Multiplayer - which nations are being chosen?

[Hoplosternum]

The games analysed so far

Apologies in advance for the inevitable mistakes I have made. I have largely trusted the initial post on which nations were in the game as usually this is updated with the final list. Please let me know if you see any mistakes or games you think should be excluded. Table reads Shortened game name / Age / Number of eligible nations

Peccary EA 8
Jotunland EA 10
Glory MA 15
Crow Road MA 10
BlitzKrieg EA 8
TucoTuco MA 8
FreshMeat EA 10
Darwin EA 12
Stasis MA 17
Aquarium MA 15
Bering EA 7
Beer EA 17
Corruption LA 11
Playtime EA 12
Primea MA 12
Feohtan EA 12
Tigerstripes MA 10
DkParadise EA 8
Silvan MA 8
Strolling 2 EA 12
LA game LA 14
Paladin EA 8
Alexandria LA 12
Forseti MA 12
Vanilla LA LA 11
Newbtopia EA 8
Mega'rium MA 9
EmpiresRis MA 8
Ascendant EA 15
Acouchi MA 16
NEW EA EA 18
Uakari MA 9
Victoria LA 15
New Dawn EA 12
LeafNBat EA 8
Fracture LA 16
Manatee EA 16
FrMeat2 EA 12
FunnelBat MA 8
FruitBat EA 8
VesperBat LA 15
GhostBat MA 8

[Hoplosternum]

The results so far

The below results tables read Nation / number of times played/ Quantum Mechani’s amalgamated nation rating. The last figure is of QM’s total points rating (adding his valuation of Early/Mid/Late/SP & Ease of MP use). This is purely for interest sake and although not created for this purpose gives some indication of how powerful the nations are relative to each other.

The EA gave the most games so far (20) and here are the scores:

Lanka - 16 - Not rated (!)
Sauromatia - 15 - 14
Niefelhiem - 13 - 23
Arco - 12 - 14
Fomoria - 11 - 16
Marverni - 11 - 11
Helhiem - 10 - 21
Mictlan - 10 - 19
Pangaea - 10 - 15
TC - 10 - 13
Hinnom - 9 - 19
Aby - 9 - 15
Tir an Og - 9 - 15
Caelum - 9 - 14
Agartha - 9 - 14
Ermor - 8 - 16
Kailasa - 8 - 14
C'tis - 8 - 13
R'lyeh - 8 - 13
Ulm - 7 - 13
Vanhiem - 6 - 18
Oceania - 5 - 17
Atlantis - 5 - 15
Yomi - 2 - 14

So Lanka is the most popular from the games I looked at, followed by Sauromatia, then Niefel. Yomi was spectacularly unpopular. Nor did Vanheim or many of the Water nations prove popular picks. Apart from R’lyeh the water nations were unpopular in other eras too.

For the MA nations there were less games but it was still a popular age with 15 games

Vanhiem - 11 - 20
Abysia - 11 - 15
Ulm - 10 - 13
TC - 10 - 13
R'lyeh - 9 - 17
Pangaea - 9 - 15
Bandar Log - 9 - 15
Ermor - 8 - 22
Pythium - 8 - 17
Arco - 7 - 18
Eriu - 7 - 15
Mackaka - 7 - 14
Caelum - 7 - 14
C'tis - 7 - 12
Agartha - 7 - 10
Jotunhiem - 6 - 19
Marignon - 6 - 15
Mictlan - 6 - 15
Shinuyama - 5 - 16
Oceania - 4 - 18
Atlantis - 4 - 13
Ashod - 3 - 16
Man - 3 - 14

Perhaps no surprise that Vanheim was the joint winner in the popularity stakes but Abysia being picked so often surprised me. Ulm and TC were both surprisingly popular as neither are exactly powerhouses although TC’s magic variety makes them interesting to play.

Ignoring the new nation, Man and none R’lyeh water nations were unpopular. Yomi’s MA stable mate Shinuyama was also fairly unpopular.

In the LA there were far fewer games. Only 7 made the cut. And of these most had a lot of nations playing so it is hard to tell how popular the choices actually were. Also Ermor and R’lyeh are low due to being excluded from 2 of the 7.

So for completeness I have included the figures for LA but little can be drawn from them.

Utgard - 6 - 20
Mictlan - 6 - 17
C'tis - 6 - 14
Abysia - 6 - 13
Bogarus - 6 - 13
Pangaea - 5 - 18
Marignon - 5 - 17
TC - 5 - 17
Patala - 5 - 12
Ulm - 5 - 11
Jomon - 5 - 10
Ermor - 4 - 24
Agartha - 4 - 18
Arco - 4 - 17
Caelum - 4 - 16
Man - 4 - 15
Atlantis - 4 - 12
R'lyeh - 3 - 22
Pythium - 3 - 14
Midgard - 2 - 19
Gath - 1 - 17

[Edited for formatting]

[JimMorrison]

Very interesting stuff! Some of the results surprise me a little, including the fact that 5 of 7 LA games allowed Ermor and R'lyeh.

[Kristoffer O]

Interesting!

I wondered about this just a few days ago, and then you make this list

Jim, likely they were started before the discussion on power levels started in full earnest.

[Kristoffer O]

I believe that it is likely that a nation gets additional players when it gets a remake, minor or major. People want to try new stuff out.

Marverni, Ulm, TC have all received alterations after the MP games started. As have MA Mictlan with 6 players, which was more than I thought it would have.

Yomi is possibly the one nation I am most bothered by myself. I played it a bit in Kingmaker to get some inspiration. I have some Ideas, but they require JK's attention. Apart from that I'm a bit bothered by their appearence. I dislike their looks. Not individually as much as a bunch of units.

[Herode]

Interesting. I'm surprised to see Hinnom scoring so high since the nation is a very recent addition. I suppose they'll end in the top 5 within some months.

As for Yomi, I am also surprised by their impopularity. I found this nation very fun, although rather difficult to play. And I'm eagerly curious to hear more about your ideas for the Oni Kings, KO

[Omnirizon]

i wanna give yomi a whirl too. i love their concept and they actually look like a lot of fun. plus i love playing underplayed nations, and finding ways to make them work. consequently, i hate playing the "superpowers", and really don't like it when people choose them in MP games, unless they are real new (i've noticed, though, that most players are this way, vets tend to shy from the 'strong' nations, and newer players often jump on them).

i think the main thing that turns people away from yomi is the fragility of their units combined with their high price; their all demons with low protection and often not good enough MR to really stand up to a lot of banishing or demon smiting. yomi just loses too easily in the wars of attrition.

I think what would make them tons more attractive is giving their main researcher +1 RP and all demon troops +1 to +2 MR. Units are a little more robust to banish/smite demon and players have the option of taking a drain scale to help them even more. As is, they are too easy to banish, and their researchers are so terrible that a drain scale is suicide.