Why not make a list of DM civs from OP to UP (TAD, GP only, etc)? I have seen many people argue on which are the OPest civs in DM. Imho:
1st russia, really easy to rush, raid, spam inf... and they have a really good win ratio to back up that claim. They kind of lack proper ranged cav, but they don't really need it to be the top civ. I kind of hate them just because they're so easy. At top levels they aren't that good since people actually know how to play most other civs, but they still are most definitely a top civ.
2nd ports. amazing mortar range + amazing goon range. Even in DM those goons can micro good enough. Add a few cassas and the combo becomes lame as hell. Probably the best civ at 35++
3rd dutch. Its really easy to spam banks once the game starts, giving an amazing eco boost by the first 5 mins, which easily outbooms most civs. Ruyters are cool, but it sucks they cost 1 pop as it adds a lot of pathing trouble. If you defend well enough the first few mins you should do good enough.
4th germs. War wagons. Nuff' said. They don't have anything else to back themselves up - but WWs are just so good they don't actually need them. Probably the 2nd easiest civ.
5th spain. Instant tercios + unction. Maybe should be 4th, Idk, I haven't played them, nor against them, enough times to remember how good tercios are vs ranged cav spams. Which is a shame since unction is pretty fun. IMHO the best non-OP civ.
6th france. Gendarmes are still pretty good, sometimes even against ranged cav. They can be really competitive against civs without proper anti cav. Otherwise they don't have much to back themselves up.
7th sioux. Bow riders are pretty cool, if you know how to add tepees you could do good. Losses to 1 min cav rushes, but, then again, games are unrated if you resign before the 2 min mark. It really helps that your opponent can't raid houses. Depend a lot on the fire pit. Having no factories hurts them a lot. Require plenty of skill to be played.
8th brits. Really meh, the manor boom is too slow in DMs, and their military is kind of mediocre.
9th Iros. Kind of underated The early 30 tommas are much better than those 6 minutemen. Unfortunately, games aren't rated before the 2 min mark so many people just resign if you're planning to do one of the quickest rush of DM MUs - at the same time said rule helps you out (any early (around 1 min) quick cav rush would cripple them). Crappy anti cav and crappy cav. Depend on fire pit (which can be easily raided).
10th Ottos. There's not much to back this guys up. Sucky ranged cav. Abus can be surprisingly effective, though. Viable in many maps outside of GP.
11th China. Really vulnerable to 1 min rushes. The lack of mercantilism or instant units hurts them a lot. Just as ottos, they could do somewhat good outside of GP.
12th India. Cav trains too slow, and howdahs aren't actually that good as you'd expect.. you seriously need the proper cards early on, which you can't get as you have no mercantilism, proper howdah micro can be a pain in the ass against a few civs, though.
13th Aztecs. Crappy military (their "good" military trains so slow it
hurts - and it's expensive enough not to be viable at all... yay), no
proper cav, and their units train too *** slow (getting the war huts up takes a lot of time too...). Really vulnerable to
rushes, but at the very least they got decent guard pikes. The only point to back aztecs up is the early
18 (?) prowler rush. However it makes most people resign, making the
game unrated. If played
outside GP they might not look as crippled, but hardly a civ to be taken seriously.
14th japan. The lack of mercantilism, fast unit training, early export and wonders hurt them shitless. They requiere at least 10 mins to be a proper civ to challenge, and even then they really suck to be honest.
It's like the guys who designed TAD completely forget there was another game type other than supremacy. Hell, I even remember that before the first patch you could age to imperial with the asian civs. The retards behind ES didn't realize that this "bug" actually made the TAD civs "somewhat" competitive in MUs (but not really that much, as asians still were too vulnerable against rushes), and kind of compensated their lack of an early mercantilism or a good late game.