How long does it take to win
 

I used to think I was fairly good at strategy games, but I've been playing D3 on the demo with 2 AI players on normal. Got to admit they're both water based and I'm giants so its very hard getting a foothold in their territory.

I decided to change tactics and try to overpower them in dominion by building loads of priests and praying them to death, but its taking an eternity??

How long does a regular victory condition game take??

Re: How long does it take to win
 

I would say, usually around 40 - 60 turns, depending on the conditions. 100+ is quite long, but possible with lots of nations on a big map.

If you want to win by Dominion make sure to build a temple in all your provinces.

You might consider starting a new game without water-based nations.

Re: How long does it take to win
 

Dominion pushing is also easier if you have a high base dominion.

Priests will help somewhat, but not as much as temples; a priest can only increase dominion in the province that he's preaching while a temple can spread it to neighbors.

Demo is Early Era, right? So you've got Niefel Jarls -- maybe some Jarls with water-breathing equipment backed by Icthyids or Shamblers might work; run around smashing temples if the force is too small to hold ground.

Re: How long does it take to win
 

Maz, dominion-killing victory takes a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooong time. Unless your nation is specifically designed for it like Man (cheap temples, stealth preachers) or Abysia (blood sacrificing for dominion), you should probably not try to use a dominion-kill strategy.

My suggestion is to just not play vs. water nations in the demo. It will take to long to win and you will be unsatisfied. Choose land nations and face them with regular armies.

Re: How long does it take to win
 

I find the comments about dominion kills being very slow odd. With a good base dominion I normally get a dominion victory controlling no more than half of the map and I've gotten one almost without a fight--I took out my closest neighbor and then dominion-killed the next one, gobbled his lands, repeat.

I'm currently playing a game on a large map against a whole bunch of AI's. Since I knew this was going to be a long game I optimized for it--An imprisoned crone with dominion 10 and very good scales. Being tired of one AI running away with the game I set the independents to max strength.

At present I have taken out two AI's near me and I'm currently mopping up the remains of the second one (it was a dominion kill). The water near me is unoccupied, I've got some giants down there with barrels of air taking them and building temples. Two giants, they started with 29 giant armies each. I've taken and templed about a dozen provinces now (remember, this is against max strength independents) for a total loss of two giants.

I probably have 20% of the map, 4 of the 5 globals up are mine. In terms of dominion, though, I have more than half of the map. One pretty big nation is pretty close to being dominion-killed.

Re: How long does it take to win
 

dude, just empower up a giant and give him some gear such that he can cast thetis' blessing. then stomp on in.

to further your dominion push, find any hoburg or woodsmen priests and have them sneak-preach. build juggernauts at the borders of your land. also keep your pretender, prophet, and the ark out on the edge as well.

i don't remember if giants get to blood sacrifice. i think probably not, but thats also how people dominion push.

Re: How long does it take to win
 

A crone with dom10 is a bad and very expensive idea.

Re: How long does it take to win
 

Dominion wins can be VERY quick if you get lucky with the opposition setup...

I had a game on Silent Seas the other day where My awake dom10 earthmother pretender started out ~2 provinces from 2 different low dominion AIs who crumbled by around turn 4. The income and gems from those 2 capitals funded enough temples to wipe out the 3 remaining AIs by maybe turn20 or so without a single signifigant fight (just rolling up the empty provinces of each dominion killed enemy as they became "available")

The very next game I stupidly got her killed on turn3 against some unexpectedly tough longdead horsies, and was promptly wiped off the map by some opportunistic giants.

Honestly, I am amazed at the strategic options available in this game... I don't think I've even really scratched the surface of EA Agartha in SP at this point. I'm starting to get the hang of it, but each game still shows me new possibilities, and teaches new hard lessons in what to be careful of (note: cold-blooded troops do NOT fight well in the snow -- d'oh!)

And someday, when I'm happy that I know how to handle EA Agartha properly... theres only 50 other nations to figure out.

oh my...

Re: How long does it take to win
 

Man doesn't get cheap temples anymore, does it? Or is there some age in which it does?

Actually, even stealth preachers have a hard time with dominion killing - what can work is having a huge starting dominion and temples in all your provinces. This simply generates a lot of "dominion pressure", and I've destroyed lots of enemy AIs this way. But then, I tend to play long games.

Re: How long does it take to win
 

I don't think the demo is long enough to have a fun satisfying game... With all land oposition you could win with, say, a water9/fire9 bless with Kailisa but this involves rush strategies that miss much of the flavour of dominions. It's maybe a better idea to focus on an intermediate goal like conquering one or two AI enemies. Of course, my top recommendation is to buy the game :-)