Ulm Beginner Strategy - need help

[TheKDawg]

Hi everyone, new Dom 2 player here.

I've played a few games as Ulm, and I'm not sure I'm playing right. I have some questions about what other players like to do and accomplish as the Ulm nation. I basically, at the moment, play a multiplayer game with one other person exclusively, along with single player.


1 What are my best troops, strengths, weaknesses?

2 What sort of pretender is Ulm successful with? Any specific examples, or general hints?

3 Are there any strategies, magic research, or item forging levels I should be looking to reach quickly?

4 What sort of armies should I build? (unit combinations)

5 What sort of armies/nations should I be afraid of? What sort of "" will I stack up well against?

Thank you so very much in advance, I don't often post but I've found the Dom 2 community is a really helpful one. The game is so complex that I'm finding it hard to get on my feet, even to the point where I'm having difficulty developing my own strategies.

Kdawg

[CUnknown]

1) Black Knights are your best troops, but they're a little pricy. After that, I'd go with the black plate morningstar guys. 10 gold for a 23 protection unit is nice. Guardians are pretty good, too.

Your major strength is early game dominance. Crush your nearest opponent or two, and use peace as a temporary cease-fire in which you build up units for the next charge. Time is -not- on your side. That is your major weakness, you suck in the lategame.

Another strength is item forging. Mass produce armor for your SC's. Mass produce Lightless Lanterns as soon as possible. Mass produce Flambeaus and Rod of the Phoenixes so you don't completely suck *** in the lategame.

2) I always take a rainbow pretender, someone with astral such as a Great Enchantress. I usually don't take an SC god because Ulm just doesn't need extra muscle. They need someone to expand their pathetic magic abilities.

3) Things I go for: #1 BLADE WIND. Get conjuration-3 ASAP for Summon Earthpower. Then get evocation-4 ASAP. Nothing else matters in the early game except getting your hands on blade wind. Get the ablility to build artifacts after that.
Do not stop on construction until level 8. Maybe you can get level 1-2 in some other things before you actually get to level 8 I guess. Your call. Oh, and build all the freaking artifacts you can, starting with The Hammer of the Forge Lord.

4) Early game: black plates backed by at least 1 blade wind caster. I'm partial to arbelests and plain archers as well. Mid game: Scores of black knights backed by several blade wind casters. Late game: SC's, lots of them with Flambeaus backed by many blade wind casters and many basic Ulm commanders with Rods of the Phoenix.

5) Fear NO ONE in the early game. I think Arcosephale is your hardest opponent, because of the mind attacks and trampling elephants. I suppose Ryleh and Caelum would be difficult as well.

[Endoperez]

TheKDawg said:
Hi everyone, new Dom 2 player here.

I've played a few games as Ulm, and I'm not sure I'm playing right. I have some questions about what other players like to do and accomplish as the Ulm nation. I basically, at the moment, play a multiplayer game with one other person exclusively, along with single player.

Welcome to the addiction, and to the forum!

You chose quite good nation to start playing Dominions with. It has simple mages, no random magic means you have very limited ways to use magic, you have strong units you can rely on (against AI) and you ask good questions.

1 What are my best troops, strengths, weaknesses?

Your greatest strength is your units' high protection.

Things that counter it include: units with high strength (beware Jotunheim!) and high-damage weapons (T'ien Ch'i provincial defence has dmg 10 Glaives!, and all crossbows are dangerous too) as well as spells with high damage (Bane Fire, Evoc. 6). ALL lightning (Evoc. in Air) spells totally NEGATE armor. Fire and Water have some armor-negating spells (atleast Frozen Heart (Alteration 6) and Incineration (Alt. 4), and some armor-negating spells (Evoc.)

Your best unit is the Black Knight. He is strong, moves two times as fast as your other units and has awesome protection but lower encumberance.

Sappers can quickly wear down destroy enemy fortresses, and they also have strategic move of two. Sappers and Black Knights are only non-commanders of Ulm who have Strat. move of 2.

Guardians are also good units: they have higher morale than generic Ulmish soldiers. They also have high-damage halberds. They require high resources and can only be built in your home citadel, so you might want to wait until you have another castle before recruiting Guardians en masse. Remember that they have very low defence, and before or later someone hits hard enough to kill them. They are very good at defending fortresses, and that is a nice little bonus.

Most of your units have high encumberance, meaning that they quickly get fatique. High fatique lets enemies to strike through your armor, and this means that in long battles Ulmish troops become very vulnerable.

All of your high-defence infatry is useful, but because the shielded ones are better in your specialty, choose them over the others if younhave the resources. Others have their uses against high-prot. units, weak low-prot. units (flail has two attacks) etc.

