Gems: how important are they really?
 

You would think that empowerment, casting battlemagic spells with gems and forging items would be indespensable, but I've noticed in my last two games I've been doing very little of all of these.

My mages are at a premium (I'm playing Marignon and my last game as Pythium) and it always seems to be more important to have them on the front lines than searching for magic sites or forging. So far most of my spells aren't boosted by higher skill and I haven't invested any research in construction, opting instead for battlefield magic.

I'm playing on medium sized maps with 4 AI enemies. Maybe I've been winning early on before I get to eras that feature high-cost ritual spells or necessitate a deeper strategy.

Perhaps SP is just easy and I've been getting by with "rush"-like strategies and simple tactics. What's your experience been like?

Re: Gems: how important are they really?
 

Can you take 15 provinces by turn 12 without an SC pretender using Pythium?

Going for communion research first with Pythium is just fine. That will work just fine.

Later, Pythium will want to summon some tougher stuff. You should be hiring an arch theurg every turn as soon as possible. And those by themselves are a lot of research power and site searching power.

Re: Gems: how important are they really?
 

Battle magic is important, but rituals and forging are probably the most vital aspects of competitive play.

Re: Gems: how important are they really?
 

The AI doesn't know any strategies.

Re: Gems: how important are they really?
 

I was just playing a game (as LA Abysia) were I was getting my (soul contract) devils blasted by LA Man's (CBM) communions (in 2-player). I think I won, but the devastation was incredible. We saw that we were actually closer to a stalemate as far as any invasion goes, and decided the cold/hot war (while snatching provinces) would take too long and reset. The map was huge and research was very difficult. He cast soap, but I was already doing blood sacrifice at the invasion site in my new castles.

I could have used some overlands to decimate his armies, as the devils pour out of my soul contracts was taking its toll on my ability to deploy sufficient assassins.

I was forging ~2 soul contracts and forging a jade knife or 2, or maybe casting x-breeding every turn, to maintain my lead everywhere but research. It is risky getting behind in research, but it's also risky to not have a large summoned army or to not have mages deployed with battle magic. Later they need to be sturdier battle mages or thugs and then SCs.

My opponent was producing a communion every few turns.

(Much of what you seek is in there)

Re: Gems: how important are they really?
 

gem income is, far and away, the strongest indicator of late game performance.

by late game, single certain spells make even the largest armies of regular troops impotent.

additionally, in late game mobility and reaction become far more important. your opponent may have from 3-10 raider-thug/SCs plus Ghost Riders etc, all capable of capturing your provinces while avoiding your armies if need be. If you don't have the gem income to summon and equip your own thugs in equal numbers then you are really at a disadvantage.

scratch that. you are really going to lose is what I meant to say. you can't compete. it is a winning strategy. you have to have a way to counter it and thugs/Scs, by definition, are not stopped by normal armies.

Re: Gems: how important are they really?
 

Gem income is the single most important factor in the game. Not much more to say on that.

Re: Gems: how important are they really?
 

Against IA, I've won wars with 3-4 thugs, which avoids the micro of organizing and moving an army with support mages. So even in SP gems are the most valuable asset. And AIs on impossible always outgun you regarding army size. (this is a truth that tends to grow with map size)

Re: Gems: how important are they really?
 

I'm also trying out MA Marignon in a single player now, and it's just pathetic how badly the AI tries to counter my bless rush, W9N6 Knights of the Chalice. having fun with this bless I wouldn't otherwise use in MP(path diversification is too important for the very limited Marignon), that I practically didn't need any magic/research at all... however I wanted to also have fun so I summoned angels and recently the level9 Seraph as well... but yeah, I'm just keeping the AI alive to try some late game stuff, not because I really needed it to win...

however, MP is very very different from the wimpy AI! in MP you do need research and especially gem income. regular armies will only get you so far... summons(free from upkeep but cost gems instead of gold) and Thugs/SCs are what you need. for that you obviously need research, rituals, mages with the right paths, and of course gems. gold is important too as it lets you expand faster right off the bat(which is why most people swear by Order3 and dismiss Turmoil altogether) and later on gives you money to get additional forts and of course to continuously train mages. however that's the most you can do with gold, the really heavy lifting is done with gems...

Re: Gems: how important are they really?
 

You can ignore gems in SP of course, in much the same way you can ignore research, pretender design, blesses, scripting etc.

Playing SP really isn't playing dom3, in this sense.