What is the best country to pick?

Rome is a good all round choice I think.

Just go with which ever country you like more regardless of the buffs

It's a tough one as you have to pick without knowing anything much about the game. Check out this page in our guide with gives a short opinion on each of the Nations in the game: https://www.appgamer.com/rise-of-civilizations/strategy-guide/selecting-a-starting-commander-and-nation

However if you don't want to check out all the answers, then we'll just tell our our preference is Britain.