Which nation to choose - HELPER.

[Ixtrimer]

There are many information about choosing nation, their benefits and more.
But I have not seen any on this forum. So i decided to make a summary.
At first, everything I will post is my opinion so take it just like another source to choose or change nation not the main one.
I used some information, mostly about troops' stats from http://dominations.wikia.com/wiki/DomiNations!_Wiki.
Please consider that I am in enlighment age and I already have some experience.
If you have any helpful information, opinon or you have found a mistake please give an information to the comments.
Excuse my english, I hope it is not that bad

There are three reasons to choose a nation:
1. Look of the national buildings
2. Special unit
3. National advantage

If you are that type of person who cares about look of his base then choose your nation by the first factor.
They are still working on it and I hope there won't by two nations with same buildings one day. Chinese is different from Japanese after last update.

These nations have the same look of some buildings:

Romans, Greeks
British, French, Germans

Defensive and army buildings have the each nation same.

The most important aspect for me is the unique unit.

There are three types of them:

Assault infantry (Japanese, Germans, Romans)

You will always use these the most. They are your basic troop, very cheap and good against buildings, walls, cavalry.
Weak against enemy foot troops (Assault infantry).
You should always consider that it will become even stronger in the last age because its' range will be increased to three which means that you will be able to destroy buildings behind walls.


Maxed out regular assault infantry: 390 HPs, 220 DPS, 55 DPS against foot troops
Maxed out Japanese/Germans assault infantry: 390 HPs, 264 DPS, 60 DPS against foot troops
Maxed out Romans assault infantry: 488HPs, 220 DPS, 55 DPS against foot troops


Ranged infantry (Chinese, Brithish)

This is the second most important unit, because they will deal with enemy troops who come from garrisons, (colosseum).
It is also good in early game to use 100% of your army only archers, it works pretty good but not in the middle/late game.

British unit has the same stats as a regular ranged unit but they have increased range from 4 to 5 which is really worthless after the last patch that brings range buff of defensive buildings.
Chinese ranged unit has increased DPS.

Maxed out regular ranged infantry: 252 HPs, 31 DPS, 124 DPS against foot troops
Maxed out Chinese ranged infantry: 252 HPs, 38 DPS, 152 DPS against foot troops

Cavalry (Greeks, French)

This unit is very strong after update, it works pretty well to have 100% of your army only cavalry which makes Greeks even better and French a little bit better than before. This unit has only problems with balistas if you destroy them as soon as possible you will probably win the battle.

French cavalry has increased HPs.
Greeks cavalry has increased DPS.



Also very important ascpect is the national advantage.

These advantages are not as good as they look like, it is just a small boost.
I would separate these advatages into four levels: the best, good, worse, the worst.

The best:

Romans

They have increased army size by 10% which is really bad in early game, you will get 10% from max. size like 20 which is poor.
But it is so good in middle/late game.
The maximum army size you can regulary get is 120 which means that with Romans you will get 132, you can think it is not that good, but trust me it is.

Good:

Japanese
They have very good advantage in the early game, because their town center (TC) shoots at invaders so it acts like another tower, it has just lower DPS (maxed out tower: 230 DPS, TC: 190 DPS).
This advantage is not that good in middle/late game.
Another advantage is that they have extended peace treaties by 25%, I do not see it as a big advantage for offensive players, but it can be good for casual players.

Greeks
Their advantage is very good, you can skip upgrading a building once there leaves under 15 minutes. This advantage scales in every age by 5 minutes from Iron age so you can skip upgrades under 35 minutes at the end.
Another advantage which is also really good but not in the early game is that you will get back 5% from each upgrade, it is very good in the late game when upgrades cost above 3 millions.

Chinese
You get one extra villager, it does not scale, but you can upgrade more buildings at one time.
You will also get one extra defender who comes from TC per age.


Worse:

Germans
They have increased the duration of rally and also decreased the time to use it which means that you can target a location where you want your troops to come or destroy a building more frequently.
It would not be so bad if the time was decreased like about 10 seconds, but it is only 5 seconds.

​The worst:

French
They have decreased the time to train troops by 20%, it sounds really good, but it is not, my army which has size 110 troops needs 25 minutes to train, with French I would train them like 20 minutes, is it even worth it?

British
They have increased resources got from each battle by 5%, you say, I will be an offensive player, it is really good, but in the early game you will get max. 20k gold/food for a good raid which means that you would get 21k with British, still undecided? Well you will be patient and will be waiting until late game comes, no! In the late game you will get 300k for a good raid which is 315k with Brithis, no, do not choose this one if you want to be good.


Summary:

At first, I would recommend you to be an offensive player, you do not need to be so active as you think, just 2-3 raids per day do more than your farms, caravans and other economical ways to get resources.

If you agree with that choose one of these nations:

Romans - the best option, their unique unit is just so good, even if Germans and Japanese have got a little bit better unit than Romans, still R. are the best, because you have more of them
Japanese - good option
Germans - very underrated nation, but they are quite good
Greeks - their unique cavalry is quite good after update and their special advantage is really good



Ok you still want to be a defensive player:

Greeks - the best option
Chinese - that one villager you will get is not that good, but it helps little bit
Japanese - good option

 

[Lurch]

Good job with this. I chose the French and I like them so far. But I see what you're saying. Unless they increase the bonus, I will probably switch later.

