Enlightenment of a SP Addict

[Caseus]

Time for some random thoughts.

I play Dominions 2 exclusively in single player mode. Reading this board makes me realize how much I’m missing in my approach to the game.

Races I can play well include Pythium, Caelum, Vanheim, Arco, Jotunheim, Man, Ulm, Ermor, and Marignon. Vanheim is by far my favorite. In most cases I pick a base strategy that works well (massed longbowmen with fodder in front & wind guide, mammoths & wingless, archbishops summoning horsemen, lots of van, etc) and build around that.

Abysia I’ve tried, but I haven’t found anything that works particularly well, especially versus high strength Indies. Ctis I’m determined to master, somehow. Both those races rate highly on this board and it annoys me I can’t make them work.

I get the impression that in MP it really helps to have a SC pretender. I have yet to be really successful with any SC pretender, excluding Arco/Nataraja. They invariably get horrible afflictions or die. I give them decent items, especially defensive ones. My failing here is likely not building them to take advantage of key defensive spells. Or maybe I just suck.

I like RPs. Great site searching, great research to start, and the ability to cast key spells or build key items. Without a RP, site searching becomes slow and painful. You don’t want to lose your RP, but against the AI you shouldn’t. I am finally beginning to think that a more focused approach to Pretender design is better. Going from Death 2 to Death 5 is not fun.

Mini SCs have been on my build list for a while. Wraith Lords and Ice Devils are particularly tasty. I confess I somehow managed to miss the potential of the Queen of Air. I’m quite curious about building a “Bane factory”. In my Last game I finally tried Tartarian Gate. Titans with GoR are so much fun! Anyone know how many different ones you can get?

A note about Conjuration 8: with Vanheim I build Doom Dwarves – basically, dwarves with earth boots. They search like crazy for every earth site in my dominion. Then I get Conjuration 8. Want to stop an invading army in its tracks? Earth Attack! Want to clean out all commanders in a castle? Earth Attack! You can even pick off Pretenders if you’re lucky. I usually have a dozen Doom Dwarves in my Vanheim games, so that’s 12 possible Earth Attacks per turn, gems permitting. I’m sure this tactic doesn’t work in MP, what with Domes everywhere, but in SP it is a bLast.

Someone made a comment about watchtowers being common in MP games. I found that most interesting. That would save a ton of design points, and the ability to build a tower in 2 turns for 300 gold is great. So where do you put the points? Order, Production and Dominion? More often than not, Growth, Luck and Magic are all 0 in my games. Watchtowers may not be great in games with strength 9 indies.

I think my biggest weaknesses in Dominions 2 are gem distribution and an appreciation of the most powerful combat spells. I’ve tried Thunder Ward/Wrathful Skies once or twice and was not hugely impressed. My mages don’t usually carry gems with them. With Man I had scouts with gems to resupply my mages, since mages take great delight in wasting my hard-earned gems. Maybe it's their revenge for not having a pension plan.

Okay, random thoughts all done. Comments are welcome!


Caseus