Arcosephale

[Taqwus]

Don't try to match the AI in numbers.

It doesn't build fortresses, so it tends to hire large proportions of (frequently cheaper) non-national troops. It also probably spends a higher proportion on troops than on mages (that a human player might, for driving research and casting site-searching spells and so forth), I suspect. The large armies of not-necessarily-great quality are also hampered by a seeming disregard for supply constraints -- it has a willingness to starve while besieging fortresses, for instance, while a human player might push more for either supply items or need-not-eat troops.

Quality tends to defeat quantity, with certain dangerous exceptions. Well-designed 'Supercombatants' -- often well-equipped summons or pretenders, but also certain national troops e.g. Niefel Jarls... -- can cut through *most* chaff with ease; a dangerous exception includes hordes of mandragora with their sleep vines. SC designs frequently employ 0-encumberance commanders and/or life-draining items, so they won't even get tired...

High-quality troops like Vanheim's vanir, for instance the vanir are quite survivable with their speed, defense and automatic mirror image can also win against fairly serious odds. For those that invest sufficiently in magic, assorted summons can be very effective; legions of wights, banefire archers, kitted-out Tartarians, air queens, massed devils, hordes of living statues all come to mind.

[SurvivalistMerc]

There are some really neat tricks you can do with Arco.

My first arco game, but I really like astrologers with penetration items and large astral income from clam hoarding.

Any astrologer can mind hunt with an astral skullcap. Your priests can heal feeblemindedness to put the astrologer back in commission even if he gets his silver cord severed.

I adopted the policy in my SP game that any invading army that doesn't get astral mages will lose all its commanders the following turn. It's not so hard to defeat your enemies when you can turn their armies into sitting ducks and not have to guess where they will move next turn. Sometimes I have one or two astrologers mind hunting any large concentration of enemy troops even if I don't know whether there is an astral mage due to healing.

Mind hunt makes capturing even hill fortresses a breeze provided there are no astral magi present. Even if there are...you can send an astrologer with a couple of decoy hoplites in to cast astral duel and then retreat. No astral mages...mind hunt to your heart's content.

It's amazing how much fun it is to kill enemy pretenders from afar.

[Ironhawk]

Just as an aside, one post mentions Elephants, but as a new player you may not know the tactic. Basically you just buy a squad of those big elephants and turn them loose on the enemy which are then promptly crushed underfoot. In order to keep your elephants from routing put them in the same group as hypaptists (those are the ones with high morale, right?) in like 3:1 or 4:1 hyp:elephant ratio. That tactic gives Arco some good firepower in the early game.

Late game of course thier versatile mages really put the hammer down. Great forgers too.

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Ironhawk said:
Just as an aside, one post mentions Elephants, but as a new player you may not know the tactic. Basically you just buy a squad of those big elephants and turn them loose on the enemy which are then promptly crushed underfoot. In order to keep your elephants from routing put them in the same group as hypaptists (those are the ones with high morale, right?) in like 3:1 or 4:1 hyp:elephant ratio. That tactic gives Arco some good firepower in the early game.

Late game of course thier versatile mages really put the hammer down. Great forgers too.

About Elephants, there's also a very good trick : cast BE, then Berserkers on them !