Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension - Page 75

EA Tier List/Nation Quick Fix Notes (Water nations are incomplete at the moment as they are hard to place due to high map dependency. On standard water body maps, likely ratings are Atlantis is"A. Thug nation", Oceania "B-. Troop nation", R'lyeh "C+" magocracy, Pelagia "D" troop nation.)

Each nation has suggested pretender chassis, research path & troop recruitment.

Arco: B + . Magocracy. Can form bad flying raid squads. Flex mages & healers.
Pretender: dom 9 awake cyclops, gorgon, fire/water dragon.
Research: Evo3, thaum 1, cons 4
Troops: Peltast, Cardaces
Arco is above average simply because of the flex cost in philosophers when you need early forts and the ability to take awake pretenders SC thanks to healers. Their mages are fairly predictable in use in evocation standards while Oreiads can stand in for either thunderstrike/storm of thorns/charm.

Ermor: B. Magocracy. Principes. Decent communion spam fodder & healers
Pretender: Dom 9 awake: Cyclops, Gorgon, Virtue, Dragon. Dom 9 awake (need to forge armor) Prince of Death. Dormant + Scales: Forge Lord, Titan of Rebirth. Imprisoned + scales: Oracle/Fountain/statues
Research: Evo 3, Thaum 1, constr 4, conjuration 3
Troops: Principes
Ermor is basically the average nation. Their mages are tricky to use thanks to path spread but augur elders can always bane fire. On the other hand, their troops are completely nobrainer. Principes in block formation at the front with no script is the norm mixed in with occasionally standards. The sacred shroud knights are actually pretty good but outmatched by better EA sacreds.

Ulm: B. Troop nation. Steel maidens/warriors. Cold Res/Stealth.
Pretender: Dormant+ Scales: Tiwaz/Allfather/Volla. Imprisoned + Scales: Oracle/Idol of Sorcery/Monolith
Research: Enchantment 3, Alteration 4, construction: 4
Troops: Maidens (various), Steel Warriors
Ulm's troops are quite good for EA in terms of standard troops. The cap only mage suffers a lot of issues in that it's simply not that good. They get some decent path diversity but spamming inept researcher shamans to get some death/nature is a downer. Stealth is a bonus and potentially can sell this nation as a B+.

Maverni: C+. Magocracy. Cheap comm fodder.
Pretender: Dom 9 Awake Gorgon, Dragon. Dom 9 dormant Gorgon /w E9.
Research: Enchantment 3, Thaum 1, Evocation 5.
Troops: Eponi Knights, barechests
Maverni can actually have decent expansion but quite vulnerable to rush. Strength of giants and barechested spam can stall rushes but this nation is also marred by a rep of easily rushable. Finally the mages while easy to set up communions are fairly predictable. Versatility is also an issue as awake pretenders are often needed. The E9 variant of the Gorgon is for survivability and in case you ever want to experiment with boars.

Sauromatia: A. Archery. Cheap comm fodder
Pretender: Dom 9 Awake Medusa, Fire Dragon. Dom9 dormant Phoenix. Imprisoned + Scales: Oracle
Research: Enchant 3, evocation 4, thaum 1.
Troops: Androphag archers, sauromatian lancers, cataphracts
Sauromatia is quite flexible and strong. They have many options from archer spam, cavalry rush, nether spell spam, raise skeleton hordes and Witchking thugs. Their power scales with user but as an archer nation with access to the gorgon chassis, they're also relatively easy for new players.

Tien Chi: S. Archery. Magocracy. Scaling sacreds.
Pretender: Awake dom 9 W9 Dragon. Dormant+ scales: General e4 + misc, Nyori: e4 + misc. Imprisoned: W9 Carp, w9s4Devi of Good Fortune, S7-s9 Oracle, Devi of Darkness: E4, b9
Research: Evo3-5, conjuration 3-5, Alt 4, Enchant 4
Troops: Archers, Shields, Wo5E.
Tien Chi scales amazingly well with user skill. They have a ton of flexible and amazing gem income thanks to path spread. You can also do whatever spread of scales with them and not go wrong though standbys of growth, order, magic are all varying levels of useful. Wo5E's are one of the best scaling sacreds in the game thanks to elemental resists. Noble 1 pt pds kills most small raids. While, some would argue TC is more A+ or S-, they win a disproportionate amount of their games so results are difficult to argue.

