Dominions 2 Power Rankings

[The_Tauren13]

Caelum
Abysia
Vanheim
Jotunheim
Arcoscephale
Ermor
Man
Pythium
R'lyeh
Marignon
Mictlan
Ulm
Pangaia
C'tis
Atlantis
Machaka
T'ien Chi

FAR below everything else...
Ermor BE

[Ozymandias]

The_Tauren13 said:
FAR below everything else...
Ermor BE

Really? I think broken empire has lots of nice possibilities. Their Princepes are every bit as good as Pythium's, and you need no research to etherealize them. Plus, your dominion is not malign, so you can take growth and a blood fountain to play the blood game. BE has easy access to ghouls for castle defense and soulless for siegeing and patrolling. It is true that thaumaturgs are expensive, but with moderate enchantment research and significant evocation, they are excelent battle mages.

[Huzurdaddi]

What is so bad about Tien Chi? Their mages rock and their units are good too..

Well two things make them seem a little weak:

1. Troops their troops really are "average" and by that I mean below average. They just don't have any "trick" units. They do not have elephants. They do not have excellent defence. They do not have sacred troops. They do not have serious HP. They do not have great strength. They do not have very high prot. Almost all nations have some trick unit. T'ien Ch'i doesn't.

2. Mages. Their widely recruitable mage ( the master of the way ) is somewhat underpowered although he does have a random which is a nice bonus and he makes a very efficient researcher. He is not however a great combat mage. Their combat mage is only recruitable in the capital and he has one astral which can be a serious liability.

BTW I'm seeing a lot of common themes in the rankings. Caelum, Vanhiem, Pythum, Acro, Abysia, Ermor these all look like excellent nations to me! Is it "group think" or do these nations really have a leg up? Only time will tell I suppose.

[Peter Ebbesen]

CUnknown said:
What is so bad about Tien Chi? Their mages rock and their units are good too..

Mind Duel. Celestial Masters go poof, thus rendering T'ien C'hi's most formidable mages nearly useless for battle against any nation with access to cheap astral mages either national or independent (e.g. shamans)... Leaving you with the puny Master of the Way as your reliable battle mage. As for units, they are decent but definitely not first class. (Though the Red Guard is an excellent blessable cavalry unit due to low cost)

Mind you, T'ien C'hi S&A is a different proposition, as the Master of the 5 Elements can to some degree compensate when facing astral nations and as the Master of the Dead gives access to low level death magic, which has many useful spells. Additionally, the extra random pick on the Celestial Master can make him a much better ritual caster. The tradeoff is that the units are even worse and the theme specific summon is very mage-intensive. While probably the most versatile magical theme of any nation, it can be difficult to really exploit your magical strength.

[Pickles]

My view

Tier 1 Outstanding

Caelum
Abysia

Tier 2 Solid or powerful but flawed

Ulm
C'tis
Machaka
Mictlan
Jotunheim
R'lyeh

Tier 3 Flawed
Ermor
Pangaea
Tien Chi

Others I have not experienced enough

Arco
Pythium
Vanheim
Atlantis
Marignon
Man


Pickles

[Pickles]

Here are the average tier. I treated tier 4 as tier 3 (thanks for changing the report method guys) and assumed the first 5 and Last 5 in lists were tier 1 and 3 respectively.

Tier 1
Abysia
Arcosnuffle
Caelum
Pythium
Vanheim

Tier 2
Atlantis
Ctis
Ermor
Jotunheim
Marignon
Mictlan
R’lyeh

Tier 3
Machaka
Man
Pangaea
Tien Chi
Ulm

Of course this takes no account of settings. I assume that it takes the best theme of any nation.

Pickles

[Schmoe]

Graeme Dice said:
I'm going to go with a few tiers, with a ranking roughly in order within each tier.
Tier 1.
C'tis, Atlantis, Abysia, Mictlan, Pythium, Vanheim,

Hey Graeme, I'm curious. You seem to have listed C'tis as roughly the most powerful nation. Why? I'm currently playing miasma in a MP game and really enjoying it (and doing well!), but I'd be interested in hearing why you place the nation as the most powerful.

[Graeme Dice]

Schmoe said:
Hey Graeme, I'm curious. You seem to have listed C'tis as roughly the most powerful nation. Why? I'm currently playing miasma in a MP game and really enjoying it (and doing well!), but I'd be interested in hearing why you place the nation as the most powerful.

In one word: Sauromancers.

D3?1 gives them the same magical power as Ermor, but with the ability to pay gold for your mages and buy many, many of them per turn. Then they also have access to nature magic and astral magic. They also have troops that fit into just about any situation you might need.

[The Panther]

Of course, in Miasma, they are D2W1N2?1 and quite expensive. But worth every penny spent on them! The W1 is soooo darn nice for the instant quickness.

And you can make either nature 3 sauros with thistles or death 3 sauros with the skull weapon thingys, again each one with the instant quickness. The choices are quite good indeed. It is limited only by the skill of the player.

The single biggest drawback to C'tis is that you won't get the power SCs like Ice Devils and Arch Devils and Air Queens. You almost have to wait for Tartarians to get a good SC, which takes practically forever in game terms. This is why, imho, that people rate them below races like Caelum and Pythium in general.

[Zen]

C'tis can have both Longdead Archers and Mandragora's in sigificant numbers fairly eary.

They can also have a Bane Lord Factory in Production early enough that your single SC won't be able to stop the 8-10 that are churning from C'tis.

They also have access to Communion and early expansion power with either their Initial Spell (Terror) w/ Eagle Eye for fun OR Raise Skeletons (2 Sauromancers with something to distract will take most provinces, 3 for those HCav)

Their lowgrade Researcher is Sacred and can switch to communion slave as well as go into Relief Duty if you need.

They have a Castle Defender that doesn't cost alot in either gold or resources and a standard unit if you need some morale problems fixed.

C'tis is very well rounded and the only nation with equally viable Themes as their Base Nation that can switch the dynamic of their magics (not really troops).

Don't discount the lizards, or they will bite you in the ***.