Early Game, Mid Game, and End Game... What's the goal of each?

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Spacepain:
When I start to approach magic *shudder* or try utilize a race without the really hardy units... things go down hill... quickly. Suddenly, I have to worry about not just keeping decent armies up to snuff, but I have that whole magic thing to worry about.

Maybe that's just not your thing. I'm the opposite. I do great with races that have a strong magical base, and I crash and burn on a race with extremely poor magical ability, such as Ulm. I just don't do Ulm very well. Admittedly, as a more experienced player, I can hold off the AI anyway, but it's definitely an uphill struggle, and I probably wouldn't be able to manage it at all at your level of experience. Maybe it's just your lot in life to be stronger with the building and production of normal troops, and you should pick nations that cater to your personal preferences. If you want to expand your magical strength, try picking a nation which is a solid hybrid of these, such as Pythium or Arco. I found that I was able to somewhat improve my Ulm game after playing as Pythium a bit: Normally, I tend to heavily gravitate towards magic, as Ermor.