Beginner Questions

[dirtywick]

Gandalf Parker said:
Hmmm everything has its pros and cons, but generally Id say.. its not worth it that soon.

I would at LEAST make sure that you have taken all of the provinces connected to your castle (press the 8 key to help you tell). And usually I would go another loop or so before I start thinking about another temple. By then I tend to find someplace that needs a temple. Someplace I can recruit special units if I have a temple there.

Of course, if undead armies at approaching fast then toss out everything I said.

With a nation like Abysia I would though. I always have heavy good scales with it, and the starting army can take all of the provinces around my capital 9 times out of 10, so the faster I get my scales out there the more troops I can build later, and I don't need them immediately.

Most of the time it can wait though.

[Gandalf Parker]

Ahh yes. the nations with cold and heat requirements would have a sooner need for temples. Good point.
Probably the death nations also who benefit from pushing death scales. Their armies grow faster because of it.

[Tyrant]

hoo -"Conquer now, consolidate later" is generaly a good motto, but if you are starting an MP game with a low dominion (say 5 or lower) a second temple early might be wise, but only if you can protect it. Climate nations and free spawn dominions might also be in a bit of a rush.

Patriot- Many people,including me, aviod BF blood magic not because it's ineffective, but because it's a pain in the neck. You have to haul the slaves around with you and keep them alive until you use them, there are only a couple blood spells that do not use slaves, and most blood spells have very high fatigue.

The strength of blood comes from a few excellent items (Hell Sword, Soul Contract, Lifetime Contract), and, most especialy, it's many excellent summons. In fact, i do not think that there are any blood summons that are bad, and nearly all are good or excellent. The unique devil lords in particular are highly thought of by nearly all experienced players. One drawback though- they are mostly single unit summons.

[KissBlade]

Tyrant said:


Patriot- Many people,including me, aviod BF blood magic not because it's ineffective, but because it's a pain in the neck. You have to haul the slaves around with you and keep them alive until you use them, there are only a couple blood spells that do not use slaves, and most blood spells have very high fatigue.

The strength of blood comes from a few excellent items (Hell Sword, Soul Contract, Lifetime Contract), and, most especialy, it's many excellent summons. In fact, i do not think that there are any blood summons that are bad, and nearly all are good or excellent. The unique devil lords in particular are highly thought of by nearly all experienced players. One drawback though- they are mostly single unit summons.

Ferry the slaves around with scouts. In fact, ferry all gems/slaves around with scouts if you're not using them. Also ironically enough, the demon lords are considered subpar by nearly all experienced players. I think you mean the unique Arch Devils and Ice Devils though, those are beasts for their cost.

[UninspiredName]

I actually find it no more annoying than regular magic. On the other hand, I don't usually use Blood Magic during combat, so it's kind of unfair to say, I suppose. For me, it's Death magic to keep my casters useful in battle, and a combination of Death and Blood for my outside-war needs. (Hellbind Heart is an exception) I also throw in whatever my national casters are good at.

[dirtywick]

Sometimes you don't need to ferry slaves around, all you have to do is give your commander the order to blood hunt and he might pull a few slaves out ready for the next battle.

[Tyrant]

KissBlade said:


Ferry the slaves around with scouts. In fact, ferry all gems/slaves around with scouts if you're not using them. Also ironically enough, the demon lords are considered subpar by nearly all experienced players. I think you mean the unique Arch Devils and Ice Devils though, those are beasts for their cost.

I do use scouts for carrying things around, but blood slaves are still a pain and blood spells still cost alot of fatigue. (in Dom3 i have also seen the AI attack with the slaves!) And yes, i did mostly mean the Arch and Ice Devils, though i also think the others are worthy except that it's often too much research to for just a couple summons that you may not be sure are still available by the time you get there.

(BTW, not sure i ever congratulated you on your excellent victory in the Dragon game- Gratz!)

[KissBlade]

Tyrant said:

I do use scouts for carrying things around, but blood slaves are still a pain and blood spells still cost alot of fatigue. (in Dom3 i have also seen the AI attack with the slaves!) And yes, i did mostly mean the Arch and Ice Devils, though i also think the others are worthy except that it's often too much research to for just a couple summons that you may not be sure are still available by the time you get there.

(BTW, not sure i ever congratulated you on your excellent victory in the Dragon game- Gratz!)

Hehe, thanks, you had me sweating there for a moment though when you managed to take down those SC's so easily. After that, I just stripped all the SC's down and said the hell with it and just sent in them as battlemages instead =).

[PhilD]

Hey, here's something that looks "not realistic" (using quotes because I'm not sure how having God wannabes taking over a whole world and sending whole nations to destroy each other - or themselves can be said to be "realistic"): I can see magic gems as being something a trained scout/spy could move about relatively easily while avoiding detection as usual, but I have a harder time picturing the same guy moving about stealthily with 30 white-clad virgins in tow...

[Tichy]

Gandalf Parker said:
Ahh yes. the nations with cold and heat requirements would have a sooner need for temples. Good point.
Probably the death nations also who benefit from pushing death scales. Their armies grow faster because of it.

Also "special dominion effect" nations like R'lyeh. I was having a lot of trouble until I got the dominion cranking and all my neighbors started acting erratic.

Gives the squids lots of chaff to throw at arrows, too.