Arcoscephole.

[Deftninja]

aye, that really clears things up.

I started using magic Users for missile units, and that has already improved my performance, as well as my Hi's, with the legion of steel spell.
I will try the elephant advice later this evening as my empire crumbles under the onslaught of equally heavy Ulm infantry, backed by bowmen and crossbows...
oh one other thing, I still can't figure out what SC stands for... tho i managed Li and Hi.
thanks for the help.

PS: I'll look for that Arco thread, I take it there are also threads on pretty much every other race as well on the forum?
Deft°

[Scott Hebert]

Originally posted by Deftninja:
oh one other thing, I still can't figure out what SC stands for... tho i managed Li and Hi.
thanks for the help.

SC = Supercombatant. Single units (generally commanders) made to take out entire (normal) armies. In SP, you really don't have to worry about these.

PS: I'll look for that Arco thread, I take it there are also threads on pretty much every other race as well on the forum?
Deft°

Pretty much.

[Ironhawk]

Originally posted by LintMan:
Mages are a plus but not critical.

I disagree with this. With the Mystic and the Astrologer (!!) Arco has access to some very powerful mages. They should not be "a plus" to any arco strategy but an integral part of it. Additionally as was noted in some other arco threads, the Mystic acts almost as a mini rainbow-mage so you should be able to get your gem supply up fast.

Additionally, about elephants: they are *very* effective and the army quite fast with the 4/1 hypaptist/ele combo. Be very careful when using them in Groups of less than 4 tho (like after losing a few on a campaing). Particularly against other players they may not have enough crunch power to get the troops they are attacking to break. And if they end a turn in the middle of a stack of heavy inf or other powerful troop without routing them you can expect to lose the little you have left.

[LintMan]

Originally posted by Ironhawk:

quote:

---

Originally posted by LintMan:
Mages are a plus but not critical.

I disagree with this. With the Mystic and the Astrologer (!!) Arco has access to some very powerful mages. They should not be "a plus" to any arco strategy but an integral part of it. Additionally as was noted in some other arco threads, the Mystic acts almost as a mini rainbow-mage so you should be able to get your gem supply up fast.

---

Yes, the mystic and astrologer are definitely awesome units, and I build lots of them. But when I was saying the mages were not critical, I was speaking of for in-battle usage. I use the mages mainly for research, rituals, and forging and wasn't willing to spare many for battles until late-game (and I found I didn't really need that many in battle). Of course, that's just my style of play (and skill level - I'm not an expert) - I'm sure they can be an awesome force in themselves, expecially if you used communion to link them up. I'd be very interested in hearing how you use them in battle (ie: how many, what spells scripted, what items, etc).

You do have a good point about their mini-rainbow-mage site-hunting potential that's well worth mentioning.

[Norfleet]

I, too, tend to eschew the use of mages in battle, relatively early in the game: Early on, you will have nothing really impressive that's worth casting: Even once you have something, you shouldn't commit mages to the field unless you have a plan in mind for what you want to cast with them: If you just leave them on default orders or spells, they probably don't belong there. In fact, overuse of mages early in the game tends to both get them killed, and greatly retard your research development. When the time comes to actually leave the labs, you have only dead mages.

However, once you *DO* have something hefty to lob into the face of your enemies, easy access to Communion and a wide variety of magical paths available to you will guarantee that you can lob just about anything at them. By all means, make use of this. But don't just blindly toss mages into a battlefield and expect them to do anything intelligent, as the spellcasting AI seems to have no understanding of purpose and is thus abysmally stupid.

[Huzurdaddi]

I, too, tend to eschew the use of mages in battle, relatively early in the game:

When I play Pythium I find that a pack of Theurg Acolytes casting body etherial make expansion rather painless. Not to mention that your pricipes tend to live for quite a few extra battles with when they are etherial and they quickly seems to get 17 defence which ain't shabby.

So I *think* that mages are decent almost right off the bat with Pythium. With other nations I do not know. I don't think ( but am not sure ) that my armies would do nearly as well without the body etherial.

Not to mention 5-6 theurg acolytes are pretty cheap.