Turtlers and Rushers?

[fantasma]

I'd say that defense is something else but PD and forts. It means more like holding important border provinces with armies ready to destroy invaders rather than using the armies to attack.

Nobody will survive long with only forts and PD.

The point is rather - and as almost everything else in Dominions - depending on the situation.

If you have good troops and poor perspectives when research starts to be important you have to be a rusher.

If you miss sufficient gems of a particularly important kind you have to expand to find income.

If you came out of the box ahead with a decent income and mages that profit from research you'll be better off guarding what you have - for a while.

If you are in a decent position and have potential for the endgame, I think it's best to pick the oportunities that will show up inevitably.

[Zeldor]

Turtling is rather taking a risk and building research mages instead of battle mages. Site searching securely all your lands. Building forts and spreading dominions. Using gems on items/summons instead of battle spells. Not worrying about hunting raiders, getting rid of unrest that comes with that etc. And preparing your next move in that time. But it all can only work if you are around top in stats when it comes to provinces.

[Gandalf Parker]

Either way can be a gamble. And can be done right or wrong.

Im not so much in applying it as "depends on the nation you are playing". I tend to say it the other way around, instead of the nation choosing your style, that your style might choose your nation. People tend to have a playing style that they feel natural in. Its their favorite way of playing. They should try everything of course but I feel that the best players (or at least the ones having the most fun) are those who decide on their style and then match it to the nation which best fits it. That would be true of turtlers or rushers. Those who play defensive researchers need to choose their nation for it just as those who prefer horde swarming would have to pick appropriately to that.

By the way I dont feel that those are the only two choices either. Guerilla, paratrooper, diplomat, ally, checkerboard, assassin, and dominion are all playable styles

[Folket]

I play dominions very defensively.

[Gandalf Parker]

Of course at some point you have to decide when to stop being just defensive. I forgot to mention the mix style I call "bursting dam". Defensive growth of a major army and when the other guy reachs you all worn out from fighting his way to you, then you burst forth like a wave of water going as far and fast as you can before wearing yourself out. Then tax to the max and buildup fast for the return strike from them. Sometimes using heavy purchase of PD near him for a buffer. Its also a favorite tactic for people who consider themselves "defensive but dont piss me off" revenge-style players.

[MaxWilson]

OmikronWarrior said:
I'd say, in general, turtling really doesn't exist in Dominions "gameplay" (in quotes for a reaon to be revealed later). Turtling means not playing slow per se, but investing in your defense. And defense comes in three forms: PD, forts, and a few globals. The globals aren't viable to late game, so I'd say they're not a real turtle defense. PD in general is weak and certainly won't stop any reasonably supported army or equiped SC. That leaves forts, but unless you find a choke point they're too expensive to use in that capacity.

IMHO, PD + Lab + Mages (doing research) is a better defense than a fort. Forts make better factories, but unforted provinces let researchers synergize with PD.

-Max

[Ironhawk]

OmikronWarrior said:
I'd say, in general, turtling really doesn't exist in Dominions "gameplay" (in quotes for a reaon to be revealed later).

Oh, you can definitely turtle in dominions. Tho perhaps not as easily as games like MOO or Civ. In dominions, turtling really only comes naturally to Underwater nations, since they have the water-barrier to act as a virtual wall on all thier provinces. Beyond that, there are a handful of nations which are ok for turtling. Is there still a CTis version with Miasma dominion? They were the best land turtler, if there still is one. The other nations with nasty dominion effects as well.

[Gandalf Parker]

I always thought that some of the heavy research nations, particularly if they had strong bless abilities, made good turtlers.

[thejeff]

Taking a strong bless conflicts with turtling. The main benefit from a bless comes early. There are more counters as more magic is researched. And the bless comes at the expense of scales which would help a turtler, bringing in more money and growing population. Bad scales mean you need to expand faster just to stay even.

Getting a research lead is good, but it means nothing without the gems to support it. Which means territory, which means wars. Or it means clams. I still maintain that the turtling strategy in dominions is based around clams. Strong defense may discourage attack, good research is needed, but can often be gotten through items, but gems producing items are the only way to expand your economy without expanding territory.

[Atreidi]

Well its just like "they" say Defense is the Best offence. One of my favorite strats is the counter attack. When an enemy gives out a MASSIVE attack on a high Defence city you can easyly counter by attaking cities neighboring the place. It will usually be free of enemy army.