Re: Question on game balance in this setup
 

You can't conquer anyone with only Illithids though. Most UW infantry that is worth using against a player is rather resource intensive, and thus incredibly hard to produce en mass. Then add in the fact that the water nations don't have much troop capacity on land (yay, indie invasion!), and you are seriously talking about not making a water nation playable in an MP setting.

I think the water nations already start with a rough paradox in real MP. Yes, they are terribly hard to invade from land, this is a great advantage, their share of the map is not cost effective to claim, so they are not likely to die before the end of the game. But the flip side of this is that it is so hard to make a *meaningful* ground campaign, that it is unlikely from turn 1 that the aquatic race will actually win the game.

Re: Question on game balance in this setup
 

Checkout my guide to MA Atlantis for a general idea of the advantage of being the only water power (hint: I play aggressively, no hint of turtling. Read from: "
So, you’ve invested heavily in all this underwater only stuff and you’ve managed to conquer every underwater province on the map. Now what?"). If you're having trouble making a meaningful ground campaign then you're doing it wrong - I've played underwater several times and have never felt anything but malevolent glee when contemplating the pain and chaos I was about to cause making my way onto land.

Play the underwater race as a submarine rather than a battleship and you'll be quite happy with the results.

Re: Question on game balance in this setup
 

Yeah. I'm rather new to MP, I'm playing a water nation. I've kicked one land nation out of the water, there's one other water nation that even if I took it out I couldn't hope to win. There's no way I could hope to build an adequate force on land.