Humans have a focus on cavalry, and thus do best in the plains. That's great. Cavalry makes sense as a focus, and plains settlements are pretty typical. I kind of wish humans could survive in the mountains, but that's okay.

Orcs have a focus on spearmen, and do fine almost anywhere. That's great. Orcs are like the rodents of mythology; they get everywhere.

Dwarves have a focus on infantry. That's great. Dwarves are best-known for their strong axe-wielding, heavily-armored warriors. However, this means they do best in the forest. Dwarves are not forest-dwellers. They are mountain-, hill-, or cave- dwellers in almost all folklore, mythology, and fantasy. Just look at Lord of the Rings! Dwarves should thrive in the mountains.

Elves have a focus on archers. That's great. Elves are typically shown in lots of fantasy/mythology with incredible reflexes and dexterity, and they typically have incredible archers. However, this means they do best in the mountains. Elves show up in all kinds of mythology and fantasy as people at one with nature. They are happiest and deadliest in a forest. In forests, they can move quickly and silently, ambushing and destroying noisy humans/orcs/dwarves. Once again, look at Lord of The Rings. Elves should thrive in the forest.

I enjoy playing this type of game defensively. I build up heavy defenses, both from buildings and from units, and am rarely targetted. I'm a major asset to my alliance by being able to send lots of defensive troops to bolster up an ally under attack. I really enjoy that role. So when choosing a race, I picked dwarf. However, much to my surprise, it turns out that elves are best for defenses. 

Rather than laughing at the enemy horde from the inside of my impenetrable fortress, I'm camped out in a jungle... swinging on vines? I'm severely tempted to move to a mountain anyways, but then my troops would be at a large disadvantage.

I'm not really concerned with the mechanics of how it's done, but dwarves and elves should have their roles and primary terrains swapped. Dwarves are even described as defensive when choosing a race, but they've yet to live up to that. Let us play dwarves as they're supposed to be. And let the elves live in the forest like they're supposed to.

Doesn't mean it makes me happy, though :P.

I have seen graphics for researches or possibly discoveries that look race-specific.  Perhaps these as-yet-undiscovered racial bonuses will relate to elves in forests or dwarves in mountains.

I am just speculating, might be nothing of the sort.

I'd love to see a new server started, that had new terrain rules. That would make the "Dwarf != Monkey" people (me!) happy. It would also give veteran and new players a chance to duke it out on relatively equal footing. Most people will stick with the old server, but some people enjoy starting over again when you don't have the disadvantage of being new.

Maybe if we hound the devs for long enough they're finally say something along the lines of "Ok, ok, it isn't fair some races are imbalanced, we'll fix it all". 

Createure wrote:  Love Illy for what it is... not what it isn't. There are plenty of LoTR games and imitations around already.

idk, its all physics and physics beats fantasy 

eragon had a good dwarf battle in mountain and they basically lost to....so maybe mountain not as good as it seems? and both times it was a very large orc army lol with very large orcs

 Noisy humans/orcs/dwarves start a fire in the elves' forest! 

In thinking about it, I can understand your argument about elves. Mountains and hills really do aid archers. However, I still assert that dwarves are by far the best in a mountain fortress. If nothing else, look at height. Dwarves are shorter than the other races (though bulky and strong). They could make tunnels with a five-foot ceiling, and move comfortably. Humans, orcs, and elves would be at a large disadvantage, as they'd be trying to fight while crouching or stooping.

Also, it's well-established that dwarves are extremely good at mining, tunneling, and building with stone. It stands to reason that their fortresses would be significantly better.

In the ancient world, Athens was a coastal city state protected by the "wooden walls" of its Navy against superior land power of Persia.

Without wishing to turn this into a historical debate, a few words. Great Britain. Island. Trafalgar.