First Post: Suggestions on Nation choices?

[Networkingguru]

Thanks K. Is MA Man actually competitive? Somehow, I would think all of the base units are going to make it very weak. Just looking at the manual, it looks like they have decent to good PD, stealthy preists/bards, and longbowmen, but are otherwise complete pushovers. Maybe I'm being harsh though

[jimkehn]

Networkingguru......don't discount Man. His Avalon Knights are fearsome and the wardens with a high fire and water bless are something to behold!!!

Welcome to the forum, by the way!!!

[K]

Networkingguru said:
Thanks K. Is MA Man actually competitive? Somehow, I would think all of the base units are going to make it very weak. Just looking at the manual, it looks like they have decent to good PD, stealthy preists/bards, and longbowmen, but are otherwise complete pushovers. Maybe I'm being harsh though

MA Man Longbowmen are one the best units in the game, in my opinion. Cheap, powerful, and available everywhere. Toss in Wind Guide and you're good to go.

The nations you've chosen so far are SC and thug nations. I'm not saying that they are bad (I'm a formidable Lanka player, for example), but they are limited.

In a game like this, even nations people "know to be bad" aren't actually bad, they just need a different set of tactics to make them shine. MA Man is all about using good units and a little magic for an overall powerful army. Other armies are all about powerful mages and trick armies(Abysia), special spells(Lanka), unique armies(Caelum), Swarm tactics backed by magic (LA Ermor or Pangaea), or just plain craziness(LA Ry'leh).

Thug and SC armies fall quickly to a few mages spamming single-target killers like Drain Life or Frozen Heart. Diversifying your overall tactical and strategic knowledge is the only way to be competitive in this game. Thats why every other game I play is "some other nation." Niche tactics played with another nation come up again when you are playing your favorite nations. For example, my time playing Abysia comes in handy every time I find a site that makes Fire mages.

[Hadrian_II]

Man has also

Stealthy raiders (Warden or Cu Siddhe)
Knights (They are just strong units)
Good Nature magic --> Lots of army buffs like mass protection, relieve and mass regeneration
Look that you get some fire on the pretender for the flaming arrows.

Every nation is somehow competitive.

btw. i would succest to play some MP, as playing against the AI is not what makes Dom3 fun

[Edi]

I would say that aside from Lanka and Niefelheim, the only out-of-the-box SC/thug nation would be Fomoria, unless you go for a double bless on some of the better bless nations.

[vfb]

What about Yomi? Dai Oni self-bless (at least E4N4) with built-in Fire Shield and Soul Vortex works pretty good IMO.

[Tyrant]

MA Marignon is a nice nation for learning. The army is decent and has combined arms, and they have excellent non-unique SC summons. Magic's kinda narrow and the age problem is annoying but they follow the "normal" progresion of power- arms - arms and casters - SCs.

[Networkingguru]

Tyrant said:
MA Marignon is a nice nation for learning. The army is decent and has combined arms, and they have excellent non-unique SC summons. Magic's kinda narrow and the age problem is annoying but they follow the "normal" progresion of power- arms - arms and casters - SCs.

Thanks Tyrant, I will give them a try as well.

[Networkingguru]

Edi said:
I would say that aside from Lanka and Niefelheim, the only out-of-the-box SC/thug nation would be Fomoria, unless you go for a double bless on some of the better bless nations.

Yea, I thoght about Fomoria, just skipped them as there aren't any good guides. I'm going to give them a shot anyhow though, looks like I will need to get GoH ASAP to deal with afflictions.

[Networkingguru]

Hadrian_II said:
Man has also

Stealthy raiders (Warden or Cu Siddhe)
Knights (They are just strong units)
Good Nature magic --> Lots of army buffs like mass protection, relieve and mass regeneration
Look that you get some fire on the pretender for the flaming arrows.

Every nation is somehow competitive.

btw. i would succest to play some MP, as playing against the AI is not what makes Dom3 fun

Thanks Hadrian_II. I will give Man a try as well. I guess I have just been spoiled by playing thug nations against the AI, as I can't stand replenishing armies, and with Neifel, for example, that is a rare need. However, Lanka isn't so bad, as I can replinish anywhere, unlike Ermor or Neifel.

As for MP, I would love to play some MP, but I am really put off by what seems to be a very complicated process (find a game in the forum, get on IRC, play during certian times I am guessing, etc.). My wife is learning the game, and if I can get a buddy of mine to learn it, I can play MP with them. I guess I'll head into the forum and try to find a good game anyway, just kinda hate coming in and getting stomped, LOL.