Most narrow nations

[Gandalf Parker]

I noted that Tien Chi has 3 or 4 pretenders that boost luck? All titans. And they have some decent magics. Possibly a bless strategy. They only have one blessable unit? But many blessable leaders and many of them mages.

If I remember Jade Emperor I got up to air 4, water 4, astral 9. That gives air shield 20%, Defense Skill +2, Magic Resistance +3, and Twist of Fate. Pretty good for a battle field full of mages. I only got 5 dominion but for purchasing mostly blessable leaders that isnt too much of a problem. Plus the luck bonuses, the research boost, the high astral. Someone should be able to make that a decent strategy shouldnt they?

[KissBlade]

Well the problem is, the mages once on battle field can't do anything! Also in ME, astral nations are very rampant making your capital only mages all too easily counterable. Sure they have a decent strategy, xbows + consorts. XD

[Maltrease]

Almost every nation is extremely limited. You basically get to choose between some combination of regular troops, summoned troops and battle magic. Then you have to advance toward one of the limited victory conditions.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

B0rsuk said:
EE Agartha seems narrow, too. It's about clumsy giants, no ranged weapons, no cavalry. Specialised mages (lots of earth; site searching is annoyingly time consuming without rainbow pretender; oracles are far from being cost-effective site searchers)

This may be compensation for being able to take unlikely bad scales...
Pale Ones are cold-blooded (meaning they suffer from a local Cold scale, think C'tis), so a Heat 1 or even 2 scale is a ... half-brainer. They don't eat either (but Trogs do), so there's /less of/ a penalty even for a Death scale (but I wouldn't take one). You get points there, so you expect some weaknesses.

[B0rsuk]

EE Agartha seems narrow, too. It's about clumsy giants, no ranged weapons, no cavalry. Specialised mages (lots of earth; site searching is annoyingly time consuming without rainbow pretender; oracles are far from being cost-effective site searchers)

[Nerfix]

I don't know. You can go for underwater conquest or focues on land. You can pick if you want to focus on Fire, Water or Death along with Earth. Death is obviously a good choice.

Do you want to focus heavily on Evocation and the callsic Bladewind and Magma spells, or perhaps toss in some Alteration, or perhaps Enchament or Conjuration. Conjuration is Good for Agartha, or rather Agartha gets very nice spells as a byproduct of Conj 3 which is needed for Earthpower.

Do you want to use Claymen or Living States or will you shoot for those high level Alteration spells?

Do you want to kit thugs out of Troglo Lords and Ancient Lords (who seem to get curiously low attack and high def when you give them items o_o) or do you just want to kit mages?

What sort of bless you want for Agartha, which of the weaknesses of the Agarthans you want to try to nullify with blesses or do you just want reinvigoration for those mages? Or perhaps regeneration. Dragons or Earth Mother, Cyclops or Titan, Olm or Monolith? Or maybe a snazzy Risen Oracle.

And so on. I don't think it's that restricted. Less rectricted than MA Ulm certainly.

[HoneyBadger]

I find Aboleths to be very narrow, atleast in terms of troops. They have heavy hitters in the form of Mind Lords, and lots and lots (and lots) of weak, free, polyp troops, but you can't do much in the way of forging for Mind Lords, or anybody except slave princes, because all they have are misc slots. Polypal Mothers can't move and have no magic, so they're only good for guarding the provinces you already have. And, while Aboleth-kind offers excellent units, the remaining units aren't much better than independents. I can really do without enslaved atlantians and tritons and mermen and what have you. They're redundant and, while perhaps necessary for the theme of an enslaving, alien race, detract from the uniqueness of what, in my opinion, should be one of the most (if not the most) unique and weird nations. There are probably quite a few ways to play Aboleths, but clearly the nation is geared to swarming your enemies. I wish Aboleths offered more varied troops, as well as access to the Void Gate that both other R'lyeth ages get. Atleast some bizarre and powerful national summons?