Noob, needs advice please

[DanielDrache]

I brought Dom3 through eBay (no manual, sending a 300page book to New Zealand would of been way to expensive)

I've played 5 games so far.
1st game was against 1 easy ai, which lost all of its provinces without me fighting it.....
Rest I've lost


I've lost them mainly due to the extremely large number I've gone against, I've downloaded the Better Independents mod which should help.


Can anyone give a suggestion of a powerful early nation?

Is there a modding tool, that lets me alter a nation/Pretender?

How can I message other pretenders? ie peace etc

this may be part of the previous question, on StrategyWiki the part about supply, nature mages or magic items, but "or find a trade partner"
How do I get a trade Partner?


Finally, I normally build a temple, Lab & fort in all provinces, The Walkthrough & a few posts have led me to believe maybe thats not good?
Fort = more income & better defense
Temple = stronger influence & able to build a few better units
Lab = Allows research & able to build a few better units




Thanks for any help
Daniel

[Evilhomer]

Those 3 buildings cost money as well, that can be better spent on more troops. More troops will allow you to expand faster, which gives more gold (due to more lands) allowing you to expand even more.... In short you don't want to add all buildings everywhere, especially early (exception might be late game ermor since they cannot build troops/mages but thats another story).

I generally spend all my gold on troops/mages until the point I hit an income of 1500+, at that point I add a fortress+lab in a strategic or good province.

As to strong EA nations, you might want to consider a bless nation (strong sacred unit that your priest can cast bless on to give them bonuses related to the magic path of your pretender).

For example consider Niefelheim, and pick an cyclops and chose the alternative imprissoned for him to get more points. Then increase his magic to 9 i earth and 9 in nature. Pick a dominion score of 5 and order 3, cold 3 and the rest as you can afford or want. In each battle bring nifelgiants (big guys that cost 150 gold) and use a priest with the script to bless those guys in the beginning of the fight.

If you really don't want to play with a bless, consider a nation that has elephants/mammoth. A good such nation is Caelum. Build lots of mammoth as you can afford and mix them with other units that has high morale (in the same group that is). Research offensive spells like thunderstrike and orb lightning for your mages to use (Eagle kings are good offensive mages).

[DanielDrache]

Scripts, For the priests blessing, would that be cast spells?
or do they have a choice I've missed?

Or is it custom scripts?


*Edit
Where do I put mod & map files?
I'm guessing the mod & Maps folders, But do all the files go in them?
& do mods stay in their own folder?

[Shovah32]

Just send the map/mod files straight to their folders and they should work fine.

For the priests, just telling them to 'cast spells' should work but it would be better to tell them to cast a specific spell and select blessing there(make sure they are in range).

Try going to the dominions IRC channel(there is a sticky about how to get on it) - plenty of helpful people there to talk to generally.

[Loren]

How can I message other pretenders? ie peace etc

Unfortunately, the AI doesn't listen. The message engine is only for dealing with other humans.

this may be part of the previous question, on StrategyWiki the part about supply, nature mages or magic items, but "or find a trade partner"
How do I get a trade Partner?

Again, only a meaningful concept in multiplayer.

Finally, I normally build a temple, Lab & fort in all provinces,

Way too expensive and counterproductive besides. Forts are better if not adjacent to each other as they are drawing in production from nearby lands.

Likewise, labs are useless unless you want to do something there that needs one. Only blood nations need a fair number of labs--and that because they need one in every province they are blood hunting.

Only temples should be built everywhere.

The Walkthrough & a few posts have led me to believe maybe thats not good?

Very not good.

Fort = more income & better defense

No. Forts redistribute income, they don't increase it.


Playing the game without the manual is *HARD*. The guy who sold you the game probably also didn't get rid of his copy of the key--this could be a problem if you ever end up in a multi-player game against him.

[sum1lost]

Loren said:

Unfortunately, the AI doesn't listen. The message engine is only for dealing with other humans.

Again, only a meaningful concept in multiplayer.

Way too expensive and counterproductive besides. Forts are better if not adjacent to each other as they are drawing in production from nearby lands.

Likewise, labs are useless unless you want to do something there that needs one. Only blood nations need a fair number of labs--and that because they need one in every province they are blood hunting.

Only temples should be built everywhere.

Very not good.

No. Forts redistribute income, they don't increase it.


Playing the game without the manual is *HARD*. The guy who sold you the game probably also didn't get rid of his copy of the key--this could be a problem if you ever end up in a multi-player game against him.

Loren- Forts admin bonuses are supposed to increase gold income of surrounding provinces, and resdistribute resource incomes.

[DanielDrache]

Thanks you very much Loren,
I didn't realize that Forts drew the income in from nearby provinces.
I assuming that includes supplies & wat not lol


Only question left unanswered is how to mod pretenders.
I'll have another search through the modding forum & post a message there if I can't find out how.

[Velusion]

Loren said:
Only blood nations need a fair number of labs--and that because they need one in every province they are blood hunting.

FYI this is false. Having labs in every location you are blood hunting only cuts out the repetitive task of using scouts to transport new slaves to protected labs. Scouts are much cheaper than a lab. Labs are not required to blood hunt in a province.

[Edratman]

You initially asked for a powerful early nation. I would suggest Helheim, with good troops and glamour which will give good kill ratios. You will need independent archers, but that is easy. Helheim will allow you to expand early and easily.

Another easy nation is Nefelheim with good sacred giants. Go for good scales, and at least a 4 nature/4 earth bless using a dormant rainbow pretender for searching. On your setup screen go for 300 gold, 300 resources and 300 supply. On normal difficulty you should be able to crush the AI on a small map (40-50 prov) with 3 opponents just with the sacred giants. Game will seem easy.

After a couple of games with the "HEIMS" to get a feel for the game, go to a circa 250 province map with 15 opponents still staying with whichever Heim you liked best. Stay at the 300 settings of gold/resource/supply. There are some good maps that come with the game in that size range. You should be able to expand like mad early. Here it is very likely you will see the limitations of the Heims and encounter the complexities of the game because the AI overwhelm you unless you are a better player than I .

Then you are on your own for the wonderful experience that is DOM3.

[llamabeast]

Hmm, these things are obviously very much a matter of opinion.

Personally I would always play on default settings for gold, resources and supplies, otherwise you are not really getting the normal Dominions experience. Also I get worn out on larger maps, so would probably play one with 100-odd provinces, e.g. Parganos. But everyone plays the game differently.