Best nation to start ?

[Nukkxx]

Just got my first nation, a minor tribe in central Europe, totally devastated by decadence and the rest. So now that I know a little bit more about the game, which nation would you recommend for this second game ? I'd preferably like an easy one, with plenty of options.
Thx

[Rat Master Keyser]

Originally posted by Thurgret:

Originally posted by Sir Keyser Soze:

I started as Byzantion and in my March Macedonia conquered most of Greece, Seclhuids collapsed, and recently, Ptolemy. Rome has 3 usurper now so that's fun.

Meanwhile I can't find peace as everyone wants a peice of my empire that stretches from Dacia to Palestine. Seriously, opportunistic neighbors really stack up. I'm at war with like 10 nations.

I really like the AI opportunism. It makes a lot of sense - even if it's hard to deal with. They do factor in how overstretched your forces are likely to be, I think - you can see that when trying for diplomatic deals.

I quite like it as well. Makes it more intresting. I'm actually not overstretched, I'm fielding 6 300 CP land stacks and 4 200CP naval currently and have room to easily get 4 more. Byzantion can get stupid amounts of gold quickly once you make it out of the early game hell.The only issue as for armies I'm having is lack of generals. I'm expecting to get totally screwed soon by Decadence though, can only build so quickly. Still at 2 token glorious empire. I want to stop expanding but they keep declaring war on me damn them! Just one more province, it has a wonder in it.

[willgamer47]

One simplistic answer might be to look at the section of the manual that explains the special rules for certain nations and AVOID any of those nations!

[[J4F] Sentinel]

Originally posted by Nukkxx:

Just got my first nation, a minor tribe in central Europe, totally devastated by decadence and the rest. So now that I know a little bit more about the game, which nation would you recommend for this second game ? I'd preferably like an easy one, with plenty of options.
Thx

After some false starts as Ptolemaic Egypt, Bosporan Kingdom and Armenia, I went with Sparta and I think it's a fairly good beginners nation, and I had to learn fast on how to deal with decadence. Athens seemed also a nice one, and it gave me a run for my money.

In general, for the first I would suggest avoiding any nation that has too many provinces, like Egypt or Seleukids, and very small tribals.

Among the great powers, it seems to me that Makedon and Rome are the two most suited for a beginner.

[欣怡 (Nathalie)]

Originally posted by Sir Keyser Soze:

Originally posted by Thurgret:

I really like the AI opportunism. It makes a lot of sense - even if it's hard to deal with. They do factor in how overstretched your forces are likely to be, I think - you can see that when trying for diplomatic deals.

I quite like it as well. Makes it more intresting. I'm actually not overstretched, I'm fielding 6 300 CP land stacks and 4 200CP naval currently and have room to easily get 4 more. Byzantion can get stupid amounts of gold quickly once you make it out of the early game hell.The only issue as for armies I'm having is lack of generals. I'm expecting to get totally screwed soon by Decadence though, can only build so quickly. Still at 2 token glorious empire. I want to stop expanding but they keep declaring war on me damn them! Just one more province, it has a wonder in it.

Yh, its a great empire sim, I really can see hwo empires like rome resorted to just expanding and expanding to try and counteract internal issues. I'm starting to fall behind in culture (partly due to a rebellion), so i started another war, you never feel completely secure in this game.

[Gilmer]

Originally posted by Nukkxx:

Originally posted by Toppopia:

I'm having a decent time but may be too slow for some players playing the Picts. You can conquer a few regions and i'm at turn 58 or so and have progressed to a tribal chiefdom instead of a horde and am planning on conquering Ireland as most of it is now my objective. You make lots of money and no one will bother you unless you bother them so its a good way to look at buildings and population mechanics. You do however start very low decadent ranking like 74th out of 79 nations so you get a lot of aging tokens but once you conquer your starting province and get more pops in culture (I just let the province manage population automatically) then you start getting higher decadent rankings and eventually reach the top 1/3. This with the easy objectives lets you rank up your civilisation easily.

I like this one ! Prefer to keep big guys like Rome or Macedonia for later. Will play the Picts to go on learning the game. Thanks !

I actually started with Cheruscii (I think? Germanic just below Denmark area) and got killed. So, then I tried Hibernii (Ireland) and have done decently. I picked up all of the Ireland island and made it a province. Then I got myself going on the Culture ladder and got to Tribal Confederation.

I have moved into the British Isle. The Picts, Britons, and Brigantes had all been beating the hell out of each other. When I cam over, I was stronger than any and the Britons finally declared war on me. I beat them up pretty good and they asked for peace.

Then there was some kind of slave revolt around London. They had a stack of 200 roaming around and a couple of 60+ power stacks. I took my 192 power army with newly acquired phalanxes and destroyed most of their armies.

