No one seems to really be making any really good cases imo.

You are now outnumbered two to one and the enemy is already fairly powerful on its own. One to one would be a decent problem by itself. But add an equal number of Ancestral Ghosts? How would you legitimately counter that? Dunmer can summon Daedra and such as well as the next mer. They worship the damned things...so i suppose add that?

For the Lolz, Dunmer are the best Destruction mages as well as great Illusionists based on skills. They also start with Sparks...bye bye enemy mages. A destructo war between mages would favor the Dunmer. But the Dunmer do not rely on magic alone. They were excellent warriors(In previous games, wth? Why?). So they could handle up close and personal encounters as well.

Be more creative! Kill the Dunmer! Lol

Orc racial is awesome sauce for Boss Battles.

Redguards have already proved themselves in battle against the Dominion, so I'd pick them.

None can stands Orc if it is hand-to-hand combat. WIth Beserker Rage and 2-handed weapon, any Orc is a beast.

...many people seem to be missing the point of this thread. Think of the racials and skillsets being scattered across an entire army. Also do not bring up outside bonuses such as atronach stones or the fact that your level 6 Altmer became Archmagister. It is kind of irrelevant to the debate lol.

Also assume neutral terrains such as a flat plain. If it came down to strategy and terrain the Imperials would likely win. They have the most experience across a wide range of terrains and have a history of conquering everyone else.

I'm going to be serious, now.

Imperials would win. With Nords as a close second. From a lore standpoint, they've already conquered everybody, and have the strongest armies. From a gameplay standpoint, a well timed chain of Voice of the Emperor or Battle Cry would be devastating. Numbers wouldn't matter when NONE of your soldier can fight back. Not to mention it would only take a minute (two soldiers using their Voices or Cries) for the Ancestors to disappear, effectively rendering the Dunmer army just a group of battle mages, about half the size and strength as the Imperial/Nord army, with less diversity. There's a wide range of soldier types in the Imperial army, from archers to centurions to mages.

I'm a Dunmer and I haven't used any of my "once-in-a-day powers" in combat one single time. I've just tested it outside combat to see how it looks...

Dunmer no longer have their Ancestral Ghosts afaik.

And between the time it takes any mage to warm up their master level destruction spells and the ensuing friendly fire, I'd expect enraged Orcs to be lopping their heads off all about.

IIRC Tiber with the full might of the Empire couldn't take Summerset Isle until Vivec gave him the Numidium. Seeing as how they don't have it anymore your point is debatable.

Regardless, they're still the strongest armies. They conquered provinces nobody else could.

I suppose it could be argued that Argonians might have a stronger army, because they were able to not only hold the Daedra back, but make them run for the hills. But, they wouldn't win if racial abilities were brought into play.

There we go. Decent points. But I do not think the battle cry and voice of the empire powers would affect ghosts right? Do not assume gameplay balancing would be in the game. Hist skin and Adrenaline rush and such would be more passive abilities not activated ones.

Argonians would just regenerate health much faster than the other races. Redguards would be able to handle sustained hand to hand conflicts longer. Altmer would be able to regerate their magicka at a standard faster rate than the other races. Dunmer Ancestral ghosts last until they are banished. Warcry simulates the intimidation of a charging Nord warrior. Berserk simulates the Orcs getting crazed and going into a bloodrush. Khajiit can see at night(??) and will always have a weapon at hand, their hands(claws)... Bosmer can summon animals to do their bidding (idk how useful that would be? Mess up cavalry charges?). Imperials are great negotiators and can trick opponents more easily than others can i would say voice of the emperor simulates that. Bretons can sometimes absorb spells and generally are more resistant to magicka effects.

I said from a gameplay standpoint. The Voice and the Cry are the two most powerful racials against a large group. Pair that with the massive size of their armies, and the Nords and Imperials are unstoppable.

From a lore standpoint, it depends on the situation. Nobody would conquer the wood elves, they're masters of defensive warfare. But they wouldn't last long in a straight up fight. The same applies to the Argonians, though less extreme. They can defend against most armies, but can still launch an effective attack. Redguards are the best natural fighters, and each individual soldier is stronger than most. But they lack any real advantage. They'd more likely be a large name, but not the largest.

