I ALWAYS loose.... I need advice and have MANY questions heh!

Gandalf Parker · #1 July 13th, 2004, 04:57 PM

I might have missed it somewhere in all of this.
What is your independents set at for a game?
The default of 3?

The 3 default is a big benefit to the AI. Setting it at something like 5 or 6 will usually get you a game which plays VERY differently. A low setting allows the AIs to win most provinces and rush you early with little losses.

The AI doesnt tend to be as smart about who to attack and how much to send so higher indept settings will often cause the AI to waste alot of time and resources trying to take the same province over and over. It keeps the win/loss ratio on the expansion at about the same as you.

Norfleet · #2 July 13th, 2004, 05:18 PM

I've always found it works the other way, that higher independent settings prevent the AI from overextending itself too quickly, and thus ending up with simply a chain of guys that run up and die on my pretender over and over. With 9, the AI has larger armies by the time we meet, instead of little puny armies.

NTJedi · #3 July 13th, 2004, 06:14 PM

With Independent setting of 8 and 9... I have seen where I'm always taking lots more provinces then the AI opponents. The computer opponents seem to have more problems conquering them.
With Independent setting of 2 and 3... the game forces players to being rushed by each other and the AI. Also allows me to move in swallowing a weaker AI much more quickly.

I usually set independents with 5 or 6... seems to give the greatest challenge with AI opponents from my experience.

Gandalf Parker · #4 July 13th, 2004, 06:29 PM

I guess I can see where 3 or 4 might be good for a combat god. I dont play those much. Even then Id say it would only be for advanced players. If an AI has nothing to slow it down then I dont think a newbie would keep up with its expansion while they are still learning the game.

And Id probably stick more with a game where I lose to a large army later, than one where I get washed over early. Hmmmm maybe the 3 default is for the demo Version so that games can get into player-vs-ai combat before turn 40.

The_Tauren13 · #5 July 14th, 2004, 12:14 AM

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Does it matter what the neighboring provinces are resource wise? If the province with the castle gets 100% of its resources and drains 40% of all nearby provinces resources, does it matter if those provinces suck-so put the castle in the best province of an area to take advantage of it? Does it simply give that province its full potential or give it the resources drained from nearby provinces?

OK... lets say you build a fort in a province that had previously shown 50 resources. The province really had 100 resources, but without a fort you can only utilize half of it. So.. the fort you built will make the resource count 100. Now, the administration value is a percentage of the resources in neighboring provinces given to the fort. So, if you have the fort built next to a province with ( too make the math easy ) also 100 resources, and your fort has an admin value of 30, 30 resources will go to the fort, making the total resource value 130. The 30 rescources will be drained from the second province, making its resource count 70. Without a fort, however, only half the resources will be used, giving it only 35 resources. hope thaqt helps the confusion

Quote:

Besides a few spells and my immortal god ressurecting in it, how exactly DOES domain help?

perhaps the most important dominion bonus is morale; troops fighting in friendly dominion gain 1 morale, whereas troops in enemy dominions have -1. this makes the morale difference effectively 2 points.

Gandalf Parker · #6 July 14th, 2004, 12:30 AM

Dominion is the "push" of your god. You "push" your scales, and the benefits for your troops, into areas you own or even dont own yet. Mostly you are pushing into nothingness until you meet the dominion of another player.

There are alot of tactical uses and (like so much of this game) it depends on who you are playing and how you are playing them. If you are Ulm and can withstand negative magic scales, then you push this "weak magic" dominion ahead of your army. If you were Arcos and count heavily on magic then you might have taken alot of plus-magic scale. You would want to push that ahead of your armies and have it operating strongly in your domain. If the two dominions meet then it becomes a tug-of-war to see what dominion will be in the province that the battle happens in.

Maybe its easier to picture Abyssia fighting Caelum. Abyssia likes heat, Caelum likes cold. They both have combat benefits in their own temperature preference. So if you are having trouble with those armies then you would need to slow down, pull back, bring up priests to pray, and build temples. Thats to PUSH your dominion forward creating a comfortable combat zone for your troops.

Its easier to give specific examples. If you mention a nation/theme, and ask about a "strong dominion" tactic, then alot of people will give their favorite suggestions for that race.

[ July 13, 2004, 23:32: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

Norfleet · #7 July 14th, 2004, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by NTJedi:
With Independent setting of 8 and 9... I have seen where I'm always taking lots more provinces then the AI opponents. The computer opponents seem to have more problems conquering them.

Another aspect of high Indy settings is that it forces an element of Darwinism into the AI: Instead of the AI expending most of its resources in pointless warfare with each other, only the strongest AIs survive, and the weak perish. With low indy settings, you have maybe 12 of the 17 players bickering and squabbling amongst themselves in massive wastes of resources. With 9, you'll see maybe 6 of them grow to power, the rest strangled by the independents and/or overcome by the remaining 6. Those remaining 6 will put up a much better fight.