Tactics: Principles, Tips, Tricks, and Traps

[UninspiredName]

I have three little ones.

1: Javelineers rule.

2: Against most standard commanders, a Succubus with enough Blood magic to cast Hellbind Heart really comes in handy if you try an assassination in mid-attack. I usually try the spell twice, then just use an enchanted weapon. (Usually Heartfinder Sword. Who am I kidding, always heartfinder sword.) Charm would also be a good one for any assassin, theoretically.

3: Tying in with the last one, be sure to bring a decent supply of commanders along when attacking. Especially if your foe has attack spells he doesn't need to aim. (Or the aforementioned mind-control magic)

And I'm definitely going to remember the Tornado Charm. Thanks much!

[Gandalf Parker]

"Tornado & Charm" has been my favorite since I came up with it. Its much more efficient than assassins that move, assassinate, move, assassinate. The Tornado/Charm is much easier to actually target his armies with. And you get some great commanders from it while hurting him at the same time. Ive even gotten multiple prophets, and one pretender (Dom2, not sure if Dom3 prevents that)

Setup a lab someplace as a capture factory. A Garnet Amazon province works well. One or two air mages to cast tornado, then a bunch of blood mages to cast hellbind heart. As soon as you get a commander, put all his equipment into the lab and start him moving to the capital to pick up troops.

But dont put any PD into it. That messes things up. Especially if you get archer PD. You want units that you can tell to stay out of the fight for a couple of rounds, then attack whatever is too powerful to charm.

[Horst F. JENS]

Commander snatching:
The new dom3 spell "Winged Monkeys" works like the "Tornado" spell "Wind Ride" (Transport enemy commanders to your lab). If you use Nature mages to charm enemy commanders, remember that "Charm" has a very short range. Place your mages at the front (!) of the battlefield and sript to attack one turn and 4 x charm. Give big groups of bodyguards to your commanders. Forge spell focus or rune smashers for your mages.

[Maltrease]

Here is a tactic I like to use with ME - Bandar Log, but it can work with other astral nations as well.

Earth 9 blessing for reinvigoration bless and also helps turn White Ones into a powerful force for early indy expansion and later meat shield duties.

Recruit a Rishi or Guru every turn and research to Thaum 2 for mind burn, add 2 or 3 to your expansion force to help with knights and tougher indies.

Now play however, but eventually you will want to hit.
Conj 3 - Summon Earth Power
Cons 4 - Eye of the Void and Spell Focus
Thaum 6 - Enslave Mind

1 out of 4 Rishi will have astral 4.

Forge a hammer and make 4 void eyes (and 4 spell focuses if you want).

Equip each Rishi with an Eye of the Void and optional spell focus. Include one Rishi with a random Earth pick.

Make an army of 4 Guru and 4 Rishi.
Guru scripted to slave, Rishi scripted to Master, Enslave Mind x4. With the earth Rishi Master, Summon Earth, Enslave mind x3.

Add a decent conventional army made up of White Ones and some Tiger riders and watch the fun!

Each enslave mind is with +4 penetration (2 from eye, 1 from spell focus and 1 from S6 casting S4 spell). Enslave Mind is range 100, precision 100.

Your slaves are getting +8 reinvigoration (+4 earth bless, +4 earth power. This goes up to +13 once they are over 100 fatigue.

Enslaved enemies immediately join your side in the battle… and anyone alive at the end joins you permanently.
It is awesome watching your army grow after each battle.

Cost
12 Astral for 4 Void Eyes
12 Astral for 4 spell penetrations
1120 Gold for 4 Rishi
640 Gold for 4 Guru


It also scales nicely.
Say 16 Yogi (S1 80 gold mage) scripted to slave.
8 Rishi setup as above, but with starshine caps
1 person with Banner of the northern star
Now rishi is at (S10) casting enslave mind at +6 penetration. This puts even MR18 units in easy grasp. Compare this to “Master Enslave” which is at -4 I think?

Add a staff of storms to protect from flyers, invulnerability and other buffs to protect slaves, air mage to protect from lighting, etc...

This works great against the AI, not sure how well vs. a human. Probably the smaller less costly groups would be more useful combined with other tactics.

[Forrest]

If you like a nice army game.

Very difficult research and magic +3. Though with a strong army race you can have the game over before magic becomes a issue and don't need magic +3.