POLL: Scales, Magic Paths, and Dominion

[SelfishGene]

They seemed like interesting questions that haven't been asked yet.

Although of course there are some nation and build specific strategies it seems like there are some bare minimum scale and dominion choices that carry over from every game.

I also threw in a Pretender-type choice just to see what all these scales and magic choices are being used with.

[Meglobob]

Another day, another poll, cool.

[SelfishGene]

Did i do something funky with the polls? Why in a question does out of 6 answers the choice register as something like 4%?

[Atreidi]

a poll

[Folket]

In my next game I will play with 1 dominion and see how competitive I get.

[SelfishGene]

I find it curious few chose the magic scale as the most powerful. Although i also voted for order, having +1 magic seems nearly essential to be competitive in most games because it totally changes the cost effectiveness of researchers. Take 3-Drain (-2 research), for example, and Tien Chi is virtually crippled, as it's non-capital mages are cheap, low MR point guys.

If i had to take 3-Drain with 3-Order, or vice versa, there's no doubt i'd choose the magic over the money. Of course, since you choose the scales, you can have your cake AND eat it, since you're the one who baked it! .

[Szumo]

Dominion result surpised me. It seem i'm the only one who selected 7, which is the absolute minimum i'll choose, and everyone else thinks you can take even lower :S

[Folket]

I have played in several games and been mighty with dominion 4.

[DrPraetorious]

For *most builds* Order is the most powerful scale, but there are other circumstances where Turmoil+Fortune (or even just Turmoil) is viable.

There is no single scale that is least important - it varies from nation to nation tremendously. I generally take a lot of Sloth, but that reflects my nation preferences, there are a lot of nations for which Productivity is very useful.

Water is the most powerful blessing for most sacreds, but there are notable exceptions that don't care or would rather have other blessings.

"Death Curse" is a joke, but I think +4 strength is usually better than the increased affliction chance and death weapons, on actual combat units. On spellcasters, totally different story.

Astral pwns u.

I think Blood on pretenders is greatly underrated, especially since the poll question allows us to include the minor blessing (+2 str, not at all shabby) in our consideration.

Dom 3 or 4 works fine against CPU but other players will tend to recognize your weakness and capitalize on it. It's a moot point since even on a dom1 chasis, dom 5 is not that expensive.

I generally use an Oracle, Cyclops, Prince of Death or Wyrm.

[Warhammer]

I think blood can be great on pretenders, but most nations cannot make great use of the blood. I typically have better uses than having my pretender blood hunt to empower people.