Agartha, from my under-the-works demo guide

[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.

[Agema]

Trog thugs have a serious problem.

Taking out thugs often involves MR-resistable spells, like Paralyze, enslave, smite or even simple mind blasts. Trogs have poor MR. This wouldn't be too serious very early, but would be a huge liability later on.

Using trog thugs for fighting in a cold 2-3 environment may be better than Agarthans: even with reinvig from bless and item, Oracles/Lords may tire very quickly. An Oracle that can cast summon earthpower as well and might get away with it.