Table of Contents
LA Arcoscephale, Sibylline Guidance
Lore
Arcoscephale is together with Pythium the first nation conceived in the creation of Dominions. After having played GMT's Great Battles of Alexander and S.P.Q.R. I got fascinated by ancient warfare, and the hoplites were among the first units to appear in Dominions. At first the two nations were one, with a troop rooster of ancient units, while Man and later on Ulm had troop roosters with a more medieval touch. Soon, however, it became clear that Pythium and Arcoscephale should be two distinct nations. Arcoscephale is heavily influenced by ancient Greek city states and Hellas. The Golden Age is influenced by the mythical past and the archaic age. Later ages boast Hellenic and Mesopotamian influences: elephants, mysteries and Chaldean astrologers. - Illwinter
At the dawn of the Late Ages, the Old Kingdom of Arcoscephale was the domain of the Great Conqueror, an unrivaled military genius for his era. Having come to lead an ancient realm with a well-established military tradition, he advanced and refined that tradition further. Phalanges (the troop formation) marched out upon every corner of the Arcoscephalian corner of the world, far more varied and versatile than ever before. The horses that pulled Chariots in ancient times were now ridden by Agemata of nobles. The realms of Abysia and Gath were hemmed in the Great Conqueror's conquests, and his glorious campaign possibly destroyed Uruk, Na'Ba, Phaeacia, and Ind; these latter possibilities are not confirmed, for nothing remains of each of them. The Great Conqueror could have taken the Bandar Log of the time, too, had his troops not revolted at the possibility of becoming like the apes. And then, as quickly as the Great Conqueror rose, he fell to Death itself.
When the Great Conqueror died, the Old Kingdom died with him. His Strategoi (generals) became inheritors of pieces of his realm, such as Erytheia, and their personal squabbles led to generations of decline. For not foretelling the Great Conqueror's death, the Astrologers who foresaw his rise in the first place were all executed. The period of darkness affected Arcoscephale's mages and priests, who began to see the world as a cycle of ups and downs, deaths and rebirths; so shall it be with Arcoscephale today, if a capable Pretender can lead the new heart of Arcoscephale out of stagnation and back into glory.
Due to its dramatic expansion over other realms and cultures, Arcoscephalian priesthoods have grown accustomed to the presence of the "lesser gods" of "lesser lands". Should one of the priests – whether a Neokoros, a Panageis, or a mysterious Sybil – be present at the claiming of a foreign city with a temple, the temple will be added to their Pretender's collection.
General Overview
LA Arcoscephale is a nation with formation fighter units and mages that make use of communions to improve their combat casting. They also have access to tramplers in their unit roster. The Arcoscephale dominion gives you a better understanding of the composition of enemy armies.
Decent B tier nation, Great at expanding and strong mid-game with communions, but starts dropping like flies because of human limitation. Will have a hard time when stronger nations rush you without a awake pretender and they can have a decent death economy if they plan for it.
National Features
| Race | Military | Magic Access | Priests | Buildings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average Humans Some Bandar Apes |  Late Phalanx (Heavy Infantry) Cataphracts Monke Elephants  Sacred Hoplites |  3 (Rare 4)  2 (Rare 3)  1 (uncommon 2)¹ 1 (uncommon 2)¹ 1 (uncommon 2)¹ 1 (uncommon 2)Heroes:  1Summons: 3 (requires 4) 121 (requires 3)² 1 1 (requires 2)² | Average ( 2) (can be higher in communions) HealersDominion Scouts its provinces. Will automatically convert instead of Razing captured enemy temples if a priest is present. |  Citadel Labs cost  250 |
Your Sibyls have one 100% and one 10% 
random, giving each one a 26.25% (21/80) chance of having 3 & a 0.625% (1/160) chance of having 4.
¹Your Mystics have one 100% 
random, but they also have 50% randoms for Fire, Water, and Earth; for example, each one has a 75% (3/4) chance of having 1, a 50% (1/8 + 1/8 + 1/4 = 1/2) chance of having 11, a 12.5% (1/8) chance of having 2, and a 6.25% (1/16) chance of having 21. You're technically not guaranteed to have Fire, Water, or Earth on a Mage, but the odds of having at least one level are decent.
²The Summons are not Commanders, so their paths are revealed with Gift of Reason (4) or Divine Name (5).
