.com.unity Forums - Top 10 MP races?

Nation Rankings

The following is based on a thread of 9/19/04 to 9/28/04, which investigated the general power rankings of the major nations [note: I can't find the original thread either--these notes were made at the time and are all the record I have].

The poll requested that Nations be divided into 3 tiers in the responses�Powerful, Medium, and Weak. In the event, not all participants followed the format, so some judgment calls must to be made to fit the responses into a three-tiered format. The original poll did not distinguish between default nations and themes.

My contribution is to run a quantitative analysis to generate concrete numbers from the poll, for those interested in such things.

In general, I divided the 17 default nations into an arbitrary 5-7-5 split. Responses that, for example, used four tiers instead of three, had their results parsed out as closely to this three-tier split as possible. No nation was put into the top tier unless it was in the first tier in the actual response (or top 2 tiers if these totalled 5 or less nations).

Poll Participants: Bleach168, Karacan, Archaeolept, Schmoe, Tuidjy, Cohen, Graham Dice, The_Tauren13, Pickles, izaqyos, alexti, JJ_Colorado, Boron_13.

Raw Vote Counts

Code:<hr /><pre>
Nation Powerful Average Weak
Abysia 9 3 1
Arcoscephale 7 5 0
Atlantis 1 5 6
Caelum 10 3 0
C�tis 2 8 3
Ermor 3 9 1
Jotunheim 2 10 1
Machaka 1 7 5
Man 1 5 6
Marignon 0 8 4
Mictlan 4 7 2
Pangaea 1 6 6
Pythium 9 3 0
R�lyeh 1 12 0
T�ien Ch�i 0 0 13
Ulm 0 4 9
Vanheim 8 3 1
</pre><hr />
Footnotes:
One [serious? I don�t think so�] vote for Hoburg Alliance mod as most powerful. [but normal or SE?];
One vote for Ermor Broken Empire (default) being worst of all, bar none;
One voter did not rank: Atlantis, Arco, Man, Marignon, Pythium, Vanheim;
One vote for Jotunheim [Niefelheim theme] as powerful;
One vote for T�ien Ch�i [Spring & Autumn theme] as the most competitive variation of the nation.

Calculation Process
Powerful = 3, Average=2, Weak=1. Multiply number of votes times Ratings and add. Divide sum by the number of votes received. This yields a rank between 1.00 and 3.00. The break for high power is 2.5, the break for average power is 1.5.

Code:<hr /><pre>
Abysia= 9x3 + 3x2 + 1x1 /13 = 2.62
Arcoscephale= 3x7 + 2x5 + 1x0 /12 = 2.58
Atlantis= 3x1 + 2x5 + 1x6 /12= 1.58
Caelum= 3x10 + 2x3 + 1x0 /13= 2.77
C�tis= 3x2 + 2x8 + 1x3 /13= 1.92
Ermor= 3x3 + 2x9 + 1x1 /13= 2.15
Jotunheim= 3x2 + 2x10 + 1x1 /13= 2.08
Machaka= 3x1 + 2x7 + 1x5 /13= 1.69
Man= 3x1 + 2x5 + 1x6 /12= 1.58
Marignon= 3x0 + 2x8 + 1x4 /12= 1.67
Mictlan= 3x4 + 2x7 + 1x2 /13= 2.15
Pangaea= 3x1 + 2x6 + 1x6 /13= 1.62
Pythium= 3x9 + 2x3 + 1x0 /12= 2.75
R�lyeh= 3x1 + 2x12 + 1x0 /13= 2.08
T�ien Ch�i= 3x0 + 2x0 + 1x13 /13= 1.00
Ulm= 3x0 + 2x4 + 1x9 /13= 1.31
Vanheim= 3x8 + 2x3 + 1x1/12= 2.58
</pre><hr />

List by Ranking
Code:<hr /><pre>THE GREAT
Caelum 2.77
Pythium 2.75
Abysia 2.62
Arcoscephale 2.58
Vanheim 2.58</pre><hr />

Code:<hr /><pre>THE GOOD
Ermor 2.15
Mictlan 2.15
Jotunheim 2.08
R�lyeh 2.08
C�tis 1.92
Machaka 1.69
Marignon 1.67
Pangaea 1.62
Atlantis 1.58
Man 1.58</pre><hr />

Code:<hr /><pre>MY AGENT WILL CALL
Ulm 1.31
T�ien Ch�i 1.00
</pre><hr />

Final Note
It is most important to realize that these results do not reveal �which nation is best to play.� All nations are viable, and results, especially in Multiplayer, depend on board size and design, player interaction, and other factors.

