Most powerful nation

[Gandalf Parker]

Thank you for defining the game. That is so often the fault with threads like this.

Well, just to be me, and not put anything that anyone expects. These might not be "strongest" since I dont tend to think that way, but more "strongest for certain player types".

1) Oceania:
Based on tests it seems that Oceania is able to create a great mid-game lead. How well it does after that will be based on how well it can cash-in on that lead.

2) Arcos:
If the ability to win in early game is expansion, and mid-game is armies, and late game is magic (as some experts have said) then IF a research-build Arcos is able to get to late game they have the potential for major damage

3) Neifelheim:
Rather specialized but I think its one of the strongest races for turtling. In a large-map/all-nations game diplomacy might be sneered at but its a big factor. A good diplomat playing defensive and building up for the final battle can make good use of the mistakes of others. I tihnk that the giant nations are built well for turtling.

I think that Dominions is the type of game where specific "strongest" might have more to do with the players we have active at any time. If we get a powerful player who can really use the abilities of xxxxxxxxx then it call could shift. IMHO

[Warhammer]

What is so great about EA Caelum or LA Marignon? EA Caelum is hosed if they can't diversify their magic. LA Marignon appears to be weaker than MA Marignon (to me at least).

[Evilhomer]

EA caelum - rapid expansion due to elephants. Clearly the potential to really screw none lighting immunities in mid game (storm, wratful skies, thunderstrike etc). They can diversify easily through their pretender and their spentas.

LA marignon - Cheap blood mages, good blood summons and access to angels. Good crossbows with easy access to fire arrows. They are also very powerful in both astral and blood - in my opinion the two strongest paths.

[Sombre]

I'll probably give reasoning later, but off the top of my head I'd say:

Lanka
EA Caelum
LA Rlyeh

[Hadrian_II]

I dont think that it is possible to say Lanka is the best nation of all, as it depends on the players preferences.

And i would like to add MA Pangea as a very strong nation as they:

- have usable access to blood (not to play as a real blood nation, but strong enough for forging)
- can make earth stones
- has strong troops (centaurs) and access to earth and nature magic --> if you take some centaur cataphracts, add in relief, mass regeneration, giant strength weapons of sharpness and some more buffs, they can do serious damage.
- can reanimate and the pangean variant of undead is stronger than others.
- has strong mages avilable in every castle, and gets loads of freespawns
- maenads are not strong on the battlefield, but they tear down castles in no time, and can also defend castles very well.

the only thing that is missing, is access to battlemagic (fire, air) and astral but that are things that you can fix with your pretender.

[Rytek]

1)I would agree on Lanka. The only real weakness it has is no Astral on its mages. But that is easily made up for by all its other strengths.

2)I think Sauromatia is a strong nation and would rate it as number 2. Good sacreds, Mages that have high death, some blood and Astral. And the best archers in the game.

3) Really, is any of the Heims.With the right bless they are murderuss.
4) LA Ermor and LA R'leh.

[Xietor]

MA Pangaea is my favorite race, but I would not deem them the strongest even among the MA. MA Pangaea with a drain scale is a good counter to the astral races given Pangaea's high mr and hps. Stealth, blood, gorgon are very powerful.

MA Best nations

1. Pythium

2. Arcos

3. Vanheim(small to medium map)

[Meglobob]

This is a link to the perpetuality game. Showing individual nation status.

http://67.66.187.69/dominions3/Perpetuality_Scores.html

Now, what I want to know is why the EA nations did so badly? Alot of the very good players, myself included thought they would dominate, yet overall they have'nt. What happened?

[Kristoffer O]

Perhaps got whacked by paranoia

[Baalz]

Well, I think the thing to realize is that the outcome of this game is determined by a lot of things outside of nation selection and the sample set is not near large enough to draw conclusions.

Some players were ganged up on and killed before they ever had a chance
Some players started in poor positions
Some players had abysmal luck rolls regardless of their scales
Some good nations were played by novice players

And of course the converse of all that is true to

Some players started out with relatively little competition whether it was from the extra water provinces or non-agressive neighbors.
Some players found easy allies early
Some players saw good opportunities as one of their neighbors was easy pickings due to an unrelated war front.

The huge amount of noise (from the perspective of determining relative nation power) makes a sample size like this meaningless.