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  #1  
Old February 21st, 2004, 08:16 AM
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Default Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR

Turn #26 in progress ...

overview (1280x1024)

Please note the location of provinces controlled by Ashikaga, Atlantis, Man, and Ulm.

[ February 28, 2004, 21:32: Message edited by: Arryn ]
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  #2  
Old February 21st, 2004, 05:42 PM
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Default Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR

Could you do a list of mages you already have, and their paths? May some of my following humble suggestions don't apply as you either have better or no suitable mages available ..

- conjure(6) a harbinger (Astral-4), which will come with Air-2
- start searching for Air sites
- forge a Staff of Storms as soon as possible. Jotunheim doesn't have that great missile troops, so you won't loose that much. Would be very helpful against missile-heavy nations or heat-radiating creatures, though.

- how much Vine Ogres do you get from that Norna per turn? Her upkeep is 14,7gp, and you tie up 8 or more research points with this summoning.
An indie druid with Ivy Crown and Thistle Mace would be much better suited for the task. Lacking it, a empowered Seithkona, an Amazone, a Coatl or a Lamia Queen might do (I'm not shure 'bout the upkeep of the later ones, though.)

- Nornas with Death-2 can get you (Enchantment-3) Revenants (Death-1) for only 9 gems. Upkeep for those is free AFAIK. They're ideal to pile a ton of feathers, lamps and skulls upon them to get them to 19rp each ...

- Black Servants, Banes and Bane Lords make great Commanders and Part-Time-Pocket-SuperCombattants without upkeep-costs (AFAIK, havn't tested). They start with encumbrance=0, so you can slap the heaviest armor on them and still they won't tire at all. Give them Wraith Swords and they'll regenerate hipoints in combat, too.
Sadly, they have poor prec so you'll have to keep the

- Scepters of Authority for your Jotun Priests. Set them to "cast spells", and they'll use their priest spells to buff your troops or banish undead, unless there's no target in range. Than they'll divert to Flame Bolt with range 40 .. sufficient in most cases. And it's only 5 gems - a real bargain. I'm not shure if "double fatigue during rainstorms" does apply for spells from items. Item usage is only 5fat/turn while the spell would be 20- and fire-2, even if it's doubled you would still need a fire-3 mage to get the same number of spells without having a Staff of Storms present.

- do not use your prophet for preaching. He's spreading dominion anywhere he goes (kinda auto-preaching ), so he better stays with your army, especially as he's the only priest-4, isn't he?


hope this is somewhat helpful ..

[ February 21, 2004, 15:44: Message edited by: Arralen ]
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  #3  
Old February 21st, 2004, 07:44 PM
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Default Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR

Quote:
Originally posted by Arralen:
Could you do a list of mages you already have, and their paths?
Besides the 13 seithkona (1S/1D/1N) I have the following:
  • Tunne the Skratti (2W/1N/2B, best suited for Clam forging)
  • Rimdriva the Norna (3S/2D/1N, my Acashic Recorder)
  • Skade the Norna (2S/2D/2N, 3N with Thistle Mace, summoning 2 Vine Ogres/turn w/Ivy Crown)
  • Lit the Norna (2S/3D/1N, my Death summonings mage)
  • Ulga the Enchantress (2A/1W/1N)
  • Pladina the Enchantress (1F/2E/1N, my earth forger)
  • Petrona the Enchantress (3A/1N, my air forger/summoner)
  • Kara the Enchantress (3F/1N, my fire forger/summoner)
  • Sade the Enchantress (1F/1A/1W/1N)

Quote:

- conjure(6) a harbinger (Astral-4), which will come with Air-2
- start searching for Air sites
I have 2 mages with A2+ already. While the Harbinger is one of my favorite summons, I've been using the astral gems for Acashic castings, which have been a more fruitful usage thus far. Air sites are almost always found in mountains and I have but two provinces (so far) with them. One has a very low chance of air sites, and the other one I will be checking via Acashic on turn 26 (results on turn 27).
Quote:

