House Rules against the AI

[Edi]

Depending on what nation you play and what you set the indies level to, chances are that several of the impossible AIs will be ahead of you on the research curve for a fairly long time. Especially if you get a slow start.

[Knai]

Originally Posted by Edi

Depending on what nation you play and what you set the indies level to, chances are that several of the impossible AIs will be ahead of you on the research curve for a fairly long time. Especially if you get a slow start.

Yes, but you can probably keep up well enough when you consider the difference in efficient research as opposed to wasted research. This becomes particularly notable when you start handing out research boosters.

Besides, one only has to beat the AI. At that point, how you use your research is far more relevant than what you have. An impossible AI is pretty easy to drop with only one researcher per lab, particularly as it doesn't bar mages being used for non research purposes.

[JonBrave]

Originally Posted by Knai

An impossible AI is pretty easy to drop with only one researcher per lab

Well, there you are. So you agree with the original poster.

For my part, currently happening to play Dawn map against all Impossible AIs, I have spent the first 8-odd turns hiring researchers at my single lab, and looking at the chart I'm about half way up the scale compared to other AIs. So how I would beat them with just one researcher is beyond me.

Like I asked, has anybody actually (regularly) done this, as opposed to saying how easy it would be?

[Knai]

Originally Posted by JonBrave

For my part, currently happening to play Dawn map against all Impossible AIs, I have spent the first 8-odd turns hiring researchers at my single lab, and looking at the chart I'm about half way up the scale compared to other AIs. So how I would beat them with just one researcher is beyond me.

Dawn of Dominions is fairly stacked against you. That said, against the AI there are a few keys.
1) Province Defense. The AI is monumentally stupid, and will routinely split large forces, kill them off against PD individually, and not learn from its mistakes. PD is a good investment against the AI, and can buy you time.
2) Thugs and Supercombatants. These are amazingly good against the AI, which tends to be pretty bad at anything beyond troop swarming. An army with three banes with a fire brand, vine shield, and amulet of luck stuck way out front will be surprisingly effective, and this requires surprisingly little research.
3) With the 1 researcher per lab requirement, you will want most provinces to have labs. This includes those without forts.

I have killed a bunch of impossibles with the 1 researcher restriction using these keys multiple times, on varying maps. That includes Dawn of Dominions, playing as Caelum.

[JonBrave]

Originally Posted by Knai

I have killed a bunch of impossibles with the 1 researcher restriction using these keys multiple times, on varying maps. That includes Dawn of Dominions, playing as Caelum.

I bow, scrape & grovel Fair enough, that was what I asked for. You are a much better player than I am

I do take your points --- still not sure how you manage it early --- thanks.

I am retrying against AI @Impossible, but this time not losing my Pretender on turn #3 and then having to pray for her return, and I must admit it is going better......

[Makinus]

I never managed to defeat Impossible AIs using the 1 researcher/lab rule, but i can half the time do it against Mighty AIs and consistently against Difficult ones...

I like to play with all empires in a given era, so the maps are normally large (i specially like the Latus one, it is good for some epic games).

I rarely finish the games i start with, normally ending the game when i´m at 1st place with a considerable lead on the 2nd place empire.

As others have said, some empires/tactics make it easier than others... bless factions have a clear advantage here, also a good SC pretender from the start (or at least dormant) will make you go a long way.

Even with the 1 researcher/lab rule i notice that the AIs rarely get ahead of me (with some exceptions when playing AIs above Difficult level), specially since i use all research boosters possible. Lately, instead of building labs everywhere i´m also restricting myself to build labs only where i can recruit a mage type commander (either from a castle, indys or sites).

Finally, i noticed that a higher number of mages in combat will make, at least in the beggining, a good boost to conquering indy provinces... massed fire flies/darts are fun...

[triqui]

Originally Posted by Makinus

I like to play with all empires in a given era, so the maps are normally large (i specially like the Latus one, it is good for some epic games).

Very big maps benefit the AI in my experience. If only becouse boredom makes micromanagment very unfun at large scales, so I tend to overlook a lot of things in the late game, do half-arsed turns and so on.

[JonBrave]

Originally Posted by Makinus

I never managed to defeat Impossible AIs using the 1 researcher/lab rule, but i can half the time do it against Mighty AIs and consistently against Difficult ones...

Well hello there, Makinus! I resurrected this thread because, ever since reading your starting post when I started playing Dom, I have been very disturbed by my inability to win Impossible with just 1 researcher/lab..... I had assumed you had (shame on you!), now I hear you haven't I'm a lot happier