[CUnknown]

I just saw this thread and wanted to speak up for my favorite nation, MA Ulm. Perhaps Ulm isn't the best nation in the game, but they are surely not one of the worst. I'd say they are at least average. My reasoning:

1) Their infantry -are- among the best in the game. At least as far as non-sacreds go. They cost 10 gold, people, I dare you to find any other infantry that can stand up to their 20 protection for the same price. And despite what others have said, they are easy to mass with productivity 3 and Ulm's production bonus.

2) Arbelests are among the best archers in the game. 45 range and massive armor piercing damage? I've killed equipped SC pretenders in their own dominion just by using abelests before. They pack a mean punch. Just script them to fire archers or something so they don't hit you in the back.

And speaking of friendly fire, I love using masses of indy archers to fire closest -- they have no chance of hurting my black plates.

3) Huge amounts of available gold. Their infantry are cheap and cost lots of production. Their mages are also cheap (no 300 gold options available here). That means you buy up -all- the mercenaries and expand quickly, even without using your pretender.

4) Forge bonus. I think this has been seriously underestimated in the discussion so far. This is huge. I play Ulm as merchants, selling off dwarven hammers and making nice profits. Or you can sell to your allies at cost -- and since diplomacy is worth so much, I don't think this advantage can be overstated.

5) Research. Once you reach midgame, your research shoots up dramatically by mass forging lightless lanterns, tying you at least temporarily with the game's best. This is something no other race can do as cheaply or as well (2 fire gems per lantern). I would say Ulm has above average research overall.

6) Thugs. People have mentioned Ulm lacks thugs, but I typically base my mid-late game strategy on them, and the wealth of items forged by my smiths. It's not that hard to summon Bane Lords or those Firbolg guys.

So, their late game isn't so hot. I have a habit of coming in 2nd or 3rd with Ulm, but come on -- half the other races wouldn't even have made it that far. Ulm has a killer early -mid game, even if you take into account all those crazy bless strategies out there. Sure, you can beat Ulm in the early game with a dual-bless, but why on earth would you chose Ulm as one of your first targets? You'd have rocks in your head.

Ulm is the best ally to have in the game, and very tough to crack early on. It's my opinion that they should just about always survive to the late mid - endgame, at which point they lose. But, hey, that's life.