Weakest nation

[ghoul31]

what do you think the weakest nation is?

I think its MA Ulm. They don't get any sacred troops. Their troops have low magic resistence. And the only magic they get is 2 earth, and 1 fire.

[Sir_Dr_D]

Not to mention, their armor is a negative and not a positive, do to the heavy encumbrance.

[Frozen Lama]

they are certainly a candidate. but ea/ma agartha are candidates too. also ma man.

[ghoul31]

Originally Posted by Frozen Lama

they are certainly a candidate. but ea/ma agartha are candidates too. also ma man.

.

EA agartha gets either 3 earth, 2 fire, or 4 earth, 1 fire. Which is better than 2 earth, 1 fire. They also get water and death. They also get Umbrals, sacred troops, amphibious troops, and mages with a lot of hit points.

MA agartha get 3 earth, 1 death, along with 2 earth , 1 fire. They also get attentive statues, which are great for early game. And they get marble oracles and umbrals, which are great for late game.

MA man gets sacreds. And 3 nature, 2 air, is better than 2 earth 1 fire

[thejeff]

Well, Ulm does get randoms and their mages are cheap and build anywhere so you have to count the randoms in. 10% (EFS and A?)

They also get the 25% Forge bonus and easy access to Hammers, which means everything they can forge is half price. With 5 gem boots and Summon Earthpower all battlefield mages will be 4E, which isn't bad for the price.

With the randoms (and some boosters from indies & the pretender) they can churn out a lot of cheap thug gear.

Certainly not a powerhouse, but not as bad as they appear at first glance.

If the heavy armor was made to be an actual bonus instead of a penalty, so they had a better early game, they'd be much nicer. Why couldn't the secret of black plate be that it's very strong for it's weight so they can make good less-encumbering armor?

[ghoul31]

But what are you going to do with 4 earth? Earth magic isn't very good. You need 5 earth for petrify.

[thejeff]

Blade Wind and Magma Eruption for killing troops.
All the Earth buff spells: Legion of Steel, Strength of Giants, Weapons of Sharpness, Marble Warriors, Army of Lead/Gold
You'll have some with E3 from randoms, they'll be E5.

I'll grant they're best in the mid-game, when troops backed by mages still rule. They need a pretender to give them a late game. Though if they can plan a way to get Thug/SC chassis, they'll be the best and cheapest equipped thugs around.

[RadioGibbon]

Inspired by this thread I just started up a game as MA Ulm, and was surprised at the amount of castle building events I got early on. Does MA Ulm have a bias towards these type of events? Scales were Turmoil 3, Production 3, Luck 3 and Drain 3.

Oh also with the priests special ability that drain is like an extra 120 build points.

[Maerlande]

Originally Posted by ghoul31

But what are you going to do with 4 earth? Earth magic isn't very good. You need 5 earth for petrify.

Heh? Earth magic isn't very good? How about army of lead, bladewind, invulnerability, reverse communions with earth spells, living statues, mechanical men? Petrify is only one part of earth magic. And in addition earth bless.

4E is more than sufficient for every other earth spell. Use an extra gem or two in battle.

ES magi make matrices. Then you communion up petrify.

EF make shields and brands. Cheap.

PS I got ninja'd

[Frozen Lama]

plus give them a gem and they cast petrify