Noob, needs advice please
 

I brought Dom3 through eBay (no manual, sending a 300page book to New Zealand would of been way to expensive)

I've played 5 games so far.
1st game was against 1 easy ai, which lost all of its provinces without me fighting it.....
Rest I've lost


I've lost them mainly due to the extremely large number I've gone against, I've downloaded the Better Independents mod which should help.


Can anyone give a suggestion of a powerful early nation?

Is there a modding tool, that lets me alter a nation/Pretender?

How can I message other pretenders? ie peace etc

this may be part of the previous question, on StrategyWiki the part about supply, nature mages or magic items, but "or find a trade partner"
How do I get a trade Partner?


Finally, I normally build a temple, Lab & fort in all provinces, The Walkthrough & a few posts have led me to believe maybe thats not good?
Fort = more income & better defense
Temple = stronger influence & able to build a few better units
Lab = Allows research & able to build a few better units




Thanks for any help
Daniel

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Those 3 buildings cost money as well, that can be better spent on more troops. More troops will allow you to expand faster, which gives more gold (due to more lands) allowing you to expand even more.... In short you don't want to add all buildings everywhere, especially early (exception might be late game ermor since they cannot build troops/mages but thats another story).

I generally spend all my gold on troops/mages until the point I hit an income of 1500+, at that point I add a fortress+lab in a strategic or good province.

As to strong EA nations, you might want to consider a bless nation (strong sacred unit that your priest can cast bless on to give them bonuses related to the magic path of your pretender).

For example consider Niefelheim, and pick an cyclops and chose the alternative imprissoned for him to get more points. Then increase his magic to 9 i earth and 9 in nature. Pick a dominion score of 5 and order 3, cold 3 and the rest as you can afford or want. In each battle bring nifelgiants (big guys that cost 150 gold) and use a priest with the script to bless those guys in the beginning of the fight.

If you really don't want to play with a bless, consider a nation that has elephants/mammoth. A good such nation is Caelum. Build lots of mammoth as you can afford and mix them with other units that has high morale (in the same group that is). Research offensive spells like thunderstrike and orb lightning for your mages to use (Eagle kings are good offensive mages).

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Scripts, For the priests blessing, would that be cast spells?
or do they have a choice I've missed?

Or is it custom scripts?


*Edit
Where do I put mod & map files?
I'm guessing the mod & Maps folders, But do all the files go in them?
& do mods stay in their own folder?

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Just send the map/mod files straight to their folders and they should work fine.

For the priests, just telling them to 'cast spells' should work but it would be better to tell them to cast a specific spell and select blessing there(make sure they are in range).

Try going to the dominions IRC channel(there is a sticky about how to get on it) - plenty of helpful people there to talk to generally.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Unfortunately, the AI doesn't listen. The message engine is only for dealing with other humans.

Again, only a meaningful concept in multiplayer.

Way too expensive and counterproductive besides. Forts are better if not adjacent to each other as they are drawing in production from nearby lands.

Likewise, labs are useless unless you want to do something there that needs one. Only blood nations need a fair number of labs--and that because they need one in every province they are blood hunting.

Only temples should be built everywhere.

Very not good.

No. Forts redistribute income, they don't increase it.


Playing the game without the manual is *HARD*. The guy who sold you the game probably also didn't get rid of his copy of the key--this could be a problem if you ever end up in a multi-player game against him.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Loren- Forts admin bonuses are supposed to increase gold income of surrounding provinces, and resdistribute resource incomes.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Thanks you very much Loren,
I didn't realize that Forts drew the income in from nearby provinces.
I assuming that includes supplies & wat not lol


Only question left unanswered is how to mod pretenders.
I'll have another search through the modding forum & post a message there if I can't find out how.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

FYI this is false. Having labs in every location you are blood hunting only cuts out the repetitive task of using scouts to transport new slaves to protected labs. Scouts are much cheaper than a lab. Labs are not required to blood hunt in a province.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

You initially asked for a powerful early nation. I would suggest Helheim, with good troops and glamour which will give good kill ratios. You will need independent archers, but that is easy. Helheim will allow you to expand early and easily.

Another easy nation is Nefelheim with good sacred giants. Go for good scales, and at least a 4 nature/4 earth bless using a dormant rainbow pretender for searching. On your setup screen go for 300 gold, 300 resources and 300 supply. On normal difficulty you should be able to crush the AI on a small map (40-50 prov) with 3 opponents just with the sacred giants. Game will seem easy.

After a couple of games with the "HEIMS" to get a feel for the game, go to a circa 250 province map with 15 opponents still staying with whichever Heim you liked best. Stay at the 300 settings of gold/resource/supply. There are some good maps that come with the game in that size range. You should be able to expand like mad early. Here it is very likely you will see the limitations of the Heims and encounter the complexities of the game because the AI overwhelm you unless you are a better player than I .

Then you are on your own for the wonderful experience that is DOM3.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Hmm, these things are obviously very much a matter of opinion.

