Choosing a Country: Adventures of a N00b

[ComTrav]

So i got the game about two weeks ago, and I have to say I'm amazed by its depth and variety. I played the demo a lot, enough to convince me I wanted the full version, and so far I couldn't be happier. I'd love to try multiplayer but I'm not sure how to find a server.

The sheer number of nations in the game makes it hard to settle on one nation (or even 3-4). Although being able to play the gajillions of different nations is certainly a huge part of the appeal of the game, I personally can't imagine playing a multiplayer game with a country whose units I've never seen before. (I always screw up the first time I play a country and lose to some weak independants, lol.) Glancing the forums it seems Ermor, Pythium, and Ri'Leh seem popular, but I'm sort of wondering how people figured out what country they'd like to play.

(Wall of text ahead)

Most of my games have been on Medium maps with 3-4 opponents, although I'm thinking of moving towards larger maps because often times it seems I've already basically one once I start getting into the niftier aspects of the game. Either that, or increase difficulty level (played normal so far.)

The first big game I played after getting the full version was EA Abysia. Because of fire. I get a good bless for Burning Ones (like the manual thoughtfully suggests), kill everything. Late game my fire mages are so effective the enemy is dead before I even close with them. I don't actually finish this game because I didn't have the patience to invade Atlantis. Next big game I played was MA Ulm, because forging items is cool. One of the hero knights gets hall of fame heroic quickness and smashes things. My strong national troops make this pretty easy; Machaka and Mictlan can't scratch black steel. Late game I do some global enchantments, because they're cool (Earthblood well, the bonus resources one, and Gift of Health, because afflictions make me a sad panda). Then I play Tien'Chi EA with magic and growth scales (because old age, like afflictions, make me a sad panda.) I probably could've won this faster than I did if I didn't spend so many turns working my way up almost every different elemental path. I manage to summon all four elemental kings and feel pretty pleased with myself; I start (sorta) using them as scs to try to get a feel for it. (Wow, queen of air can kill 20 militia? OMG!) Then I try LA Ulm, and it took me a couple of tries to get the Vampire Queen scales right. (End up with something like sleeping, 2E 5D 4B with a little magic; I tried drain at first but my research is already so lolterrible I decided I needed the boost. Still working on refining this; would life to add a touch of fire for blood summons, and/or air for windguide). I get to summon vampires. I use BLOOD MAGIC, experiment with stealth armies (they take massive casualties at first before I put everyone on the far far far left side of the square. Which was a pain, because I had about 80-100 rangers and wolves led by a dozen different guys.) And I use SCs more; the Blood Marshal random hero shows up and kicks *** wherever I have dominion. I'm not sure if I should use my VQ pretender as more of a caster or melee. Also, I have to fight LA Ermor, and I see why it gets so much attention on this boards; fighting hordes of undead is bad enough, and when you finally capture territory you get no income from it and your army starts to starve. Father Illearth with wraith blade opens this up for me; he's effectively unkillable, though sometimes I can't kill the enemies fast enough to avoid automatically routing after 50 turns. I do bother to invade Atlantis, here, as I luck out with a coastal province that can recruit water commanders and get a sea king's goblet after a drop. Now I'm playing MA Agartha, and I really am wondering why I took 2 luck instead of 2 growth; my golem crafters JUST get enough experience to boost precision to be decent battlemages when they die to disease. My national troops are miserable, but I don't think I've lost a single stone sentinel yet. I don't have enough earth gems. I don't think it's possible to have enough. Other nations I've played around with are MA C'Tis (poison dominion ftw!), MA Marignon (heavy troops, stealth priests, angels, FIRE? how could I pass this up? Yes, old age ftl...) Bogarus (because it's new...even though I h've had the game only two weeks and everything is new...) and a couple of the 'heims' (I mean, I can't pass up a Norse-themed nation. Do any of them NOT lend themselves to a dual-bless strategy? Something about taking awful scales rubs me thr wrong way...)

So, what nation do you play, why do you play it, how'd you figure that out?