I think everything has been said.
As a good player, you could certainly won a good percentage of game in arena but you will lost too just because of the randomness.
I have an arena game running where me and another player have more yellow strategy empire and the other has blue. Well it is alone on this path while and the two other has not so much reason to play blue with their starting empire...
If we want some sort of symmetric without too much, I like the empire C (start with 5 crystallium) which give many possible direction from the start.
I would play at any player count, less important for me. But the symmetrical empire is important.
As a good player, you could certainly won a good percentage of game in arena but you will lost too just because of the randomness.
I have an arena game running where me and another player have more yellow strategy empire and the other has blue. Well it is alone on this path while and the two other has not so much reason to play blue with their starting empire...
If we want some sort of symmetric without too much, I like the empire C (start with 5 crystallium) which give many possible direction from the start.
I would play at any player count, less important for me. But the symmetrical empire is important.