Build order

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Duncanish:
Taxes below 100% cause unrest? I thought they lowered it. Or have I been making a big mistake this entire time?

Sorry, that's a typo, and I've fixed it in my post now.

[Yossar]

Originally posted by HotNifeThruButr:
I usually don't attack on turn 3 because my army would have just got licked, and I loathe losing income to tax reductions, so I find patrolling better. I'll try it your way.

Hmm? In your turn order it doesn't seem that you're reinforcing your army after turn 3 so being licked shouldn't matter. If you are getting licked, keep it at home an extra turn and make it stronger. Also, I loathe losing population to patrolling much more than I loathe losing a tiny amount of income for one turn from lowering taxes.

Temples are nice and eventually youre going to want quite a few of them, but at the beginning you can use the 200 gold a lot more effectively buying troops, mercenaries, or fortifications. In your case I would spend it on mages. You usually aren't in immediate danger of having your dominion wiped out and the benefits of the temple aren't so great until you get closer to the enemy. There are exceptions but Tien Chi with a non-SC pretender is not one of them.

[ April 12, 2004, 02:53: Message edited by: Yossar ]

[HotNifeThruButr]

So you just build temples at border provinces? I thought dominion power increases income or something too.

[Yossar]

I build temples in every fort and more as necessary. I don't really have a formula. You want at least enough to keep all of your provinces in your dominion. If that isn't the case build more temples. Being in enemy dominion increases unrest. Other than that, dominion increases the stats of your pretender and your prophet. Build temples near the area you plan to attack with them to increase your power. There are many other bonuses to having a high dominion but those vary depending on your nation and pretender. High dominion is always good but you have to keep a balance between spending money to speed up expansion and spending money to increase dominion. That's one of the main aspects of the game and it's hard to say exactly how to do it.

[Psitticine]

I build as many temples as I can afford. I like lots of sacred troops, plus they help no end in spreading the ol' Dominion.

[Vynd]

Temples are nice, but to me they don't seem like a good way to spend your cash right at the beginning of the game. It's more important to build up troops and use them to capture more provinces. More provinces = more income, meaning it will be easier to afford building temples later.

The idea of building temples in every province seems a little extreme to me too, at least early in the game it does. High dominion is good, but your Pretender and your capital are going to be spreading your dominion at no cost right from the beginning of the game. So will your prophet, if you appoint one. That ought to be enough to blanket the provinces near you with pretty high dominion within a few turns. It's once you get further away from home or run into another nation's dominion that you need to worry about temples.

[Tricon]

I tend to agree that the main focus should be to get all neighbouring provinces first and build temples later. Unless the map is crowded with player ai's, you have a bit of time before enemy dominion becomes a factor. But it is of course a matter of style... and dependend on the nation you choose.

edit:spelling

[ April 12, 2004, 19:49: Message edited by: Tricon ]