Can't figure out what I'm doing wrong

[Nick_K]

You don't actually /need/ research t beat the AI. If you're being beaten in the early game then consider investing less in research. You also don't need more than pd10 except in border provinces.

Try to keep the number of border provinces low. If you have 7 provinces and, say, 4 of them border enemies then you'll have a hard time concentrating troops in every one of them. At the beginning of the game pick a couple of bottlenecks and expand quickly to them and then slow your expansion. Of course, you should always have an eye on the next target. Dominions is a war game rather than a civ-building one so I'd recommend continual expansion.

Make sure you use mercs. They provide a big early game boost. Bid 1 or 2 more than they ask to be sure you get them. Most mercenary groups are well worth buyign at the beginning of the game.

[Sandman]

Jomon is a probably not a good choice for a beginner, all its troops are bitterly resource intensive and not that great.

A temple is every province is a terrible waste of money if you're struggling, you could buy forty basic human infantry for the cost of each one. The same is true for 20 PD in every province; it's a common mistake for novices to invest in huge PD forces, rather than researchers, forts and mobile armies. 20 PD is reasonable for key provinces, but it's a bit much for unthreatened interior areas.

Three researchers is very poor for the middle of the second year, although Jomon doesn't have good mages to begin with.

And your taxes will take care of themselves. Don't touch them unless you really have to.

[Graeme Dice]

Sandman said:
Three researchers is very poor for the middle of the second year, although Jomon doesn't have good mages to begin with.

What gives you the idea that their mages are poor? They are dirt cheap, and you will easily have multiple mages with two picks in a single path, plus guaranteed astral and nature magic. They are every bit as good as Arcoscephalian mystics used to be in Dominions II. They are probably the most magically diverse nation in the Late Era.

[lch]

On top of all the things already being said, I'll repeat the one thing that may get lost in the arguments here: Don't build temples everywhere unless you need them. Temples are expensive, and when you only have 7 provinces, then you need to put your money into troops, not temples.

[Sandman]

Graeme Dice said:

What gives you the idea that their mages are poor? They are dirt cheap, and you will easily have multiple mages with two picks in a single path, plus guaranteed astral and nature magic. They are every bit as good as Arcoscephalian mystics used to be in Dominions II. They are probably the most magically diverse nation in the Late Era.

Their map move of 1 is a pain, although you're correct that they are better than I gave them credit for.

[KissBlade]

Graeme puts out a lot of good tips you should probably follow. Also with Jomon, try to prioritize taking mountain and forest provinces around your capital first. Remember castles take resources from neighboring provinces and mountains and forest produces the most resources. Also I literally build almost nothing but samurai archers with jomon. They are pretty much the superior unit compared to the rest of samurai line.

[st.patrik]

If you have lots of gold and resources are your problem, you should definitely be recruiting some of the higher end troops. For example, instead of recruiting the regular katana-wielding Samurai, recruit Aka-oni Samurai for 5 more gold each (but the same resources) and get more attack and defence skill, greater strength, and more HPs. If you have any kind of bless you can also recruit the sacred troops, which again cost no more resources than regular samurai.

I have to disagree with KissBlade: If you're recruiting Samurai archers, personally I wouldn't bother - you can get 10% more Aka-oni Samurai than regular archer Samurai for the same resource cost, and they do much better in combat. Of course this would be different if you were short on gold rather than resources.

[Sencha]

Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely take it into account. I guess I was overestimating the importance of taxing and temples. So I'll ease back on them. I'll also increase my research staff, hire mercs more regularly and try to capture more provinces per turn.

I'll also try to use my Pretender more directly. I could have guessed that holding him up in the castle probably wasn't making the best use of him, but I was afraid he'd get killed in battle. (I've seen it happen, probably b/c I didn't design and/or equip him to be a SC).

As for my game settings, I didn't touch the scales much, (don't remember my exact settings), used a medium map and I believe the AI level was default.

[Graeme Dice]

Nick_K said:
You don't actually /need/ research t beat the AI. If you're being beaten in the early game then consider investing less in research.

It would be hard for him to invest less in research than the two mages he currently has.