Dominions 2 Demo Review

[PvK]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
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Other than flying units, how do you overcome castle defenses?

Fliers are good. A few other ways:

* Lots of cannon fodder (e.g. militia, tribals, mercenaries, undead).

* Units which are resistant to the defenders' weapons.

* Spells which protect powerfully against missiles.

* Other effective battlefield spells.

* Assassinate the commanders.

* Kill the defenders with ritual spells.

* If the Last enemy stronghold, sweep away their dominion and banish their god, and the men will give up.

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Seems to me there is almost always a considered reason for the costs, even if it isn't obvious at first.

For some units, yes. But there are several Machaka and Jotunheim (the two nations I tried) units that increase in cost too drastically for what you get compared to the next weaker troop they have.

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I've only been addicted to this game for oh, half a year or so, and I haven't even gotten around to playing either Jotunheim or Machaka. (I've only played six of the seventeen nations, and only one variant flavor of one of those, so far, just to give you a hint of how much gameplay there is...).

However I think you're probably just not aware of the reasons behind the costs. For example, holy units have major advantages such as being blessable and only costing half as much to maintain (so their true cost is nearly half-off if they survive). Having fought Jotunheim a lot, I know that the little guys can complement the giants in a combined arms fashion, particularly because they can sneak in between the giants to increase the attack of a front, and also to distract attacks from the giants. Or, they can do a quick flank/rear attack, or block one.

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Maybe with low-morale units and fright-inducing effects (such as dead leaders, fighting monsters, etc), but that's intended. There are many spells, unit types, items, etc. which will very effectively reduce routing. I find the morale system extremely welcome and quite well-done. It would be a lot less interesting and less appropriate if everyone fought to the death regardless of circumstances. Terror and the ability to resist it is a major factor in war, especially when dragons and undead elephants are involved, etc...

But when you have no units with terror, they still route far too quickly...

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Maybe a matter of taste, or your particulars and inexperience. Having played a lot and watched all the battle replays, I think the morale system works really well.

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And yes, all the castle stats should be available on start-up. That's an omission, though the fans of course have posted a nice table.

PvK