You make a lot of good points, but I'll just address two of them.
The first is relying on luck for research. Yep. Good point. With luck you can get your research going, only 20 turns or so behind your neighbors. And it might be more than 20 turns, as this is a slow-out-of-the-gate nation....
The second point I'd like to address:
Quote:
Originally posted by Peter Ebbesen:
I must say that 300 gold immortal mages with high armour, hitpoints, morale, magic resitance, precision, AND magic paths does seem a bit over the top and open to REAL abuse, but let us see.  [/QB]
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Hard to refute! However, I'd still say that Niefel Jarls are far more powerful. Breakdown
NJ Taken Analysis
sz 5 2 no trample for T
hp 72 30 NJ can take more dg
pro 15 26 T have heavy armor
mor 15 15 tie
mr 18 15 NJ win self confidence
enc 4 0 T are undead
st 25 15 Big win to NJ
att 12 13 Slight edge to T
def 16 13 Makes up for the armor?
prec 12 13 Slight edge to T
mv 3/14 2/14 Strategic edge to NJ
NJ has quickness for X2 spells/attacks, huge ice cloud, an extra trample attack, fire 3, and is sacred (sacred increases cost by 50%).
T has minimum regen, is immortal, fire 4, and unholy 3. It has been argued that the unholy 3 is no help, and in the test games it hasn't. The T's armor may be too heavy; it certainly adds fatigue to their spell casting, providing a real boundary there.
I'd say that the NJ beats out the Taken overall, and that if it wasn't sacred it would cost about 375 gold and 40 res. The Taken's cost of 350 gold and 35 res seems in line--or slightly high.