EA Races to Play
 

I'm in a bit of a rut. I prefer to play EA nations, a little MA, not a fan of the LA. Anyhow, I am going to be playing a buddy of mine that is new to the game and another who has had the game for a while, but has never played a MP game. Who should I play and why should I play them?

Re: EA Races to Play
 

Hinnom. because they are so grossly good you have to work to lose

Re: EA Races to Play
 

Arco, because if you beat them, it will teach them a lot about how to become better players :)

Re: EA Races to Play
 

No LA? But LA is where all the fun thematic nations are. :)

Why not try Helheim? Bring glamoured death to them all! Or Mictlan? Giant sacred armies of doom!

Really, I'm not sure. What are you looking for? A good nation that fits your playing style and tastes (which, if that's your wish, then elaborate on them), a powerhouse nation that can crush all opposition, a nation that'll make'em think, a nation that'll help ease you in to MP...?

But if you're looking for a powerhouse nation, I would go with Lanka/Helheim/Mictlan/Sauromatia/Himmon.

Re: EA Races to Play
 

Kailasa, because they have topless blue dancer summons.

Re: EA Races to Play
 

But who doesn't like one-eyed giants? Or cannibals?

Re: EA Races to Play
 

I'm not looking for a powerhouse nation, I'm hoping to play them again. I'm just looking for something different that will give them something to think about.

I've played EA Ermor, EA Caelum, EA T'ien Ch'i, and EA Vanheim. Out of those, I've had fun with them all, but probably the most with T'ien Ch'i and then Caelum. If I play with either of those races, I will mop the floor with them I am sure. Just looking for something fun to play, possibly thematic, etc., etc.

Re: EA Races to Play
 

One more thing, I have not played a Blood nation at all, but knowing how I know the magic system much better than them, I'm not sure that taking a blood nation is necessarily a good thing because I think it is the single most powerful school of magic in the game.

Re: EA Races to Play
 

Something else, I think one of the guys will probably take EA Ermor.

Re: EA Races to Play
 

Kailasa,

Because monkey PD will never win.

Re: EA Races to Play
 

Play EA Agartha, then. The theme is cool, but IMO they are pretty weak.

Re: EA Races to Play
 

Play EA Arco....You will hit Const 8 first and have lots of cash....BUT your not real powerful. Its kind of a builders nation that gets good stuff and can have communions.

If you not rushed early (have some Ai's in the game so they don't come looking for each other or its gonna be a short game) It will be a lot of fun and give you a real appreciation for what artifacts to forge agianst who.

But your talking to a guy that enjoys and almost always plays Arco in EA.:up:

Re: EA Races to Play
 

Seriously, try the ea Arco oreiad thug strategy. If you can't get that to work, maybe tir na n'og or ea C'tis. Nations that aren't necessarily stand outs as amazing, but can do some pretty neat things and show people dimensions of the game that may be hard for a noob to grasp.

Re: EA Races to Play
 

I might try Arco or Tir Na N'og. I was looking at them and wondering what to do with each of them. I was also looking at EA Abyssia, but Fire magic is a little too straight forward. Then again, trying to win with a nation that is stuck with little S or D in the late game might be interesting.

Re: EA Races to Play
 

Why not EA Pangaea then, and use a maenad or manikin strategy. It makes for an interesting fight, and gives them something to think about in terms of counters.

Kailasa is interesting, if you're using the new CBM mod, as no clams means they can't just regurgitate army after army and SC after SC.

Also, why not try one of the strictly underwater nations, R'lyeh and Oceania. Sure they're hard to attack, but with most of your troops and your best mages and troops limited to underwater use, it makes fighting a land war a challenging endeavor. You could also make it more interesting by putting up Blessing of Thetis, and let them have at you underwater. It'll give them an interesting perspective in the whole underwater vs. land war.

I agree with you when it comes to blood. It's awesome. Especially since gem-gens are now entirely unique.

Re: EA Races to Play
 

Use Arco. They have several things going for them.
1) They completely, utterly suck. Maverni would butcher them with army combat, which is pitiful. Their mages are decent if you know how to use communions, but nothing special(other than the Oreid). Your PD is completely useless. You make MA Oceania look good. So it is fair, given how new the other people are.

2) Despite sucking, you have an awesome flavor, really cool mages, really cool(though weak) units, etc.

Note that I have the original, unpatched version of the game, so this is a bit out dated.

Re: EA Races to Play
 

Well, current arco (I don't recall at all about unpatched arco, I doubt I even played the game unpatched after the demo) at least has chariot archers which, while not amazing, do have 2 forms and trample, which is pretty much Good Enough. Much of their other stuff is serviceable, if not spectacular.

Re: EA Races to Play
 

Peltasts are awesome :D Mass javelins FTW!

Oh, and I think you should play Marverni :)

Re: EA Races to Play
 

As a very new player, myself, I recommend you play EA Pangea with the Maenad Strategy.

This race has the advantage of giving you lots of Chaff that your friends can chop through to make themselves feel powerful. It also gives you a meta-strategy to dabble with and work on perfecting. It also has some access to Blood Magic so you can dabble in it without intentionally becoming a blood mega-power. Did I mention it lets your friend chop through legions of Maenad chaff and this makes them feel powerful? Yeah, that part is worth mentioning twice.

Re: EA Races to Play
 

If you can't choose just assign random nations for everybody, it would be fun. :)

Re: EA Races to Play
 

I think Pangaea is a good idea. But I'm not really turned on by them at all.

Maverni is a great idea, I was just looking at them last night and wondering what I could do with them.

Random would be good except that both players like to plan things out, so they are already testing various nation builds.

My original idea was to use EA Ermor, since their end game is all about what they had acquired previously with death income, etc., but I think I've gotten good enough with Ermor that I would be able to beat them soundly.