- forge a Staff of Storms as soon as possible. Jotunheim doesn't have that great missile troops, so you won't loose that much. Would be very helpful against missile-heavy nations or heat-radiating creatures, though.
Indeed. It's on my agenda ... after I manage to find some air gems.
Quote:

- how much Vine Ogres do you get from that Norna per turn? Her upkeep is 14,7gp, and you tie up 8 or more research points with this summoning.
12 points, actually. I'm unconcerned about her gold cost. I get 2 ogres per turn. I really need some tough troops that don't eat for some provinces I plan to take in a few months, and my other choice is sea trolls. I need the water gems for Clams more, hence the ogres. It's more efficient, research-wise, to forge wine bags and use normal Jotuns, but the method I've chosen is a more efficient use of nature gems and adds more troops to the numbers of Jotuns I'm already recruiting.
Quote:
An indie druid with Ivy Crown and Thistle Mace would be much better suited for the task. Lacking it, a empowered Seithkona, an Amazone, a Coatl or a Lamia Queen might do
I don't control provinces with druids or amazons yet. A cuoatl cannot carry the Crown, and both summons cost more nature gems than I desire to spend at this time. Nor will I spend 30 gems to empower a Seithkona to do what the Norna already can.
Quote:

- Nornas with Death-2 can get you (Enchantment-3) Revenants (Death-1) for only 9 gems. Upkeep for those is free AFAIK. They're ideal to pile a ton of feathers, lamps and skulls upon them to get them to 19rp each ...
My death gem income is 1. And my priority with what little I have is Horror Helms. I'm really not concerned about my upkeep costs at present, and if I need more RPs I can hire 2 Seithkona and 1 Garnet mage per turn for 19rps (at a cost of 280g). At this point in the game I much prefer to spend gold than to spend gems.
Quote:

- Black Servants, Banes and Bane Lords make great Commanders and Part-Time-Pocket-SuperCombattants without upkeep-costs (AFAIK, havn't tested). They start with encumbrance=0, so you can slap the heaviest armor on them and still they won't tire at all.
I, too, like Bane Lords as mini-SCs. And they have good enough armor to not need any unless you want a particular magical effect. But, as I've mentioned above, I cannot afford the gems yet. Check again in, I'd guess, 20-30 turns and you'll probably see a fair number of death summons in my army. But not in the near future.
Quote:

- Scepters of Authority for your Jotun Priests. Set them to "cast spells", and they'll use their priest spells to buff your troops or banish undead, unless there's no target in range. Than they'll divert to Flame Bolt with range 40 .. sufficient in most cases. And it's only 5 gems - a real bargain.
This is a great suggestion. Thanks!
Quote:

- do not use your prophet for preaching. He's spreading dominion anywhere he goes (kinda auto-preaching ), so he better stays with your army, especially as he's the only priest-4, isn't he?
He is my only H4, until I can afford to summon Arch Angels (which I now have the skill to do, but most certainly cannot afford to burn the gems for). In the past couple of months, my army moved backwards as a lure, and I kept the prophet near the enemy to spread dominion. He had nothing better to do than preach, until the army came back. Whenever the army is stationary (such as patrolling) he preaches, or builds a temple if no other priest is available for that.
Quote:

hope this is somewhat helpful ..
Yes, thanks!
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  #4  
Old February 22nd, 2004, 06:49 AM
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Default Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR

Turn #26, Late Spring of Year 3
A near-death experience.


Travellers from afar bring word that another Storm General has been named as the false prophet of the Caelumite pretender Gina. Caelum must be at war with someone else besides my nation (you may recall that they declared war on me a score of years ago) for them to have lost their prophet. In the Rim Mountains, my scout Oedre observes an Atlantian army of some 70 atlantian spearmen, reef warriors, war shamblers, and wolf riders utterly crush a handful of troops from Man.

A market gathers in Ancyrna and the extra commerce boosts my tax revenues this month by 100g. In neighboring Zenthra, over 1300 peasants, almost 30% of the provincial population, leave to find better land.

