Re: Dud nations
 

MA Ulm mod "Black Steel of Ulm" v2.0 is finished

Check out the mod subforum!

Re: Dud nations
 

I agree with Baalz about EA Ryleh; I actually won an MP game with that nation. The strength of the Aboleths is in Mind Lord SCs- one random earth pick and some research will give you a truly fearsome AOE life-draining SC that can be fielded very early in the game. Later in the game, your Mind Lord and Golem SCs can teleport around wreaking havoc. Unfortunately, lobo guards are your only real troop option, and they are not so good. You live and die by your SCs as EA Ryleh.

As an aside, the first nation I eliminated in that MP game was EA Ulm. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Dud nations
 

Ok, here's chart showing my opinion of the strongest through the weakest nations in EA. If anyone wants to contradict me, voice an opinion, post their own chart, whatever, please feel free.

1: Strongest nation in the game: Helheim

2 Vanheim, Caelum, Lanka, Niefelheim, Tien Chi, Oceanea, Mictlan.

3: Abysia, Kailasa, Pangaea, Sauromatia

4: Arcoscephale, Ermor, C'tis

5: Yomi, Atlantis,

6: Marverni, Ulm

7: Agartha

8: R'lyeh

I don't think I missed any. Let's see what peoples' opinions are, and maybe it'll help determine the triage order for dud nations.

Re: Dud nations
 

Marverni?

Re: Dud nations
 

How is Oceania tier 2 and Rlyeh dead last? Oceania sucks almost as much as Rlyeh does at getting out of the water and access to a lot of astral magic gives Rlyeh a decided late-game advantage.

Marignon also doesn't exist, and you used the number 2 twice. I think Ulm is also a lot better than you have them down as.

Re: Dud nations
 

Sorry, I mixed up Marignon with Marverni-they sound alike.

Re: Dud nations
 

Oceanea is 2 because if they were land-based, they'd pwn the game-they definitely pwn the oceans. They're on the same level as Helheim, if you take away the land/water factor, with slightly worse magic paths but slightly tougher sacreds. I guess you could move them down a bit because they're aquatic, but they're still a really solid nation.

Ulm and Marverni I ranked where I did more based on external factors than internal composition. They're balanced really well against themselves, but too many nations go through them like tissue-paper to call them strong. I've played them lots, and I enjoy them, but I can't give them a lot of love, because they're just not that tough. Atlantis and Yomi are tenacious and difficult to take out quickly, even in an early game, while Ulm and Marverni can be swept away by a tough nation-like Helheim-in the early game, unless they're well established-but that's just my opinion from playing them.

Re: Dud nations
 

1) Agreed, Helheim by far the strongest nation, full stop.

2) Mine are Vanheim, Caelum, Neifelheim, Atlantis, Lanka, Mictlan, Abysia, Tien Chi, Pangaea.

3) Then Kalisa, Sauromatia, Arco, Ermor, C'tis, R'yleh, Agartha, Oceania, Yomi.

4) Ulm, Marverni.

Re: Dud nations
 

Strong EA nations in my experience:
Helheim, Vanheim, Niefelheim, Mictlan, Ulm, Agartha, Arco, Oceania, Caelum, Sauromatia, C'tis, Ermor

Yomi looks strong to me in SP but I haven't played as them in MP.

Other EA nations I don't have enough experience with to have a strong opinion about their overall strength.

Re: Dud nations
 

I think Yomi could stand more national spells and summons-specifically some different kinds of Dai Oni types, maybe a high level Oni version of the Demon Lords with 3 different unique types. It'd be fun and welcome to see Dai Onis with different abilities, graphics, and starting equipment, even if they were all more or less equal in power. It would just add a bit to the interest and flavor of the nation.

I don't think I'd quite call them a "dud-nation", but they are a bit lame after playing them for a while, not because they're not interesting, but because I don't think enough has been done with them-I think a lot more could be done in terms of flavor and diversity of units and spells.

They really lend themselves, thematically, to national spells and summons, in my opinion, and there's so many interesting effects for demonic Asian magic to have.