Golden Age Arcoscephale

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Zen:
Good point. But you can never be too careful eh?

Actually I think she won't cast Resist Lightning even if you script her so.

What she does need is a Ring of the Snake, nothing like losing a perfectly good Virtue to a Snake Bladder Stick

Good one.

Another thing. I always thought was a little bizzare. She's wielding a Flambeau and isn't fire Resistant. And if you've ever killed a Virtue with Holy Pyre, it's ironic as all hell

Anyway I always give fire and/or cold resistance to my Virtues before they go after other nations. It's so easy to lose them to Incinerate or Frozen Heart if you're not careful enough.

[Blitz]

She can get afflicted to hell via poison as well. Not a prob with arco, but for everyone else.

quote:
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Originally posted by Zen:
Another thing. I always thought was a little bizzare. She's wielding a Flambeau and isn't fire Resistant. And if you've ever killed a Virtue with Holy Pyre, it's ironic as all hell
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Well, that's why you give her a hellsword.

Flame helmet is my FR item of choice these days

[ June 22, 2004, 22:40: Message edited by: Blitz ]

Poison will kill her and in the hands of the right player, they will have one coming at you on turn 5ish if you try to use your Virtue in any SC capacity if you don't put one on her.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Blitz:
She can get afflicted to hell via poison as well. Not a prob with arco, but for everyone else.

Yes, that may be a problem. Still, poison isn't as dangerous for her as mass Incinerate/Frozen Heart if she lacks the ad hoc resistance(s). These may kill her in a single round, and Awe doesn't help here.

OTOH there aren't long range 100 prec poison spells. And poison kills over time, so its effect may be negated by regeneration if the Virtue gets enough buff from her dominion (sending her alone in enemy dominion where you expect to see a type of spells she's not resistant to is always a bad idea).

For the record, I've had a Virtue stand toe-to-toe and win a fight vs 4 Hydras in a Dom 1 MP game - she had regeneration but no poison resistance.

[Scott Hebert]

Originally posted by Nagot Gick Fel:
No wonder you had bad experiences with her. That should be 5-10 kills a turn after you've researched a couple levels in Alteration and Evocation.

If you want to get to Thunder Strike, sure she'll kill more people. That's Evocation-4, though, and as I said, we're talking about the first 5 turns.

Though, if you can tell me how to get to Evocation-4 by turn 5, I'm all ears.

[Scott Hebert]

Originally posted by Zen:
Actually since the Virtue flies, she will cast her buffs, (say Mirror Image, Mistform, Air Shield, Resist Lighting) then set her to attack (1 Round) to get close to masses of the enemy, then cast with the Last order being casting spells. She'll do the smart thing and chaincast Shockwave as long as she has nearby units that the game finds feasible to cast on (I think as long as the squares are 50% full of units around her)

Nice trick. IIRC, though, what are the chances she'll be able to cast it while in melee? 50%? To put up those buffs sounds like Alteration-3 and Evocation-2 to me. The Shedu needs none of that to take provinces. True, the Shedu should have an army, but an army of Peltasts is sufficient for the purpose, at least on Indep5.

And, if I may, at the same time the Virtue gets Thunder Strike (far safer than the above, though not nearly as cool), the Shedu gets Blade Wind. That's a wash, to me.

What I've heard from people 'in the know' is that GE Arco needs someone to help them take early provinces. The Shedu, to me, looks like one of the best candidates to do so. Take your beginning army, make a Priestess + a whole bunch of Peltasts. Attack a Province with Shedu/Priestess/Peltasts, with the Shedu doing anything you want for two turns, and then attacking the rear. This basically times the first or second Javelin volley from your troops for when the Shedu starts trampling, and that _will_ rout almost any Indep5 province, and probably would do a good job on higher Ratings. This starts province taking on turn 3.

Also, I believe it was mentioned that the Philosopher isn't as big as an advantage as people think because it was capital-only, and therefore its importance lessens as you build more forts.

I think there is some merit in this statement, but the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Look at it this way. _Most_ nations can hire their best mages only in their capital, and their secondary forts can only hire the researchers. The ramifications of this is that it takes time for the 'good' mages to get to the front, and the researchers are more exposed, if an enemy can get through the fort.

GE Arco inverts these conditions. Now, your Researchers are based in your Capital, and your 'good' mages are based in any of your Forts. This allows for faster deployment of your mages, and gives greater security to your researchers.

[Blitz]

_Most_ nations can hire their best mages only in their capital

How many apparently magic based themes do you know that have exactly ONE mage? Heck, how many themes have one mage? Ulm, Ulm: IF, Pan: New Ara, and GE Arco?