In Herghendorf, an Ashikagan force of 1 chunin, 1 hatamoto, 8 yamabushi monks, 4 ashigaru spearmen, 1 samurai swordsman, and 1 crossbowman attack the independents (composed of 1 priest, 7 knights, 18 fanatics, and 15 longbowmen) before my avatar arrives in the same province. The indy knights take care of all the Ashikagans excepting the crossbowman, who falls to massed fire from the longbowmen.

In the subsequent battle between Jorgun and the Herghendorf defenders (who are twice as strong as I had estimated), the wyrm completes his defensive spell preparations just as the lead half-dozen knights' charge reaches him (the seventh knight is acting as a bodyguard for the priest). None of the lances harm Jorgun, and 3 of the knights are instantly paralyzed by the wyrm's Astral Shield. While Jorgun feasts on stiff horseflesh, the fanatics close in and they, too, soon become bite-sized snacks to complement the equine main course. Behind the fanatics, though, the longbowmen also close in to point-blank firing range and begin to rain down a hail of hurtful arrows on my avatar as it finishes the Last few fanatics. In three volleys the wyrm, already weak from being in hostile dominion (starting with just 97HPs here, about half normal), takes many hits and loses almost 80% of his health. But his aura of fear, boosted by a Horror Helm, comes to his aid just in time and the longbowmen break morale and flee. Had they not routed, one more good volley would very likely have won the day for them. Jorgun calmly finishes gorging on the third paralyzed knight (the others long since having fled) as the longbowmen make a hasty retreat, leaving me the victory and control of the province. My avatar ends the battle with no new wounds, 11 more kills (98 total), 15 more trophies (172 total), and a lesson in how to be a pincushion.

Rod the Scout reports approximately 50 fanatics, and light and heavy footmen in the farmlands of Gol Phalas. He also discovers that the river delta of Durheim (#174) to the north is controlled by R'leyh. Bdvar observes roughly three-score independent ichtyid warriors and ichtyids in the river delta of Solam. Jorgun discovers that Ulm controls the forest-covered mountains to the north of Herghendorf, and that Man's control extends to the plains of Ivenmoor (#135) just to the northwest of Herghendorf. The Ashikagan-controlled mountain province of Melma (#119) southwest of Herghendorf contains just seven tribal cavalries. Robber Home appears to contain just a score of ashigaru spearmen under the command of the hero Li T'ieh-Kuai, while the Ashikagan capital appears to contain roughly 50 assorted national troops.

My researchers achieve the fifth circle of power in Construction.

My realm has:
  • __6 Dominion max.
  • __8 Temples
  • _23 Provinces converted
  • 942 Treasury.
  • 964 Income. (+47)
  • 333 Upkeep. (+12)
  • 141 Resources in Jotunheim. (unchanged)
  • 199 Resources in Pythium. (unchanged)
  • 15 Provinces controlled
  • Jotunheim: Dom=6, PD=25, Unr=0
  • Zenthra: Dom=6, PD=10, Unr=0
  • Eribon: Dom=3, PD=10, Unr=0
  • Gwyrth: Dom=3, PD=10, Unr=0
  • Iron Range: Dom=6, PD=10, Unr=0
  • Saetica: Dom=2, PD=10, Unr=0
  • Black Alps: Dom=5, PD=3, Unr=0
  • Ancyrna: Dom=2, PD=10, Unr=0
  • Bel: Dom=2, PD=7, Unr=0
  • Pythium: Dom=5, PD=10, Unr=0
  • Hoburgdorf: Dom=-3, PD=20, Unr=0
  • Feral Woods: Dom=1, PD=3, Unr=0
  • Ultima Typhia: Dom=6, PD=10, Unr=0
  • Well of All Waters: Dom=5, PD=10, Unr=0
  • Herghendorf: Dom=-1, PD=0, Unr=19

Gem income is:
  • +_2 Fire (20)
  • +_0 Air (--)
  • +_6 Water (10)
  • +_2 Earth (04)
  • +11 Astral (29) (includes 6 Clams)
  • +_1 Death (08)
  • +_6 Nature (46)

