Battling Ermoria

[deccan]

Yeah, thanks for the advice. I'd figured out the 1 PD thing.

Also, I discovered that Ermorian priests can't preach but can reanimate. Any idea of the mechanics behind reanimate?

And oh yeah, thanks for reminding me about pillaging. I completely forgot about that.

[Karacan]

For the reanimation mechanics, check your manual. There's some tables what level of unholy priest reanimates how much stuff.

And don't tell us you bought the game second-hand and it came without the manual.

[Vynd]

jarenko said:
Thirdly, I have seen some topics on this but none that answer me satisfactorily. I often play Dominions with a friend, and he often (or always) uses Ermor and seems to defeat me without fail. That in itself is not very signifigant, as I seem to always lose regardless.

I think I have a lot to learn, but in general - what are some effective tactics in fighting the dead?

So far, I tend to use just my troops, I think my weakness may be I leave the AI to cast whatever spells it wants, and dont really bother powering anyone up but my pretender.

I usually make my pretender either a fighter(Wyrm) or a magic user(archmage/freak lord, etc), but I usually create what I think is referred here as a "rainbow mage", and don't bother giving anyone else magic levels.

Comments on the strengths(if ANY :P), and weaknesses of my playing style are quite welcome.

My favorite realms are Ulm, Man, though lately I gave Caelium a shot. Love the mammoths but can't stand the weak troops. Again I think my lack of attention to magic may be partially responsible for my ingame failures.

Magic is the central aspect of the game. I don't think you can be successful at Dominions without it, even if you are playing a relatively "non-magical" nation like Ulm. And to ignore magic when playing with Caelum, one of the magically strongest nations in the game, is definitely a mistake.

As far as defeating Ermor goes, there has been lots of good advice on that already. I especially like the suggestion of trying Marignon, their priests and Holy Pyre spells slaughter undead units.

If you want to stick with the nations you already know, invest in priests. You can form squads of flying Serpahs to strike behind Ermor's front lines, banish his free troops, and generally make his life miserable.

Also, remember that Ermor's ranged attacks are pretty much limited to javelins and a few spells. So archers, which Man and Caelum certainly have, are your friends.

But magic is definitely your best bet. A few mages with the right spells (many of them mentioned above by other folks) can destroy entire armies of Ermor's free undead troops.

[deccan]

Karacan said:
For the reanimation mechanics, check your manual. There's some tables what level of unholy priest reanimates how much stuff.

And don't tell us you bought the game second-hand and it came without the manual.

Heh. Got the manual, but left it at home in Malaysia while I'm in the Solomon Islands. I had to call my mom internationally to get the CD key too.

One other thing I noticed: it is definitely better to attack province you have dominion in since you only get freespawns. Every turn that a province under your dominion that is not under your control is a turn that you lose out on freespawns.