[kot23]

Just my two cents on the subject: I agree that total balance cannot be achieved in a specific part of the game: some nations are better for the start of a game (when battles are important to set your initial borders), others are better in the long run (when there is a large empire running).

I don't have that much experience with vanheim, I always thought that Neifelheim was the BEST nation: Niefel Giants with W9N6(+) bless were invincible. warhammer above makes a good point about diplomacy but it is only (half-)supported for MultiPlayer games.

In general, I think that it is good to have different styles in the nations: although this may make them unbalanced, some players may get a far more better playing experience with a style they like more. This variety also increases diplomacy and cooperation in multiplayer games, while in single player... come on, the AI is not _that_ good yet, you can take any nation in the long run if you play carefully.