Magical knowledge (stars denote schools being researched):
  • 7-Conjuration
  • 3-Alteration
  • 0-Evocation
  • 5-Construction*
  • 3-Enchantment
  • 0-Thaumaturgy
  • 0-Blood Magic
  • 120 RPs (of 179 available at labs)

I recruit 1 Priest and another 6 Jotun spearman in Pythium, 1 Priest in Hoburgdorf, and 1 Priest in Saetica. I increase the provincial defense of Herghendorf to 10. I also increase the PD of Bel by 3 (to 10), and in the Feral Woods and Black Alps by 7 (to 10). These preparations drain the treasury of 510 coins.

I lower taxes in Herghendorf to 40% to quell unrest in the newly-conquered province.

I have the Skratti Tunne forge another Clam of Pearls and I allot 10 water gems for the task. The Norna Skade continues her monthly ritual of Awakening Vine Ogres, at a cost of 1 nature gem per month. I have two of the Seithkona forge Endless Bags of Wine, for which I allot 10 nature gems, while a third Seithkona forges a Horror Helm at a cost of 5 death gems. I have both of the Enchantresses with fire paths each forge a Sceptre of Authority, which uses half (10) of my fire gems. The Norna Rimdriva prepares the ritual of Acashic Record for the Black Alps, expending 25 astral pearls. (I need air gem income and Black Alps is the only mountain province I control with a reasonable chance of having some.)

Bdvar heads inland, north, into the mountains of Cimri (#56), Rod the Scout moves east into the farmlands of the Glimmering Fields (#149), and Oedre continues to keep an eye on Atlantis and Man. Tahmar ferries a half-dozen fresh Jotun spearmen to Hoburgdorf. Ualgo departs Jotunheim for Ancyrna with eight vine ogres in tow. Erkeborn continues to preach at the temple in Saetica, while Albrecht does so in Hoburgdorf. Geiserik moves to Herghendorf, where he will build a temple in the following month. The Seithkona Sigrdriva returns to Pythium. Grymis, commanding roughly half of the Jotun army (21 Jotuns and a pair of vine ogres), heads into the woods of Robber Home. Rod the Firbolg hands his magical items to Bove, who also heads into Robber Home, while Rod takes command of the remaining 25 Jotuns and moves to Saetica. (Since Saetica should now appear to be weakly defended compared to other targets that Ashikaga might strike back at, this is the logical place for me to try another ambush.) Finally, my wyrm Jorgun will head into the Ashikagan mountains of Melma.

[ February 22, 2004, 05:47: Message edited by: Arryn ]
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Old February 22nd, 2004, 08:26 AM
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Default Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR

Turn #27 in progress ...

overview (1280x1024)

Please note the location of provinces controlled by Ashikaga, Atlantis, Man, Ulm, and Vanheim.

[ February 28, 2004, 21:31: Message edited by: Arryn ]
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Old February 22nd, 2004, 04:28 PM

GGGreenhorn the Stutterer GGGreenhorn the Stutterer is offline
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Default Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR

Going good there Arryn. (If I may say so)
And thanks for your answer.

A small something I found usefull as a sort of mobile cheap defense for the jotuns was a lvl 3 priest patrolling or preaching where I expected an attack. After upgrading the defense to 12-15 the militia becomes almost unbreakable.
The weak link for my giant homegrown militia proved to be the morale in most cases. And you can just move the priest up to a different province, once that part is secure.

On a side topic, can anybody please tell me, where I can find Unwise's mod for the flags/standards on the map? Can't seem to find them on the Boards or at Illwinter. They look just great.
Thanks a lot.....
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Old February 22nd, 2004, 06:22 PM
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Default Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR

Quote:
Originally posted by GGGreenhorn the Stutterer:
On a side topic, can anybody please tell me, where I can find Unwise's mod for the flags/standards on the map? Can't seem to find them on the Boards or at Illwinter. They look just great.
I've arranged to have his mod put up on the server that's hosting my AAR's files:
Unwise's Flags mod

[ February 28, 2004, 21:31: Message edited by: Arryn ]
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