Personally I would always play on default settings for gold, resources and supplies, otherwise you are not really getting the normal Dominions experience. Also I get worn out on larger maps, so would probably play one with 100-odd provinces, e.g. Parganos. But everyone plays the game differently.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

I suggested the high settings because it makes playing the Heims fairly easy against normal AI. This would help him learn many facets of the game while starting out. Moving to normal settings should come with time as he learns and experiments.

I suggested the large map next because I anticipate the AI starting to attack on many fronts when he expands to around 20 provinces. That should not be excessively time consuming to do his turns.

The sequence I suggest gives some experience with the game, some forging, minor magic and some easy victories to start. Then he should start out well with easy early expansion on the large map, similar to the easy victories on the smaller maps, and subsequently get thumped when the AI attacks from all over the place. After a couple of these he will realize that there is a lot to learn about the game and start to try other things.

There are about a skillion different ways to learn how to play this game. This is just my suggestion.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

lol cheers, i suppose getting thumped is good.....

300 settings of gold/resource/supply
Wouldn't that also mean more for the AI?

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Pythium and man are both good starter nations, with simple tactics. With pythium, get good scales. Then build principes and archtheurgs and theurgs, with the occasional indy commander to escort your large numbers of principes. Use theurgs and archtehurgs to cast spells on the battlefield to support your theurgs.

Man- recruit either longbows or knights. Both are excellent units, but too gold intensive to build both. Recruit some mages to support them and cast buffs. Storm, arrow fend, mass protection, relief and mass regeneration go well with knight armies, while windguide and evocation spells go well on longbows.

I don't like starting with sacreds simply because they allow you to walk over the computer too easily, and you never have to try other strategies.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

If you did not get the book when you bought the game I would say that you have been riped. Whoever still have the manual is probably playing the game just as much as before.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Yes, the player and the AI both get the settings on normal difficulty. When you increase the difficulty the AI gets a multiple of these. The multipliers are listed in several places in the forum.

And as for getting thumped, the purpose is not to humiliate you, it is to enable you to learn that a single military strategy will not work and you have to learn how to inegrate the military, forging, magic spell and summoning components into your game. I suggested two nations to start with that you can use just a military strategy that will usually be successful on a small map. But when you move up in map size you will find that one dimensional strategies do not work and the larger map will show that the AI is a very competent and challenging opponent until you learn a lot more of the game. This is the most significent difference between this game and CIV. In CIV a strategy that works will always work. In this game you will use different strategies for different nations and even for different starting neighbor opponents.

Then you can go back to a small map, try a different nation, such as Ermor and see that the nation change requires a totally different military strategy because the troops of the Heims are very good in the early game and Ermor are of more average quality.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Daniel, purchasing dom3 off of ebay is a risky proposition. The game manual is what contains your unique CD-key. If the CD-key of whoever sold you the game is detected by Illwinter as being flagged as a pirated key, your game could suddenly stop working.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

In my SP experiences, Setup against AI to start learning:

Gold 200
ressource 125
supplies 100

The supplies setup is really important against AI to have it low. It will stop them to swarm you with 600 and more troops.

Always put your opponent in human setup. Choose the nation, don't take water nations, don't take Pangaea or Ermor (they swarm like any other AI).

You will see their starting position (cheating :S), you will choose their pretender (you are learning, don't give them the best... I usually find immobile pretender for them help you). Don't give them high bless. Don't spend all their god points. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Then after first turn, turn them to AI. They will be put in Normal mode (suck if you want more challenge later on) but give you the best control on those learning game.

I always generated my own map. Trying to put 1 on province nations setup because the 0 seems to give 15% of water provinces (damn).

Giving a high rugdeness (sp...) give more choke point. Mountain -> impassable.

Then, try to make virtual defense line at first turn. Identifies where you could have the minimum province to defend your country with a minimal provinces walls. Then rush to them and construct fort and PD at choke point.

Hope it helps,
Jourdelune

p.s. people are free to buy what they want, where they want. Only fascist culture tend to think the other way.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Hopefully this isn't hijacking the thread or that,

I usually play the Nefelheim, with the Beholder Pretender (mod)
Assuming I'm playing a 120 land areas, with 30 ocean areas map, Early ages.


What would sum good (vulnerable/weak) opponents be?

I figure with me having a high dominion, the Abyssia would be weaker because they like heat,
Strong dominion (with cold 3pts) makes the my land & the surrounding provinces colder, weakening them

& Ermor don't look to stong.

For Ocean going I choose Oceania, becuase their magic is crippled on land, but in the ocean they are above average.


P.S the Glamor ability, does that really help during battles?
I just don't see how it would help.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Big N invading Abysia is a BAD investment, usually. If we're talking early game, that means fighting them on their dominion, and your best units (neifle giants and jarls) get substantial stat penalties in hot lands. Of course, if we're talking AI, then the chances are they'll be poorly played.

As for Glamour, its a huge bonus in combat. On the field Glamour translates into "mirror image", which means for every additional immage, a soldier might hit the fake one instead of the real unit. Adds a lot to the defense and survivability of units. Though the real advantage of glamor is the stealth and (in MP) not showing up on the tactical map.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

cheers for that http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

any suggestions then?

