Build order
 

I usually play on Aran with the minimun number 5 opponents, and even though there are over a hundred provinces to go around, I always find myself clashing with a computer before or right after I've "liberated" all the provinces around my capital. I figured the problem lies in my inability to expand quickly. I'm currently using this "build order," but if you use a more efficient one, please enlighten me. This order is without a supercombatant pretender.(BTW, this is for T'ien Ch'i, but the order should still be almost the same for any other nation but Ermor.)

Turn 1: Send scout to neighbor province. Train the cheapest priest (Ceremonial Master) and as many Imperial Guard as my resources would allow. If my Pretender isn't a rainbow mage, I'd train a Celestial Master instead.

Turn 2: Attack the weakest or most rewarding province with my starting army, my new ceremonial master, and Pretender (or Celestial) follow. Train Imperial Archers (or Crossbowmen if the next province I've got my eyes on is full of heavy infants) and a Ceremonial Master (no Celestial)

Turn 3: Build temple with master and patrol with Eunuch. If I used a Celestial Master instead, I'd search first and make a temple in turn 4. If not, then I'd search with my rainbow Pretender this turn. Train more Imperial Guard and a Eunuch to lead my second army.

Turn 4: If my first army is still in good condition and there's another weak province next to it, I'd attack with the first army and a ceremonial master, followed by my Pretender if I picked a rainbow mage. Train more Imperial Archers/Crossbowmen.

Turn 5: By now, I should have a good amount of Imperial Guards and Crossbowmen at my home province. I'd lead my second army out with the ceremonial master to a weak province, or if it's a strong one, I would wait until next turn. Pretender searches, master builds a temple, and first army patrols. Train more Imperial Guards if my second army isn't full, and a spare Eunuch.

Turn 6: If I'm after a tough province, I'd pincer attack with my 1st and 2nd armies, if not, then my second army will patrol in its province and ceremonial master builds temple. Rainbow pretender moves to the province with second army to search next turn.

By now, I've stumbled upon the enemy, even at Easy AI.

Re: Build order
 

Main answer: turn up the independents. They give the AI more trouble then they give you. I dont know why a setting of 3 is default. I think 4 would help alot of newbies. 5 works well with normal AI. Personally I prefer 7.

some opinions of my own
Initial turn: put everyone on research that can, and the rest on patrol. Hire any mercs. Turn taxes to 200%. Build whatever is best to boost your troops and the merc depending on nation. Healer, bows, flyers, cavalry. Whatever is lacking. Notice what you ran out of first in making troops, gold or resources.

2nd turn: take weak neighbor with an eye on whatever you ran out of Last turn. Build cheap patrollers (or turn down taxes). Rent more mercs.

Always build a commander of some sort. Always put 1 in a province defense, 11 if its important (lab, special recruitable units), 21 if its a chokepoint or has a castle.

Take every province that connects directly to your castle. Then start selectively doing provinces.

[ April 12, 2004, 01:28: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

Re: Build order
 

Always make commanders? Even without troops to command? Do you mean comms that can fight, since Eunuchs are useless in a brawl?

Edit 1: about taxes, I usually take a high order domain, how high can I crank out taxes if I want no unrest with 1, 2, and 3 levels of Order?

[ April 12, 2004, 01:35: Message edited by: HotNifeThruButr ]

Re: Build order
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">The order/turmoil scale has no effect on unrest. Any taxation above 100% will cause unrest and population death. Any taxation below 100% will cause unrest to decrease and the population to remain the same.

edit: Fixed my error in the Last sentence, low taxes reduces unrest.

[ April 12, 2004, 02:17: Message edited by: Graeme Dice ]

Re: Build order
 

Why wouldn't you attack with your army on turn 3? Searching provinces and building temples are important but if you feel like you aren't expanding fast enough, those are the main culprits.

Re: Build order
 

I really like having a temple in every province, is it really necessary? I remember when I used to put fortifications in every province, until I found out that they were more effective without neighboring forts.

I usually don't attack on turn 3 because my army would have just got licked, and I loathe losing income to tax reductions, so I find patrolling better. I'll try it your way.

Re: Build order
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Taxes below 100% cause unrest? I thought they lowered it. Or have I been making a big mistake this entire time?

Re: Build order
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Sorry, that's a typo, and I've fixed it in my post now.

