[jaif]

I probably could have phrased my question better, but my personal philosophy when designing things like this (nations in strategy games) is to a) think of the general theme), b) detail their cool stuff, and c) detail their weaknesses. With those three elements of the design fully stated, it makes it easier to flesh out the details.

I just wanted to incorporate weaknesses into the discussion, and I've seen a number of good replies.

-Jeff