Re: Thoughts about Pythium...?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Check out....
http://www.techno-mage.com/~dominion/Dominions2/

The map files are re-rolled every day. They use the Aran.tga so they could work for demo also (I did this when only the demo was out). If you download the Man.map then all you have to do is choose Man and start the game. The AI's are randomly selected, random difficulty, and sometimes allied with each other.

</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Actually, Gandalf, could you explain a little how the game should be set up? Which of the options (indie level, site percentage, whatever) still have their normal effect, and what would reasonable settings be? Which AIs should be used, and do they have "suggested" levels? (I'm not too confident using high-level AIs yet...)

Re: Thoughts about Pythium...?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Thats why I don't play Pythium. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif I've been playing Dom long enough now that its more fun to place some restrictions on what I uses and abuses.

Regarding Pangaea you should find this another very powerful race if you focus on the goodies. While it is not all rounded the Centaur Warriors are a truly wonderful unit and I would rate Pangaea third after Pythium and Arco in the top races list just ahead of C'tis. Don't underrate the Pan as they work a treat even for order races (which I recommmend for CW abuse). The fact that the Pan operate on the borders of your dominion mean the opponents dominion is more important than your own for Maenad production. Centaur Cataphracts are a good buy when you need your gold for Pan and make a crunchy center and Dryads are excellent. The white centaurs are good for fast moving CW units. Minotaurs and Satyrs don't rate in my book as they slow you down strategically and stop you building more centaurs.

You should find Iron Faith Ulm more of challenge. Still not sure of a decent approach for this race.

Cheers

Keir

Re: Thoughts about Pythium...?
 

I do find it more of a challenge. I think that's why I like it against the AI.

I'm playing IF against Abyssia, Atlantis, Ctis, Arco, and Pythium right now, and that is making for a very challenging game. I just found sages, though, so I will start to have some research. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Of course, I don't yet have any decent mages http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif I like nations with one or two central strengths but surrounding weaknesses that must be compensated for.

Re: Thoughts about Pythium...?
 

>I would rate Pangaea third after Pythium and Arco in the top races list just ahead of C'tis.

In terms of fun to play perhaps...

I'm a fan of Pangaea, but in terms of strength it's nowhere near third place. IMHO, it's not even in the top 50%.

While the troops are very good, they aren't great. More importantly Pangean magic is expensive and lacks versatility.

Re: Thoughts about Pythium...?
 

I have a hard time seeing Pangaea as more powerfull than Caelum, Man, Jotunheim, Vanheim, Machaka, Atlantis, or Rlyeh, let alone Pythium or Arcoscephale.

Re: Thoughts about Pythium...?
 

Unfortunately as much as I enjoy Pangaea, it is nowhere near as inherently strong as other nations.

It just doesn't have the kicking power of many of the others.

One note I have found though; I can't play T'ien Ch'i base with the kind of mobility and strength I can than with Spring and Autumn. It is the only forced Turmoil nation that I feel is close to the top 5. And while this doesn't apply to Pangaea it would be nice that they would make any turmoil intensive design as equally powerful as others. This is where I feel it applies to Pangaea.