Favorite nations so far?

[Peter Ebbesen]

EA Yomi, Oni Kings is probably my favourite at the moment; A bit strange, since it does not really work. I find myself using almost exclusively Dai-Oni with a few Demon General commanders to lead hordes of Bakemono archers since none of the normal troop demons are worth the cost, but even so, 'tis fun. Probably because Dai-Oni are so versatile on the battlefield once a bit research has been done.

LA Ermor, Ashen Empire... I don't really know about this one. Making Soul Gate a national global enchantment is an interesting move and certainly voids some of the more abusive SG strategies, and I like that, but doing that AND significantly reducing the Wraith Senators and Consuls in power (lost one holy level so they have the same holy strength as the Bishops/Archbishops - who cost half the gems, and Ermor lives - and dies - by its gems) as well as making Wraith Centurions, Senators, and Consuls only accessible at high conjuration levels just doesn't seem to work all that well. By the time you can afford them you are probably better off using standard spawning mound fiends for troops and stay using archbishops (despite the risk of "gem-loss" compared to using Wraiths if they die in your home province)... It would probably work better if the "Soul Gate" global enchantment also boosted the magic paths (including holy, or perhaps only holy) of all leaders that are Soul Gate aspected. But perhaps this should be in a separate thread. Who, playing LA Ermor, actually use the national Wraith Summons?

[Agrajag]

Peter Ebbesen said:
Who, playing LA Ermor, actually use the national Wraith Summons?

The Wraith Centurions with their immortality are still powerful by the time you get them if you can keep your dominion high, and they aren't that expensive.
And since Conjuration is LA Ermor's most important school anyway, it won't take that long to get them.
Also, now that you start with +15 death gems per turn, LA Ermor gets +6 RP per turn and another +6 every four turns, and if you are a bit lucky with searches, you can get much more, so LA Ermor isn't as handicapped as it used to be as far as research goes.

[Peter Ebbesen]

Agrajag said:

The Wraith Centurions with their immortality are still powerful by the time you get them if you can keep your dominion high, and they aren't that expensive.
And since Conjuration is LA Ermor's most important school anyway, it won't take that long to get them.
Also, now that you start with +15 death gems per turn, LA Ermor gets +6 RP per turn and another +6 every four turns, and if you are a bit lucky with searches, you can get much more, so LA Ermor isn't as handicapped as it used to be as far as research goes.

Ok, let's start a separate thread on LA Ermor one of these days. Mind you, noting that Ermor gets 50% more gems on normal difficulty allowing for more researchers (~50% more in the early game but not scaling +50% with increased gem income from site-finding as you expand) without noting that gold income has been doubled, which could result in 100% more researchers if other nations kept the same troop/researcher ratio as in Dominions 2 (and this scaling does continue when a gold-researcher nation expands territorially once he has enough labs to recruit max mages desired every turn) seems a bit weird; With this taken into account, do you really believe that Ermor is better off vs. other nations research-wise in Dominions 3 than in 2? As far as I can see, despite being able to research faster than in 2, they are considerably worse off compared to the opposition in 3. (This may or may not be a good thing - I'm not decided on that - but certainly I cannot see Ermor's position as improved on that account)

[Theonlystd]

Hey Peter Ebbesen

Bit off topic You dont happen to partake in posting on the Paradox Forums alot?

[HoneyBadger]

Hard to say...so far I've played Yomi Kings, Niefelheim, Abyssia, and R'lyeh-Time of the Aboleths. The Sons of Niefel soldiers are absolutely sick, while the Abyssians also have great soldiers, both winged and otherwise. Aboleths are just plain weird, but I haven't had that much luck in combat with them, unless combined with a heavy hitter, like the Great Kracken or the Great Sea Serpent. My favorite pretenders are the Great Kracken (Don Calamari), the Cyclops (it's fun to name your Cyclops Leila), The Destroyer of Worlds (because...it's The Destroyer of Worlds!) and the Void Dweller (mmmmm...pizza with mushrooms, achovies, and psychic abilities...). I guess my favorite nation would have to be Yomi Kings, because the demons are just so obnoxious. I can imagine them conquering the hoburgs just so they can have a hoberbeque. Muahahahahahaaa!

[Azhur]

I have yet to play the full version, but in demo EA Agartha really blowed my mind. Imprisoned F9 W9 pretender with some decent scales and Dom 6 was more than enough for me to beat Impossible AI within 15-20 turns. I just love the sacred troops; high HP & STR, no supply requirement and the definate conclusion: The priests. Non-prophets can still cast Divine Blessing and Legions of Steel.

[Nerfix]

Agartha is very nice, but they do have their downsides. F9 W9 mostly negates them for blessed troops though, haha.