Stealthy Gandalf

Saxon · #1 July 24th, 2004, 08:28 AM

Gandalf,

Did you ever do a strategy guide for stealth? I searched, but had little luck beyond a tip or two, here and there.

It has been two weeks of relatives and wildebeest, so while real life has been good, I have missed Dominions. I am now back to work and normal free time and I was thinking of trying something new, but must admit a failure of imagination with stealth. Perhaps it was the wildebeest migration, that was incredible and was beyond my imagination.

Thanks!

Gandalf Parker · #2 July 24th, 2004, 04:42 PM

Hmmm no not really. But if anyone wants to start one I could definetly put in alot of points.

Lets see... Ive made good use of stealthy pretenders, stealthy priests, mage/assassins, low-dominion and cheap castles, chicken-pox pattern of province conquest instead of chained provinces or amoeba spread as other nations do, harrassment tactics, great advantages in being an ally since it un-does many of the "wish there was more diplomacy options" complaints. Gee I guess there is enough to make an interesting strategy guide.

Now I just have to consider if I really want to ever meet "myself" in a game.

Vicious Love · #3 July 26th, 2004, 03:23 AM

Simple enough question, how many patrollers/how much province defense would one need to have a reasonable chance of detecting a small(Say, 40 units) force of stealthy(+0) troops in the one month they spend in a border province? Ditto for an equally sized force of stealthy(+25) sidhe, or a single tuatha SC.
I'm about to play my first real multiplayer game, and I'm worried about either going overboard with my patrollers, or letting a handful of mini-SCs devastate my hinterlands. If I Last long enough to have hinterlands.

Update: Does anyone actually use Bane Venom Charms, incidentally? I mean, it ocurred to me that a few Vanadrotts with Implementor Axes could wreak havoc with my economy, but I suppose a few scouts with BVCs could accomplish nearly as much, cheaper, without ever going into combat.

[ July 26, 2004, 02:29: Message edited by: Vicious Love ]

Arryn · #4 July 26th, 2004, 03:33 AM

Excellent questions, Love. I anxiously await the answer(s) myself. BTW, in my experience, PD doesn't seem to have much effect on finding stealthy folk. I routinely maintain PDs of 20 in most provinces and I rarely snag hidden units. If PD does have an effect, it must be small and I, too, would like to know what the formula is / chances are.

#5 July 26th, 2004, 03:48 AM

20+ PD will detect Stealth +0 probably 75% of the time. 10+ PD I would say has a 50% chance.

For Stealth +25 (or more), you have virtually no chance to find them with common PD and will have to revert to using Patrollers and quite a few, to boot.

Bane Venom Charms are excellent for causing havok and psychologically. This is one great advantage that Spy Nations (Marignon, Ulm, etc) can use, by chainusing High end stealth units to drive huge amounts of death and panic on a nation.

Saxon · #6 July 27th, 2004, 06:13 AM

Hmm, it sounds like this is an area that is underutilized, under documented and underplayed. I guess I can go out and explore this world! It should be fun, most of the time when I try out something new, it is well known on the Boards and I feel like I am just trying someone else’s ideas. Now I can feel like I am exploring things for myself.

Gandalf, I suspect your unwillingness to share these state secrets is a role-playing extension of your stealthy forces. Hmm, who would have guessed the secrets behind that beard…

Zen, those percentages seem far too high. I have moved stealthy troops around before, against PD, and suffered few discoveries. I will now see what I can find out in this area.