Your units' magic resistance is bad, so beware Astral spells. Enslave Mind and, , Master Enslave are good examples, but also some Evocations like Astral Fires (Evoc. 6) and Nether Darts (Evoc. 7). There are also other spells that only Magic Resistance protects against, like Shadow BLast (Evoc. 5).

You have only limited access to magic paths. Some Earth (up to 3 with Earth Boots) and little Fire without pretender, empowerment or boosters not forgeable by Smiths without empowering/forge of the ancients.


Also, your Master Smiths have two unique abilities: they are not affected by Drain scale. This means that you can get 120 free design points by taking Drain 3. Only thing you lose is 3 research points from your pretender, because *he* is not immune to drain. The second ability, Forge Bonus, is also very good. One fourth of items' cost is taken away whenever they are making it... And this stacks! Get them Dwarven Hammer, and the bonus is 50%, Hammer of the Forge Lords (unique) or Hammer of the Cyclops (unique, non-forgeable), and it is 75%! Forge of the Ancients lowers this even more, but it does not stack to allow 100% bonus. Forge also gives your mages one virtual level in ALL magic paths, so your E2F1 Smiths can forge ANY item that needs F2, E3, N1, S1, A1... or any of their combinations!

2 What sort of pretender is Ulm successful with? Any specific examples, or general hints?

To take most of your Smiths' Forge Bonus, empower them. To do this you have to have lots of gems. The easiest way to get them is to have a pretender who can find them: a Rainbow Mage. Take 2 to 3 levels in all/most paths. Consider leaving Blood and Earth away, but be sure you can do some Fire boosters (Flaming Helmet at Constr. 4 is Fire 3, Skull of Fire at Constr. 6 is Fire 1+Death 1, Staves of elemental mastery are either F3+W3 or E3+A3), F2 and atleast D1 are probably the best. Remember that Death and Nature have spells for summoning mages with random picks (Summon Spectre and Contact Lamia Queen at Conjur. 6). Also check other boosters and be sure you can do as many of them as possible. The is an excel file listing all boosters somewhere, try SunrayBe's and Arryn's site.

You could also try taking a cheap pretender and getting as good scales as you can. Oracle or maybe Monolith, or maybe a moving mage so that you can look for some sites.

You could also go for high Earth mage. This would let you to use Legionst of Steel (the spell Ulm starts with) right from the start, and to cast The Forge of the Ancients. You might consider researching it right away. This would also give you easy access to other nice Earth globals like Earth Blood Deep Well, Riches from Beneath and Mechanical Militia. Depending on what you go for, level 4-6 is enough. Because you have no blessed troops, it's not worth going for highest levels.

3 Are there any strategies, magic research, or item forging levels I should be looking to reach quickly?

You start with Legions of Steel that gives your units even more protection. Your Smiths cannot cast it without gems, because they have only Earth 2. At Conjuration 3 there is Earth Power, that gives reinvigoration (fatique goes away) and one more level in Earth, Lasting to the end of that battle. You also get Phoenix Power (similar spell for Fire), and with some fire gems you Smiths can first cast PP and then, with another gem, F3 spells like Incineration or Falling Fires. You can also summon lesser Earth Elementals. They are very slow and use gems, so they are rarely useful. Cave Drakes have high protection, but they are slow and have weak attack, and are expensive. They can offer you tough meat shield, either to protect your own units or when you quickly have to get *something*.

Evocation has many nice toys for you. Blade Wind devastates armies of many low-prot. units giving little or no damage to your own units. It can also kill archers /crossbowmen in high numbers, and use up Mirror Images of Vans (I think). Magma Bolts gives enough damage to kill or atleast damage your own units, but is also good versus your enemies. Earthquake is similar in use to Blade Wind, but could catch unwary mages from other side of the battlefield. These could be your own mages too, so use this with care! Magme Eruption is very powerful, Flame Eruption is dangerous to use because the caster would have to be in the front. Gifts from Heaven would give high damage, but they would kill your own units with their low precision.

4 What sort of armies should I build? (unit combinations)

Fast Army:
Black Knights, Sappers, Master Smiths with access to Earth 3 (Earth power or Earth boots, generally), summons with strat. move of 2 or more

have some Black Knights or summons (hold and) attack closest while Sappers fire at closest (if many/if dangerous), large(if few big dangerous units) or archers (if enemy has crossbows or mages mixed with archers/crossbowmen). Remember that Sappers can be divided to many squads with different targets, but don't overdo it. Small squads rout easily. Some Black Knights can hold&attack rear, to catch enemy archers or mages. Master Smiths can fill the role of Sappers (Blade Wind, Earthquake) or cast more dangerous spells to kill enemy Knights/Heavy infatry (Magma Bolts, Magma Eruption). Summoned Earth Elementals are only useful if the battle Lasts long enough for them to reach the enemy, so they are mostly useless.

