First inkling that you’ve won/lost an MP Game?

[Shovah32]

Unlike Xietor, I believe domes are a useful part of almost any strategy. Even with poor scales, a couple of domes can protect major production/research centers - you'd be annoyed if your enemy drove your capitols unrest up by several hundred points if you needed capitol only mages.

Domes can also be useful for moving large armies around in relative safety. If you're opponent is fans of mass army(or commander) murdering spells then setting up a path of dome-covered provinces can allow your troops to get up front mostly unharmed.
Combine them with flying/teleporting(not into your domes) squads of SC killers - obviously to take out SCs who try to destroy your armies - and you can maintain armies well into the late game, although of course it gets harder in enemy territory.

[Saulot]

Out of curiosity, if you have the choice of all available domes, which would you prefer? (first & second choice)

Also, wouldn't the other players set aside their differences for the moment, group their astral gems together, and dispel a nexus pretty quickly?

[Shovah32]

People often do try to dispel a nexus quickly, but in a big game you can often get a large enough return on the first turn its up to put it up again. Not knowing how strongly its put up, people may run out of gems to dispel it.
Also, the casting nation is often the most astral-focused nation and should have many astral pearls in reserve, and possibly alot of clams.

[Xietor]

It is hard to get players to work together to dispel stuff in my experience. It seems most people just think if they do nothing "someone else" will dispel it.

And by the time they realize "someone else" ain't, the game is over.

I like the air dome best with its 80 percent chance to stop spells and it does not have to be renewed. In a perfect world, I like to have an air dome, forest dome, and a frost/fire dome up at my capital.

[ano]

Air dome is quite easy to dispel with the simplest spell "Voice of Apsu". At an average of 10 water gems you should dispel it. That's why air dome may but shouldn't be used alone. It needs to be backed up by astral or (maybe even better) fire or frost dome.

[llamabeast]

That's a sneaky trick Ano!

[K]

I generally find that I'm losing with two conditions:

1. I have a pile of gems/gold and no plan for them. Generally, this means I have no grand strategy and will be losing soon.

2. I have been spending gems on bad summons. Desperation tactics like summoning wyverns or animals means I'm fighting for my life.

I know I'm winning when:

1. I have four or five "army taker" armies that can plow through any army the enemy can provide. These tend to be heavily supported by magic and mages, as well as the best troops like marble statues or wights,

[Xietor]

you cant cast site searching spells at provinces you do not own.

[llamabeast]

I think Voice of Apsu is the exception Xietor, if I remember correctly.

[Lingchih]

I like the Forest Dome for my second dome. It doesn't have all that much stopping power, but it tends to hold up for a long time.