Enemy dominion too high for me?

[JonBrave]

A brief one, since I suspect I know the answer (as in, there's not much more I can do...)

I have taken a province on my borders. The enemy dominion there is #9. Is there really much more I can do than I already have done? I preach, I build temple, I blood sacrifice, (so far --- several turns) nothing has moved it one iota in my direction. I have dominion level 5-ish for my start-up.

[brxbrx]

An army of preachers can't hurt. Though I don't know enough of the game's mechanics to tell you whether or not it helps.
Just keep conquering provinces, smashing enemy temples, and making your own.
It'll start to go down eventually.
De-paganizing never happens over night.

[iRFNA]

The chance for changing dominion 1 toward you are (30% * priest level) - (5% * enemy dominion). Thus, lv 1 priests are worthless against 6 dom, and close to worthless against anything but very low enemy dom. So priest spamming isn't always very potent.

[Finalgenesis]

Preachers preaching on top of a temple get +1 level in preaching effectiveness I believe.

Part of the reason for your problem could be that enemy dom is coming out enmass (especially if he's in a corner, or just have a well-consolidated empire), especially if the province in question is geographically a focal point.

Playing lots of water nations I hit on this problem a lot as narrow water strips are almost all focal points to dom spread, I've had 20 lvl 2 priest (lvl 3 with temple) preaching in a focal water without raising dom at all, but then there are probably 10+ enemy dom pushing into it every turn

[brxbrx]

Do you have access to inquisitor? That could tip it for you. An inquisitor profit can turn things around. You can also give him the Sword of Injustice, the Sword of Justice, or maybe the ark. Or the stone idol.
Or bring in a bunch of Juggernaughts.

[Knai]

If you take a few provinces past this one, you'll be better able to destroy it. Until then, anything that reduces the dominion in general can work. A scout of some sort with a stone idol equipped could get a start on this, then move into enemy dominion and weaken it from other, possibly enemy, provinces.

[JonBrave]

Thank you, guys, about what I thought.

Unfortunately, I do not have access to any of the forgeries mentioned (nor the inquisitors). It's a small map, so there's no other room for me to expand from/to. The province is a choke point. I've built a fortress there.

I have kept my God there for a turn (I know he counts toward my overall conversion rate) does him being in a province actually help convert that province (given that he is not a priest)? I don't like him/Prophet being there for long, as the bad dominion reduces him to to just 1 HP!

[brxbrx]

who're you playing as?
it'd help us to know your options.

[JonBrave]

Hang on: I'm a blood nation [Vanheim] (for the first time). Although I've tried it a bit, just how much difference will blood sacrificing make? My God is #6, much higher than my other guys. Trouble is, I need him to do too many other thnings! And like I said, I don't like him being so vulnerable there.

I guess, like you said, because it's a choke, there's still enemy dominion touching up to it on the other side. So I presume that means that even if I succeed the other side is just a s likely to push new dominion back in, so i get nowhere.

If it were as easy as just "taking a few provinces past this one", I wouldn't be asking the question in the first place!

[kasnavada]

(if I understand the rulebook correctly )

Blood sacrifice makes a huge difference because it makes temple checks. Again, assuming that you've got a dominion of 6, for each sacrificed blood slave you get 60% chance of raising dominion, no matter what dominion the province has.

With jade knife and a few priest level , and 3-4 priest you might get 12 chances to raise dominion in a single turn.