Special update for Jurri
Jurri said i have not written enough yet about reasoning behind my strategies i did so far.
Well the reason is because there was no strategy at all behind my turns, i just did random stuff
.
More seriously though Jurri is right i think so i will try to explain my plans (and lose the last bits of reputation as good strategian i might still have along the way
).
We are still in the early game phase of the game. This is a good opportunity to use QM's excellent early game guide for Dom2:
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...=&fpart=1&vc=1
It is basically still true for Dom3, but there are lots of changes of course, so QM's guide needs to be rewritten for Dom3 eventually on the one hand because of new indies and changed indies and on the other hand because of the slowed down research. So SC gods become less important in Dom3 in the earlygame imho.
There are two categories of game types for Dom3 imho. Expansion differs for them.
Category 1: Blitzkräääg games
Blitzes (how surprising
) and small SP/MP games.
I think you could use provinces per player as the main criteria, lets say any game with less then 10 provinces per player averagely.
In those games fast expansion is probably most important. If the game is MP then you can rush some players earlygame and maybe completely neglect diplomacy.
Category 2: Sitzkrääääg games
Those games are very long games which reach the very lategame stage almost always. At least if the province count is > then 20 provinces per player averagely then it is almost granted that the game will last at least 100 turns.
Here we should differ if the game is SP or MP, but imho in both modes, though the reasons are different, it is best to not overexpand.
SP: Some additional castles are more important than some more provinces imho. In Dom3 getting new castles is tougher than in Dom2, and most indy mages are much weaker than in Dom2. Also most nations have very good troops, much better than the indy troops too.
So in Dom3 it is imho better to have 40 provinces and 5 castles than 1-2 castles but 60 provinces at the same time in a huge game.
MP: If you are number 1 in provinces and gold income and have a rush strategy, your opponents will fear you and ally vs. you. The Ironhawk style is imho the best for longterm games. Do friendly diplomacy with all the players, grow in secrecy and optimally have one player who rushes to mark as badboy. You will be rank 2-5 in most scoregraphs but in truth you are number 1 in power. You try to hoard as many uniques as you can get and eventually you start hostilities when you feel strong enough by "dowing" the other players indirectly, e.g. through casting some globals in 1 single turn.
Time will tell though if this strat is still as good in Dom3, because gold is a more important resource and hoarding is harder.
Ok enough about game classifications. Our SP game clearly belongs to the Sitzkräääg category
.
My thoughts about Argatha:
My two most important units, the Necro and the blindfighter, are both non-capitol only, but have only 1 Mapmove. So many castles close to the front are important. Because they are so slow expansion will be a bit slow though. We speeded up our expansion by heavily use of mercs.
Imho though Argatha is never the fastest late game expander. But it is not important. Argathas strongest time will be in midgame.
The Argatha Crossbows look promising too, but my experience with them is not so good. Versus HI and HC they tend to lose. Since their precision is rather low they tend to inflict huge friendly fire casualities too.
The cave knights are too expensive, and the various argatha infantry units are not bad, but imho the blindfighter is the best one out of them.
Argatha LI needs too many resources. It is more MI, but they cannot be used well in combination with your crossbows and they take casualities vs. enemy HI/Crossbows/HC.
10-15 Blindfighters with my bless can take most indy provinces without taking losses.
Only barbarian provinces and provinces with lots of HC/Knights i avoid. Knightprovinces i avoid in general, vs. Barbarians i use either indy shortbows or Argatha light crossbows.
My initial research goals depend.
Thaum 2 for augury and gnome lore and conjuration 2 for dark knowledge are normally my first research goals.
After that i usually try to get conjuration 3, enchantment 3 and evocation 6 asap.
Once those goals are researched Argatha is ready for some pvp conquests.
Your Necros can then do probably the most impressive midgame battlemagic in late era:
-Skellyspamming
-Banefire
-Gifts from Heaven
-Magma Eruption
-Blade Wind
Also as support magic they can cast summon ep. And my bless gives them another 4 reinvigoration.
If you fight undead hordes you can also research wither bones.
So in midgame as long as there are no good counters Argatha rocks. My Necros can easily kill hordes of lightly armored troops with blade wind, heavi troops with magma eruption and enemy SCs with banefire and gifts from heaven.
If you get rushed by humans earlygame you can defend with skellispam.
It only gets problematic once your enemies have counter spells. Rain of Stones, Flames from the Sky and Mind Hunt are the spells i fear most in longterm MP games.
But in midgame normally you should be able to rush some opponents. So by the time the above mentioned spells become available you can hopefully overwhelm your opponent. Also your national summons and classical thugs are good options.
For lategame you could try the demilich/wraith lord/ghost riders/tartarian/flames from the sky route.
And when your great mother awakens she can summon a faery court. Then you get access to air magic too. And ivy kings for vine ogre spamming.
Only getting access to water and blood is complicated for Argatha.
But for late era they are a magically extremely flexible nation.
That are my thoughts about Argatha so far, ideas and discussion are very welcome
.
Re: Happiness in Darkness -An Argatha Ktonian Dead
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Linear Mode
