Most difficult nation

[PDF]

Originally posted by Pocus:
I find myself that most of the themes are on the weak side. Its becoming a pet peeve of mine (after speed replay of tac battles that is), but frankly something ought to be done.

Thats being said, in any game setting not geared too much toward blitzing, Ulm main theme is the weakest nation for me. So straightfoward that its like you have complete intelligence on his armies, and what they can do. Early one Ulm is better to capitalize on his strong HI, because the advantage wont Last long.

I had the most fun with Marignon. There is a plentiful of things to perform with them.

C'mon Pocus, Ulm ain't that weak... or is it ?
As you said it's rather than Ulm is not flexible, and so usually quite predictable. Sometimes you can do funny things with them but only if you get indie mages to "flexibilize" your magic.

You're rather MP-oriented, and indeed lack of flexibility is a big drawback in MP. But in SP it's not true, the AI doesn't counterplan your strategy, and Ulm has tough troops and easily usable magics (Earth = protection buff, Fire = Kaboom on enemies )that are Ok vs AIs.

[undead dolphin hacker]

I really only play Multiplayer, so I don't have experience with alot of nations yet, but...

So far I've done the best with Rl'yeh. The early invulnerability (in most cases) of an underwater capitol is a great boon to me, and the ability to cut through indies like the cliched hot knife through butter is really great too (Indies no like mind bLast)...

When I got the game, I thought I'd do best with a Necromantic nation like Ermor or C'tis. No such luck, apparently... I suck with C'tis, and Ermor is... Ermory.

[ February 19, 2004, 02:46: Message edited by: undead dolphin hacker ]

[Saxon]

It sounds like in MP, Ermor is the whipping boy of the crowd. Would that not suggest that it is the weakest in MP? The very strength of the nation makes it a “must kill” target, perversely making it weak, or at least very hard to win with.

Ermor gets killed not because they are the whipping boy. But because you have less to gain by taking their territories, which are more of a pain to take. An intelligent Ermor player won't make his provinces a target by oversearching ones too near enemies as Gem Income is the only real factor.

Other than that, it's very easy to deal with Ermor, but if you let them grow they can get out of control if you don't know how to fight them with a human mind behind it.

Edit: Or if the Ermor player is really stupid and casts Burden of Time or Utterdark without being ready for the consequences.

[ February 19, 2004, 09:36: Message edited by: Zen ]

[CharonJr]

Originally posted by undead dolphin hacker:
I really only play Multiplayer, so I don't have experience with alot of nations yet, but...

So far I've done the best with Rl'yeh. The early invulnerability (in most cases) of an underwater capitol is a great boon to me, and the ability to cut through indies like the cliched hot knife through butter is really great too (Indies no like mind bLast)...

When I got the game, I thought I'd do best with a Necromantic nation like Ermor or C'tis. No such luck, apparently... I suck with C'tis, and Ermor is... Ermory.

Hmm, is R'lyeh fast enough in MP ? Actually in SP I already have a lot of trouble cutting through indies (tritons that is) at all since they tend to swarm and cut down my fodder fairly fast and my Illithids can't survive for long if they are attacked by lots of "fliers" at once.

Due to this I mainly try to head for the land as fast as possible in SP, but in MP this would negate R'lyeh's advantage of "invulnerability" (except to Atlantis/Undead).

What are you doing to be able to expand fast vs. tritons ? Unless we are talking indies at 5 or lower that is

CharonJr

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by CharonJr:
What are you doing to be able to expand fast vs. tritons ? Unless we are talking indies at 5 or lower that is

CharonJr

Tritons, like all enemy fliers, are a real pain in the ***. In the VERY early game, it's probably best to sidestep these provinces: You need a bit of cash to take these out. Illithids are a very poor choice to use against these provinces: As you noticed, the Tritons quickly dogpile onto them and kill them. Illithids are expensive. Since the setup doesn't exactly give them an opportunity to effective employ their mind bLasting powers, it's best to just leave them at home for this. Instead, I find that Tritons can be taken on most effectively by a combination of Crab Hybrids and Shamblers. A block of Crab Hybrids, with their improved protection of 14, can absorb the initial shock of the Triton attack, while the Shamblers can then trample the Tritons while they're locked in combat with the crabs.

Casualties among the crab hybrids should not be of overly great concern, as they won't be much use once you finish taking over the ocean anyway, as long as you don't lose so many that you can't finish the job. Tritons are just going to melee you regardless of how you try to prevent it, so you may as well simply deal with them head on.

[DLC]

Ulm is strong, it is the only nation i've managed to slaughter ermor with, after 50 played turns.