Re: What is the easiest nation to play?
 

Atlantis is pretty straightforward to play. And as an underwater nation, you hardly ever get invaded by opposing nations. So you have plenty of time to learn how everything works and pick your fights.

Re: What is the easiest nation to play?
 

The AI can't really invade the water though, so playing an underwater nation would lead to a very low-drama game.

Re: What is the easiest nation to play?
 

Have to disagree with Mr Gandalf - we have found that magic-users (in 3 ed. - sorcerers) are MUCH better for starting DD players. Reason: they are obvious in what they can and can't do (just make sure he/she understands the spells you give him/her). Fighters, on the other hand, require tactics to be effective - and good grasp on system in general... And in respect to role-playing: there are many versions of fighters, most of them unfamiliar to staring player - but any geek can model magic-user quite well! :)
Returning to basic question: I'd say that what you should look for are good national mages (so that you don't need to plan how you'll make boosters beforehand) with good enough national troops to allow both expansion into indies and a good fight against other national troops. Which means: Hinnom/Ashdod, Sauromatia(!), EA Ermor, Niefelheim, Abyssia, maybe Helheim/Vanheim/Eriu. Maybe MA Ulm/Marignon too...

Re: What is the easiest nation to play?
 

But again thats back to play well or play easy.
A basic human barb "run up and hit it with a club".
Or a fighter "run up and hit it with a sword".
Neither takes alot of explanation. True, they die. But they get the gist of the game and it makes them want more.

First choice IMHO, in either game (DnD or Dom3) doesnt need to cover the whole game. It doesnt need to play well. It needs to whet the appetite to try something better while learning the basic moves of the game.

Re: What is the easiest nation to play?
 

And a mage wets their appetite just well! And may even be useful for the rest of the party at the same time. :) (also, "run up and hit it with a sword" characters may inadventedly become a laughingstock of the party (or get bored themselves, which is even worse) - which may defeat the purpose of getting new player in the first place)
And of course it doesn't cover the whole game - they'll need to learn tactics, etc. Which is, by the way, why, say, Abyssia (or Sauromatia) may be a good nation for a start - true, starting player may not be successful with a Bloof - but he could try it while his powerful infantry fights off any opposition (and in DD newby mage can try something wacky whilr fighters hold enemy off him - which they wouldn't do for another fighter!).

Re: What is the easiest nation to play?
 

I agree with Gandalf's take on where to start for a new player. There are so many concepts within the game such as: Bless strategies; Super Combatants; Strangulation by Dominion; Battlefield Buffs; Searching; Item planning; Research strategies; Etc etc etc.

For a new player this can be overwhelming. Best to simply play against Easy AI (they aren't that easy!) and learn about army placement strategies. As Gandalf says, this whets the appetite. You have a few victories and think you have the formula down pat and then, 'bam', you meet an enemy using a particular strategy that beats yours. Then you need to re-think how you'll beat this new threat so you focus on learning just that aspect. And so on and so on. Much more manageable for a starting player.

Re: What is the easiest nation to play?
 

Yes, and, I repeat - you need mages initially strong for this, plus something to play with (such as - oh terror! - Blood). Good troops are secondary here - you have better ones than independents anyway and can mass them as needed. Plus, your mages should be relatively variable or have few possibilities if you run into, say, Jotuns or Abyssia.

Re: What is the easiest nation to play?
 

Map can make a difference also.
I just put a map up which is great for newbie play. Its a small tower.
http://www.dom3minions.com/maps.htm
It makes managing your front lines easier and helps avoid being attacked on all sides by the AI. I recommend an Independents setting of 5 or higher since that slows down the AIs early expansion.

Re: What is the easiest nation to play?
 

When I started learning how to play dominions I did something similar... I made a somewhat smaller tower style map, about 5 provinces across and 60-80 provinces in total, I don't remember anymore. I'd fight just one ai, but the ai would be fairly strong with all that territory available to it. It was good for learning the game, at least.

Re: What is the easiest nation to play?
 

Agree about independents - actually, I even think that higher independents rating is always better. And for map I used Urgaja or something similar at start with about 3 other nations.