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- Dominions 3: The Awakening (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=138)

- - MA Man (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=35916)

Obviously longbowmen are nice, but I'm talking about early expansion.

Jazzepi

I used longbowmen protected by a screen of knights for fairly rapid early expansion. Wind guide + Flaming arrows (if you can get it), for the mid game.

In my capital I recruited crones whenever possible.

Other castles, bards, bards and more bards. However the mother, N2 A1 is good when you get storm of thorns. 5 bards + locust swarms to shut down enemy castles...permanently. The mothers can stealthy raid.

Longbowmen ARE early expansion. Crank out as many as you can shieled by your starting infantry and you shouldnt have trouble dealing with anything less armoured than a knight http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.

Okay, but on the first few turns I'm a little confused on what to recruit. Do you just build 2 knights? And how many long bowmen do you bring to a normal neutral expansion fight?

Jazzepi

I build one spearman for every nine longbowmen in the very early game. When I
decide that need the cash for something else, and thus stop running out of
resources, I replace the spearmen with tower guards. I will not really recruit
heavy cavalry until I know who my first victim will be, and of course, heavy
cavalry is not necessarily good against everyone.

Bards are so damn effective that if Man was otherwise balanced, I would call them
an exploit. Unfortunately, Man is a rather limited race, and thus they need the
bards to survive. In MP games, there are a few things you really must do as Man:

1. Get a pretender with Air 4, and Nature 4. This is not a suggestion, it's a
must, period. Fire 1, Death 3 and Earth 4 are also very good to have. If you
dare, go with a rainbow pretender. Survive the first year, and you'll do fine.

2. Get a good, firm ally, who can help your pathetically limited magic. Go to war
on his side, as early as possible. Cripple the target with your bards. Start them
on the enemy capital as soon as you dare.

3. Try hard for the Air Queens and Treelords. Get as many Fairy Queens as you can.

4. Mass archers, use flaming arrows, spam lightning. Know these will stop working.

Thanks Tuidjy. What is your normal late game strategy?

And why do you feel you need N4 on a pretender when you can build a thistle mace and the +1 nature bracelet?

Jazzepi

> And why do you feel you need N4 on a pretender when you can build a thistle
> mace and the +1 nature bracelet?

The attached file is an non-staged shot of one of my current games, and these are
the actual wizards that are leading the assault of an enemy's capital. Notice
something sad?

When your really good mages are old, they will pick up afflictions, and sometimes
diseases. A disease means that in six months, one of your most valuable mages,
maybe the guy around whom your whole tactics revolve, will be dead. Note that in
that game I have a growth domain. It helps, but not enough.

Yes, there is the Chalice, and Gift of Health, but you cannot rely on that. Two
things available to everyone are Rings of Regeneration and Hydra Skin Armours,
and I'll admit Man is quite well prepared to forge these. But a Shroud of the
Battle Saint is much cheaper (5S vs 10N and 3S vs 7N quite soon) and if you have
at least Nature 4, it will convey regeneration. In addition, when your army is
in the field, rush shipping rings of regenerations to the front is quite hard.
But bless at the beginning of a battle will still see your mages healed up to
their max. And finally, MA Man has some heavily armoured sacred troops. They
have OK hit points, and can survive a few good blows. With regeneration, they
will pick up fewer wounds, and survive much longer.

-----------------

As for late game strategies, Man is limited. Basically, it's whatever your God
and the Treelords bring to the nation. With a good start, it can be enough.

I'm a little confused. Are you saying that since the crones are sacred, you can bless them during battle, and that will allow them to regen life lost to the diseased affliciton?

Jazzepi

The crones are old, and sacred. When they get diseases, and they will, they stop
healing after battle, start losing one hit point per turn (sometimes two) and will
eventually die. But when they are blessed in battle, Nature 4 on the pretender
gives them regeneration, and they will heal the hit points. If you give them a
shroud, they will be always blessed, and will thus always have regeneration, and
will stop losing hit points every turn. They will still need to enter battle
to heal the hit points lost before they got the shroud.

Oh, and I nearly forgot. The shroud will work on non-sacred as well. You can
use it to keep anyone alive, not just sacred commanders. But you still need to
have Nature 4 on your pretender. Hell, since old age made its appearance, I have
not played a game without a growth domain and Nature 4. Well, Arcoscephale may
do well without it, but their sacred still benefit a lot from the blessing.

And it's cheap! What's there not to like?

Do they still accumulate extra afflictions once you put the regen item on them?

Jazzepi