Nations that seem strong/weak

[Graeme Dice]

Agrajag said:
But that's more of a thematic problem than a balance problem. I don't think death should be a no-brainer for Abysia, nor do I think Drain is currently a no-brainer for Ulm (if you don't plan on using your national mages for research [which makes sense, since they aren't very good at it] it can really hurt)

If you aren't planning to use Master Smith's for research, then what _are_ you planning to research with? And how are you going to pay for the almost required productivity 3 scale without taking drain 3? Even worse, your troops will be slaughtered by MR negates effects without the drain scale helping to protect them.

Death should certainly be an automatic choice for Abysia, or else their death scale resistance provides them with no actual benefit. Instead, they suffer worse from it than most nations thanks to their universally old fire mages. Or would you argue that Caelum should sometimes not take cold 3? If playing nations thematically isn't a powerful way to play them, then something is probably wrong with how they are balanced.

[dirtywick]

If in a future patch or mod the Blood spell Rejuvenate took away old age afflictions in addition to making them younger I'd consider the death scale a good choice. I also think, the way the death scale currently effects Abysia, that playing the death theme isn't a good idea. The effects of the death scale on Abysia specifically definately needs to be looked at and adjusted as I don't think the tradeoff is worth it.

[Agrajag]

Graeme Dice said:
If you aren't planning to use Master Smith's for research, then what _are_ you planning to research with?

The Master Smith. Right until the point I find an independant mage