[Vicious Love]

Originally posted by PrinzMegaherz:

Grove Guards are very strong against Ulm. Trampling makes ulmish steel worthless

I thought armor still protected against trampling? If so, tramplers would be particularly effective against high defense units, but not low defense, high protection Ulmish infantry.

Ulm's HI will have a hard time wounding a grove guard.

Not THAT hard, with damage 9 mauls and battleaxes. Not to mention STR 12 elites with damage 10 halberds. Keep in mind that a group of tramplers that doesn't rout a trampled enemy regiment will almost invariably end up surrounded and ready for a humbling countersmackdown.
Beyond that, not even a grove guard can withstand an Ulmish cavalry charge, and cavalry usually end up striking first.

Arbalestes do damage,

And how!

but trampling often brings the grove guards in the middle of the enemy, so the arbalestes will hit friend and foe alike.

Well, yeah, but the grove guards are bigger and less expendable.

NE has higher paths available, and the pans are capable of producing the items needed to boost those (earth boots, thistle mace).

At full cost.

Ulm has no means to boost its fire magic.

Point taken. I imagine the easiest way is to have your pretender forge both a Fire Helmet and a Skull of Fire, outfit a smith with both, and have him forge more Fire Helmets. Or you could always skip the skulls and get Forge of the Ancients Online.
Neither option is all that efficient.

Ulm lacks commanders worth equipping.

Um. Knights? I mean, c'mon, knights. No shoes, or anything, but footwear nonwithstanding, knights!
I agree that Ulmish smiths can forge precious few items(And many aren't all that useful to Ulm), unless you actually bother to empower one in a new path. Then again, Ulm's innate forge bonus and easy access to Dwarven Hammers, the Forge of the Ancients, and the Hammer of the Forge Lord all ensure that empowerment eventually pays for itself.

Most of your points are definitely valid and, having played neither nation in multiplayer, I honestly can't say whether one is more powerful than the other, either in general or against each other.
Still, I do suspect you've sold Ulm short.

Update: Speaking of which, you've disregarded Ulm's sappers, their guardians' castle defense bonus, and their production bonus. Not a bad set set of perks.

[ August 05, 2004, 23:46: Message edited by: Vicious Love ]