 

[Sheva]

Considering the fact that league bonuses just got increased, surely British wouldn't be as bad as a choice anymore?

 

[The Prince]

Excellent sharing ...

Will look into this kind of sharing more ...

 

[This game is laggy]

What? You can skip up to 2 hours in the end for Greeks?

 

[Ixtrimer]

What? You can skip up to 2 hours in the end for Greeks?

Oh thank you, I was not thinking when I was doing this, you have aditional 15 minutes which starts at Iron age and it gives you only 5 minutes per age so it is 35 minutes at the end, I will fix it.

 

[Ixtrimer]

Considering the fact that league bonuses just got increased, surely British wouldn't be as bad as a choice anymore?

Well their advantage is still so bad compared to other mentioned and their special troop is also bad, I would recommend you Germans who are not played a lot, but are good I think. I hope that some nations will be balanced soon.

 

[Ixtrimer]

Good job with this. I chose the French and I like them so far. But I see what you're saying. Unless they increase the bonus, I will probably switch later.

They are better after this update, their uniqe unit is really strong now, they just need a little buff of their national advantage.

 

[Lurch]

Good. I do a lot of attacks in a row, so that's why I chose French. I want to attack often.

 

[Sheva]

Well I'm currently on Japanese. I found out almost everyone was using them soon after and now I feel like I want to change. I guess Germans would be the best choice right?

 

[Ixtrimer]

Well I'm currently on Japanese. I found out almost everyone was using them soon after and now I feel like I want to change. I guess Germans would be the best choice right?

Japanese is still a good nation, because of their unique unit, but their national bonus is not as good in the middle/late game. If you want a really good national bonus, then go for Romans, but if you want to try out something which is not played that much go for Germans. Their unique unit is even better than Romans in my opinion and decreased time on rally helps a lot with catapults. But think it over because the second changing of nation costs 1000 crowns and it sclaes with every next change.
EDIT: There are incorrect(old) information on the wiki, because the Romans unit has been buffed I think, it should have increased dmg too now, I will give you an information once I definitely find out.
EDIT2: Sorry, my mistake I had active weapon blessing which increase the damage done by your troops, so it showed me that Praetorian Fusilier(top melee unit of Romans) has 260DPS, but it doesn't. It is still the same - Romans - 220DPS, Japanese/Germans - 264DPS. Information on the wiki are correct.

 

[Lurch]

Lol after the update, everybody and their dog is the Romans now. Think I will stick with the French.

 

[Fisher King]

Hi -- very nice thread. I wonder if there's another way to make the choice, i.e., considering the different strengths and weaknesses of the nations in question in terms of their real-world fate. Every empire has its rise and fall, but each stands on the grave of an earlier one.

Early Western empires were Greek and Roman, but where are they now? Greeks -- I imagine the five minute bonus would be better in the early days, but little comfort in the late stages when upgrades probably take days. Romans might have a bigger army, but it takes more resources and time to build it full strength, and by the time your nation has developed more efficient tactics and can recruit strong mercs/allies, so what? The British and French empires were thieving juggernauts, but avoided falling to the Germans thanks mostly to strong overseas allies. Etc.

The East is a bit underepresented, in my opinion. Japan and China have been at each others' throats for millenia. Japan has had a strong but ultimatey doomed homeland, much as the OP has said plays out in this game. I went with China, an insular economic powerhouse nearly undone by larger forces of global trade, mostly because "many hands make light work," so to say. I also added Stonehenge, the better to fuel the economy. Defending all the extra gold might be problematic, but there will always come an army that can successfully raid even the most densely fortified nation.

 

[dreamniko]

They are better after this update, their uniqe unit is really strong now, they just need a little buff of their national advantage.

Totally agree. I choose French too, especially for the reduced training time, but regarding the little advantage it gives in late game, I'm expecting they can change it to a better bonus, saying 50% or more.. which will be efficient for attackers like me I like very much the heavy cavalier of french, used as shield, that's great tactic, but i don't know if it works well in late ages. (I'm still in classical, edge of medieval)
Ixtrimer, thank you very much for your great detailed review !

 

[Rahdiculous]

I was Japanese until I switched to Germans.The Japs have a great unique unit but I found the town center defense was useless after awhile. I chose Germans cause it's basically the same unit as the Japanese but they have the -5 seconds rally option and it lasts longer as well. I'm an offensive player and I find it useful even though 5 seconds is small decrease. I agree with you that 10 seconds would make this nation stand out far more to people and that would be a game changer. With the rally research in the library i can basically double rally strength and time, but -10 seconds from the start would be best. I think they need to buff the other nations besides Romans so that there is no clear best nation. I also like the blue European style.

 

[DestroyerArcher]

Being a british player, my stance on them: I would rather have chosen greeks after seeing the cavalry DPS increase, as the higher damage of companions allow you to loot bases faster, combined with the economic bonuses of greeks. Extra loot bonus is a joke, as it will only save a small amount of extra raids. From my experience, longbowmen can still outrange towers, though it must be around the corners of the tower range, and the stats in-game show to me as about 15% higher damage than normal ranged infantry.