How mani AI players ias normal?

[Boron]

Very good nations to learn the basics are either the underwater nations , Atlantis and Ryleh or Ermor Ashen Empire/Soul gate themes .

Or you could play the Faerun Map with only about 5 Opponents there you have then enough time to expand before you meet your enemies .
When you start with dominions the AI opponents seem strong because you are not prepared to their rushing tactics .

Once you know the basics normal AIs shouldn't be a too big problem anymore .

Other good starting nations are Man , Vanheim , Jotunheim and Marignon because they have very good troops .
Man , Marignon and Vanheim are magically easy to play also .

All in all i would recommend man for starting because they are straight forward + you can summon your first AQs in midgame to learn the use of SCs .

[Kristoffer O]

Avoid having Ermor as ai player. The ai is rather bad at defending against Ermor. Ermor will gobble up all other ai players and then be too powerful to be dealt with.

[Endoperez]

I disagree on learning the game with Ermor themes, as they play very differently from other nations. Both underwater nations are quite different in their troop and mage availability, and being underwater complicates things even more, so I wouldn't suggest them either.

I wouldn't advice on using SC at all when learning the game. (and much less without explanation of the term ) Super combatants are rather important in multiplayer, but I think using national troops against the AI is more interesting and challenging.

[Endoperez]

Kristoffer's comment brings something to my mind: I have been using a mod that disallows Ermor from using its national themes. It makes it possible to have Ermor as an AI player. Should I make a banner for it, and send it somewhere? It is quite simple if one has done any modding, but for beginners it might be nice to have it downloadable...

[BigDaddy]

I quickly learned to defeat computer AI's with Pythium. Fortified City, Order 3, Prod. 3, Dominion 8, Wyrm with no magic. Build Emerald Guards. You'll learn to judge, but with provinces at 6, 15 or so can take most stuff, and 25-35 can take almost any heavy stuff like knights. I've used a similar setup to defeat the computer on 16 Impossible AIs (fearun).Don't worry about deploying the awesome mages until you get orb lightning/enslave mind. Don't worry, I thought the game was impossible when I first started.

When you get a better hold on the game I recommend practicing super-combatants (SC) with Jotunheim-Niefelhiem, where you can buy them for gold. A typical Niefel Jarl might be given, skullface, skull staff, boots of messenger, medalion of resilience, weapons and armor of your choice like lucky coin or faithful sword and robe of shadows. If you have Enchant 3 researched, he'll know what he's for (quickness/skeleton spamming). Another setup might be water braclet, amulet of resilience, boots of messenger, and other equipment (stone armor, wraith helm, hellsword(2hands)/bloodthorn, faithful/lucky coin)! As long as you have Evocation 5 he'll know what he's for(quickness/falling frost).

Yes, they'll also do fine in combat. You need construction 6 and lots for gems to make a good SC, so a typical pretender might be Great Sage with at least 2 picks in all non blood paths (a rainbow sage).