Capital Sites
| The Sibylline Cabes | The Cerulean Tower | Gymnasium |
|---|---|---|
* Enable recruitment of Sibyl  * Astral mage may enter to scry (range 6) * Produce 3  1 per turn | * Enable recruitment of Cerulean Warrior  * Enable recruitment of Cerulean Commander  | * Enable recruitment of Heart Companion  |
National Units
Commanders
| Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Scout 25  5  1 |  Stealthy(50) Mountain Survival Forest Survival | A cheap scouting unit. Gets the job done. |
 | Hypaspist Commander 70 25 1 | Formation Fighter(2) | An 80 leadership commander. Get simmilar commanders with minor differences in Cost, armour, encumbrance and map move. Pick by preference. |
 | Hoplite Commander 75 31 1 | Formation Fighter(2) |
|
 | Phalangite Commander 75 20 1 | Formation Fighter(2) |
|
 | Cerulean Commander 75 25 1 Capital Only |  animal  beastmaster(1) forest survival | The leader of the Monkies. Cheapest recruitable means to give animals +2 morale. Also one of your better recruitable super light thug chassis given that Apes are a breed of Half-giants. |
 | Agema Commander 100 40 1 |  inspirational(1) Mounted | Mounted horse Commander, gets +2 to morale. has the fastest map move. The best commander as long your are not capped on resources. |
 | Strategos 110 30 2 |  Old Age(55/50) | A 120 leadership commander for your big armies, but is slow, old and takes two commander points. Agema is often better, unless you want to lead a bigger army with more squads. |
 | Mystic 135 1 2 | 1 3100%    50% 50% 50%  (9-15) | A good researcher for the price. Useful as a communion mage as well. All can do the usual S1 point buffs, especially Body Ethereal'd elephants, and with lucky randoms they can cast Legions of Steel after Summon Earthpower to turn hoplites into very durable line holders. Mystics Randoms: |
 | Orphic Mystic 100 1 2 | 11150% 50%   (9-13) supply bonus(10)  Reincarnation(25)  spell singer | A light raider mage with both death and Nature. With randoms, can get other crosspaths to be even better at clearing out PD and giving new forging and ritual opportunities. He is also a great use of Crystal Matrix with his contribution of nature, death, and crosspaths. It's interesting to note that, through Reincarnation, your Pretender might inherit a Magic level from a dead Orphic Mystic. This happens only if your Pretender's level in that path is lower than what the dead Mystic has, with a higher likelihood of happening if the gap in skill is wider. Pretty cool, huh? |
 | Neokoros 110 1 2 | 11020% 7 Sacredsupply bonus(10) Healer (1) Female | Cheapest healer, priest and nature mage. Having one in every army is the most efficient way to get more Temples via the automatic national conversion. Can also stop an old mystic from dying. |
 | Panageis 200 1 2 | 121100% 9 Sacredsupply bonus(10) Healer (2) Carcass Collector(3) Female | Efficient healer but expensive if used just as a mage. Carcass Collector allows you to convert  to  at a one-for-one ratio, though this takes a mage turn. Since you'll have a 2 Mage eventually but might not find a Death Gem Site, this is pretty neat!Can be used in the late game if you have Death pretender or rolling in gems despite it being the late age. |
 | Sibyl 230 1 4 Capital Only | 2121100% 10% 13 Sacred Spirit Sight Fortune Teller(20%) supply bonus(10) | The big mage, at least by the standards of the late age. Can bring holy magic, nature and death to communions, possibly alongside Orphic Mystics if a few of them rolled astral. Can stop bad events. She also has respectable Astral straight out of the box, and can be up to 3. She's the best crafter of Nature boosters! |
Troops
| Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Slinger 7 2 3 | Inexpensive ranged weapons. Sadly not very useful, as slings are low damage and limited range. Could be deployed as in great numbers swiftly as siege chaff or in combination with Flaming Arrows. | |
 | Peltast  10 5 9 | Under-armored Light Infantry that are relatively inexpensive in terms of resources. They're not great, but they're better than Slingers at close-ranged missile combat for the one or two turns that that's relevant. | |
 | Phalangite 13 20 16 | formation fighter(2) | Dec |
 | Hoplite 13 31 16 | formation fighter(2) | Over-armored Heavy Infantry that wields very long Spears. They are disgustingly slow on the battlefield, but that doesn't matter in some cases. |
 | Hypaspist 16 25 23 | formation fighter(2) | Compared to Hoplites, Hypaspists are faster, and have higher Morale & Defense, but use a shorter Spear and have a bit less Protection. They also have a higher Recruitment Point cost to offset their lower Resource cost. |
