Slitherine

There seem to be many starting locations (70ish??). In a couple other games I've played, I've started out as a tribe in Spain. The problem has been that that location really could not complete with the 5 or so biggies in the game. Eventually, after x number of turns, Carthage arrives with troops far in advance of mine, in vast numbers compared to my measly bands, and stomps me into oblivion.

Is Empires similar? In that I mean, is the game designed/balanced around the biggies like Rome, Carthage, Egypt, etc? Yes, it says I can play as anything, but will I actually have a chance at surviving if I take some small Iberian land as my start?

It would be logical that playing as a larger, more resource rich country is "easier" in one sense than playing as a small Spanish tribe but Empires with its unique decadence mechanic means the late game is likely to be much tougher for larger Empires if they have expanded into many other areas than for smaller regional powers from what I have seen.

Early game it will obviously be important to form local alliances as a smaller country to dissuade being eaten up.

I personally have no problem with the smaller states being much less likely to grow into major powers than already strong countries like Egypt or Carthage as I veer more towards the "historical plausability" school of gamers than the "let's conquer the world as Judea" school but I understand others feel differently.

There are some starts that are probably near impossible to do well with, but in testing I've taken some unusual states/tribes to a position of regional power etc. Its certainly feasible that you could build a Gallic confederation, for example, that has a chance vs Rome but you may well still get reduced to a footnote of history . Equally you may do well, but still come no where near winning.

But the big states are not necessarily easier to play. rest assured everyone brings their challenges. In truth,every faction is very unique.

Remember also in the end you win by legacy. And there are a lot of routes to gaining legacy, its not a world conquest game. I'm not even sure, given the mechanisms, you could manage that, I'm very sure its not a good idea to even try.

Having started watching the new 8 part Dastactic run through as Carthage (very highly recommended) in episode 2 he talks through the factors that affect Legacy, Culture and Decadence points. At the start of the game Rome has a far worse Culture/Decadence ratio than 75% of other countries and as Loki100 points out it is evident all nations have both advantages and disadvantages.

As an aside for those who are interested , he does a battle transfer from FoG Empires into FoG2 step by step in episode 3 so for those like me who wanted to see the mechanics of this it explains clearly how this is done. I am more than happy having seen it despite it being perhaps better if the procedure could have been done completely within game that the process is simple and logical..