Beginner's Guide to EA Arcoscephale

[mivayan]

GameExtremist said:
Wind Riders are very hard hitting with a F9 Bless too.

Theres not a great deal that they can't take care of (when used in appropriate numbers).

I cant help thinking about running some 125 gold 13 hp units into the indep mages with orb lightning.

[SelfishGene]

EA Arco is one of my favorite themes, but i really think minimizing Philosophers is the wrong way to go. Philosophers are one of the most potent human units in the game; there is no other way to get 10 research points so cheap, so quickly early on. Making 8 or 10 philosophers early in the game w/ 3 sloth 3 magic will give you a very large leg up on research that will be hard to match.

I guess the idea is, while having lots of Mystics is good, what's the point of having them if you can't cast anything? Drain-2 is wrong for a lot of reasons, mainly because it goes counter to the magic heavy nature of Arco, and because it makes Mystics just that much worse at research, forcing you to depend even more heavily on your Philosophers, that at the same time, will be less than optimal.

Arco's early troops are versatile but specialized. I like Icarids as raiders but they aren't front line troops, and like Myrmiddons, they are hard to mass.

[Blitz]

I cant help thinking about running some 125 gold 13 hp units into the indep mages with orb lightning.

They get thrashed. 10 pegasus riders with W9 can take any standard indy.

[Teraswaerto]

SelfishGene said:
Arco's early troops are versatile but specialized. I like Icarids as raiders but they aren't front line troops, and like Myrmiddons, they are hard to mass.

I've found that Icarids struggle even against weak PD. Not worth recruiting most of the time.

Myrmidons are nice, but if you've taken Sloth, just forget it. You'll never have enough of them to make much difference.

[StrictlyRockers]

The difference between W9 bless and F9 bless on your Windriders is really a tough choice. With quickness you are getting 3 attacks every two turns. So that is a big bonus to your offense. The W9 defense bonus is really significant, too, because those Windriders are not so tough and they do like to die.

With F9 you are getting +4 attack and your lance, which already gets a huge boost to its first strike, become a flaming lance which does +6 extra damage. Not bad! That's going to do major damage on a first strike, possibly light them on fire, and continue to do +6 flaming magical weapon damage with a +4 Attack each round thereafter.

I like the W9 bless better, by a hair. Those Windriders are hella expensive at 125 gold, and they are not so tough really. They die. They die purty fast in a toe to toe fight with another toughie regular troop. And that troop probably wasn't 125 gold each. W9 bless gives them a lot more staying power, and the extra attack every other round gives a decent offensive boost, too. They are so expensive, and I hate to see them die.

On the other hand, sometimes the best defense is a good offense. And if you have enough of them swooping in with first-striking magical flaming lances, maybe that wins it. But if it's a long battle, your expensive Windriders are gonna get chopped up.

[Blitz]

The difference between W9 bless and F9 bless on your Windriders is really a tough choice. With quickness you are getting 3 attacks every two turns. So that is a big bonus to your offense. The W9 defense bonus is really significant, too, because those Windriders are not so tough and they do like to die.

With F9 you are getting +4 attack and your lance, which already gets a huge boost to its first strike, become a flaming lance which does +6 extra damage. Not bad! That's going to do major damage on a first strike, possibly light them on fire, and continue to do +6 flaming magical weapon damage with a +4 Attack each round thereafter.

One thing you are neglecting is that lance damage is based on the unit's AP. Quickness gives a bonus to a unit's AP, which translates into a huge first strike advantage for the Wind Rider. W9 bless on lance troops is huge.

[GameExtremist]

Ahh, but another advantage to a F9 bless is that (unless I'm mistaken) that the windriders count as magical, always a good thing IMHO.

But yeah I'd never thought of a W9 bless before and the quickness bonus associated with it. But then which is the nation as a whole going to benefit from more? F9 or W9?

I think having a F9 pretender when it comes to rituals and spells is going to be more a benefit on dryland then a W9 pretender.

[Sombre]

Let's face it, W9 bless is almost always worth it. It's that damn good.

[Sandman]

SelfishGene said:
EA Arco is one of my favorite themes, but i really think minimizing Philosophers is the wrong way to go. Philosophers are one of the most potent human units in the game; there is no other way to get 10 research points so cheap, so quickly early on. Making 8 or 10 philosophers early in the game w/ 3 sloth 3 magic will give you a very large leg up on research that will be hard to match.

This is my thinking as well. If you crank out philosophers in the first few turns, you'll soon build up a huge wad of spare cash that you can use to start building your second fort as early as turn 4. Ideally, you'll hire a mage mercenary to build your second lab and use your prophet to build your second temple, completely side-stepping EVER building any non-cap commanders in your capital.

[bigfuzzy]

Thanks so much for this guide.. brilliant.. been looking for something like this since there are so many factors to think about and I'm relatively new to the game..
Great work and thanks for all the comments afterwards, they add to the big picture!