Q: New to game, need advice - getting wrecked

[Nick_K]

Diplomacy in the dominions series takes a bit of getting used to...
Basically, the AI will consider itself at peace with you at the start of the game. If you end up at war for any reason it will then attack you quite relentlessly, so all it takes is one battle to trigger a big war.

If the AI attacks you, you attack the AI, you use a non-anonymous province attack spell (e.g. call of the wilds), or (probably) you assasinate a commander of theirs (no 100% about this last one) then you're at war. If you both attack an independant province on the same turn and end up fighting you're not at war. Also, the AI will sometimes attack provinces you're sieging if they're at war with the guys in the fort.

The key is to choose your wars so you don't fight on each front. The way to stop the AI attacking you is to have a strong (especially numerically) force in every border province that they can attack. In the early game I'll build border PD to 20 and try to put a commander or two with troops in each such province to discourage attack. Later you'll need bigger armies and more PD.
This is only really possible if your borders are not large. Try planning your expansion so that you get to bottlenecks and then stop and fortify. Ideally put fortresses in the border provinces so that the AI will be slowed even if they do attack.
Once you have strong borders, choose one enemy - maybe someone you have too large a border with - and attack.
Sending bribes doesn't do anything - I think it's mainly there for multiplayer diplomacy

[jutetrea]

Thanks guys!

Good analogy on the MTG as well, it does seem very similar especially with the multiple magic paths.

I obviously haven't been dealing with magic effectively yet, I'll end a game with a ton of gems, rarely alchemize them, never empower, never search. Being on the demo and limited to lvl 4 spells I thought I wouldn't need to...oops (especially while the AI doesn't seem to be limited

Someone mentioned in another thread that a possible way to stave off multi thrashings is to stay on top of the army graph, even if its just with your cheapest units stockpiled.

Other than the greeks (ascepolis?) siege guys, are there specific strategies for breaking into forts? I can have an overwhelming # of troops, and still get stuck on the door forever.

How much does itemization (forging) play into everything? Is it generally better to rush research or initially get your main guys geared up then research? I'm assuming the construction path buffs your available forging recipes, is it worth hitting early?

Thanks again, i'll try the buffing of the archers approach. (I'm assuming longbow gives a better range/damage then shortbow/slings and thus more attacks before melee go at it.)

[Teraswaerto]

jutetrea said:
Thanks guys!
Other than the greeks (ascepolis?) siege guys, are there specific strategies for breaking into forts? I can have an overwhelming # of troops, and still get stuck on the door forever.

When storming a castle you should have some kind of elite troops charging the gate. A few elite defenders can hold the gate against huge hordes of inferior troops, at least until they collapse from fatigue, since the attackers come at them only a few at a time.

[thejeff]

Other alternative is to hold back and let the defenders come out.

Since there's no way to order defenders to hold the gate, they'll charge out where you can surround them.

That and fliers to attack the rear.

Fliers also help with breaking down the gate in the first place.

[jutetrea]

If you hold back, do you generally get pummeled with ranged?

How many holds do you generally script?

Fatigue... yet another thing I need to get a handle on

My bud took too long to check it out, I ordered it today

[Baalz]

Well, the answers to your questions is, of course, it depends! Troops with shields fare a lot better against arrows, some fortresses have no arrow towers, some have a bunch. Is your enemy using archers or mages, if so how many, how powerful? Do you have stronger ranged troops than your enemy? Do you have any resistances you can throw down, like for instance fire resistance if you're expecting fire mages pummeling you? Do you have a small number of tough guys who you can buff, or a huge army of chaff? Do you expect them to send a never ending wave of undead out the front gate? Do you/they have cavalry or flyers? Etc, etc, etc. This game has very deep strategy, you can't really give a one size fits all answer to questions like that.

As far as fatigue goes, you'll start getting a handle on that when you get more powerful in magic and start summoning big bad dudes who are basically invincible...until they pass out from exhaustion. It's not usually a big deal with your swarms of regular units. Just one more dimension you have to ballance.

[thejeff]

Just pull the troops back to the rear of the field and put them on hold and attack.

It depends on what troops you have and what you expect them to have.

I've been playing Man lately, so I'm likely to have serious missile superiority. I'm fighting Jotuns so I'm not likely to break through the gate easily. Solution: let them come out, swarm them with smaller troops and pound them with arrows. If you've got better artillery mages, the same strategy can work.

If you've got better troops who can break through the gate defenders and get inside, do that.

[Shovah32]

Im not sure if this has been mentioned(not enough time to read everything) but the reason your being crushes by abysian troops is their heat aura, above average stats and great prot(they are even better in EA incase your playing there)

[Ironhawk]

Magic is a huge part of the game. Even magic up to only level 4 is very powerful.

Seiging a fort is a simple matter of (to make a long story short) more men seiging than the enemy has defending. As for how to Storm a for - thats a different matter. There are tons of strategies for it, but at its most basic level it is this: How will you counter the defensive advantage of the wall? Some of the common ways to do this are: archers, magic spells, flying, trampling, or an ultra elite vanguard to take the gate.

Yes, staying on top fo the army graph (or close to it) will make the AI less likely to attack you. It is an important factor in SP gamees.

Forging Items plays a pretty big role in the full game. There, you will often forge "booster" items which increase your power in a magic path so you can cast the mega spells. Or equip an SC (super combatant) with all kinds of fancy equipment to go and destroy all your enemies.

Oh, and as for Abysia specific attack strategies, magic is probably the easiest is magic. Look for the high precision, armor negating spells like Lightning Bolt, Soul Slay, etc.

[jutetrea]

Thanks a ton guys, I've learned more with this post than i have playing for 2 days.

Tried again, this time vs. 4 comp opponents EA, got an edge keep with expansion room up top, and 1 good chokepoint, 2 2 province chokes... right outside of which are the greeks and ulm i think, leaving me with about 12-14 provinces I can hold. 2 of which declared war on me before I even found them, even while I was at the top of the army board.

Fire arrows work FANTASTIC! significantly cut down on my losses.

Been going with a 2 prong approach, group of melee on the left with ranged behind, same on the right, if I have cav i go flank/rear.

Established my borders, playing defensively and advancing slowly. Slowly building up my big army as I make my way to the first enemy stronghold, hopefully connecting 2 chokes so i reduce my exposure. No clue where the other baddies are, but they have to be behind somewhere.

This game SERIOUSLY needs a waypoint system (build a unit, tell it where to go...in x turns it arrives, if the province is taken, oh well). Half my time is spent shuttling guys back and forth to the front, cleaning up after partial routs, etc.

So, questions:

Does encumberence/fatigue matter with the undead?

Should I have spent more time searching before jumping in with defense/expansion? I only hit like 2 areas, found some sites... but now have a 3path doing searches..slowly.

Is it worth empowering your peons? Should I wait till i have a hefty gem pile or go for it right when i get enough?

I'm only a few turns away from my first siege, so I'll try the tips.

Can't wait till the full version gets here.

Edit: Oh yeah, any insight on Blessing? i.e. triple bless? I'm assuming that a higher path conveys the static bonuses (i.e. +1 MP 4S)? And that having 3 paths with 3 bonuses all stack? I hear it mentioned a lot, is it significantly powerful or just another viable strat with the right races?

Thanks again!