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

I'm not sure why you said this, but it isn't fascist to think that a company should be allowed to code against pirating, and it is hardly fascist to advise you against Ebay, where pirated copies of games abound...

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Well said, sum1. Jourdelune clearly doesnt have all the facts and just likes the word "facist"

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Yes, people are completely free to buy the game from wherever they want. They are also quite free to suffer the consequences of their actions if they happen to purchase a pirated copy. Lack of manual means a pirated copy. If the eBay purchase was actually an instance where the seller had purchased a legal copy and was selling it onwards, then verification details for the original purchase should be available. If not, too bad, so sad, bad decision and the consequences follow from that.

Understand that there is absolutely ZERO obligation on Shrapnel's part to allow people access to the resources on these forums unless they can verify that their copy of a Shrapnel title is legal. Normally, it is assumed that people who do register here to use the forums have legal copies (i.e. presumption of innocence), but if there is cause for suspicion, it will be investigated. If things progress that far, failure to verify original purchase will result in swift, decisive application of the Ban Hammer to the problem. There is nothing fascist about that and if you think there is, you should educate yourself about the meaning of the words you are using, because you're so far off the mark it's not even funny.

Also, I have the following opinion to express and note that this particular opinion is my personal one and should not be interpreted to reflect the opinion of Shrapnel Games. I actually don't know their stance on this:

Too many people are too concerned with how they have a right to this and a right to that and behave as if they have no obligations whatsoever toward anyone or anything and how they should always be let off the hook instead of suffering the consequences of their own actions. Usually it is also a case of those whining loudest being the ones who least deserve to be given any slack. In my opinion, that sort of behavior indicates only self-centered, whiny spinelessness and immaturity and my estimation of the person's worth will be along similar lines. The concept of personal responsibility for their own decisions seems to be completely foreign to these people.

Note that since this forum is a community forum for Dominions 3 and I am a moderator of the forum, so my duties are to serve the community in the capacity assigned to me. So I am likely to keep many of my opinions to myself and I will help users with advice and other resources without letting personal feelings influence things. But that consideration does not extend into excusing their bad decisions if and when things come to a pass where investigation of irregularities is called for.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

I'm new so I'm staying far far away from this particular discussion
(Though game company shouldn't have to provide support etc for pirated games)



Jourdelune Suggested no water nations or ermor as enemies,

Can anyone suggest a weak enemy/s? (When play as Niefeheim)

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Stay away from the glamour nations (Vanheim, Helheim, Tir na n'Og), they tend to be really successful for the AI, since they have better than average troops. Niefel has the problem of getting its troops swarmed against the AI, but if you take a Nature bless (e.g. N9E4 or N9E6), you should be able to reach a critical mass of Niefel Giants and after that it doesn't really matter much who you face, the cold aura does them in.

Middle Era would perhaps be better to start out with, since you have a greater variety of better baseline troops with many nations. Using the Better Independents mod (see sig) could also help you some.

Re: Noob, needs advice please
 

Thanks for the info, guess I'll try middle ages, I've only played early so saw, more magic (I like magic)

yea I've got the better independents mod http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
Saw it on your sig & immediately grabbed it lol

Weaker nations from AI POV
 

The AI tends to implode badly with Mictlan (EA, LA) because of the dominion dynamics, but this does not necessarily make for an interesting game.

If you play on Normal, with independents on 9, and a luxuriously spacious map (ex. 20 provinces per player!), it will likely be far easier to get away with a 'conventional' army-heavy non-bless strategy. You don't have to rabidly expand against normal AIs (it's even OK to be out-expanded by them, if you're research-heavy -- crushing them late-game with magic and strategy), and if you keep the peace with them, they tend to reciprocate unless you bare your throat. If you find one early that's weak, kill him, of course.

Small crowded maps with weaker independents tend to reward aggressive high-bless strategies with really bad scales and recruitable high-quality sacreds, paired with some early boosting magic.

In general, you should probably avoid the water nations at first, and Ermor (LA -- undead hordes require some specialized counters), R'lyeh (LA -- nasty insanity dominion), C'tis (MA -- nasty disease dominion, and loads of poison). Flier-heavy (Caelum) and stealth (Pangaea, say) nations are considerably less nasty in the hands of an AI than they would be led by a human player, as it's not that good at making use of the mobility and/or stealth. The same goes for the magically powerful nations; the AI is better at making use of conventional armies than it is with optimizing research to make use of those nations.

You'll also notice AI weaknesses regarding the maintenance of supply lines and its stubbornness with respect to sieges -- it sets itself up for starvation, sometimes. Other times, you may be able to anticipate where it'll attack and take advantage of the turn order (moves in friendly territory go before mundane attacks) to sandbag it. Spies can be used to -really- ruin its tax base (ex. TC (MA) spamming Imperial Consorts).

Re: Weaker nations from AI POV
 

In middle era, as Jotunheim, I'd suggest picking Ulm as one of your opponents. Thanks to your strong units, their high protection isn't a serious concern.