Now, just trying to get to the next phase.

[BATTLEMODE]

Currently doing pretty well as a little nation called Emporia, a Hellenistic city state on the north east Iberian peninsula. A bit of a slow start as you'd expect with a small one province nation but actually they're such great traders you're never wanting for money. I got a big gung ho and ended up in a lot of wars with Celtic and Spanish barbarian tribes but man it's been an interesting ride.

I think learning with a small nation can be quite beneficial in that you're forced to focus on their strengths, and to play the game slowly enough that it teaches you the decadence mechanics without obscuring it all with Diadochi rules and so forth.

[Bunks]

Rome is easy once you get past the initial waves and then the civil wars. Im now cruisin with Rome with my new Imperial legionaires and auxilia. Instead of hitting Carthage, I went north and east. But after fighting Macedonia back, I must say they are one tough cookie.Thats will be my next full play thru.

[duane]

Originally posted by Toppopia:

I'm having a decent time but may be too slow for some players playing the Picts. You can conquer a few regions and i'm at turn 58 or so and have progressed to a tribal chiefdom instead of a horde and am planning on conquering Ireland as most of it is now my objective. You make lots of money and no one will bother you unless you bother them so its a good way to look at buildings and population mechanics. You do however start very low decadent ranking like 74th out of 79 nations so you get a lot of aging tokens but once you conquer your starting province and get more pops in culture (I just let the province manage population automatically) then you start getting higher decadent rankings and eventually reach the top 1/3. This with the easy objectives lets you rank up your civilisation easily.

or you could do what I did in my Dacia game and agree to be a Roman Client state. No one messed with me then (afraid of Roman retribution I suppose). my biggest challenge now is growing decadence...ugh

[Terminus]

I think Hibernia (Ireland) is a good way to learn the game, as you are in a triangle with the Britons and Picts and it is pretty simple to learn the rules without a lot of distractions.

I also like Dacia for a fairly easy start. Lots of industry and not many enemies nearby, which gives you time to build up.

[Pops]

Originally posted by Nukkxx:

Just got my first nation, a minor tribe in central Europe, totally devastated by decadence and the rest. So now that I know a little bit more about the game, which nation would you recommend for this second game ? I'd preferably like an easy one, with plenty of options.
Thx

Depends on your playstyle. I like the Dacians for one where you build up slowly but become a juggernaut. The Picts are a good pick for a safe expansion game.

[BATTLEMODE]

I didn't finish my Dacia game yet, it was essentially my first game and I didn't understand half the mechanics until I'd read the manual afterwards, but I thoroughly enjoyed that one anyway.

I expanded way too quickly and was fighting decadence the entire way. I think you're supposed to play in a defensive way, owing to those amazing forts they have.

I had an empire as large as Rome, but Macedonia suddenly attacked and that was it, they wore me down and I suffered a devolution back to a Stable system, although I did avoid a civil war through high loyalty.

I think I'll go back and play them again at some point, because they're definitely an interesting choice with the options you have at the start.

[christian1]

i play with athen, im leading in decadence ranking and legacy ranking. my income per turn is more than 8500. i have conquered greece and asia minor. its a very easy game after defeating epiros and sparta. no decadency problems. i test now the automatic provincemanagement because it needs to much time to control all regions.

[Bunks]

Anyone try Brigande? To my surprise, if you can knock out Britones really fast at the start, this little country is a tough bugger. It's like a barbarian Rome that fights better in woods than the open plains. The main thing is the throw away inf you spam has the ability to skirmish like Roman legions, which makes them very effective vs other barbarian tribes.

[欣怡 (Nathalie)]

Originally posted by Bunks:

Anyone try Brigande? To my surprise, if you can knock out Britones really fast at the start, this little country is a tough bugger. It's like a barbarian Rome that fights better in woods than the open plains. The main thing is the throw away inf you spam has the ability to skirmish like Roman legions, which makes them very effective vs other barbarian tribes.

I haven't but they keep returning and fighting in my game whenever I look at britain aha, so they msut be pretty good.

[Bunks]

Originally posted by OBESE MONKEYY(肥胖猴子):

Originally posted by Bunks:

Anyone try Brigande? To my surprise, if you can knock out Britones really fast at the start, this little country is a tough bugger. It's like a barbarian Rome that fights better in woods than the open plains. The main thing is the throw away inf you spam has the ability to skirmish like Roman legions, which makes them very effective vs other barbarian tribes.

I haven't but they keep returning and fighting in my game whenever I look at britain aha, so they msut be pretty good.

Best game yet with these guys. Key thing wass to attack Brits right out the start. They were easy to everrun, then the Picts were easy to deal with by using open and forest terrain traps.