| | Heart Companion 20 31 23 Capital Only | sacredformation fighter(4) | The only Sacred troop, unless you get lucky with your surrounding indies and pick up some Jade Maidens or Pegasus Knights. Fits 5 to a square, making them very efficient at taking buffs from mystics and other mages, and more vulnerable to area of effect damage. Cheaper upkeep than their non-sacred counterparts. |
 | Cerulean Warrior 18 20 11 Capital Only | animal forest survival | They exist to hit thing very hard. The solution to all that platemail in this era. |
 | Agema Companion 35 40 46 | mounted | Heavy cavalry are great at expanding, with their 2 attacks plus lance charge, fast battle and map speeds, and high defense from armor and how mounted works. |
 | War Elephant 100 62 33 |  trampleanimal | Is an elephant. It tramples. What more you want? Make it ethereal for extra fun. Also best elephant because of armor, and morale can be cheaply improved with Cerulean Commanders. Use to expand during or before Agema Companions are recruited on mass. |
Heroes
| Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Pathos - Son of Titans |  awe(1) inspirational(1) invulnerability(20) | 120ld hard to kill leader. |
 | Asterios - Monster in the Maze |  berserker(6) invulnerability(20) trample blunt resistant Slash resistant | A much-appreciated thug in an otherwise thug-less nation. |
 | Orokestes - Hierophant | 111122 17 Sacred | Holy 2 mage with a pile of magic paths. |
 | Hydrophoros of the East Hydrophoros of the West | East: 111 West: 111 9 Sacred  Generate gems: 1 per month | The Celebration of Hydrophoria happens during the height of Summer (turn 4 and every 12 turns after that). This guarantees unrest during the first year, as there haven't been any appointments yet. The Hydrophoros of the West appears in Fall (turn 7) and the Hydrophoros of the East during Spring (turn 13), and they come again if you lose them. Both of them will cost a bit of gold when they are automatically hired, and also upkeep (slightly more than a Neokoros). In return they both generate a water gem every turn. As long as the two of them are at the Capital during Summer, they perform the Hydrophoria for a reduction in unrest and +2 Growth for the province. While they aren't stellar combat mages, they can still do small jobs at the laboratory, and the Hydrophoros of the East can defend around the capital with a Thistle Mace and Foul Vapors. |
Magic
National Magic & Summons
Curse Tablet Conjure 3, 1 3
. Remote cursing of one enemy Commander, up to 2 provinces away. Magic Resistance negates vs. 15, while other Cursings don't allow for resisting. Is it good? Well, if one of your foes has an expander Pretender and gets a bit cheeky with rushing, Cursing that monster or supercombatant will allow your big armies to whittle them down more effectively, in a death-by-a-thousand-cuts style. This at least comes earlier than Baleful Star (which has a wider AOE and range), and is spammable on the same target province. On the other hand, Arcoscephale now has 21's who can cast the typical Curse spell for free.
Monster Boar Conjure 5, 3 10, (
Monster Boarx1) Primarily serves as an annoyance spell. Use to force the enemy to send forces to their money-making provinces to stop the unrest the boar is producing.
Procession of the Underworld Conjure 5, 3 13, (summon 12 
Lampad) Needs a Skull Staff, but you get a lot of them for their price. Fragile but has AP area of effect magic damage. A niche anti-thugging unit that inflicts decay. If Gift of Reasoned they add 121 to your communions buts Sibyls already exist.
Summon Hound of Twilight Conjure 5, 21 4
, (summon a 
Hound of Twilight) only Orphic Mystic with Earth Boots can cast. Decent patroller and Spirit-sight with Magic Weapons.
Bind Keres Conjure 6, 2 12, (summon 3 
Ker) Orphic Mystics can summon them. Summon hard-to-hit (invisible and ethereal) flyers that can paralyze the undead. your answer to Lemuria as they stun lock shred their ghost mages and the super repel thug. If Gift of Reasoned they add 11. Doesn't look like much but you can still get useful spells and gear with only a 1 (do need to collect slaves and you can empower instead).
Craft Keledone Construction 7, 22 5, (summon 1 
Keledone) Summon a hard-to-kill immobile communion slave in case a fort gets besieged. Situationally useful. Late game Humans are super susceptible to board wipes, spend more resources to protect the masters instead of also the slaves. may make you think they only exist for that last hara when a future siege will mean you the game but can be sallied forth with Stygian Paths.
Forge Brass Bull Construction 7, 33 30
, (summon a 
Khalkotauros)
Awaken Hamadryad Enchantment 5, 4 25, (summon 1 
Hamadryad)
Sow Dragon Teeth Enchantment 6, 2 1, (summon 10 
Spartae during Combat). For one gem, 10 guys with magic weapons is a good deal.
From Death Comes Life Alteration 3, 11 3. Panageis only. Cast Blood Fecundity with Death gems. need to spend precious gems to maintain the burst in the economy but taking 
scales will earn your more.