Re: Build order
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Hmm? In your turn order it doesn't seem that you're reinforcing your army after turn 3 so being licked shouldn't matter. If you are getting licked, keep it at home an extra turn and make it stronger. Also, I loathe losing population to patrolling much more than I loathe losing a tiny amount of income for one turn from lowering taxes.

Temples are nice and eventually youre going to want quite a few of them, but at the beginning you can use the 200 gold a lot more effectively buying troops, mercenaries, or fortifications. In your case I would spend it on mages. You usually aren't in immediate danger of having your dominion wiped out and the benefits of the temple aren't so great until you get closer to the enemy. There are exceptions but Tien Chi with a non-SC pretender is not one of them.

[ April 12, 2004, 02:53: Message edited by: Yossar ]

Re: Build order
 

So you just build temples at border provinces? I thought dominion power increases income or something too.

Re: Build order
 

I build temples in every fort and more as necessary. I don't really have a formula. You want at least enough to keep all of your provinces in your dominion. If that isn't the case build more temples. Being in enemy dominion increases unrest. Other than that, dominion increases the stats of your pretender and your prophet. Build temples near the area you plan to attack with them to increase your power. There are many other bonuses to having a high dominion but those vary depending on your nation and pretender. High dominion is always good but you have to keep a balance between spending money to speed up expansion and spending money to increase dominion. That's one of the main aspects of the game and it's hard to say exactly how to do it.

Re: Build order
 

I build as many temples as I can afford. I like lots of sacred troops, plus they help no end in spreading the ol' Dominion.

Re: Build order
 

Temples are nice, but to me they don't seem like a good way to spend your cash right at the beginning of the game. It's more important to build up troops and use them to capture more provinces. More provinces = more income, meaning it will be easier to afford building temples later.

The idea of building temples in every province seems a little extreme to me too, at least early in the game it does. High dominion is good, but your Pretender and your capital are going to be spreading your dominion at no cost right from the beginning of the game. So will your prophet, if you appoint one. That ought to be enough to blanket the provinces near you with pretty high dominion within a few turns. It's once you get further away from home or run into another nation's dominion that you need to worry about temples.

Re: Build order
 

I tend to agree that the main focus should be to get all neighbouring provinces first and build temples later. Unless the map is crowded with player ai's, you have a bit of time before enemy dominion becomes a factor. But it is of course a matter of style... and dependend on the nation you choose.

edit:spelling

[ April 12, 2004, 19:49: Message edited by: Tricon ]

Re: Build order
 

no more temple in every province for me, then http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Build order
 

Lots of players hire Mercs first turn to get a jump on early expansion. If you don't hire them, then your enemy probably will, so it's a strategy to get the mercs first turn no matter what. Otherwise, use all your gold the first 5-10 turns in building armies and cheap research units. Keep bolstering your main conquering force until you have enough to take provinces while taking very light casualties and form up a second army.

By turn 20 or so you should have 2-3 full armies conquering lots of land. At that point you can build masses of priests to drop temples all over and searching up all your sites.

I wouldn't build temples sooner than that unless you see lots of little red candles coming closer and closer to your capital.

[ April 13, 2004, 05:51: Message edited by: sergex ]

Re: Build order
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I like to build as many temples at possible, even more so if my pretender is supposed to clear provinces alone. High Dominion means High Hps, and more Hps mean lesser chance of getting afflictions.

Re: Build order
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Why not? Just don't start building them too early. As soon as you get enough gold income, go for it. High dominion has lots of benefits and is worthwhile strategy.

Re: Build order
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It doesn't actually, since your chance of getting afflictions is based on your base hitpoints.

Re: Build order
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It doesn't actually, since your chance of getting afflictions is based on your base hitpoints. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Base hitpoints? So even getting "Heroic Toughness" and extra HPs from that wouldn't help?

Re: Build order
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">All the gold for army troops and research units? With many races I've tended to try and buy the most powerful commander on turn 1, in order to make my Prophet. Priest-3 and, better, Priest-4 (such as High Inquisitor, Anathemant Warlock) are ideal, since going to Priest-4 gives Holy Bless and Fanaticism, while P-5 gives Smite - a great way to win early battles with no casualties, while getting the Prophet into the Hall of Fame where he'll no doubt get something useful like Heroic Attack skill. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Alternatively, I want a topnotch combat commander for the Prophet - Niefel Jarls become decent mini-SCs. Or (less often) a super-expensive mage, in order to drop the upkeep by 15 or so.

Of course - I wind up getting my butt kicked, so maybe I should try buying the cheap commanders. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif