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New to Dom 3 - Seeking Advice
Hello, I'm a newcomer to the Dominions series. However, I've been playing strategy games for years so fortunately, I'm not new to the genre.
Before I start I just want to say I did read through the manual and follow along with the tutorial that was included. So I do have a general understanding of the game's main concepts. However, I would like a few things cleared up for me so I can do better. Firstly, does the age you play in effect how difficult the game is? I've started out with early age games and having a somewhat difficult time establishing my nation. Secondly, how much does map size and player number effect the difficulty? I've been playing small maps with about three or four AI opponents. There's just one more issue I'd like to bring up. When I take my turn, I'm doing everything in my power that my current resources and gold allow me to do. I build temples and fortifications when I can. I raise my pd, I am always recruiting, researching, preaching, and forming armies. So I think I'm doing everything right. Yet the AI, who I assume is doing the exact same things, under more or less the same limitations, ends up doing it far better. So I'm wondering if it knows something I don't? Even though I'm still getting the hang of it, Dominions 3 is awesome! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif Please help, I'd appreciate any support you could give me, thanks. |
Re: New to Dom 3 - Seeking Advice
I'm far from an expert myself, and doubtless some more advanced player will come along soon enough, but in the meantime, I'll take a stab at some of your questions.
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At the least, you're in the right place to tap into that body of knowledge, and you'll find lots of answers to your questions here. There are also various fan sites that have some of those answers, as well. One of the things that is common in Dom3 battles is that there are various combinations of tactics, unit useage and magic spells that are particulary effective (or in some cases particularly disasterous). You will certainly need to learn some of those combinations in order to play effectively. So, one way to start on that learning curve is to look for particular battle situations that are going badly, and ask specific questions about turning that around, here on this forum. Anyhow, hope that helps, and good luck with picking something up out of that "huge body of knowledge"! |
Re: New to Dom 3 - Seeking Advice
I suppose Arralen covered most of your questions. Can't really add anything more since they were so general in nature.
However, if you later have any more detailed and specific questions, fire away and you'll find a lot of people willing to help you out there. I'll also give you a tip for the early era: Do NOT choose the Vanheim or especially Helheim as one of the AI opponents unless you like getting stomped flat, because they have a tendency to get out of control and you could end up facing a fairly powerful nation with two or three times your own resources and stacked with the AI bonus modifiers. Once you get a finer grasp of the various aspects of the game, you should be able to stand up to them. Edi |
Re: New to Dom 3 - Seeking Advice
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A powerful bless (lvl 9 in a magic skill on your pretender) works very well with them. I have purposely been vague so as not too spoil your enjoyment of the game, if you require more specific answers just ask. How I wish I could go back to the time when I struggled to beat the AI, those where real fun games. |
Re: New to Dom 3 - Seeking Advice
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So... the ages tend to be that early uses more magic, and late uses more armor. Other than that there shouldnt be a difficulty difference. Quote:
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Gandalf Parker |
Re: New to Dom 3 - Seeking Advice
The AI shouldn't get an advantage in gold or resources on average difficulty AFAIK. In fact, they often have bad scales - if you have, say, order/growth/productivity then you should have a considerable edge.
The AI does often have bigger armies though, because they build more 'chaff' troops. This is actually a weakness though. It's been toned down since doms2 though so AI army composition isn't terrible any more. Starting conditions can seriously affect your income. Most maps have areas with quite a few of the very high-income farmland provinces. If you start in an area of forests, swamp, mountains or wasteland then you can end up with much less income than an AI with lots of these provinces. The reverse is also possible. Are you using mercenaries? These can give a huge boost to early expansion. The AI always bids the minimum necessary to get them, so by bidding 1 or 2 more you'll always win. This could be considered a bit of an exploit, but dominions is actually quite a hard game for beginners so I'd recommend it! As for nations to avoid... van/helheim are tough although I think the AI does not take advantage of them anything like as much as a human would. I'd avoid the sea nations if you're on the land on smaller maps. Late age Ermor is also quite a challenge unless you know how to deal with them. It took me a loooong time before I could beat Ermor in Dominions 1. |
Re: New to Dom 3 - Seeking Advice
Thanks for the feedback, I think I'll try Helheim and see if I can get my confidence up. I like the idea of employing mercs too, that was definitely something I could have paid more attention to in my earlier games.
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Re: New to Dom 3 - Seeking Advice
I started out pretty recently - decemberish? and am still learning a lot. It's a deep game. Of course, I really enjoy about half the nations and generally don't like MP games, so my learning curve is limited to fighting the computer and asking questions here.
I'll give you this advice, which I only picked up recently - many, many nations benefit strongly from jacking tax to 200% and patrolling with their starting army for the first turn. You'll lose a chunk of population, but the starting gold advantage can be huge. Don't forget to lower it shortly thereafter (unless you're playing someone like LA Ermor, in which case tax away). And hit F1 frequently. It gives you an overview of your whole empire (which can be altered for more or less detail with TAB) and that's a valuable thing to have (for example, knowing which of your provinces have been searched for what magic site types). |
Re: New to Dom 3 - Seeking Advice
I could try raising tax levels, but if I lose too much population what will happen?
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Re: New to Dom 3 - Seeking Advice
You get more income from a province with higher population.
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