Alexander's Ever-Expanding Tome of Knowledge, pt 2

[MaxWilson]

I'll mention in passing that another reason it's easier to defend a chokepoint than to attack armies is that you have easier access to gems for big combat spells (Flame Storm, Rigor Mortis, Shadow Blast, etc.).

-Max

[SlipperyJim]

Very true, MaxWilson.

To clarify: The point of the meat-grinder is not just strong defense. That's good, but it won't win the game. The point is to keep your opponent distracted and wasting resources while you are making progress elsewhere. He throws all of his troops into the meat-grinder. You capture provinces, search for sites, and generally build your empire.

Then you return and crush him when you have an overwhelming advantage.

Needless to say, this strategy works exceptionally well if you can combine it with some other strategy (or strategies) to strangle your opponent. For example, heavy use of spies, blasting his provinces with hostile magic, raiding parties behind the front lines, etcetera....

[HoneyBadger]

Well then, Edi, I'll just keep bumping it into infinity.

[MaxWilson]

<Ahem> While I'm all for keeping the Tome expanding, bumps should probably include a useful tactic, whether it's original or a link to one posted in some other thread. Like the Fog Warrior hydras, for example. Or the scorched earth hydras in the same thread.

(Personally, I largely ignore the stickied threads because it's hard to tell when there's new material.)

Army setup tip: if you're having problems with cavalry munching your mages, set the mages on the extreme lower edge of the setup box, with a squad of units in front of them and a squad of units directly above them. Since attack-rearmost will only cause units to move forward and laterally, not backward, and since it's impossible to place units further down than the bottom of the box, any cavalry will always run into one of the two blocking squads. This is better than a single large squad on "Guard commander" for a couple of reasons: your mages aren't in the middle of the guards (vulnerable to javelins, etc.), and they're also further away from the attacks ("Guard commander" guards sometimes get right in the same square as the mage unless they're size 4, which won't block attackers from meleeing your mage). On the down side, you need a commander in the middle of each blocker squad to anchor it unless you want to risk "Hold and attack," which leaves you vulnerable to "Hold and Attack Rear." You might risk it if you used "Hold and Attack Cavalry," though.

-Max

[vfb]

That looks like a great tactic, Max. Another advantage of the extra commanders is that they have a chance to eat up assassination attempts (rituals or actual assassins) that might otherwise target your mages.

[HoneyBadger]

Bumbs for this thread inevitably *do* include a useful tactic. Maybe not by me, but this one, for example, has garnered 2 so far. I'm going to keep bumping it because I feel it's a very useful, important resource that everyone new to these boards should have immediate access to, and if Edi won't sticky it, then I'll just bump it as a "good deed".

[Foodstamp]

Meglobob said:

Foodstamp, I have done this 100's, perhaps 1,000's of times now in Dom 3. It's never let me down yet. Perhaps due to excessive Dom 3 playing , you were tired and bid under by mistake?

This just happened to me again. EA game playing as Agartha. I bid 1 gold over the demanded price and I am absolutely positive I did it correctly. Ermor outbid me and got the mercenaries. The independents were Asparides (spelling?).

I was thinking, maybe this has to do with other nations getting special deals on certain mercenaries that fit their theme?

[Ewierl]

Meglobob said:Simply bid 1gp over asking price and they will be yours, everytime. When it comes to renewing there contract you after bid full price again +1gp, to 100% guarentee you keep them.

The AI it seems only ever bids the exact amount...

I'm with those who have definitely seen the AI make higher bids on mercenary forces. It doesn't happen too often, but neither is it all that rare. I find that I can keep my mercs 95%+ of the time if I put my bid above the minimum by about 50 gold.

[Ballbarian]

At 6 gold over the minimum I have never, not once ever lost a bid against an AI opponent. Not in Dom2, and not in Dom3 (not sure about DomPPP since I only played the demo). Keep in mind that this is on normal difficulty and it may be a different story all together on higher difficulty where the AI gets gold boosts. The only time I have ever lost mercs was when I forget to bid. (Doh!)

[UncleYee]

Ever since learning about the 1G over trick, I've used it religiously on the harder difficulties, and I've NEVER lost a mercenary except by my own forgetfulness. And I usually end up with all 5 of them for much of the game. But that's just my experience.