Machaka: B+. Archery. Elephants. Spies.
Pretender: Dormant: Collosal Fetish, Neter of Crafts, Moon, Many Names.
Research: Enchantment 4, Evocation 3-5
Troops: Archers, Shields, Elephants.
Machaka has good battlemagic and access to flaming arrows from archery spam. They don't shoot as well as TC/Sauro but flaming arrows in heat dominion is extra handy. Fireball/shadow spell access is useful as well and enchantment 4 naturally gives raise skeletons for spam. Heretic/unrest battlemages are troublesome but e3 native is always welcome. Also note that the Collosal Fetish CANNOT be minddueled or traditional astral tricked if you give it Astral for teleportation tricks. Elephant rush can still catch people offguard.

Mictlan: S-. Bless nation. Summons.
Pretender: Imprisoned: Collosal Head n9b9, f9 dragon, b9 Fountain, e9n4b4 Teteo, f9w9 Teotl of Rain, S7-9 Oracles
Research: Construction 4, enchant 4, blood x.
Troops: Jaguars, Eagles
Mictlan is fairly predictable as a blood bless nation with powerful summons. Beware of various cloud spells and archery/slinger spam that are fairly prevalent. Eagle warriors are an ok counter but doesn't always work. Mictlan is also perfectly viable as a pure scales nation. Suggested chassis are just easy blesses to get rolling.

Abysia: B+. Troop nation. Bless nation.
Pretender: Imprisoned: n9, e4-9 Neteret of Joy, Oracle + Scales. Dom9 Awake: Azi
Research: Evo3-5, conjuration 3, construction 4, blood x.
Troops: Burning ones, Abysians
Abysia has an amazing early game. They're also not as predictable as people think as they are quite capable of going the blood path. The issue primarily with Abysia is the lack of advantage from growth so luck maybe a late game consideration scale. Evocation rush, bless rush, blood spam are all viable. My hunch is scales + blood is the strongest route. Demonbreds are also amazing assassins with spammable medallion of vengeances ... Also if you manage to fort 2-3 archer provinces early and spam tons of archers, flaming arrows is still threatening.

Caelum: B. Archery. Magocracy. Mammoth
Pretender: Awaken dom9 Azi, Dormant: Teleporter dom9 Chassis.
Research: Evo 2- 4, Alt 4, enchant 3, construction 2
Troops: Mammoth, airya temple guards, Archers
Caelum's expansion phase is saved by the Mammoth but the Azi is also a great chassis for early game power to assist Caelum into the mid game. Unfortunately Caelum's late game is relatively predictable unless breaking into rainbow titans. Eagle kings are amazing late game carrying staff of storms => summon storm power => wrathful skies while others spam either phantasmal army or mists of deception.

C'tis: A-. Magocracy, chaff spam.
Pretender: Dom9 awake: e2-4 Wyrm, Fire dragon, Dormant + scales: Neter of Craft, Joy, chaos, Imprisoned + Scales: Oracle
Research: Enchant 3, Evocation 3-5, Conjuration 5, thaum 1, alt 5
Troops: Light infantry, City guards, Slave/Elite Warriors, Falchion, Chariots
C'tis has great recruit anywhere death mages. You play them very close to a zerg swarm Ermor with cheapo infantry flood backed with skeleton spam or shadow evocation. Late game should be fairly predictable Tartarian + Gift of Health. Take care that a nature 4-5 pretender may be worth considering to get an early mother oak rush.

Pangaea: B+. Troops, Bless nation. freespawn.
Pretender: Dormant: offpath Rainbow titans. Imprisoned + scales: Idol of Sorcery, Sphinx, w9n9 Titan of River/Volla, n9e9 Gorgon, f9e9 forge lord/statue of war,
Research: alteration 5, thaum 3, enchantment 4, evo 2
Troops: Minotaurs, White Centaurs, Revelers, Satyr Warriors, Centaurs, Centaur Warriors
Sadly I don't play Pangaea often so my assessment is likely not accurate nor will my tips be that great. The only game I played Pan successfully was a dominion 3 strat that's outdated with awaken dual bless gorgon to snowball early with a white centaurs that relied on overtax/patrol tricks. However, all of Pan's troops are incredibly solid but sadly the nation doesn't hold a lot of flavor for me. My hunch says Pan is probably B+ but they feel very average to me atm.

