Guide: LA Man - Death and Taxes

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In your capitol? Did the full growth scales propagate to the province? Do you have enough base pop in the province to produce enough new peasants to balance taxes and patrolling?

[AreaOfEffect]

The majority of the time, the results of 120% taxes + growth 3 + patroling = minimal pop loss. That said, it is always important to remember that dom3 style randomness is a factor.

On occasion above average unrest will occur. On occasion below average potrolling performance will happen. There are also a ton of unrest events and indy attack events which will complicate the results. You also need to be shore that your dominion has spread to the zone and established your good growth scale.

Also remember that what I outline is my approach to overtaxing Man. You need not follow it to a tee. You can choose to be conservitive and average 110% taxes. Some player are use to controlling death scales and might decide that the quicker and less sustainable 130% tax rate is good for them. A sound tax strategy would be to start high and then lower taxes in an attempt to jump-start Man. I personally don't hesitate to lower taxes to 100% when hit with high unrest.

What I outline is basic starting point for a wealthy nation of Man. I'll let you take it from there.

Edit: I must admit, I don't have confidence that one judge will handle the unrest from 130% taxes in most provinces.

[Horst F. JENS]

i used the strategy with taxes on 110% and patrolling. Population increased. Maybe 120% is a bit too much.

[Ironhawk]

This was an interesting read but I wouldnt say that its an excellent guide. It covers the unique patrolling mechanic, but IMO, falls down in terms of strategy advice. What are good compositions and tactics for your armies? What should you summon?

A couple of points like stealth and good BE spells for LA Man are talked about in passing, but no cohesive strategy for how to carry out a war...

[AreaOfEffect]

Before I respond to the above I just want to make a comment about drain scales. After experiencing the effects of Drain 3 a bit more, I'm willing to swear against it. Even with complete drain tolerance I find the last 40 points not worth it. The chances of getting a magic fading event at the wrong time, or any time for that matter, just isn't worth risking. In one game I've received the magic fading event 6 times. That's with order 3 and a misfortune 2.

You could potentially protect yourself by storing your gems on commanders, but it won't protect gems you've receive from allies in the same turn. Storing gems on commanders produces another level of micromanagement that you don't need. Furthermore, it isn't entirely safe as an assassination attempt or well placed falling fires could ruin your day.

Originally Posted by Ironhawk

This was an interesting read but I wouldnt say that its an excellent guide. It covers the unique patrolling mechanic, but IMO, falls down in terms of strategy advice. What are good compositions and tactics for your armies? What should you summon?

A couple of points like stealth and good BE spells for LA Man are talked about in passing, but no cohesive strategy for how to carry out a war...

I can understand your criticism. There was a great deal of things I left out of this guide that I originally meant to include. I did this because I wanted to focus on one very important thing, where to start? How does someone take the 'weakest' nation in late-age dominions and place oneself into a good position for the middle and late game? I also felt that I couldn't speak from a position of experience to write anything further.

Now that I have had the time to experience my version of Man in a late-game struggle, I will soon write a companion guide. Hopefully this will have the information you've been seeking.

[JimMorrison]

Originally Posted by AreaOfEffect

In one game I've received the magic fading event 6 times. That's with order 3 and a misfortune 2.

Drain + Misf is a brutal combination. You can make it quite awhile with no problems, but in one game I got magic fading twice in 3-4 turns, and lost probably 200 gems that I was stockpiling for empowering and globals.

[Baalz]

Is not the problem misfortune rather than drain? Rather than shifting from drain 3 to magic 1, why not from misfortune 2 to luck 2?

Misfortune + drain is a bad combination, just like misfortune + death...

[AreaOfEffect]

My claim is that drain 3 is not worth it. That doesn't imply taking magic 1 instead. As far as I've tested, moving to drain 2 makes a dramatic difference. My original impulse was to blame misfortune, but I'm not sure that solves the problem. Feel free to avoid misfortune if it makes you uneasy.

[Zeldor]

Baalz:

I never had any bigger problems with Drain2 + Misf2. Most of bad things are usually indie attacks or unrest events.