Newb ?.. Dominion, what does it mean?

[Rathar]

Hiyo!

Just got this game and have been fiddling with it and well, getting my arse kicked by the AI which is all fine..

Anyways, my point.. (I've looked at some of the faq, searched for dominion strength, RTFM'd..)

When creating a pretender what exactly does dominion strength do? I see it costs points but what does one get for said expenditure?

Cool game btw, but lots I am just clueless about having only played 10 games or so and none of them past turn 10 or so.

Oh yeah, is there a "best" fort? Want to RP this as much as possible so not looking for min/maxing ideas but would love to learn so as to avoid silly setups.

Caelum suck or is it I? Pretty certain it's all me.

Rathar

[deccan]

The higher your base dominion the faster your dominion spreads and the better your scales spread. High dominions affects the effectiveness of some spells, and your pretender and prophet get bonuses in high dominion areas and penalties in negative dominion ones. Your troops also have a morale bonus in friendly dominion.

Caelum is considered one of the best nations. Many people consider air magic as overpowered and flying is immensely usefull strategically.

[PDF]

As for best forts, go for a Mausoleum with Caelum, it is enough.

[Alneyan]

The most common forts are usually Watchtower (cheap, can be put everywhere, costs nothing), and the Castle (costs points, more expensive to build, taker a longer while). The Watchtower is especially nice for a nation like Caelum, as you can recruit all your mages everywhere, unlike Man, whose mages are only available in your capital.

Dominion strength is also helpful for some special effects, like the automatic generation of troops (Ashen Empire and Soul Gate for Ermor, Carrion Woods for Pangaea), killing off your own population (same themes), or getting an income bonus (C'tis Miasma, where you get +1% income per level of Dominion in all provinces). And of course, if you lose all your Dominion, you are dead.

[Chazar]

Bah, for Caelum I always take the Wizard's Tower: The higher admin score helps to prevent starvation of the hungry caelians and mammoths of adjacent armies and the high supply bonus is useful to last the 1-2 turns of the siege until nearby fliers arrive to relieve the sieged tower - and thanks to high admin the amassed troops dont starve after they successfully defeated the attackers. Sure, food becomes a nuisance in mid-game, but surviving until mid games is Caelum's main problem, for mage nations can only grow stronger as the game progresses (more research done means more powerful mages).

Furthermore I go for cheap pretenders in order to get good scales: order+3,growth+3,magic+3. Growth again helps against starvation and in combination with the Order Scale gives you enough money to pay all those expensive mages (yes, I do know that Caelian Mages are the cheapest around). In order to make the most of those expensive scales I recommend a high dominion strength (8-9). As written in previous posts: The actual dominon strength (height of the white candle) determines the chances for each scale to tip one step into the directon you have choosen at your pretender design so expensive scales with a weak strength might not pay off as well...

For the chassis, try a Fountain of Blood with some Blood and Earth magic in order to forge DwarvenHammers, EarthBoots+BloodStones for Staffs of ElementalMastery and in order to summon IceDevils and others of their ilk. Caelum does not need a pretender for manual site searching nor for fighting, but merely to bring in the magic paths that the seraphs lack... However, this is just my design for caelum which was pretty successful for me in a couple of MP games so far, but sure some people here will disagree!

However, that is the beauty of the game: The most important thing is to understand the design and the strength and weaknesses of the nation you're playing and while I might play Caelum, I cannot give you any advice on how to play Pangaea, because I lack the comprehension of the concept of Pangaea. Yet this certainly one of the reasons that keeps the game interesting even after a year of constant play...
---
And back on topic, the initial dominion strength times 10 is the percentage chance for each temple to increase a candle (dominion) by one step throughout the entire game...

[PDF]

Yeah, why did I write "Mausoleum" ? I thought "Watchtower" indeed ...
Wiz Tower is neat but I always find it too costly design-wise. But with Caelum you're less pressed to squeeze everything from your points, they're so powerful ...

[Gandalf Parker]

I always thought that the "candles" used to show dominion strength was a pretty god choice. Its as if the effects of your godhood is spreading like a light across the land. The stronger it is, the stronger you are. And to a lesser extent your people also. Dont neglect the power of dominion in the game called dominion.

Gandalf Parker
-- Do not go quietly into the night
rage rage rage against the dying of the light - Dylan Thomas
What does that mean? It means dont be a putz and quit the
multiplayer game before all of your candles are snuffed.

[Endoperez]

Others have told you what dominions is and that Caelum is powerful, but I haven't yet seen anyone comment on why Caelum is powerful. Here are some more hints to get you going:


Magic:
Evocation:
All lighning attacks go right through any armor. No nation is immune to lightning. Thunder Strike both damages the enemy and deals out lots of fatique.
Also, Cold-based spells don't harm your own units.
Alteration 2:
Quickness
All your Seraphs and Arch Seraphs can cast this. If they cast this as their first spell in battle, they will cast two times as many spells until their fatique goes over 100 and they go unconscious.
Alteration 6 or 7:
False Horror
False Horrors only have 1 hp, but att/def 16, high Fear rating, attack (not very good, though), and few Seraphs can summon lots and lots of them.

Armies:
Mammoths are powerful troops, but their morale is low. Also, when they rout, they will run *over* your units. To make them hurt the enemy more than you, mix them in same squad with high-morale units: Wingless. Temple Guards are good, but you need many units for every Mammoth, 4-6 per Mammoth will probably prevent routing, and you often have to take powerful magic for your pretender to make sacred units worth their cost.

All winged Caelians are size 3 (right-click on their hits to see size), and use 2 food per unit (food formula: [unit size-1, at least 1), so your armies get hungry fast. Read Chazar's post and remember Endless Wineskins (Construction 6, Nature 1, 5 gems 25 supply points per item)

Priests and Dominion:
As Caelum, you can and should take Cold 3. This gives you 120 more points to play with, weakens your enemies and gives Temple Guards and Iceclads higher protection in your provinces. You should also take high dominion, so that your whole empire is cold and you get the full income. It is probably best to also take some good scales to get full worth out of that high dominion. Again, read Chazar's post.

Castle:
Choose a castle that is quick to build, probably either Watch Tower or Wizard Tower. Check Chazar's post for additional information about why Wizard Tower is good. Watch Tower is good because it is cheap both to build and to choose.

Strategy:
Build lots of Castles, and recruit lots of mages. Research Alteration 2 and lots of Evocation, and go around bolting everything.

[Oversway]

Is False Horror a national spell for Caelum? For some reason I thought it was.

[Alneyan]

Thankfully it isn't; Wind Guide (+5 precision to "Whom it may concern", mages included) is their national spell. I wouldn't know what the starting spell of Return of the Raptors is, but they aren't really Caelum anymore.