Why am I so bad with Dom3

[Chacal]

Endoperez : Should Thugs be used in mass by themselves or rather assist armies ? If I have one or two castle to build them I will have more them than armies, and I don't thing they are able took out by themselves an army or event indies. I'll try to use a 'squad' of thugs and see what happens.

Loren : Shark attack ?

[Endoperez]

I'm not good with thugs, myself, but it depends. If you're facing huge armies of chaff, several commanders equipped with Charcoal Shields even the odds greatly. If you're facing armies of Soul Slaying mages, several high-hp commanders with outstanding magic resistance (through Starshine Skullcap, Amulet of Antimagic and/or Lead Shield) will protect your other units.

Couple of strong thugs equipped with cheap items (for luck and ability to kill several troops/turn without getting too much fatigue) rampaging through your enemies' weakly defended provinces can be quite annoying as well, especially if they can fly, sail, are stealthy or otherwise able to move in ways your enemy can't easily anticipate.

[Jazzepi]

Endoperez said:
I'm not good with thugs, myself, but it depends. If you're facing huge armies of chaff, several commanders equipped with Charcoal Shields even the odds greatly. If you're facing armies of Soul Slaying mages, several high-hp commanders with outstanding magic resistance (through Starshine Skullcap, Amulet of Antimagic and/or Lead Shield) will protect your other units.

Couple of strong thugs equipped with cheap items (for luck and ability to kill several troops/turn without getting too much fatigue) rampaging through your enemies' weakly defended provinces can be quite annoying as well, especially if they can fly, sail, are stealthy or otherwise able to move in ways your enemy can't easily anticipate.

I've also seen thugs used as "Just another unit". 2-3 banelords with boots of quickness, charcoal shields, firebrands, and amulets of luck can be quite nice.

Jazzepi

[Loren]

Chacal said:
Loren : Shark attack ?

I thought this one was rather useless. Are you saying they are numerous enough and sensible enough to be of real help?

[Jazzepi]

Loren said:

I thought this one was rather useless. Are you saying they are numerous enough and sensible enough to be of real help?

Every time I've used shark attack it's been absolutely ridiculous. I was playing EA R'yleh against EA Atlantis and one battle where he had it and I didn't, I lost over 400 troops for his 30 or so.

Now, I did have psi-blasting units. I think that might have something to do with it. The paralyzing damage might trigger the shark spawning.

Jazzepi

[SelfishGene]

Even then these can be defeated by the AI.

Just today vs. the AI i lost my bane w/ flying shoes, regen ring, charcoal shield, swift sword, and horned helmet after about 5 rounds of combat against a couple dozen vanilla Ulm troops and PD. Why? He routed into enemy territory.

[Agema]

If you're losing, check what your opponent is doing to make you lose, and next game either repeat roughly what he did, or have a plan ready to deal with someone trying that tactic on you.

Another important point is think about what your opponent can do to you. A spell that crushed one opponent may be utterly useless against another. Perhaps the units which worked wonders on one enemy are little use against another.

One of the trickiest things to judge in a game is balancing resources. For instance mages are needed to win battles and research. You conquered a large empire with mages, but run into an opponent who can summon SCs and cast big battlefield spells like Fog Warriors, and you've no suitable answer because your mages were fighting not researching. Or maybe you used your gold to buy lots of fortifications and PD, and find your opponent has spent his gold on a huge army and you can't raise enough troops quickly enough.

[Jazzepi]

SelfishGene said:
Even then these can be defeated by the AI.

Just today vs. the AI i lost my bane w/ flying shoes, regen ring, charcoal shield, swift sword, and horned helmet after about 5 rounds of combat against a couple dozen vanilla Ulm troops and PD. Why? He routed into enemy territory.

I wouldn't really consider that optimal equipment.

You're much better off with frostbrand, and a different helmet that doesn't lower your stats.

Jazzepi

[Chacal]

Hmm, thanks again for your advices guys.

I return from a game as Niefel giants against my nemesis : Abysia... And this time it was an easier way. Strong bless : W9 N6 E6. I decided for E6 rather than N9 cause last time I played with them against some solid troops (and I find Abysia footmen particularly solid in EA era) Niefels get exhausted, so I wanted some reinvigoration. It worked very well despite a terrible lack of money (even with Order 3) these Giants are awesome. Due to money problem I have to wait with research a bit to build castles, but this time I planned my research carefully for spells like Rain etc.. so I didn't wasted research points like in the past.
My biggest fear was the use by Abysia of them Fire salamanders. They are not so powerful and die easily but once in contact the' re so dangerous, even for a blessed Niefel tree... I must find something better to counter them if one day I play against a human Abysian player.

Finally I dom killed them, pretty happy

I begin my next 'apprentice' game as Marverni against 2 or 3 AI - of course Ermor will be one of them... after all I live in the country of Asterix [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Barrel.gif[/img] will tell if I do full crap or not completely