Multiplayer - which nations are being chosen?

Endoperez · #1 July 25th, 2008, 03:50 PM

Quote:

lch said:
MA Ermor's vestals are just very very good. But while I think that EA Vanheim is quite strong, MA Vanheim doesn't really get me excited because they seem less powerful.

Even before the 3.10 change?

* MA van home only. Gold cost increase.

Any way, I was just pointing out that ALL of the players who chose Hinnom might not have done it (only) because it's powerful. New nations get chosen a lot, even if they are weak, although there aren't that many weak new nations.

Hoplosternum · #2 July 26th, 2008, 03:39 PM

Thanks for the kind words and I am glad some of you are finding it interesting.

I have gathered some more data but I am going to gather up some more before I add to the figures. Not much changes with the new addition although Yomi does get a few more picks and MA Vanheim loses it's MA leader crown (so far!).

Many of the more recent games have a lot of inexperienced mp players in being newbie games. MA Vanheim is a pretty straight forward nation to play and so is likely to appeal there. I know when I chose them it was to try a mp game with one of the much vaunted double bless strategies and they seemed a very easy one to try it with. I wasn't expecting to win and was eliminated fairly early. So even if the nerfs have made it far less of a powerhouse it is still a fairly straight forward power to play.

Another trend that becomes clearer the more games I add is the unpopularity of Atlantis and Oceania. Even in EA they are far less popular than the weaker R'lyeh. In the MA R'lyeh's popularity is perhaps more understandable. But even in EA it is much more popular. Perhaps it is the theme? Or maybe the ease of use of the mind blasting amphibious missle troops they have that makes them so much more popular?

Meglobob · #3 July 26th, 2008, 04:01 PM

I think Rlyehs popularity is probably down to the powerful astral magic it has, especially in Ea.

Obviously in Ma/La the 'gate thing' which you can enter to bring creatures back from the void is a huge attraction.

Ea/Ma Atlantis have problems with 'poor' troops and high encumberance.

Ea/Ma Oceania suffer from losing mage levels, suck really bad on land and if clams/fever fetishes have been nerfed are virtually completely pointless to play.

Wrana · #4 July 26th, 2008, 05:05 PM

I think that just what nations HAVE been chosen isn't a full indicator of popularity. While I can't think offhand of how to rate which nations were chosen first, while others were taken only as 2nd/3rd pick, it would be probably good to include.
Also, I can attest that TucoTuco, e.g., was initially started with no water nations. It's possible that a possibility of such starts itself speaks for something - maybe about weakness of Oceania, as was said. But it surely subtracts from their popularity index...

Omnirizon · #5 July 26th, 2008, 05:57 PM

it'd be interesting to see a whole host of water nations designed, and then maps with the land/water ratio reversed; add some additional underwater land types.

that would actually be more realistic. right. earth is 75% water. Shouldn't dom3 earth be too? coincidentally then, dom3 earth should have lots more underwater denizens; given that they have underwater civilization and culture.

looks like the nature of our existence flavors our fantasy, even when conditions in our fantasy logically dictate other than what our own fantasy is.

Wrana · #6 July 27th, 2008, 07:31 AM

Actually, Earth being about 75% water-covered doesn't mean anything for fantasy universe. That's the same as most fantasy authors place their adventures in the North hemisphere of their worlds. Just an economy of thought (sp?). Actually, fantasy world can have almost no seas and even be a Mars-like desert one.
What I agree with is that more aquatic nations would be fun - but I guess that there are just not much good ideas of such in the developers' minds at the moment. And I don't remember much mod nations which are aquatic, too... It's possible that some Polynesian folklore would be helpful, but I don't know this enough...

Kristoffer O · #7 July 27th, 2008, 07:49 AM

I do have one aquatic nation in mind, but it's not very high on the agenda atm

Omnirizon · #8 July 27th, 2008, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Wrana said:
Actually, Earth being about 75% water-covered doesn't mean anything for fantasy universe. That's the same as most fantasy authors place their adventures in the North hemisphere of their worlds. Just an economy of thought (sp?). Actually, fantasy world can have almost no seas and even be a Mars-like desert one.
What I agree with is that more aquatic nations would be fun - but I guess that there are just not much good ideas of such in the developers' minds at the moment. And I don't remember much mod nations which are aquatic, too... It's possible that some Polynesian folklore would be helpful, but I don't know this enough...

yeah but the massive amount of sea surface has an important role in sustaining life... not the least of which is acting as a carbon sink.

without it, it is hard to speculate how any human-like lifeforms could exist. Since dom3 fantasy, and basically 95% of all fantasy for that matter, is based around human-like life, it seems quite necessary to have a large sea.

Guess I'm just nitpicky

its like the time one of George Lucas' writers or actors or somebody pointed out that one of his alien species was physically impossible to explain, and asked how him how it could possibly exist; he replied "well, it was a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away..."

EDIT:
also, at any rate, it would be fun to have games with different dynamics than current. underwater has little to no missile fire, lots of stabby weapons (daggers, spears, and harpoons) nets, poison, very little non-natural armor, and whole different types of magic use. would make for completely different types of balance. I think it might be a lot of fun to experiment and play with