First Post: Suggestions on Nation choices?

[thejeff]

Networkingguru said:

As for MP, I would love to play some MP, but I am really put off by what seems to be a very complicated process (find a game in the forum, get on IRC, play during certian times I am guessing, etc.). My wife is learning the game, and if I can get a buddy of mine to learn it, I can play MP with them. I guess I'll head into the forum and try to find a good game anyway, just kinda hate coming in and getting stomped, LOL.

Playing MP is really pretty simple. You don't need IRC, you can play any time you want and there are newbie games starting fairly regularly. IRC is good for playing blitz games, that start up and play straight through. Most MP games on the forum start with a 24 hour timer, so you can do your turn any time during the day. This does lead to games lasting for months.

[Networkingguru]

quantum_mechani said:
It's simultaneous, but as I said, it can easily take individual players close to an hour for a turn (though it depends on a lot of factors, especially if you are in an intense war, careful scripting eats a lot of time).

Yea, I guess I had not considered the possibility of scripting for the specific battle you are facing. In SP I usually just "set it and forget it", as something like Divine Bless-cast-cast-cast-hold attack clostest tends to work fine. However, if you have that much time to setup for every battle (and there is no reward for completing a turn quickly), it's definitely to your advantage to script and set formation specific for each battle.

[Networkingguru]

KissBlade said:
Amusingly enough you seem to be very very fond of the powerhouse nations. You might consider Pythium next. They seem to suit your tastes for MA. If you want to try something that requires a bit more finesse yet retain the SC/thug feel, Yomi is a nice pick. LA TC is quite good actually. A variety of magics as well as a good amount of strats you can do.

Yea, I tend to like armies consisting of small numbers of big troops, mostly because they rarely fall, so I don't have to worry about attrition. I'm playing MA man right now, and while I am enjoying it, I have to replinish the army much more often than I would like. Also, someone keeps dropping an arrow or two from the sky every turn and killing my stupid crones, which is highly annoying.

[Networkingguru]

Twan said:
If you want to try a water nation like the ones you like, Atlantis is a good choice in all ages too (in Early of course, it's one of the best thug nation, with lot of high hp/good prot leaders, but in MA or even in LA the big mages/good hp leaders can become above average thugs, and in all eras summoned Sea Kings are also a good base).

ps : but note that sea nations aren't at all a challenge against most AIs, land computer nations are very unefficient at invading seas, you'll just have to worry about other sea powers

I'll give them a try as well, thanks. I haven't chosen water nations at this point as I have not played many water-heavy maps, but I will give them a try.

[thejeff]

It's not just due to extra time, but simply because you're playing other humans. The AI doesn't adapt to your tactics.
Other players will. If they know what you're going to do every time, they'll find a way to counter it, even against stronger forces.

[Torin]

I think MA Ulm is the best nation for beginners. Just a dormant pretender with all good scales.
Buy a frontline infantry with independant archers back and start building armies and forts. You can even beat impossible AI. later Summon earthpower and blade wind will make your mages useful.
A master alchemist with all the paths will allow acces to every trick in late game.

Sure this wont work in MP.

[Networkingguru]

Just finished MA Man, and I have to say, it was eye-opening. Longbowmen are great, crones suck. Wardens are absolutely one of the coolest units I've seen yet. I rean through Jotunheim with an army of 40 of these guys just stealing undefended territories. Got located by patrolling units of giants twice and slaughtered them both times. Great units, and I really did not expect that after looking at thier stats. Bards are pretty cool too, you can pretty much shut down another nation's production with them. All that being said, Mighty AI on Pythium did me in in the end. I quit playing once they reached 500% of me on all possible score graphs, no point in delaying the inevitable. Anyhow, I may give them another shot later, but they don't really fit my style too well. Good balanced units, but, with the exception of the wardens and bards (and longbowmen, of course), they don't really stand out to me in any other areas. I guess maybe that's thier advantage - no real weaknesses, just straight ahead tactics.

[Networkingguru]

OK, played MA Marignon to about mid game, and I have to say I'm not real impressed. The Mage/Preists are pretty cool, but these guys are really one-trick ponies, and if you end up in a bad location like I did, the game is real rough. I have to say, I had more gold than I knew what to do with, but was always resource-bound, which is a change (and not necessarily a welcome one). However, the inability to to do any real site-searching, combined with a bad location left me scrabling for gems for Acashic record.

I don't really like the scales I took (order 3, prod 3, growth 3, misfortune 3, and drain 3) though, so I may play again with different scales (Less emphasis on gold and DEFINITELY no misfortune).

Overall, they just really don't fit how I like to play. I'd much rather work with a nation with a strong bless strategy than one where your main sacred is essentially a chaff unit (Flaggelents).

[Evilhomer]

It seems you judge nations on how strong/imbalanced their early game units are (especially their sacreds). If this is the case I recommend: Lanka(EA), Niefelheim(EA), Helheim(EA) and maybe vanheim(MA).

If you are looking at other very strong/potent nations I would recommend strong blood nations, since blood hunting in mid/late game can be very potent. If that suits your game play check in Miclan(EA), Miclan(LA) and Marignon(LA).

Other very strong nations that plays very differently are Ermor(LA) and Rlyeh(LA).

[Networkingguru]

Evilhomer said:
It seems you judge nations on how strong/imbalanced their early game units are (especially their sacreds). If this is the case I recommend: Lanka(EA), Niefelheim(EA), Helheim(EA) and maybe vanheim(MA).

If you are looking at other very strong/potent nations I would recommend strong blood nations, since blood hunting in mid/late game can be very potent. If that suits your game play check in Miclan(EA), Miclan(LA) and Marignon(LA).

Other very strong nations that plays very differently are Ermor(LA) and Rlyeh(LA).

I'd say that's probably accurate. I like a strong bless nation in general, and I like to be able to easily get the powerful units. Some nations seem to have powerful units available only if you follow a certain path, I don't really like that.

As for LA Ermor and R'lyeh, I hav e played them both at this point. Ermor I really don't like, too much micromanagement of chaff, and the free spawns are never worth having in numbers lower than 1000, IMHO. LS R'lyeh took me three games to figure out, but now that I've got a decent handle on them, I really like them. Lots of freespawns, and some of them are actually quite good. Also, ironicly enough, PD seems to be quite decent verses land nations (which I most defnitely did not expect), but sucks verses another amphibious nation (like LA Atlantis). Still, I am really enjoying my current LA R'lyeh nation. I'll check out Miclan.

As for Neifelhiem, Lanka, Helheim and Vanheim, I love Neifel and Lanka, not so keen on the others. Maybe I just need to find a good bless strat for them though.

Thanks for the tips!