get really nasty with a couple different blesses, and the extra gold over hoplites is definitely worth it. I've found the weakness of arco to be armor penetration (except for the dangerous elephants), so bless accordingly.