Ermor Themes

[Alneyan]

Note that mindless units have no problem sieging a fort: they work just as well as anyone else here. Mindless units do work poorly when defending forts.

[Jurri]

Well, it really doesn't matter if your guys are mindless or not if you have eight times more of them than your mindful comparison-group! Soul Gate guys have so low a strength anyway (on average, since most of the chaff is dispossesseds ) that Ashen seems better even in fort defense. And of course they crack forts like heads, being both numerous and strong.

[Turin]

Well I guess it´s a matter of taste which theme you like more. Either you go for masses of troops, in which case AE ermor is your favourite, or you go for awesome leaders, then you are better off with soul gate.

Both themes seem to be incredibly strong (if you know how to make money with them) and I doubt anyone could win a 1vs1 vs my SG ermor.

[thejeff]

Turin, I'm curious. How do you take provinces with just the centurions? They seem to die pretty easily against any real opposition. What does the holdx5 accomplish?
I haven't tried this, but I've seen centurions get killed often enough when they go in with troops so I'm surprised they can win alone.
Since they're immortal, you get them back, but if they don't kill enough to weaken the province it seems pointless.


Or possibly the real question: What do you use for independent strength? I usually play 7-9.
I could see this strategy working on easier settings.

[Jurri]

Oh, the centurions certainly can take indep provinces alone. The holding is for both letting the enemy troops spread a little (you know, heavy infantry is a bit slower than light, and cavalry is faster than anything) and making it harder for the opposing archers to hit. The point would be that the centurion/s routs the enemies one squad at a time, without facing them all at a time. (Turin might have another reason for it, though, but that's why I do it.)

Works on most independent settings, at least to an extent, although as the strength of the indeps goes up the chances of a centurion dying go up as well. You can add to the force as many centurions as needed, though, since they don't rout even if some die; you could also equip some of them: only some, so that if that particular centurion dies the others can pick up the stuff.

Agreed that anyone would have a hard time beating any undead theme played by an above-average skilled player in a 1v1. I still would rather face SG than AE Ermor or CW Pangaea

[quantum_mechani]

Jurri said:

Agreed that anyone would have a hard time beating any undead theme played by an above-average skilled player in a 1v1. I still would rather face SG than AE Ermor or CW Pangaea

I don't know, I never considered it much of a problem. If you know you're facing undead, and no other nations, you can adjust your strategy accordingly.

[Turin]

thejeff said:
Turin, I'm curious. How do you take provinces with just the centurions? They seem to die pretty easily against any real opposition. What does the holdx5 accomplish?

Pretty much the reasons Jurri stated. Additional points are that your centurion will be able to attack the fleeing units for a longer time, thus getting more xp. And enemy mages/priests have only a very poor chance of hitting him.

And once they get into the HoF they can become really nasty: heroic toughness, battle bellow, quickness or protection are all amazingly useful on them.

Indie strength isn´t that important, the only provinces that you should really stay away from are lizard provinces. Provinces with crossbowmen or heavy cav can be problematic too, they are usually for the prophet centurion or centurions with good heroic abilities.

[ioticus]

I hope Dominions 3 tones down the power of undead themes because at present I think they are overpowered.

[regret]

thanks for all the tips on Soul Gate, my game has improved tremendously

but now i want to try Ashen Empire, any tips on that? or play roughly the same way.

by the way, the propheted centurion/consul truely rocks. he just goes thru indies like water

[Jurri]

Turin said:
Both themes seem to be incredibly strong (if you know how to make money with them) and I doubt anyone could win a 1vs1 vs my SG ermor.

quantum_mechani said:
I don't know, I never considered it much of a problem. If you know you're facing undead, and no other nations, you can adjust your strategy accordingly.

I smell a match brewing How about you guys face off, save each turn and report to the community your findings; I think there's a distinct lack of a detailed, good guide on how to handle undead. Now, I'm sure an archived game like that would be a concrete tutorial! (Even though my money's on Turin Still, even then you'd see what's the worst that can happen, which is perhaps even more valuable than a step-by-step instruction... So either way it's bound to be interesting!)