A newbie asks...

[Kobal2]

Yeah, the equation is fairly simple : if after the battle, you still own the province, PD is immediately back to full. This happens even if that province takes multiple successive attacks BTW - PD will replenish in between each fight.

If at the end of the battle, someone else owns the province, PD is set back to 0 for everyone - the loser won't get back his PD by retaking the province, either. So if for instance you teleport a guy in, wipe the PD, then your thug gets bumped off by an invading army moving in the province in the same turn, your opponent will have kept his province but lost all the PD.
Which is why few people invest too much into it generally, since a decent raiding party can cost you all that sunk investment.

General rules*: 1 sees off non-giant scout takeovers, 5 takes care of single casts of call of the wind / arouse hunger / call of the wild, 10 will catch a scout sneaking around once a decade and 15 will usually resist random barbarian attacks and the like which can be handy if you've got high misfortune scales.

Anything above that is probably a waste for general purposes, although dropping some quick PD just before a major defensive battle can be sensible if you have spare change and the additional soldiers won't be a liability.

*Disclaimer: these numbers are general values provided for information purposes only and the exact thresholds vary in practice depending on the soldiers your PD gives you. Your mileage may vary. By purchasing this PD you implicitly accept that it will suck, as well as any and all consequences of such suckage. Do not feed your PD after midnight. Warranty void if removed. If your PD lasts for more than 4 hours, consult a physician.

[thejeff]

Dropping the quick PD in before a battle can be especially good if you can teleport a few mages in, but can't get any troops for them to hide behind.

They may be able to buff the PD to a useful level or they may just be able to rain destruction from behind disposable meat-shields.

[thejeff]

No benefit to troops being near their commanders.

A commander with the Standard ability gives morale bonuses to troops near him, but it doesn't matter if they're in a squad he commands or not. Just if they're in the Standards AoE.

Large amounts of weak PD dying/routing can hit the 75% limit causing the whole army to rout automatically. Except berserkers, etc.
From the manual, 50% overall casualties causes morale checks every turn from then on.

Normally a squad only checks morale if they take "heavy losses", a squad under 5 members check morale if they take any damage.

[JonBrave]

A very quick question: I am about to start my third game. I thought I'd go for "Dawn of Dominions", and pick an "average" difficulty nation.

Is the intention from the description that I have to click through to create 11 AI opponents (1 for each nation) and then I play the 12th nation I select (I'll have to write down the names of the "average" ones to remember )? Is that what the map is intended for? (Thought it would be pre-saved like that if that was the idea, a bit confused)

Thanks...

(Oh, and BTW, does that "star-symbol" against only that one game signify anything?)

[thejeff]

Just pick your nation, then add 11 random AI opponents. It'll pick the right ones. (At least it has for me.) When you go to select nations you'll see that all the others are grayed out.

I believe that's why it has the star.

[JonBrave]

Oooohhh, good idea, thank you! I shall do that. So the map is indeed intended for 12 players, I wouldn't have realised that if I hadn't read the description!

Umm, any recommendation for which of the four "average" nations I should try? Have played my first two games with human-type units and fire magic, looking for a change (but I don't want to go near blood yet)...

[JonBrave]

A few more questions/observsations (all SP):

1. I don't really see the point of forging much? The majority of my commanders happily don't have any orders: I don't want them killed for the troop rout, so I'm not going to fight with them. The occasionaly definsive thing, but that's it.
2. As I understand it, each fort takes from adjacent land; if my forts overlap I am actually losing a bit? So I don't build many forts.
3. In current game, I think I am beating AI because of the PD I build as I go. What is the maximum PD the AI ("normal") would build? Should I limit myself to same cap?

[krpeters]

Originally Posted by JonBrave

As I understand it, each fort takes from adjacent land; if my forts overlap I am actually losing a bit? So I don't build many forts.

Each fort uses 100% of the production of the province it is in, and some percent of surrounding provinces. If an adjacent province shows a production of zero, surrounding forts have fully used it. Otherwise, there's still benefit to building a fort there, even though it is a sub-optimal use of gold.

[DeadlyShoe]

The percentage of surrounding resources is the admin value of the fort, which is why Fortified Cities on plains can still work, even with drastically low resources.

Forest and mountain forts ofc tend to have very low admin values so they are only worth building if the province has good resources.

I don't really see the point of forging much? The majority of my commanders happily don't have any orders: I don't want them killed for the troop rout, so I'm not going to fight with them. The occasionaly definsive thing, but that's it.

THe basic items you can forge are mediocre, basically; they can help, but only situationally considering their price. However, once you get to Construction 4 or so, a lot of items come available that can drastically improve combat performance or provide big advantages strategically. For example, you can get items that improve a mages magic skills - enabling them to cast tough spells, or forge items otherwise unavailable. You can also get weapons that cause enemy armies to run away, or that cause area damage.

Also, later in the game most nations can summon very tough very mean commanders that only get tougher and meaner with gear. Eventually you reach a point where the vast majority of recruited troops cannot effectively harm such a commander, and even magic spells can bounce off like ping pong balls.

[thejeff]

The primary use of forts is to recruit mages or to guard valuable provinces (chokepoints or very good magic sites). But mostly for the mages. Therefore, you usually want the cheaper/quicker forts. Admin value and defense are secondary.

As DeadlyShoe says, items are mostly used for building thugs/SCs. It's sometimes worth equipping mages for battle, almost never regular commanders. Maybe bows or spell casting items.