I'm fine with random nations/sides, and I'm also fine with people swapping.
Some people might get a position they have already played, and would swap
for a nation they haven't played (the reverse is also true if they want to
play a nation they already know how to run).
And some people really don't like playing nations like NG or Dragon Lord
that spend all their time repelling borders (and the only pop centre they
see burning is one of their own).
thanks
m
P.S. My huge Harad army is on the corsairs capital in G34. Is that a huge
corsair army I see against me ? Nope 
···
Richard John Devereux <devereux@lineone.net> wrote
Will you put me, William, Laurence,
Mike S and Andy in the DS team and give us allies drawn at random? This is
still a bit of a bummer as you will have to decide who plays which nations
rather than the team decide amongst itself democratically (well, more or
less!).
There's nothing to stop the random allocation of nations followed by a
short round of negotiation is there? Nation swaps if mutual consent can
be achieved?