The poll rather addresses �which nation do players think is most powerful� which is quite another thing.

Also, the number of responses (13) may be too small to be statistically significant, so the results might be considered anecdotal at best.

Toward More Accurate Polling
First, getting, say, a minimum of 50 responses is a desirable goal for future polls.

A future poll might be improved if anchored by some basic data, like:

How long have you been playing Dominions 2 (choose one)?
� Have played the demo only
� One month or less
� More than one month to six months
� More than six months to one year.
� More than a year
� I have been playing since Dom I

How do you play Dom II (choose one)?
� Exclusively Single Player
� Prefer Single Player
� Both Single Player and Multiplayer (no preference)
� Prefer Multiplayer
� Exclusively Multiplayer, except for sandbox testing in Single Player.

How many Multiplayer games of Dominions 2 have you played (count games you are currently in or have completed)?
� None
� 1
� 2-5
� 6-10
� 11+

The next poll might be a more ambitious three-part effort. The first section would deal only with the default nations, the second section only with themes, and the third section with only with mods.

DEFAULT NATIONS
In the first section, to the left of each nation would be three radio buttons (mutually exclusive) which read:
� I have played this nation 5+ times
� I have played this nation at least once
� I have never played this nation (this one locks the rest of the question)

Under each nation are two questions.

Question A (pick one answer)
� This nation matches my favorite playing style(s)
� I can play this nation OK, but it�s not a favorite
� This nation is not my style
� I can�t stand this nation, would not choose it for Multiplayer, and only rarely take it in Single Player mode.

Question B (pick one answer)
� This is the top nation�other things being equal, it will do best.
� I�d put this nation in the top five to have the best chance to win
� I�d put this nation in the middle of the pack
� I�d put this nation in the bottom five of worst chance to win
� This is the worst nation, with the hardest challenges to overcome.
� I have no opinion on this nation.

THEMES
In the second section, there is a bypass question
� I haven�t played any themes (locks this whole section).

Then for each listing, to the left of each theme would be three radio buttons (mutually exclusive) which read:
� I have played this theme 5+ times
� I have played this theme at least once
� I have never played this theme (this one locks the rest of the question)

Under each theme are two questions.

Question A (pick one answer)
� This theme matches my favorite playing style(s), even more than the base nation.
� I can play this theme OK, but it�s not a favorite.
� This theme is not my style.
� I can�t stand this theme, would not choose it for Multiplayer, and only rarely take it in Single Player mode.

Question B (pick one answer)
� This theme has about the same power level as the standard nation.
� This theme increases the nation�s power from low to average
� This theme increases the nation�s power from low to good.
� This theme increases the nation�s power from average to good.
� This theme decreases the nation�s power from good to average
� This theme decreases the nation�s power from average to low.
� This theme decreases the nation�s power from good to low.
� I have no opinion.

NATION MODS
The third section also has a bypass question
� I haven�t played any Nation Mods (bypasses section)

In the first part, to the left of each national mod would be three radio buttons (mutually exclusive) which read:
� I have played this nation mod 5+ times
� I have played this nation mod at least once
� I have never played this nation mod (this one locks the rest of the question)

Under each nation mod are two questions.

Question A (pick one answer)
� This nation mod matches my favorite playing style(s)
� I can play this nation mod OK, but it�s not a favorite
� This nation mod is not my style
� I can�t stand this nation mod, would not choose it for Multiplayer, and only rarely take it in Single Player mode.

Question B (pick one answer)
� This nation mod is so overpowered that it�s unfair to other players
� This is the top nation mod�other things being equal, it will do best in a tight game.
� I�d put this nation mod in the top five nations to have the best chance to win
� I�d put this nation mod in the middle of the pack
� I�d put this nation mod in the bottom five nations with the worst chance to win
� This is the worst nation mod, with the hardest challenges to overcome.
� I have no opinion on this nation mod.

I've been meaning to set this up as a poll, but haven't had the time yet. Anybody who wants to, feel free to take this particular ball and run with it--it really has been too long since the Last poll.