Your general armies would have shielded infantry attacking enemy closest, black knights in rear (hold&)attacking rear, closest or archers, maybe some arbalests if enemy had something with very high hp/prot. like Cyclops. About weapons and what they are good against:

pike: high length -> repel -> only good against units pikemen can easily hit and that have either bad morale (no hits get through) or high morale and few hits (few repels kill them)

flail: two attacks -> good against low def/low prot/units that only die to luck anyway

battleaxe: high damage -> good against heavy armor
maul: high damage but cheaper -> good against heavy armor
if you have enough money/units, use battleaxes, if you need numbers take mauls, if they die anyway take mauls.


morningstar & shield: high prot. + morningstars have bonus against shields (shield def. bonus is negated) -> good versus units that have big shields

hammer & shield: high prot., no defence penalty from morningstar -> better against enemies you don't want to get hit by (but independent militia or mercenaries and any kind of crossbows, archers or mages would be better.

5 What sort of armies/nations should I be afraid of? What sort of nations/armies will I stack up well against?

All nations with access to Air can negate your units' strength, so Caelum, Vanheim and Pythium are dangerous. Arcoscephale can also get Air 3, and after first they can make more boosters. Any nation that can have D2+ mage, lots of undead and lots of death gems to burn at you in the early/mid game can use Death BLast with some undead fodder to kill your elites.
Any nation that can access units you can't really hurt (Vanir with Water blessing, Temple Guards oe Caelum in cold provinces with Water blessing...) or super combatants, mainly blood summons, some of the elemental royalties (Earth/Fire Kings, Air/Water Queens), Bane Lords and Wraith lords to a lesser extent, many of the pretenders after equipping/if lots of design points are burned to paths. Mostly the same ones as earlier, but also Mictlan and Abysia. Abysia also has access to high-damage AoE battle spells their troops are immune to, and Mictlan has lots of mages so that you don't know what to be ready against.
Any nation that has units that can strike through your armour. Jotunheim with its giants, T'ien Ch'i with Glaive-armed warriors and crossbows (but they die easily to your troops, too, so this is a draw) and Celestial Warriors (which are much harder), Marignong has Crossbows, both two-handed swords and halberdiers, fire and astral magic -> access to AoE fire spells, magic resistance spells and the ultimate combination: Astral Fires.

Ulm has lots of problems against almost anything, if the other are ready for you. Air nations without air evocations cannot kill you, Mictlan without Blood Magic is a laugh (unfortunately, Mictlan players know this and *always* have Blood magic researched, even if you attack them by turn 7), Jotunheim doesn't have enough giants in the beginning.


You might also want to try Iron Faith. Iron Faith's Black Priests aren't immune to drain, so you can't take free points from that and are indeed *forced* to take some, but they get sacred Black Knights and Black Priests have forge bonus plus some random magic. If nothing else, the friend you play with doesn't know what to expect.

[Gandalf Parker]

TheKDawg said:
Hi everyone, new Dom 2 player here.

Welcome to the forums.

1 What are my best troops, strengths, weaknesses?

Ulm is the "armored tanks" army of the game. You have a great "front line". But if I remember correctly you want to set them forward on the battlefield becaue they dont run well (fatigue can kill them). In fact, the "hold and attack closest enemy" command is your friend.

2 What sort of pretender is Ulm successful with? Any specific examples, or general hints?

Ulm has a real hole in its magic, so many people create what they call "rainbow pretenders". Instead of a super-combat pretender. Ulm is ok in the combat area so you can fill the magic need by creating a pretender with as much magic in as many areas as possible (rainbow).

3 Are there any strategies, magic research, or item forging levels I should be looking to reach quickly?

For most nations I recommend quickly getting the first few levels in 3 or 4 magic areas. And some nation needs summoned creatures quickly. In your case I think its construction you need fast in order to add some magic casting items to your leaders.

4 What sort of armies should I build? (unit combinations)

Pay attention to what provinces are out there. You need their units to fill out your armies. Any type of magic caster, any type of archer, any type of fast flanker, and anything that lets you add cheap builk numbers to your army.

5 What sort of armies/nations should I be afraid of? What sort of "" will I stack up well against?

Anything that can stand far back and attack you forcing your heavy armored dudes to have to run across the battlefield.