Altmer would wreak havoc, but it's unlikely they would win. They're affinity for magic would be tossed out the window if the Bretons decided to take them down. Or the Dunmer, for that matter. However, from a lore standpoint, the Dunmer would get their asses served to them. They're a shattered army and a fractured race. They lost their homeland to their former slaves, and now they're the biggest sob story in Tamirel.

I'd say in a general ware, it'd go along these lines: Imperial, Nord, Breton, Argonian, Orc, Redguard, Bosmer, Khajiit, Dunmer, Altmer

Did you notice I said assuming they were equal armies in terms of numbers? They are also on equal ground. How would the Dunmer get their asses served to them?

Besides, the Imperials and Nords both got roughed up badly every time they messed with the Dunmer. In fact the Imperials never outright beat the Dunmer at any point in history. The only people who get that distinction are the Argonians. And we all know the only reason that was allowed to happen. The Imperials have a habit of making treaties and concessions to the more powerful Mer nations like Morrowind and Summerset Isle. As for the Nords. Resdayn...nuff said. The Dunmer defeated all the powerful tongues of the Nordic Empire and caused the Tongues to become pacifist as Jorgen Windcaller reflected on their defeat.

have you heard of the great war? obviously not

Again this is not about two nations fighting one another. It is two armies comprised of traditional race archetypes that have equality in everything except racial powers and skills and known lore qualities. Like Redguards being the finest warriors on Tamriel but weak at magic. Dunmer being great at integrating blade, bow, and destruction magic into combat. Altmer are powerful mages attuned to magicka so they have more magicka but also take more damage from it.

This. This is awesome.

Sounds menacing, until the orc reduces damage taken by half and increases his damage done by double. They'd mow right through them.

an astute opinion. however nothing would stop the merciless dunmer from burning down the forest of the bosmer. and the orcs main weakness are battle mages. together, however, i would have to agree with you that they would be the best duo but i think the appropriate question for this forum is: how much would it take the dunmer to conquer all of tamriel. they would first have to GATHER TOGETHER which would be the most difficult challenge for them but how would they (pretending the empire wasn't in disarray) proceed if they wanted to conquer the land.

Through twice there number of ghosts and expert spellswords? Imagine the flexibility of being able to create a brand new army of ghosts as you go. Also i would imagine Berserk would make the Orcs kind of easy to out position. Berserk=/=tactician and strategy. I think if the orcs attacked like that they would just be setting themselves up for defeat.

@Supernordraistlin(love the character in your name btw)
This is a theoretical debate based on all the armies being equal in number on equal footing. Terrain, weapon quality, siege equipment, etc etc.

How much would it take for them to conquer all of tamriel though? More than they are capable of atm. However the scary thing now is that if the Dunmer ever DO get back into a cohesive state they will not have 3000 years of politicking and backstabbing keeping them from being great. They also do not need slaves or god-kings as crutches anymore. When they do recover they will be an incredible nation and not to be taken lightly at all. The only thing that kept the other races safe from Invasion by the Dunmer prior to Tiber Septim was the other Dunmer because of all the infighting lol.

If the Nerevarine was their it would be a different story. You cannot do much better than a master politician, tactician, and warrior master wizard assassin that is immune to sickness and aging.(he united all the great houses houses and ashlander tribes and mastered the factions while navigating through all their complexity and complications with one another.) Now that was a sense of achievement!

erm

ANY race can do that with enchanting O.o

If the Orcs organized under one Chieftan I think they'd give any race a run for their money.

Yes I have seen this happen too many times and it is brutal....

An army of beeefy nords on the front lines and breton magicians wielding magical powers, and some stealthy bosmer to ambush and disrupt the formations, and some argonian maids and chilly mead chilled breton frost-mages to raise the morale would beat any other design (sorry had a bit of an argument with my history teacher about Waterloo battle).


On topic: orc berserk is total beast.

Hentai much?

Nord Mass fear and arrows in the back.. Every 10 nord's can take turn to fear a bunch of people