Your favorite nations / themes -- and why! please participate!

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by tinkthank:
Of all the default themes, only Atlantis (which has no theme) seems hurting. Any feelings on this?

Probably because in a tossmatch between Atlantis and R'lyeh....rarely is there enough ocean space on a map for BOTH, R'lyeh usually wins the toss for what to play, for both thematic niftiness and ability. Once the next player sees R'lyeh is in the game, the oceans are then too crowded for both of them.

There's also the fact that Atlantis, by necessity, is pushed in the direction of clamhoarding, due to the limited number of effective behaviors one can engage in with primarily Water magic, and most of these aren't big gem-consumers, with the exceptions of clam hoarding, or Sea King hoarding, the latter of which necessitates a rather antagonistic behavior pattern which can be potentially counterproductive to long-term survival in MP.

S&A got more votes than default -- hm.

This in spite of being a turmoil theme: The authorities I've spoken to still believe S&A is better than the standard theme. I tend to agree, as their mages are much better. The turmoil still bites, though.

I would also like to hear more from Arco players about why -- I have actually never finished or even got into an Arco game. Despite their having a very strong team and some of the best cost-effective mages in the game (mystics), I have found them to be just very unsexy, and never found them cool enough to "enjoy". Powerful, yes, but fun?

Probably because the lack of consistency in the mages means that any mystic you hire will be a random crapshoot of magic paths, so you can't slap on a one-size-fits-all config. This turns Arco mage-management into a micromanagement hell that tends to push most people beyond their tolerance for pain.

In this light, it is worthy to note that a very few number of people like their Favorites because of power -- rather more, because of fun; I would like to know what the Arco players think about this.

ARCO IS SHINY! How can you resist the potential to be able to play with every single magic toy in the game, through your widely varied magic paths that give you just about anything, if you hire enough of them and summon the right ones? With only a little pretender aid, Arco has access to any magic in the game: IT IS SHINY! OOH! SHINY!

[Boron]

Originally posted by tinkthank:
Of all the default themes, only Atlantis (which has no theme) seems hurting. Any feelings on this?

atlantis is a bit boring yeah. but it is quite powerful though . in early game it has better underwater troops than ryhleh and so it can very likely defeat them .
then just stay underwater a long time and clamhoard and voila you're most likely very dangerous

Originally posted by tinkthank:
GREAT GAME, DEVELOPERS!!! NICE JOB!!!!

i absolutely agree

[Gandalf Parker]

Before anyone comments on clamhoard.. keep in mind that the devs have stated that the problem with some of the "fixes" suggested was that it hurt one of the main tactics available to Atlantis.

As for Arcos, I think it is alot of fun for those who like to play with magic. If you prefer to play slow expansion, heavy defense, research the hell out of every path... then Arcos is the fun choice.

I like Pan or Man or sometimes Vanheim because the strategy of stealth armies is vastly under-used.

I like Jotun default because people who first try it usually get it wrong, then drop it. They think of rampaging armies of giants which it cant support. But as slow defensive, it kicks tail. Its also a fun choice to take water cult and water magic god in games that have Banned the water nations.

Caelum is another that is often tried too soon. Its not a stomp-*** army. Its a strategic army. You have to play to its benefits and work around its defaults or it will seem "too weak". Hmmm I guess thats true of everything in Dominions huh? I LOVE THIS GAME.

[Kel]

In this light, it is worthy to note that a very few number of people like their Favorites because of power -- rather more, because of fun; I would like to know what the Arco players think about this.

Of the nations I like to play, Arcos is unquestionably the most fun but also the most time intensive (in the end game anyway).

Arcos's overall flexibility is sexy.
Hypasists, as one of the few good MI, can really move so they are a little sexy.
Priestesses will take care of you and are uniquely sexy.
Astrologers have a great mind, that's always sexy. Mystics are all flexible and are amazingly sexy. (High level of randoms on any mage is sexy (I wanted to make a new nation whose primary mage was the Loremaster, just to have the randoms).

I do hope that I can pull one conlcusion from this poll (not that it needed any corroboration...):

If it's about balance, I don't think you can draw any conclusions from a poll about what people like to play. A lot of people like to play weaker nations as a challenge. The only real conclusion is the direct one, what people on the Boards like to play.

- Kel

[tinkthank]

[quote]Originally posted by Kel:

quote:

---

[qb]
I do hope that I can pull one conlcusion from this poll (not that it needed any corroboration...):

If it's about balance, I don't think you can draw any conclusions from a poll about what people like to play. A lot of people like to play weaker nations as a challenge. The only real conclusion is the direct one, what people on the Boards like to play.

- Kel

---

Firstly, thanks to all for all the Arco tips -- I will have to give them another run-through.
I hope I was clear enough in my poll itself and in my comments as well, too, to indicate that I dont think this is about balance. Need for tweakage, YES, but that is rare and only to spice up those nations that seem just plain bland (Tien BK, for example, in comparison with S&A) and hence less enticing to play.

[SelfishGene]

I choose Tien Chi default because i just simply love Imperial Troops and Imperial Consorts; Marignon Diabolical Faith because of Goetics (and its wide variety of spies and assassins), and Man's Tuatha because, well, i always play them as 3-luck/3-magic and i like that extreme, unusual combination - though there is no good reason i can't pick those scales with another nation, its a bit of roleplaying mixed in with the Tuatha seemeing to be closest to 'good guys' in Dom2 as you can get. It seems my preferences have something in common - infiltration, spies, unrest, and/or assassination . I generally prefer attacking indirectly. Against the computer, 10 Consorts, 3 or so to each fort, will literally shut an empire down in a handful of turns, and cripple his economy. Spies tend to be uncovered somewhat more regularly - it takes a very large patrolling force to uncover +30 stealth units.

Imperial Troops are quite like Pythium's and Ermor's legions, in that they are moderately armed but highly skilled. Overall this is a better combination in practice than one extreme or the other - Ulm's troops have great armor but only average skills, terrible defense, and poor morale. Imperial Archers are well protected from counter-archer fire, which is rare for ranged.

Marignon's easy access to blood makes it easier to buff their assassins with contracts and weapons that any other although the Abysian Slayer is a better assassin overall, (and oddly ive never had any luck with Machakan Spider Warriors despite their high cost). Personally i think Marignon as a blood nation is just plain better than Mictlan because of the cost efficiency of Goetics and the fact Marignon's base troops don't suck. And eventually you can move to Succubi assassin builds.

With the Tuatha i don't find much to be excited about, but i seem to play them frequently. I generally find Man to be dull, but something about the Tuatha keeps me coming back for more.

I've been having more and more fun with R'yleh recently. I haven't really found a set of scales and magic paths that just fire me up, but for some reason Meteoric armor and hybrid troopers are just interesting enough to keep me coming back. The Traitor Prince and Illithid Lord are both very powerful thugs.

[tinkthank]

Hey thanks so much -- 85 people have participated! (How many people visit these Boards regularly, do you think?)

I know too litle about statistics to draw any conclusions about the game from this anyhow, but it seems that there are very many reasons for choosing just about anything, and that the game does in fact offer many options for choosing a playing style that its players like.

The only conclusions I think I can draw from this is about the players (or the players who participated anyhow). And it seems to me that this poll shows a very large "fun" aspect of the game that goes way beyond other forms of motivation found in other games (e.g. the treadmill of RPGs or the pure fun of beating others in other strategy type games). Yey for Dom2!