What are some useful strategies for construction?

[danm]

Construction is cool (especially if you are not wow'd by summons and find yourself with a bunch of gems laying about - hehe)

1a) its always good to boost your commanders a bit. adding a low(to no)encumbrance shield, helmet, and armor, with luck, etherial, or similar boni to your mages makes a BIG difference once arrows start flying their way. Magic boost items also can make a HUGE difference in battle (spell fatigue depends on path level -- higher paths == more spells)

1b) SKULL MENTORS. +9 research for 10 death gems is about as good a bargain as anything in the game. (think 2 cheap researchers at 100+ gold each and upkeep every turn, vs 10 gems and an inventory slot) There are quite a few handy items of this sort. Again, spell path boosters can be amazing, allowing you to use cheaper units for rituals/summons, or enabling certain spells/summons in the first place.

2) I havn't had a lot of luck or experience building effective supercombatants and thugs yet (hihi im a nub too!), but word is they can be quite nifty. The Dom2 veterans will have this down to a fine science, as it was apparently a vital skill in that release. It's harder to do properly in dom3, but still handy if you have the inclination.

Items certainly won't win the game for you all by their lonesome, but I don't know of a strategy that isn't at least improved by the right items (and most depend on one or more key constructables)