Re: Favorite nations so far?
 

In the Early Era there is already about 8 nations that I absolutely want to try in MP! I'm a big fan of nature/poison nations (I miss the Pythian serpent Cult).

I like Early Pangaea. I want to mass lamiahs with an imprisoned N9 Mother of monsters but but I'm not sure its a good idea:
-I plan to cast them only with MoM, so I dont really use the N4 Pans for summonning.
-Even with mass protection lamiahs alone arent so powerful outside GoH dominion (I doubt they'll match the mid-game rush of N9 Bless Niefel Giants & Jarls).

For theses reasons I think I'll use lamiahs with sauromatia, (hydra + lamiahs). I really like the pans but honestly dont really know how to use them effectively with a N5+ prentender (other than VO summonning or locust swarm spamming).

I should try Charm + penetration items in MP:
charm(N3) charm charm charm reinvigoration(B1)

Re: Favorite nations so far?
 

True. But it appears to be about as good as any judgement until we have enough people proficient at each nation to be able to test it with players. I was surprised by it also. I considered it luck and kept running the tests. Apparently with a single minded AI on all of the nations, thats how it played out so something is there.

Its really not beneficial at this point for someone to say that any nation is a power nation since we all know that the power in Dominions is "player method" + "good nation match" = "power". Someone saying Ermor is powerful at this point might only mean that person plays Ermor better than they do other nations.

Re: Favorite nations so far?
 

I love that Lord of Night pretender. A titan that is a stealthy flying assassin? And can summon aid during the assassination? Even un-equiped he can take out nearly any commander. There has to be a blitz-game tactic in that.

Re: Favorite nations so far?
 

Doesn't surprise me. One of the first games I played was the Silent Seas map (EA) with the three water nations & AI C'tis (I was playing Argatha). Was a close run thing, with the water nations proving to be the most challenging opponents (Atlantis was the worst of the three, but they had managed to drive a wedge between me and Oceania, so I had few encounters with Oceania until they'd managed to drive the Atlantians back).

Re: Favorite nations so far?
 

Ironically in an EA random map I was playing last night with all EA nations, Oceania was the first to go, and a very fast death it was!

Re: Favorite nations so far?
 

Currently in love with EA arcosphale...

Running some sick games with bless/thug strategy, with different flavors based on scale choice (production being the main, such a hard choice given moderately resource intensive units on one hand, and philosopher research scale on the other... I think I am leaning towards sloth for better other scales/research, though that sort of puts me at the mercy of starting position)

Re: Favorite nations so far?
 

EA Yomi, Oni Kings is probably my favourite at the moment; A bit strange, since it does not really work. I find myself using almost exclusively Dai-Oni with a few Demon General commanders to lead hordes of Bakemono archers since none of the normal troop demons are worth the cost, but even so, 'tis fun. Probably because Dai-Oni are so versatile on the battlefield once a bit research has been done.

LA Ermor, Ashen Empire... I don't really know about this one. Making Soul Gate a national global enchantment is an interesting move and certainly voids some of the more abusive SG strategies, and I like that, but doing that AND significantly reducing the Wraith Senators and Consuls in power (lost one holy level so they have the same holy strength as the Bishops/Archbishops - who cost half the gems, and Ermor lives - and dies - by its gems) as well as making Wraith Centurions, Senators, and Consuls only accessible at high conjuration levels just doesn't seem to work all that well. By the time you can afford them you are probably better off using standard spawning mound fiends for troops and stay using archbishops (despite the risk of "gem-loss" compared to using Wraiths if they die in your home province)... It would probably work better if the "Soul Gate" global enchantment also boosted the magic paths (including holy, or perhaps only holy) of all leaders that are Soul Gate aspected. But perhaps this should be in a separate thread. Who, playing LA Ermor, actually use the national Wraith Summons?

Re: Favorite nations so far?
 

I haven't played all my old favorites from Dom2 yet but anyway.

I have fallen in love with Middle era Man. Cheap researchers, Good combat magic with the Witches (2-3A), and good durable troops with the wardens and knights of avalon.

Early and Middle age agartha should suit my regular style with lots of summons, however, I'm struggling to get them rolling. My temples keep getting raised by earthquakes, Bogus and Co: kills my prophet and main battlemage etc. Bad luck I guess, but I like the background theme.

Pythium got potential, but as with Agartha, I'm struggling with them in the early game. Once I pop out the angels they are great though. I have a few ideas I need to try out to get the Grand Theurgs and communions working despite the old age problem that might change my view of them.

Re: Favorite nations so far?
 

La,Ma R'Lyeh



Bandar Log god i love those monkeys.

And Sauromatia suxors its EA only

Re: Favorite nations so far?
 

The Wraith Centurions with their immortality are still powerful by the time you get them if you can keep your dominion high, and they aren't that expensive.
And since Conjuration is LA Ermor's most important school anyway, it won't take that long to get them.
Also, now that you start with +15 death gems per turn, LA Ermor gets +6 RP per turn and another +6 every four turns, and if you are a bit lucky with searches, you can get much more, so LA Ermor isn't as handicapped as it used to be as far as research goes.