[Meglobob]

Baalz is correct the sample is small and all what he has listed had an effect on the game.

However, strong trends can still be spotted, especially as each age has 20+ nations in it.

2 such trends ermerged from the perpetuality game, one the dominance of water nations, effect. Easily solved, too many water provinces was the cause. Simple cause and effect.

The 2nd strong trend was the elimination of all but 3 EA nations from the game. Of those 3 not too be eliminated, EA Oceania and EA Lanka had stong advantages of being played by 2 very good players and starting locations. Did this help them avoid the fate of the other EA nations?

Its a very strong trend which leads me to believe, there is some ingame cause and effect going on. I would tentively put forward the higher protection values MA/LA nations have, better missile weapons in crossbows/composite bows/longbows and a strong trend of death magic in LA nations in particular.

I think basically, early on, the military forces of MA/LA nations has the edge on the battlefield over EA. This early edge carries on into the mid game and so on.

But its very hard to pin down, as its tiny when you compare 1 military unit vs another, but decesive when you have armies of 200 vs 200 in a large battle.

We will only have confirmation in Evermore, when/if it gets underway. It would not be surprising to see such a strong trend confirmed in another game.