Can't figure out what I'm doing wrong

[SlipperyJim]

What scales were you playing?

[thejeff]

Taxing?

Raising taxes increases unrest and thus will lower income in the (not very) long run. Patrolling counters the unrest but kills population and so lowers income in the longer run. I usually only increase taxes on provinces I expect to lose and occasionally on my capital for the first few turns for an boost to fund initial expansion. (Use the starting army to patrol until you have enough to attack.)

Scales are certainly a question. If you're trying to build high resource troops, you need production scales.

More importantly, though: You're halfway through the second year and have 7 provinces? You should have twice that, at least. (Unless it's a crowded small map and you're hitting AI nations before you can get more, in which case you need a blitz strategy: a heavy bless or SC pretender.) I'm not very familiar with Jomon, so I can't really give specific advice, but you need to focus more on early expansion. Try for a province a turn and start moving turn 2 or 3 at the latest.

Don't worry so much about temples and high PD until you've got the expansion going.

How do you look in the graphs compared to the AI? Provinces and income especially.

[CharonJr]

And at what setting are the AIs ?

If you are playing on the higher AI levels they get fairly large boosts to gold/ressource production.

And I think you are way too "aggressive" on temples and PD, but since ressources and not gold seems to be your problem that might not play a very large role.

Trying to get more mercs in order to help with expansion might be helpful, too.

As has been remarked 7 provinces seem to be fairly low for the number of turns you played.

CharonJr

[Teraswaerto]

It sounds like you overtax your provinces, get unrest, and thus get less resources.

Do not raise taxes over 100 unless you are trying to cause unrest, or are patrolling the province.

[Actuarian]

It sounds like your problem is almost entirely due to you micromanaging the tax levels of provinces. In general, you shouldn't take control of the tax level of a province unless you have a specific reason (blood hunting province, pillaging, are there any others?). It does a good just of maximizing revenue while controlling unrest.

There is absolutely no reason to turn off taxing for provinces with low incomes. You're just hurting yourself. Let the computer manage the tax level and you will get something out of those provinces.

To the extent that your problem is resources, consider buying troops from conquered provinces to fill up your ranks. Heavy infantry, light infanty with javelins and archers are all pretty useful. Even if you can only buy one or two of these per province per turn they can be combined with your existing troops to make a big difference.

Summons can also help if you need more troops.

[Nick_K]

You don't actually /need/ research t beat the AI. If you're being beaten in the early game then consider investing less in research. You also don't need more than pd10 except in border provinces.

Try to keep the number of border provinces low. If you have 7 provinces and, say, 4 of them border enemies then you'll have a hard time concentrating troops in every one of them. At the beginning of the game pick a couple of bottlenecks and expand quickly to them and then slow your expansion. Of course, you should always have an eye on the next target. Dominions is a war game rather than a civ-building one so I'd recommend continual expansion.

Make sure you use mercs. They provide a big early game boost. Bid 1 or 2 more than they ask to be sure you get them. Most mercenary groups are well worth buyign at the beginning of the game.

[Sandman]

Jomon is a probably not a good choice for a beginner, all its troops are bitterly resource intensive and not that great.

A temple is every province is a terrible waste of money if you're struggling, you could buy forty basic human infantry for the cost of each one. The same is true for 20 PD in every province; it's a common mistake for novices to invest in huge PD forces, rather than researchers, forts and mobile armies. 20 PD is reasonable for key provinces, but it's a bit much for unthreatened interior areas.

Three researchers is very poor for the middle of the second year, although Jomon doesn't have good mages to begin with.

And your taxes will take care of themselves. Don't touch them unless you really have to.

[Graeme Dice]

Sandman said:
Three researchers is very poor for the middle of the second year, although Jomon doesn't have good mages to begin with.

What gives you the idea that their mages are poor? They are dirt cheap, and you will easily have multiple mages with two picks in a single path, plus guaranteed astral and nature magic. They are every bit as good as Arcoscephalian mystics used to be in Dominions II. They are probably the most magically diverse nation in the Late Era.

[lch]

On top of all the things already being said, I'll repeat the one thing that may get lost in the arguments here: Don't build temples everywhere unless you need them. Temples are expensive, and when you only have 7 provinces, then you need to put your money into troops, not temples.

[Sandman]

Graeme Dice said:

What gives you the idea that their mages are poor? They are dirt cheap, and you will easily have multiple mages with two picks in a single path, plus guaranteed astral and nature magic. They are every bit as good as Arcoscephalian mystics used to be in Dominions II. They are probably the most magically diverse nation in the Late Era.

Their map move of 1 is a pain, although you're correct that they are better than I gave them credit for.