Hi, I'm new! And.. uh.. help?

[Meglobob]

nonsense said:
Thanks for all the replies; judging by the fact that most everyone is recommending something different, I probably can't go too far wrong.

I have to say, avoiding R'lyeh is... well, it's something that won't last too long. Unleashing an army of shapeless ctulhoid horrors is probably what sold me on the game. Still, they sound fairly tricky, so I'll play around with more straight-forward stuff first.

So, to summarize:

1) I should research as much as I possibly can.
2) Temples everywhere.
3) Play a "standard" infantry-archer-cavalry race at first.

Good advice.

One last note, what I struggle with the most in Dominions (and continue to struggle with) is the magic system. Its so huge it takes alot to get yr head around it.

By this I mean what path of magic to research and in what order to be most effective, spells to aim for etc, etc...
It's also different for every nation as well, so only after playing 1 nation 3 - 4 times do u start being near 100% efficient in yr research/spell selection/gem spending choices.

[Tyrant]

nonsense said:

2) Temples everywhere.

Temples everywhere may be fine in SP, which is what we are talking about here, but FYI do NOT do this in MP. Expensive undefended temples will be burned. Build them only in forts or, rarely, in out of the way provences far from the enemy.

[Taqwus]

Early on, rapid expansion is far more important than leaving temples everywhere you go. That means putting money into troops, fast (well, unless you're AE Ermor) -- mercenaries, for instance. Even in SP.

400 gold will buy you a temple... or it might buy you a mage or two for research, or better yet, it'll cover most mercenary bands in SP which will let you capture more provinces faster for more income. Worry about more temples if your dominion is being stomped, or once you don't have as pressing a need for spending all your Au on troops and mages.

[NTJedi]

I completely agree with Taqwus

[Shovah32]

If you want a practice nation my number one suggestion is late LA Man. They have great archers (longbows and crossbows), nice mages for LA (who arent affected by drain), armoured troops and some of the best national troops in late era in the form of defenders (good armour, kite shields, broadswords and crossbows) and possibly wardens (crossbows and greatswords) for raiding. For a pretender set-up try:

Prince of Death with:
dominion 10
order 3
production 3
misfortune 2
drain 3
dormant (so you have time to forge items for him)
and with spare points boost his death magic as high as possible

For your strategy: expand with your starter army and defenders, buying lots of magister arcanes for research into construction (some cheap armour and a luck pendant for your PoD) for when your pretender awakens. Once your PoD wakes up, give him the armour and pendant and send him out to crush any indies (other than undead) and nationals (with average morale) with ease (his fear reduces enemy morale, meaning that with awe he is untouchable and he can also quickly rout enemies).

Your can get diverse magic (magisters arcane have lots of paths, your PoD gives you death which also lets you access other paths via spectres) which allows you to get decent battle magic, good support magic such as buffs for troops(if you can fit some nature onto that PoD you can summon vine kings with some boosters and then use them to give your troops even more buffs) and also some nice summons (the contruction and enchantment schools are good for LA man).

If you can get your pretender up to death 9 you can also use your wardens to help take down or atleast slow down thugs and SCs in the early-mid game atleast (massed crossbows and greatswords with a 350% chance to cause afflictions and an extra, mr negateable addition to each attack can badly cripple lone enemies) and since they are size 2 you can swarm the enemy (the crossbows are ap and the greatswords have high damage so if you can hit the enemy you can probably hurt them)

[DemonSax]

When I first plunged into Dominions, I too wanted to know where the baseline was so I could try and gage how I was doing and what I still needed to learn. The game has so many nuisances that it can all seem a little overwhelming.

The bad news is that I don't belive there are any stock metrics to use as a baseline. They depend on a host of variables, strongly influenced by the faction and pretender you're playing, as well as the map conditions and your opponents. Some basics:

Research - Not all nations can hire good spell researchers, and a few don't even care a lot about research. This will require you to find mages you can hire from indy providence to bolster your research. There are also a few magical items that can boost a mage's research skill. Some nations allow you to hire good researchers outside your capital, but this requires that you conquer, find, or build a new fortress and then outfit it with a lab and possible a temple.

Gems - Your focus on gem hunting should directly relate to your need for gems. You will probably find it more effective to concentrate on the types of gems you want rather than trying to make due with the gems you end up with. You won't always find them, but expanding into the right types of providence and using the proper search plan will help a lot. There was a list of all the magic sites in dom2 as well as the magic paths required to find them. Not sure if that's in the new manual, but it's nice to know.

Fortress/Temples - Their need will largely depend on your strategy based on your nation and pretender. Some units can only be recruited from your capital, while others you can get from any fortress. If you plan is to focus on the capital only units, you will likely have less of a need for an early fortress. Taking a pretender with a low starting dominion can be dangerous, and will probably require early temples to offset. A high starting dominion can allow you to forego the initial construction of temples. Depending on my nation, I will often build a temple in a providence that can recruit indy priests early and use them as temple builders. They typically have much less upkeep than national priests and can make a cheap way to expand your dominion.

Advanced players will typically have an early, midgame, and late game strategy while they pick their nation and build a pretender. This is a fine art that will become easier as you learn the many spells, items, units, and nations in the game. A carefully crafted pretender can provide a bless to your sacred units that make them very powerful, or serve as the catalyst for a powerful global spell that will tip the tide of war in your favor. A 'rainbow' pretender, which has many magical paths can serve as gem hunting machine and provide a variety of magical options.

A) Early Game
Your early game will detail which units your nation has, if any, that you want to recruit for your initial expansions. Depending on your mid and late game, it will also layout your spell research priority. The magic paths available to your mages will be an important guide here.

