Are there unbalanced nations?

[Adagio]

I haven't played as the same nation twice, I keep playing as new ones... and at present time, I haven't found any unbalancing yet...

[silmendil]

I have played the chinese for a week now (CTW mode easy). WOW ! If you add their ability (instant production of peasants, merchants and caravans+ quicker research) to the "Terra Cota Army" you can rush the ennemy terrytory very early with a radical technologic gap. This way I could crush all opponents from 18 minutes to a little more than one hour.

[Enriquillo]

Mayans and Russians are the weakest, at least for my style of play.
Funny thing is that Russians seem to be the most popular, as I predicted in early Beta2 stages. The defensive bonus is great for new players, but I hate civs that rely on defense too much as Mayans and Russians do.

Japanese , Germans and Bantu seem to be my favorites, although I wouldn't say they're overpowered.

Koreans were overpowerd in Beta2, but seem to be average now.

[Gomer_Pyle]

Spanish should be good in maps with choke points like Great Lakes, etc. Lets you plan your expansion a little better. First time I used them I thought to myself "ok let's go hunting for ruins" and then realized that they're fogged out (I should RTFROH more = RTF roll over help)!!

[Grond]

I disagree about the Russians. With their unique light cavalry, cheap spies and attrition you should be able to stop almost all early attacks while building a stronger econ. Don't rely on it too much though, if your opponent brings lots of scouts and supply wagons your going to have to either take out his scouts or fight him head on. Archers and skirmishers appear to do less damage to supply wagons and multiple units of the same type that fire at the same unit do reduced damage so use that cav. Back to the topic I played the Spanish once and they did seem weak to me, but I'd have to play them some more before I was convinced of that. The Greek powers do seem weak but it seems like other people have had good luck with them. I would think that the research advantage would kick in on slow and expensive and but would not be nearly as good on normal. Frankly I wish slow and expensive was normal and normal was called fast and cheap. This is a much better game on slow and expensive in my opinion.

[Adagio]

Originally posted by Grond
Frankly I wish slow and expensive was normal and normal was called fast and cheap. This is a much better game on slow and expensive in my opinion.

I totally agree

[Brodie]

I used to think spain was sucky too, but after I've played them a few times I'm seeing that they really rock in the early stages.

The ruin and scout bonus lets you get 1/2 to an age ahead, and they have a great gunpowder age army, with the only ranged heavy infantry and this age. After this, they don' have much, but then again, not many nations do have anything special after enl.