Brand new here ;)

[glutt]

So I got to the point where I have to decide 'be or not to be' . Bcoz of my personal sympathy towards oriental cultures i'm all after chinese, korean or japanese nations. But seems that they're least fav ones? I've noticed already that base look will also change in the late game stages, that's why I need help... does the nation swap cost increase with every next age or is it constant, and does it also take time like upgrades? Is it actually worth trying any of above or should I go german/british all the way from the start? Or maybe some other nation perhaps? I do enjoy range units a lot, that's just another thing that pushing me away from germans french romans or greeks. I may be wrong tho as I have no idea what sort of units each nation can actually build. I don't look for end game goals, not just yet, enjoyment is my top priority for now. Would appreciate a lot any constructive opinions from both, small and big guns.
Is that japanese shooting town hall any good?

How come I never discovered this game before?
Thanks for answers fellas. Peace

 

[Bootney Lee Fonsworth]

Among the three, Japanese are easily the worst as evidenced by the nearly complete absence of them at the highest levels of the game. The shooting town center is really only a deterrent until roughly gunpowder age, which is not far at all into the grand scheme of things. Nation swap is 600 crowns then 1000 for every subsequent one I believe. It's instant, provided you have all of your workers free. I have not played as Chinese nor Koreans but I tend to see many more Koreans in late game. From where you're at neither one is really a bad choice though.

I have a French, German and British account and will say Brits are easily the most pick up and play among them. When you have a paltry amount of troops French training is not that big of a deal and Germans get stronger with each age, but take a little while to really get going.

I would advise maxing your offense and rushing to gunpowder age regardless of which nation you pick. The game doesn't really begin until then.

Anyway, my two cents. Hopefully you get at least a dollar's worth of advice on your post. Good luck!

 

[Desmak]

I start the game as Chinese and swap for French at enlightenment age. I personally recommend Chinese as your start up nation because of the extra one worker. The extra worker could allowed you to upgrade your wall and also progress faster to higher ages. Their range infantry fire rate is faster, a good use for low ages player. Also their extra defenders from town is a good bonus, again for low ages.

I advice you to start the game as Chinese and change another nation when you reach Gunpowder or above age. Enjoy

 

[_Flash_]

If you're not looking at end game goals, you should be good with picking any of the nations for now, and give it a go!
As you play and advance through the ages, you'll gain a better understanding of the game play. Save up the free crowns that you get initially in the game (through goals/achievements, watching ads, etc.), and avoid using them to speed up troop training or upgrades.
The balance of nations would also change with time as more and more changes are introduced in the game, as well as balance changes that might come up through future updates. So, it might be too early for you now to pick a nation now and stay with it forever.
Also, choose an active alliance who can help you with game play advice and suggestions, so that your progress in the game would be faster. It's good to learn from own experience, but, far better to learn from others' experience free of cost Jokes apart, just start playing with any nation, learn and experience the game play, and then switch to a different nation once you reach the last couple of ages in the game (whatever they might be when you get there).

Since you mentioned that you like the ranged units a lot, the Koreans, British, and Chinese might be your options. If you aren't too particular about playing as an oriental nation, you could perhaps choose the British.
As others have mentioned, the Japanese town center's shooting ability isn't too valuable.
Chinese would be a balanced nation, but, much like jack of all trades and master of none. Their shooters shoot twice as fast, but each shot puts out 60% damage as regular shooters, so, that's a 20% extra damage with the Chinese shooters. The additional citizen might be useful for upgrading walls while you commit your other workers on upgrades. The extra mercenary capacity would make a small difference in wars.
Koreans would probably play out well in wars compared to the Chinese, with the 40% extra damage from the shooters, and the extra tactic slot. The refund on loot stolen from you might not make a lot of difference early on, as you might not get attacked too often.
The British benefit of +1 range and the 15% extra damage from shooters is better compared to the other two as it gives better chances of survival for the shooters. The 15% loot bonus per attack would add up over time.

As for my journey in the game, I started out as the French, then, about the time I got to EA, I started out a second base as the British. Then, about the time my first base got to Global Age, I started a third base as the Germans. When my first base reached Atomic Age, I switched from the French to the British (my first and only nation change across my three bases till date). For now, I'm playing as the British on two, and as the Germans on one of my bases.

In my experience, the British offensive capability benefit starts showing up from about Enlightenment Age, when your troop capacity goes up to 125.

The Germans are quite fun to play with as well. Till about Gunpowder Age, or even till Enlightenment Age (just skip bases with redoubts), you can get away with just infantry and shooters for all raiding/resource gathering. In my experience, they start to shine in wars from about Industrial Age.

The French were alright till about Industrial Age, but, thereafter, in wars, I was missing the in-battle bonuses of the damage inflicting units which other nations were offering.

Hope this helps!
Cheers and happy gaming!

 

[GailWho]

In my main game I started as German then moved to French in EA then back to German a year after becoming AA in preparation for CW. I tried Korean on my 3rd account and liked it so much in early game that I changed my 2nd account to Korean after dumping the 3rd. I’ve played my 2nd as Korean through GP and into early IA. I like how tough their special is. They really do a lot of damage. It’s also very handy to have the extra tactic especially now that some of the tactics cost an extra slot. It’s also nice to get some of the rss taken fro me refunded when I get attacked. I wait to claim it until I need it or it’s about to scroll off as it’s safe from being raided again until you claim it. I don’t know if I’d like Korean as much in the higher ages. I will probably end up switching if my alt ever gets that high. But if you are really stuck on keeping to the Asian nations my suggestion is Korean.

 

[Tiggo]

General advice: Join an Alliance as soon as possible, it will help you advance a lot due to donations and other benefits.

and ignore all the whining in this forum, its mostly about details by high lvl players ^^ the game is in a good state and still developing.

 

[Butcherer]

A lot has already been said about the pro's and con's of the three oriental nations you appear to favour (and a few others besides). I am inclined to agree with what has been said.

I chose Chinese and stuck with them until Atomic Age when I switched to British. The alliance I was with relied on me quite heavily for making some big hits in world wars and Chinese didn't give me enough of an attacking edge. Whilst there are better attacking armies, I chose the British because there was a bit of an attacking bonus (with additional archer range) but they also allowed me to gain better loot for some big upgrades to troops and buildings.

As it happens I am now Cold War Age and switched back to Chinese (and have the Sydney Opera House) to try and work my way through so many upgrades and uni research... but I war far less now and have an advanced enough army to not have to worry about maximising my loot haul.

In the early game I can still remember losing fights against Japanese bases because I had not realised the TC fired at me... but don't be fooled you quickly learn and there is no real benefit in playing as Japanese.

I have never played as Koreans... they seem to be popular and the advice above is a fair summary of what I could tell you.

What doesn't seem to have been answered is that whilst a revolution later in the game never increases in crown cost it does require a large proportion (if not all your workers) to be free at the same time. This can be very frustrating as there are far better things to be doing than waiting for all your workers to finish what they are doing (otherwise it can get very costly in crowns). In fact, one of the university leader's capstone reduces the cost of a revolution... but that is a long way off!!

So to surmise... Chinese for the early and middle part of the game and as you come u against tougher opponents swap to a more attacking focused nation.

Good luck.

 

[Necksahn]

I say Chinese through industrial as you easily win wars regardless, then British for GA as you need to farm tons of oil and they give you a bonus for that, end game is German as they have a bunch of offensive bonuses and it scales to your troop cards (even the free cards).