EA Arco - uncle moneybags - Page 5

Maerlande · #1 March 24th, 2010, 11:12 AM

Of course there are some variables. But when i've played arco I made stone idols instead of skeptics.

Trumanator · #2 March 24th, 2010, 12:00 PM

Try stone idols + skeptics for extra lulz.

Burnsaber · #3 March 24th, 2010, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trumanator

Try stone idols + skeptics for extra lulz.

Heh. Delightfully paradoxical.

Sceptic: "THERE ARE NO GODS!"
Peasant: "No.. Gods?"
Sceptic: " THAT'S RIGHT! NO GODS.. Other than this Stone Idol! Worship it!"

Baalz · #4 March 25th, 2010, 10:38 AM

Oh yeah, I love me some forge lord. I find when I play one though at a certain point its hard to justify using him for anything other than forging rings of wizardry (for 17S I think?) and crystal shields, which makes the opportunity cost of sticking other paths on him high. For dropping big combat spells crystal shields are often better than elemental staffs for you (cheaper, leaves a hand free). Even once you've got a good stock of RoW yourself you can usually trade them for a massive profit - even alchemizing. Just my experience using the forge lord...I have a hard time really leveraging extra paths.

Oooh, I've also been burned too often to take strong death + strong misfortune. Completely unscientific and antectdotal, but it seems like in my testing d3/m3 cripples you in year one around 25% of the time. D2/M2 is probably not that far off.

Alpine Joe · #5 March 25th, 2010, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baalz

Oh yeah, I love me some forge lord. I find when I play one though at a certain point its hard to justify using him for anything other than forging rings of wizardry (for 17S I think?) and crystal shields, which makes the opportunity cost of sticking other paths on him high. For dropping big combat spells crystal shields are often better than elemental staffs for you (cheaper, leaves a hand free). Even once you've got a good stock of RoW yourself you can usually trade them for a massive profit - even alchemizing. Just my experience using the forge lord...I have a hard time really leveraging extra paths.

Oooh, I've also been burned too often to take strong death + strong misfortune. Completely unscientific and antectdotal, but it seems like in my testing d3/m3 cripples you in year one around 25% of the time. D2/M2 is probably not that far off.

I should clarify that the D in this case represents Drain. I have also had tragic experiences with death (3 half-pop plague events on turns 2,3, and 5 in my cap, with luck 3! in mists of time) and pretty much never take it anymore, especially not with misfortune. Also with mystics being such a good recruit-anywhere, I wouldn't want to tank the income hit from death. Drain is okay with arco as you still have good research and can set up a neutral research province.

Air on the FL is optional of course, but lets him cast air shield early (vital for soloing early indies), and is also really useful for affording the multiple staves of storms I find i need all over the place in the endgame.

SoEM also let you get access to any elemental ritual. Even with RoW and earth boots, you still need SoEM to cast earth attack, for example, a ritual I am probably too addicted too. Also the gem gen globals which you can opportunistically grab. Lastly, A/F combo lets you forge the magic lamp, and the Djinn is great to have access to as Arco (this is just personal preference, I love the Djinn!)

aaminoff · #6 March 25th, 2010, 01:47 PM

I suppose I should post this in a general dominion-push thread, oh well.

For purposes of pushing dominion, is Dom9 + 5 temples the same as Dom10? If you have Dom10, do additional temples not help you at all? (I mean other than generating the temple checks).

- Alex

Foodstamp · #7 March 25th, 2010, 12:03 PM

Yay another Baalz guide. The one you wrote recently on MA Oceania inspired me to pick the game up once again after months of playing other stuff. I am about to wrap that game up, so I will definitely try this one next. Thanks for your efforts!

Torin · #8 March 25th, 2010, 02:07 PM

its almost the same 90% vs 100%. But the reason behind 10 is better awe to your awake expander.
To the purpose of dominion expand 10 is too much.

Forge lord is too good in CBM i guess. I didnt take it for my current EA Acro game however.

With a polarized nature this nation has poor troop choice and very nice commanders. If it had spies and powerful priests then it would be close to 100% in terms of commander usefulness.

sceptics are cheap in cbm but will ignite your neighbours when found. Better use on the side your enemies are.

Dimaz · #9 March 26th, 2010, 02:31 AM

Forge Lord with his hammer forges RoW for 13 s and with ordinary hammer for 17, and also forges hammers for 3 e. It's too much I think, currently it's hard to find better pretender aimed for mid/lategame effectiveness.

Viajero · #10 June 14th, 2010, 10:29 AM

Just read the guide and have a quick question regqrding Oreiads.

They seem indeed to be a very strong unit, except for a detail that is bugging me no end as I prepare to play this nation in a multi era game:

Isn't the 10 HP a big problem for all the strategies discussed in the guide? Stoneskin and mistform can only help so much... it only sufices 2 lucky hits (1HP by mistform plus another hit) to wipe out much more than just 10HP... not sure personal regeneration helps a bit when you only have 10 HP. Has anyone actually used Oreiads as intended in this guide re Combat and managed to have them survive for long?