I will typically want one of these things for my nation right away:
1) Combat spells
2) Summons
3) Thugs

The combat spells are the most straight forward. As a rule, merely sending some mages along with your army will not have the impact you might want unless you have the proper spells researched. And even then it may not yield the expected results. Typically my mages will serve to buff my combat troops, provide artillery support, or provide supplemental troops though combat summons.

Summons would include any ritual spells you want to spend your initial gem production. The conjuration 4 seasonal summons can be a popular choice.

Thugs are the precursor to super combatants. Single units that aren't powerful enough to attack entire armies, but that can make a worthy addition to your regular troops. I find thugs difficult to manage in the early game, since it can be depressing to find your hand picked heroes vanquished though the quirks of combat. Nonetheless, some nations might have national commanders, heroes, or summons that function as serviceable thugs with a small amount of work. With some early buffs or constructions items you can typically boost the protection and/or defense of a hero above 20, which will allow them to trounce lesser militia. The addition of luck, ethereal, and regeneration will greatly add their survival rate.

B) Mid Game

Having mastered the ability to conquer indy providence, you can now focus on the meat and potatoes of your war effort. This will be the point where you will push your spell research into the level 5 and 6 range. Depending on your gem requirements, you will likely want to start sending mages gem hunting, either by physically searching or using the various 2 gem scry spells. You will also want to start building temples to protect your dominion.

1) Combat spells
2) Summons
3) Thugs
4) Global Rituals

Merely handing gems to your combat casters without a plan will often result in them being wasted. Carefully managing their gem supply can be tricky, but allows you to cast those important battlefield spells which require gems. I like to use flying stealthy commanders which don't have any magical paths as gem couriers. They can sneak along with your army and measure out the required number of gems before each battle. A scout wearing boots of flying works well. With gems you can start casting those spells that enhance your entire army or doom your enemies. This can give you the edge you need to overcome a particularly nasty enemy army.

You may now have access to higher level summons, which can either be used to summon powerful combat troops, or to summon mages which offer new magical paths. This may require using some construction research to craft items to boost magical paths, or directly burning gems to empower a mage if required.

Thugs can now be very dangerous, with stealthy thugs serving as deadly assassins.

This would also be the point you launch those mid level global rituals to the dismay of your enemies.

C) Late Game

More of the same, with focus on building nigh-invulnerable army smashers. Your combat spells can now destroy entire armies, but may be expensive enough that you want to use them carefully. You can now summon elite units, turning your gem hoard into unstoppable armies. Your thugs are now true super combatants. The high level global spells bring ruination to your enemies.

[nonsense]

Well, I started a new game with MA Marignon, using a Dormant Baphomet with Astral 9, Fire 6, Productivity 3, and the rest of my points in Dominion, I think. I looked at the national spell list, and liked the look of the angelic summons, so I'll be working towards that after a bit of evocation and construction. He hasn't woken up yet, but in the meanwhile, I've been scouting around and beating up on the neighbours, while I got my research machine going.

I like:

Flagellants - disposable Blessable troops! Great on the attack... sure, they drop like flies, but they're dirt cheap!

The.. uh.. middle mage. The not-yet-old one. Name forgotten. I have a bunch of them pumping out research right now (I was thinking of using the oldtimers for it, but they seem pretty expensive to waste on sitting around a capital. Pretty handy to have around on the battlefield, too, I imagine. I've got an inquisitor leading one of my armies, but I think I may swap him out to take advantage of some better fire spells.

Paladins. Holy crap, these guys are indestructible. He kept getting ahead of the rest of my army (I couldn't afford a cavalry group at the time) and charging into the fray, and I constantly feared for his life, but... man, they can sure soak it up.

There's definite one-more-turn syndrome going on. I like it.


And another question:

Is there a convenient list of units and their stats sitting around anywhere?

I ask because I went into a Caelum indep province with the intention of mowing them down with my crossbowmen while they advanced, with the rest of my army on a hold-and-attack. Thing is, soon as the battle started, some brown winged thingies were right up in my back lines, and I'm not really sure how they got there (or what they are - I only realized afterwards that one can r-click on units in battle to look at their stats). Is that a peculiarity of flyers, or did they just click reaaaaaaally far to the right of the army setup box?

[Taqwus]

Sounds like Harab Raptors.

Flying units essentially teleport in battle -- they may move from any square, to any square. They may also retreat by moving off-map just as quickly.

Most flyers cannot fly in stormy weather, but there are exceptions...

Sunray's guide --
http://www.freewebs.com/dominions2/units_dom3.zip

includes statistics of all the national units; independent units are listed in the 'poptype' sheet of the Excel workbook; as far as I know, there is no similar info sheet for all (1712 in the unpatched, unmodded game) units and commanders.

[Shovah32]

As taqwus said flying units basically teleport in battle. With S9F6 as your bless i would avoid paladins (too costly with that bless) and possibly flagellants (probably too expensive for what they do). If you find you like marignon you may like to try a bless such as:

F9(and whatever other paths you want) dom10 pretender, producing 10 flagellants per turn is nice, when they have flaming weapons its evil.

E9N4 dom5-6 cyclops, brings your paladins up from their fairly high prot 17 to the far nicer prot21 and gives them +4 reinvig so they can fight longer, the nature not only gives them a small (not important really) health regenertation bonus (can be very helpful vrs weak undead hordes ect who rely on attrition) but greatly reduces the amount of afflictions they suffer from. You can also use the cyclops as a SC once he wakes up (he has around 29 prot, full item slots and can buff himself with prot, reinvig and regen)