Vellon's Dom3Blog

[CUnknown]

About your EA Arco design, I don't think that Drain is a good choice. Your philosophers are the one of the best researchers in the game, but you are handicapping them with this choice.

Additionally, you really don't need Productivity for EA Arco, I don't think.. the only troops that really call for it are Myrmidons and Wind Riders. Wind riders are amazing (esp. with your bless), but they are really expensive -- how many could you build each turn anyway? Wind Riders don't require production. Myrmidons are fairly weak heavy inf, imo, and just plain aren't worth a Production scale. I would still build them, of course, but putting Pretender design points towards building them is not a good plan, imo.

So, I'd take at least Sloth-1 (to pay to remove Drain-2), and all of a sudden, you've got +2 research on your philosophers with no ill effects to speak of. I'd actually go all the way and take Sloth-3, but that's just me.

Also, going 1 off on your temp scale (to pay for Order-3) is a good idea, since the temp scale is -5% gold and the Order scale is +7%. That is +2% free gold as well as less bad events.