Rhapsody of the Dead Thaumaturgy 3, 1. Spell singer only (Orphic Mystics). A situational spell that lets them cast Fear on piles of non-mindless undead. Meant to help deal with Lemuria, but might also help against Ulm (since their Ghoul Guardians are vulnerable), and the two nations who can summon routable undead elites; the spell can also punch through the poor Magic Resistance of T'ien Ch'i's Ancestral Spirits, but they have more than enough morale to stay in battle.
Rhapsody of Life Thaumaturgy 3, 1. Spell singer only (Orphic Mystics). Removes 10 damage and 10 fatigue from a single non-mindless, non-inanimate target. It comes in the same Research school as useful Astral spells you'll probably pursue for your Mystics and Sibyls, and the fatigue reduction would be nice if the AI could be set to focus their attention on fellow mages. The AI isn't very good at choosing who to heal, however, so the "emergency" healing might not go where you need it.
Magic Access
Several paths you can climb if you roll on the Mystics enough.
Being late age you can collect blood slaves the hard way with scout and a big population.
Chance to get a mystic with 2 to get Earth boots to get Troll King, if a blood empowered earth guy makes Blood Stones, then have enough for Earth Kings.
Can get a big death economy but your 3 with Orphic Mystic with Skull Staff. so still need a pretender to break you into Lichs, Wrieth lords, and vampires.
Syibles can go up to 4 with two boosters then to Ivy King for 6 with Treelord staff and Moonvine Bracelet assuming you're not converting most of it to Death gems.
Mystics can make two Water boosters for Sea Kings to then make water queens for 7.
Skull of Fire from the right Orphic Mystic can climb fire with an 2 Mystic summoning a Flame Spirit for a Flame Helmet to go up to Elemental Royalty.
Mystics make Crystal Coin and Starshine Skullcap, for 5 on Sibyls.
Combat Magic
What is the best spell you can use in combat. What spells the best support your national lineup, Is their weakness that you need to fix? Any tricks you should be aware you have?
Ritual Magic
What is the best ritual you could cast. Are their any globals you want up, any units you should be summoning? Are there any Generic rituals few nations can cast?
Magic Items
Do you have any National items(Construction Level, Price, and required Paths). Any unique generic items few other nations can forge? What item would be useful on your unit lineup (non-standard recommend thug gear)?
Strategy
do you have a game plan? Anything you should always be working toward? Any National weaknesses?
Pretender
What kinds of scales dose your nation like? Do they require any to function? Any blesses your sacreds would like? Do you desperately need an awake expander? Examples of Pretenders?
Early Game
How to expand, potential pitfalls and how to get around them, obvious weakness strength, how much do you have to focus on war/infrastructure
Mid Game
what is the first big research rush, what is the first big powerspike, where do you shift recruitment to? what are the big magic diversity issues, are there particular globals you should gun for
Late Game
How do you close out the game if you are in it, is the high-level research stuff you can do uniquely well, does your nation fall off, aka do you have to force things to conclude swiftly
Links
From Life Comes Death by Kalkyrie
Dominions 5 Nation Intro: Late Age Arco by Perun(2021)
| Nations | |
|---|---|
| Early Ages |  Arcoscephale •  Ermor •  Ulm •  Marverni •  Sauromatia •  T'ien Ch'i •  Machaka •  Mictlan •  Abysia •  Caelum •  C'tis •  Pangaea •  Agartha •  Tir na n'Og •  Fomoria •  Vanheim •  Helheim •  Niefelheim •  Rus •  Kailasa •  Lanka •  Yomi •  Hinnom •  Ur •  Berytos •  Xibalba •  Mekone •  Ubar •  Atlantis •  R'lyeh •  Pelagia •  Oceania •  Therodos |
| Middle Ages |  Arcoscephale •  Ermor •  Sceleria •  Pythium •  Man •  Eriu •  Ulm •  Marignon •  Mictlan •  T'ien Ch'i •  Machaka •  Agartha •  Abysia •  Caelum •  C'tis •  Pangaea •  Asphodel •  Vanheim •  Jotunheim •  Vanarus •  Bandar Log •  Shinuyama •  Ashdod •  Uruk •  Nazca •  Xibalba •  Phlegra •  Phaeacia •  Ind •  Na'ba •  Atlantis •  R'lyeh •  Pelagia •  Oceania •  Ys |
| Late Ages |  Arcoscephale •  Pythium •  Lemuria •  Man •  Ulm •  Marignon •  Mictlan •  T'ien Ch'i •  Jomon •  Agartha •  Abysia •  Caelum •  C'tis •  Pangaea •  Midgård •  Utgård •  Bogarus •  Patala •  Gath •  Ragha •  Xibalba •  Phlegra •  Vaettiheim •  Atlantis •  R'lyeh •  Erytheia |