Argartha: B. Mindblasters, Summons, Amphibian
Pretender: Awaken dom 9 N4-9 Dragon. Dormant: Risen Oracle
Research: Conjuration 3, Construction: 4, Alteration: 5
Troops: Olms, Trogs, Pale One Warrior
This nation really got saved by the addition of mindblasters. Mindblasters, trogs and hard hitting units can stave off rushes. Tempted to give this nation a B+ thanks to great summons but general inexperience with this nation makes it hard for me to tell. Aquatic ability will probably raise them to a B+ or even A- in maps where waters aren't contested.

Tir na n'Og: A+. Bless nation. Glamour nation. Thugs.
Pretender: Imprisoned: n9e4-9 Lord of Forest, e4s4n4 Monolith, w9 Dragon, b9 Fountain.
Troops: Firbolgs, Sidhe Champion/Lords
Research: Evo 2, Alteration 3, enchant 4, construction 4-x
TNN is a standard thug nation that's easy to pilot and pretty strong thanks to fir bolg troops, out of box thugs and air evocation. Most of their "big plays" comes from raiding and hiding massive squads of thugs to take a ton of provinces at once. Airdropping thugs is a favorite TNN pasttime.

Fomoria: A+, Bless nation. SC. Sailing. Amphibian.
Pretender: Imprisoned: n9e4-9 Lord of Forest, e4s4n4/9 Monolith.
Troops: Firbolgs, Nemedians, Unmarked
Research: Alt3-6, construction 4, enchantment 4
Fomoria is a SC nation with versatile options thanks to Unmarked/Nemedians as elites and firbolgs as expanders/line. The Fomorian King is arguably the best SC chassis in the game thanks to it's paths/sailing/amphibian. Air/death evo even staves off any rush in case your troops somehow can't hold the line or you botched up big time.

Vanheim: B+ Bless nation, troop nation, Sailing, Thugs
Pretender: Imprisoned: n9e4-9 Great mother, n4-n9w9 Son of Fenrir, W9e4 Father of winter, scales/rainbow titan.
Troops: Huskarl, Mounted Hirdman, Vanhere
Research: Alteration 3, Enchant 4, Construction 4-x
Vanheim & TNN are different flavors of each other. TNN's better mages edges out the Vanheim (crappy) blood access, and dwarf forging. Everything said about TNN more or less applies with Vanheim though Vanheim is more thug reliant. Scales build Vanheim is perfectly fine but lack of regen could hurt. Having access to the n9w9 bless with an reinvig item will make your vanjarls practical gods of midgame though.

Helheim: S+. Bless nation, troop nation, Thugs/SC,
Pretender: Imprisoned: n9e4-9 Great mother, n4-n9w9 Son of Fenrir, W9e4 Father of winter, scales/rainbow titan.
Troops: Huskarl, Mounted Hirdman, Valkyrie, Helhirdlings
Research: Alteration 3-6, Enchant 4, Construction 4-x
There's really no reason to play Vanheim over Helheim. While Vanheim does have access to A4 easier as well as potential sailing, Helheim gains the superior death 3-4 option, flying and better dwarf. Dis + Valkyrie allows limitless headaches with even a minor bless and Hangadrotts are practically SC's with n9 buffing their hp and adding regen. Helheim being S while Vanheim hovering at a B+ displays the gap between the two nations. Similar strats apply though Helheim is much more flexible in it's pretender route.

Niefelheim: S. Bless nation. Thugs/SC
Pretender: Imprisoned: n9e4-9 Great mother
Troops: Jotun Huskarl/javelin, Jotun Skinshifter, Niefels, Skrattis, Godes.
Research: Alteration: 2, enchantment 2, construction 4, thaum 3-4, conjuration 4
Niefel is a straightforward nation. Rush with blesses or skinshifters Mid-endgame with Skrattis to enhance. You can do some cute tricks with Godes with stealth items and jotun scouts being blessable to form stealth parties. The only downside is players will take heat dominion to push against you if there's a Niefel in the game. You are also fairly predictable. However unit wise you match up so well against 90% of the game that it doesn't matter too much.

Kailasa: B-. Archer nation, Sacreds
Pretender: Awake dom 9: Dragon, Destroyer of Worlds, Devi of Darkness. Dormant: Destroyer of Worlds, Devi of Darkness. Imprisoned: w9s4 Devi of Fortune, a9d4 Destroyer of Worlds
Troops: Atavi Archers, Light Bandar archers, Yavana Archers
Research: Evocation 2-5, Alteration 5, Enchantment 3
Kailasa is an unweilding nation in that it's a nation full of sacreds but your recruit anywhere sacred are magical beings. You have relatively cheap communion mages but nothing impressive early game to communion. Your late game is pretty decent and an dormant n9 dragon might be worth in a game where no one fights you for mother oak as alteration 5 gives acccess to bone melter. Your sacreds don't wear armor so slings/arrows murder them but awe makes them ok at melee. Rust mist evens the odds for you but alteration gives the much more useful destruction so it might be worth rushing straight down that line instead. This nation has potential but it seems too clunky to unlock thanks to a relatively crummy troopline.

