[Frostmourne27]

For brevity, I won't mention it if I agree. Yes, I know it makes me look harsh and critical. Sorry. I'm not trying to be antagonistic, although it probably looks that way.

CUnknown said:

1a)Ulm's troops are slow, both tactically and map-move-wise.

It is a disadvantage, sure. Balanced races have disadvantages. Tactically, this is not even worth mentioning as a disadvantage -- your incredibly cheap pin-cushion units are getting pinned. So what? I think you guys view Ulm's units in a different light than I do. They're the toughest and cheapest cannon-fodder in the game, they don't kill much stuff without buffs (such as Weapons of Sharpness), their real function is to absorb damage cheaply. Ulmish warriors do not hope to come back alive, their only purpose is to die in your service!!

--> True. You can hold the enemy up for several turns. And... Oh crap. You can blade wind, if you forewnet construction, got conjuration 2, AND evocation 4. Not impossible, but arrow fend makes this totally useless. Also, BW is crap against anything with prot over 15, and weak vs. 12-15. You really need better stuff. Like Magma eruption, except that its even harder to get. And when you run into an SC? DOn't even start. You can't petrify, you can't get your own, you can't really bladewind it, since it probably wears armour, and magma erruption isn't that likely to kill it. And, of course, if four high seraphs reduce your infantry to toasted marshmallows in two turns, there isn't much for your mages to do other than run like hell. A few distraction units, and you probably won't kill much.

1d)Their high encumberance doesn't synergize with the high protection value since it diminishes the lasting power that high protection presents.

I am just repeating myself here. See above.

-->You miss the point I think, and I don't like your 'cannon-fodder' explination, but this isn't a disadvantage. EVERYONE with high protection has encumberance problems, except for the undead, and they have other problems.

1e) Their troop selection (while allowing different weapon combinations) only consists of high resourcecost, highly armored troops, limiting army construction, and making their armies predictable.

Why would you build anything else besides heavily-armored troops when you have them available for 10 gold? If this is a comment on the lack of early-game expansion power of Ulm, I think that is greatly exaggerated. Buy mercenaries and independent troops and you will expand with the best of them. You are guarenteed to get just about all the mercenaries for the first 10 turns.

I fail to see how you will get anymore mercs than anyone else with order 3. With the above mentioned prod 3, you will probably be able to spend most of your gold on recruitables, if you want to. Ulm of course, may NOT want to, since mercs are better that your troops at least 25% of the time.

2) Their weak mages can't allow them to be succesfull in mid and late-game. They're also borderline old age.

Ulm's mages are great! They only cost 140 gold and they can all cast Blade Wind and Magma Eruption! What else is there? I'm being semi-serious, too! Weakness of their mages is not an issue, but lack of magic diversity is. Ulm's mages are very potent at what they do.

--> They're cheap 'cause they're wortheless. Compare to Ktonian necromancers, which are 200, and LATE era. Necromacers have MORE magic, can get three in two paths, and TWO emore paths than smiths (death and some astral - as much as ulm gets air). Which, theoretically, means that the other nations get weaker mages. LE agartha, I should mention, has troops not vastly dissimilar to ulm's.

4) Reliance on resource-heavy troops limits their early expansion since massing their troops early is difficult.

It's not at all difficult if you take Production-3. I think MA Ulm has an excellent early game, as long as we're just talking about indies here. A nearby human with a bless rush can ruin anyone's day.

--> As mentionned above, compare to pythium. Pythium has easier expansion and a hell of a lot better magic.

6) No sacreds and priests to speak of.

So don't take a bless, this isn't a problem.

-->This limits options, but isn't really a disadvantage. Black Knights are comparable to moderatly blessed sacreds from the nations that don't have awesome sacreds. E.g. Pythium.

Done with Burnsaber's list, now to add some of my own points.

1) Spies + Lots of early castles = good

2a) Forging. Give any other nation an undispelable Forge of the Ancients and see how good they are.

2b) Forging for other people. You can make serious bank by selling items as Ulm. Or you can get tight with an ally by doing the same thing. Despite people's distaste for this, it really is a great advantage.

2c) Empowering and forging Blood items. Other races might want to do this, but with Ulm you are silly if you -don't- do it, it's so good.

2d) Research ability. Lightless lanterns put Ulm as a good research race. I think people don't realize how good the boost from these items are, and how cheaply and quickly Ulm can forge huge numbers of them. Combined with the blood stones from 2c) and the large numbers of castles mentioned above, and you've got yourself the ingrediants for a good turtle race.

2e) Little commander zap wands. I love these things. Given that you are going to have a large number of commanders ferrying around the huge numbers of troops you make as Ulm, giving your guys flame wands is a fun game. Later, you can upgrade them to fireball wands or the Rods of the Phoenix which are very powerful.

2f) Artifacts. Get 'em all. You know you've got the construction magic before anyone else.

-->Spies and castles ARE good. Of course, marignon could get the same, and just as easily.

-->Forging: You do NOT get a permanent forge of the ancients. Your mages don't get +1 in their known paths for forging. They also get 25% off, not 50, which is the forge bonus, IMHO. Oddly, Ulm also has a difficult time get the forge up. Honestly, making it an Ulm national might go a long way to solving ulm's problems.

--> The rest of your points are valid, but assume you research construction, which precludes the above mentioned evocation-smiths of doom. Also, they aren't that limited to Ulm. Lightless lanterns aren't THAT expensive.