Thank you so very much in advance, I don't often post but I've found the Dom 2 community is a really helpful one. The game is so complex that I'm finding it hard to get on my feet, even to the point where I'm having difficulty developing my own strategies.

Yep. The pros and cons of it all. The other side of that problem is the fact that this is one game you will definetly get your moneys worth from. Ive had it for years and still find new things to try out.

[TheKDawg]

Thank you much everyone. I'm gonna give these suggestions a good try. My game is Indy strength 9, 4 AI at difficult level, I'm playing on the Sundering map, and magic research is the most difficult.

Thanks again!

[PrinzMegaherz]

If you are new to the game, you might experience the difficult AI as unbeatable, so don't be surprised if the game does not end in your favor.

Some small additions to what has been said before:

You should consider building normal ulmish infantry instead of black steel infantry. Although they have lower protection, they are still as well protected as most of the other heavy infantries. THis helps in early expansion, as you can field more troops against the indies. Later in the game you should switch to black steel.

You might find that Abysia is a nation more suitable to learn how to play dominion properly:
Their troops are nearly as good as those of Ulm
You have better priests
You have more magic.
They are good in early and in the late game, even if you skip blood.

[Suicide Junkie]

Shouldn't lightning be negated by electrically conductive armor, rather than the other way around?

[Ragnarok-X]

Play Abysia. They play easy for beginners, having good troops and nice mages to play artillery with them.

[Sandman]

I'd agree with considering regular Ulm infantry rather than blacksteel; the regulars move faster, get tired less and have a higher defence rating. I hardly ever use blacksteel, as a matter of fact.

Black knights are too expensive for the early game. For the cost of one knight you can get seven infantrymen; a much better deal, especially once they've racked up experience and afflictions. Later on, they may come in handy too add some much-needed speed and especially routing power to your army. But they're still horribly vulnerable to astral, poison and lightning.

I'd make your prophet a Master Smith, rather than the (admittedly tempting) Black Lord. The accuracy bonus will make a noticeable difference to your blade winds, and the Smith is better suited to utilising the prophet's priestly powers, as well as being more likely to survive a lost battle.

I have never liked Guardians. They are good soldiers, yes, but they cost twice as much as regular Ulmish troops, which is too much for my liking. Additionally, they have all the weaknesses of other Ulmish troops; slow, quick to tire, weak defence, low magic resistance. Their equipment is no better than the other Ulmish soldiers; halberds have good damage and length (and a siege bonus), but terrible attack and defence. Greatswords would be a much better choice, IMO.

Arbalests are tricky to use. I like to stick them as far to the front as possible. They usually only fire once before the melee begins, so it might as well be a good shot. Plus they're armoured, so counter-archer fire will not be much of a problem. And when the melee begins, you definitely want them shooting as accurately as possible, since they can hurt your troops quite badly. Ideally you want an air mage handy to cast wind guide.

Just because you're drain-3 doesn't mean you should ignore sages. Even at drain-3, they are still more efficient researchers than smiths, and their random magic pick is a vital tool for broadening your magical base. Hire loads of them.

[Tuidjy]

Shame on everyone who replied. One would think that someone would give the
newbie the one good piece of advice about playing standard/iron faith Ulm:

DO NOT.

Ulm sucks. Everyone knows it sucks late game, but against half-decent players
the obvious problems raise their ugly heads as early as turn ten. And of
course, Ulm sucks even before that, although it is less than obvious.

Just read between the lines of the 'advice' you have been given: Blacksteel
sucks because of high fatigue, slow movement, and low defense. Most troops are
overpriced. Arbalests get one good shot, and then do as much damage to your
troops as to anyone else. No priests worth mentioning... Your starting spell
requires some research before your pitiful mages can use it. Later on, you
will have a only handful of tricks, tricks for which everyone who intends to
walk over you will have prepared.

Sure, once you forsake the supercombatant, take drain, spend tons of design
points on a good castle and productivity, you will have an easy time against
indies. Big deal! A player will a decent pretender will wipe the floor with
your overrated troops, a player with cheaply massed mages (Caelum, Pythium, etc)
will show you why magic trumps steel as early as turn five, Abysia will burn
you, Ermor/C'tis will drown you in undead, R'lyeh will paralize your vulnerable
and sluggish troops, etc, etc, etc... Oh, by the way, many nations could
field better troops than you, especially if they took the kind of scales Ulm
requires.

The only thing that can delay your death in a multiplayer game is diplomacy...
diplomacy of the kind where you become some real nation's client state (i.e.
forge *****)