Lanka: A-. Sacreds. Bless nations. Summons.
Pretender: Imprisoned: n9e4-9s1- 4 Monolith, n9e4-9 Great Bull, w9s4 Devi of Fortune, w9 dragon, e9s4 Nyorai, e4b9 Devi of Darkness
Research: Construction 4, Blood 6, Alteration 3, enchantment 4.
Troops: Palankasha, light bandar archers, bandar warriors
Lanka fell a bit from dom3 glory days thanks to being a turmoil nation. However, loads of freespawn thanks to priests keeps you afloat along with hard hitting Palankasha's. The Kala sacred warriors are pretty crummy but if you have a bless they're recruit anywhere with no turmoil power. Your goal is basically get to blood 6 with an ok blood econ. At that stage, Dakini's basically clean everything on the field due to how powerful they are.

Yomi: B-. Archer nation. SC nation.
Pretender: Dormant: a4s4e4 Celestial General, a4w4s4 Jade Emperor, w4s4Carp, Imprisoned n4e4s6 Monolith
Research: Enchantment 4, Evocation 3-4, construction 6, alteration 6, conjuration 8
Troops: Bakemono archers, Bandits, Ao-Oni's, Aka-oni's, Kuro-oni's
I wrote an entire guide on Yomi for dom3 that's mostly applicable still. You'll have Turmoil/Luck over Order/Misfortune though =(
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=41848&page=3

Hinnom: A. Troop nation. SC nation
Pretender: Dormant Diversity offpath Titans, Imprisoned n9e4-9 Annukai of Growth, Imprisoned b3-b9 Fountain of Blood, Imprisoned scales Oracle
Research: Construction 4, alteration 4, Enchantment 3, Blood X
Troops: Avvite Charioteer, Dawn Guards,
Hinnom is strange in for a giant nation with a strong bless troop, you actually dont' want to make any of them. Rephaite Warriors aren't sustainable thanks to unrest and pop killing and you dearly want your population for blood hunts. Blessed Melqarts are very strong early mid game t12-30 but you absolutely don't need a bless as your chariots are amazing indie expanders and dawn guards are great against players. Melqarts/Baal's are easier to use with a bless but the window when you get enough gems to gear them with rings of regen is very early so a scales build will be more preferable for veterans. Heavy blood on pretender is also fine for b9 on Melqarts and late game Grigori's.

Ur: B. Troop nation?
Pretender: Awake dom 9 Moloch, Scorpion King. Dormant: Diversity offpath Titan
Research: Alteration: 4, evocation: 3, enchantment 3.
Troops: Enkidu's Chosen (misc swamp recruit including Reaver, Archer, Hunter)
Ur doesn't really have a classification. I think the closest I would put them would be a "troop nation" but their in cap troops are pretty crummy outside of Enkidu's Chosen. On the other hand, their foreign longbow is solid & their swamp ones are pretty good with a solid javelin berserker and the bereserking reaver so it's kind of strange. They have a bunch of magic paths but they're not quite a mage nation either. An awake Moloch will serve you well since your pretender doesnt' lose path being called back and it lets you splash some fire to make Chosens hit better.

Berytos S. Magocracy, Elephants, Summons, Sailing
Pretender: Awake dom9 Moloch, Cyclops. Dormant: Forge Lord, Prince of Death, Diversity Pretender offpaths.
Research: Evocation: 2, alteration 4, enchantment 4, construction 4, blood 4
Troops: Spearman, Archers, Colossi Warrior
Berytos has excellent battle mages, good troops, cheapo researchers and sailing. On top of this they get a nice income bonus from the cap that can snowball your gold for the year pretty nicely. In addition, their priests are blood hunters that can also be used to evocation in a pinch. I feel Melqart is overpriced as a summon but it's a SC chassis option. On the other hand, the blood 3/4 national summons are very good. Much like Tien Chi, Berytos has a ton of options on how to play out the game and scales with it's user very well.