A few newbie questions.

[Duncan_Frost]

1) How is the MP in this game? How easy is it to get a game? Can you just look at a server browser and jump in?

2) How viable is it to play as a trader nation in MP?, i.e. being very weak militarily but buying and selling artifacts with other players and so on.

3) What does NAP stand for?

Probably more to come..

[Meglobob]

1) Excellent. You after wait for a thread to start up, I would join one of Llama's newbie games. As an alternative you could always sub for someone.

2) You can trade as much as you and other players want, its fun! But its mainly about fighting! Your description fits playing MA Ulm thou...

3) Non Agression Pact, usually with a number, ie...3. A promise you are going to give 3 game turns notice before you invade whomever you had the NAP with. Very, very common treaty in MP.

[Duncan_Frost]

Okay, thanks. Hmm.. MA Ulm. I'll try them when my game arrives. What'd probably happen is i'd make an insanely huge and deadly army just sitting in my home province, where my Forge Lord with his dwarven hammer and Forge of the Ancients churns out endless priceless loot. I'd be rich! RICH!

EDIT: Oh yes, what's subbing?

[Meglobob]

MA Ulm is a good trading nation because of its forge bonus making construction of magic items cheap.

However, I will warn you that it is considered a weak nation in MP and as such be more likely to be attacked by another nation.

You could be better off playing EA Ulm which has the forge bonus but more powerful troops/mages and blessable troops.

Subbing is taking over from a player already in a game who can't play anymore, mainly due to real life reasons. Its better to get a sub than turn that player AI usually.

[Duncan_Frost]

Okay, many thanks!

[Aezeal]

Trading a a main strategy really isn't a viable strategy.
It can help you from time to time but it won't win games, battles or wars.

Don't start with MA Ulm.

[Tuidjy]

Duncan_Frost, stay away from MA Ulm. If you want to be a trading nation,
EA Ulm or AA Arcoscephale are much better choices. These are real nations...
MA Ulm is a sad joke.

[Duncan_Frost]

Ugh. If not Ulm, who would you recommend as a good nation to start off with? Just for practice in SP. In the demo, I've taken a liking to Arcosphale. Having flying units in the PD is fun, no matter how useless they are.

[ComTrav]

You'll find MA Ulm is a little contreversial on these boards; it seems to be a "love it/hate it" nation. It's fine for SP, though.

For SP, when I was just learning the game, here are some nations I found useful:
-Any country with strong national troops is more amenable to newbies imo. Countries with weak national troops that rely heavily on mages/commanders/special summons can be harder to get working (Agartha, Bandar Log, etc.)
-Since you mentioned flyers, I figured I'd mention Caelum, where almost everything flies. EA Caelum is great to play around with high level evocations, too. When learning the game its easier to focus on one or two schools per game.
-However, when you're ready to play with LOTS of different magic, Tie'n Ch'i (I played EA) was very useful to me when learning the magic system, because of its ridiculous magic diversity. It has a solid troop selection, too. Maybe play your 3rd or 4th big SP game as TC, the amount of magic options available to them are overwhelming at first.
-Someone will mention Niefelheim, and its probably the best bet for a bless strategy. Take high bless, build frost giants, profit.

[Duncan_Frost]

One of my favourite spells in the demo is Cross-Breeding, so Blood. Who's a good blood nation? And what's a blood economy?