Nations that seem strong/weak

[Gandalf Parker]

Multiplayer blitz games (usually played on maps where the provinces equal playerx10 or less) with no special victory conditions definetly do a lot toward defining strong/weak nations. I think that more game settings might help with those.

Mictlan with that flying stealth titan assassin pretender can also make a major dent in a blitz game very early on.

Neifelheim loses many of its drawbacks in a game like that, and it offers one of the few other strategies for a small blitz game (defensive buildup)

On the other hand, Im cranking up for some mega games on maximum maps which might shake out some people whose rankings of nations are too cast in cement. There are alot of game variations to explore.

[KissBlade]

The nice part about dominions is experienced players have proven that no nation is so crippled to be completely hopeless in a MP game. Even some weak nations like Abysia have one or two saving graces (Demonbred in their case with axe infantries not so bad buys if I recall). Tien Chi MA gets xbows and consorts. EA Ryleh gets nice flavor and aquatic thugs.

Also superior raiding strategies and decent pretenders/diplomatics go a long way.

[Nerfix]

Since when Abysia is considered weak? O_o

[Teraswaerto]

My guess would be since old age became a problem. In Dom2 anyway Abysia wasn't thought of as weak last I remember.

[Ironhawk]

Yeah Aby was quite strong in dom2. Good battle magic, good summoning, decent national troops (after CB).

[Teraswaerto]

Ironhawk said:
decent national troops (after CB).

Are you saying Abysian troops were poor before? How's that?

[Agrajag]

Try an Earth-9 bless and beeline to rejuvinate (or the age-stopping boots), and then tell me how weak Abysia is

[NTJedi]

Nerfix said:
Since when Abysia is considered weak? O_o

The aging feature hits Abysia harder than most nations.
At least one unit is bugged where precision was incorrectly switched with encumbrance. {ouch}
Most if not all troops have movement of one, which is noticeable for the larger maps.

I haven't played all the nations to actually call them weak, but those are the disadvantages I noticed.

[Wick]

NTJedi said:At least one unit is bugged where precision was incorrectly switched with encumbrance. {ouch}

This isn't a Dom 3 problem -- it's been there since Dom I for Lava Warriors. (Which proves that Burning Ones were built off a Lava Warrior template.)

I also haven't read any mention that Abysia's mage costs have dropped a lot. This should substantially offset the age problem, right?

[KissBlade]

Heh Graeme pretty much covered all the points about Abysia. Though I should point out ten provinces by ten turns is actually the bare minimum you should be aiming for.