Tips for first full game...Arco

[fahdiz]

Thank you for the tips. I was already sort of leaning toward Earth, but that pretty much solidifies it in my mind.

Does Arco tend to fare better on smaller maps or on bigger ones, given that aside from Nataraja as SC the Arco strategy appears to be defensive, conservative, and research-oriented? Just curious. And thanks again.

It really depends on what type of player you are. I personally don't consider Arco much of a 'defense' nation. They have a powerful offense in Elephants, Hoplites and Hypsists, as well as great access to spells.

They have the ability to reinforce fairly easily with Astrologers and Gateway. So it's possible to have a large peacekeeping force (with Leadership Items) that can gateway to reinforce your lines.

Also a favorite strategy is to teleport in an Astrologer, cast Doom, then either let him die or have him cast Returning. It's a little high on the chain, but something worth noting for such cheap Astrologers.

The Priestesses allow you to send your SC's into potentially dangerous situations where they might get a few afflictions, and come out and go to the hospital and heal back up. Where other nations do not usually have that option.

Cheap Research, Mystics with multiple paths and a good search/gem income rounds out Arco very nicely.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by fahdiz:
Any tips from Arco vets on a game vs. normal AI? What opponents might I use, what strategies, etc? Thanks for reading!

What opponents you might use? In Soviet Russia, your opponents use you! You don't "pick which opponents you use", except possibly at random. That's just not how it's done, picking your opponents as if this makes for an easier game. You pick the hugest map possible, then jam all 17, or maybe just not including Ermor, because they kill all of the other AIs and pretty much guarantee that you'll always be fighting them, or at least make sure they're not AE/SG. After the first 5 games or so where it was always me and them, it started getting a tad old.

Anyway, the one problem with the Nataraja is that he has the endurance in combat of a wet noodle. With an base encumberance of 3, it takes a lot of reinvigoration to keep him kicking, or at least a Wraith Sword, which will fail utterly against anything which is lifeless or undead, and he'll pass out like a big wuss again. If you can equip him with the items that'll give him the reinvigoration he needs, though, he can be a right mean fellow.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Zen:
Also a favorite strategy is to teleport in an Astrologer, cast Doom, then either let him die or have him cast Returning. It's a little high on the chain, but something worth noting for such cheap Astrologers.

It's more fun to do hit-and-run Master Enslaves.

Teleport in a huge mass of astrologers with crystal matrices so they'll start out communioned, pop off a master enslave or two, and then Vortex out. Cursing everyone is merely a nuisance.

Well Norfleet, the Doom strategy you can cast by turn ~25-30 with Arco, and can potentially devastate an elite army. Where as the Master Enslave is something you do for ****s and giggles.

In Dom1 it was used alot with Golems, but Arco has a hand up because of Astrologers.

[fahdiz]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
What opponents you might use? In Soviet Russia, your opponents use you! You don't "pick which opponents you use", except possibly at random. That's just not how it's done, picking your opponents as if this makes for an easier game. You pick the hugest map possible, then jam all 17, or maybe just not including Ermor, because they kill all of the other AIs and pretty much guarantee that you'll always be fighting them, or at least make sure they're not AE/SG. After the first 5 games or so where it was always me and them, it started getting a tad old.

Heh. Yes, I definitely didn't word that well.

Anyway, the one problem with the Nataraja is that he has the endurance in combat of a wet noodle. With an base encumberance of 3, it takes a lot of reinvigoration to keep him kicking, or at least a Wraith Sword, which will fail utterly against anything which is lifeless or undead, and he'll pass out like a big wuss again. If you can equip him with the items that'll give him the reinvigoration he needs, though, he can be a right mean fellow.

Great! Thank you for the advice.

[fahdiz]

After a couple of really good Pythium games (well, as good as only 40 turns of a Pythium game can be...) I think I've decided to try Pythium instead of Arco for my first full game.

I won't ask for strats, though...I'll poke around the forums unless of course someone has a never-before-shared Pythian gem they're dying to get off their chest.

I tend (in the demo) to use SC pretenders more often than not, and I think it's because I'm underconfident in my research/ritual/global enchantment skills right now, and the SC pretenders give me a little morale boost. But I was wondering a bit about the Divine Emperor as a Pythium pretender. Does he make a better stay-at-home pretender than most of the other rainbow mages?

[ February 08, 2004, 16:46: Message edited by: fahdiz ]