Veil/AC compatible civs

[Bluebags]

I've been wondering which civs are good to pick if you want to go with the Veil and/or see the AC skyrocket. Some obvious choices to avoid are Calabim and the elvish civs, but I'm unsure what are good alternatives to the Sheaim or Infernal that aren't totally stuffed up by hell terrain or have some decent synergy with the religion.

So, are there good choices out there, or is AV only designed with the one civ in mind?

 

[Kenjister]

I'd have to say the Calabim work very well with the Veil, mainly due to food benefits of Sacrafice the Weak. Hell terrain actually isn't that bad, since food is not affected too badly. You may not be able to chain irrigation on it though, I don't remember too well (I hardly ever play evil).

The Balseraphs would work pretty well with the Veil, but no better than any other civ. I think the Veil works well with almost any civ, unless you rely heavily on trees for production or health. You're right though, the Sheaim and Infernal are the only two that were designed to have a strong synergy with the Veil. I'm sure there's a few other (unthematic) combo's out there that might work stangely well though.

 

[Pickly]

Luichirp aren't as effected thanks to their golems, though I haven't actually played with them, so can't say for sure how they'd play.

 

[Azhral]

Luchiurp do pretty well. Golems are completely immune to Blight and Armageddon.
Malakim do fairly well, as long as you keep the Hell Terrain from ruining those lovely floodplains. They start with Life mana so you only need a few adepts however.
Bannor do pretty well, StW allows big cities even with a Cottage economy.
Lanun are the easiest to rush the Infernals with, and Hell terrain doesn't effect the Oceans at all. Still they are powerful no matter what religion.
Kuriotates + StW means even larger super cities. Also benefits well with the cottage economy.

 

[DaveGold]

The Elohim work surprisingly well with the AV too. You can tech directly through priesthood and fanatacism to malevolent designs and get all the troops you need. They can deal with the fallout from Armageddon better than most other civs.

 

[Onionsoilder]

Calabim are good from unhappiness hammers, extra pop for feeding and such.
Luchruip are good because their armies aren't really effected by the negative effects, and they can kill the horsemen easier.
Amurites are good in the late game, from Unholy Taint and the bonus research. Early game AV Amurites are really weak on production though. Same goes for Keelyn(but not Perpentach, he's better with OO).
Kuriotates are good AV as well; Strong early economy and their centaurs can easily keep up with Rosier and Beasts of Agares for a fast-mobility army. Same with Hippus, with a slightly weaker economy but better worldspell.

 

[Emptiness]

Any Spiritual leader has the potential to have very powerful Ritualists, which can be a major force if you get them early enough. Doing this with Arendel Phaedra (Ljosalfar) is risky, because trees are so important to Elves (and hell terrain wipes them out). Varn Gosam (Malakim) also runs the risk of hell terrain damage (loss of flood plains, as Azhral mentioned), but has the potential to have Ritualists that benefit from Spiritual + Aggressive + Charismatic - which makes them even more powerful as your main military unit, and is probably worth the risk. The other Spiritual or Adaptive leaders (or even Perpentach if you don't mind trying to time Ritualist production with the whims of fate) can do just fine in AV if you concentrate on Ritualists. My favorite, though, is Jonas Endain (Clan of Embers). Thanks to Warrens he can effectively produce Ritualists for half-price, and orcish fire resistance gives him an advantage if he gets into a war with someone else using Ritualists.