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Digital Gaming => Ally/Opponent Finder => Dominions III LFG and Strategy Discussion => Topic started by: MetalDog on October 10, 2020, 05:59:00 PM

Title: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: MetalDog on October 10, 2020, 05:59:00 PM
I have made my pretender and picked my Civ, Uruk.  I am in my second game.  I learned a lot from my first to my second and have a better position this game because of it.  I am getting the hang of building troops, picking Commanders I need, and trying to fit in Research and Forging and Preaching and Building and on and on and on.  I am digging it so far, but I am interested to hear some of the opening moves you make as a general rule.  Do you start off aggressive?  Do you take time to marshal Resources for troops or Temples and Forts?  And a big one for me so far, HOW THE HELL DO I GET IN THE WATER?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!  Commanders can Forge items to go in the water, but, how do I get the troops to get in the water?  My Civ has access to water troops and Commanders.  I thought I would get access by building Palisades in a coastal province.  Do I need to upgrade the walls first to gain access to the water units?  They aren't appearing in the Recruitment box.

Anywho, whatever knowledge you want to drop on a n00b is appreciated.  And let me know when the next one starts.  I think I am in ;)
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: Gusington on October 10, 2020, 06:43:18 PM
I am watching with interest...
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: al_infierno on October 10, 2020, 08:01:09 PM
DasTactic, Attica, and Perun are all good youtubers for learning the game.

I find Das's videos to be particularly newbie friendly.  He has a whole series explaining the entire game, with this one being a good starting point.  His series covers just about every aspect of the game, including how to get yourself underwater as a non-UW nation.  I'd scan his playlist to see particular topics that interest you.



As a general rule, you want to basically eat up as many independent provinces as you can grab, especially high-income provinces.  A good number to aim for is having about 12-ish provinces (including your capital) by turns 12-15.  Hitting this number involves practicing with a nation and figuring out how to make the most use of their vanilla troops to effectively take down independent provinces.

There's no official diplomacy system, but depending on what personality the AI is given, they usually won't attack you if you respect your borders with them while expanding into indie provinces.  Once you or them attack one another, it becomes an all-out total war to the death in most cases.

For your getting wet predicament, if you can find any mercenaries that happen to be amphibious, that would be ideal.  Otherwise you can often recruit amphibious independent troops from certain coastal provinces, like mermaid soldiers or turtle men.  There are forgeable items that can get you underwater, but in the early expansion phase when you only have access to items that give personal water breathing or breathing for like 5 guys, it can be useful to just give one to a mage or super-combatant who can take down a province defense by himself
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: MetalDog on October 10, 2020, 09:01:58 PM
I actually watched the 'SuperCombatant,' vid before even loading the game.  I gave the manual a once over this afternoon.  It made things even clearer.  I hadn't thought to make a SC and send him to take on a province.  That'd be useful.  Not being able to enter water opens HUGE holes in my defense.  Guess I just have to be a little more aggressive in gobbling up land.  Kind of makes sense though.  A little like city spam in Civ.
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: solops on October 10, 2020, 11:11:44 PM
I'll probably break down and take some time to make some newbie comments. I can't really help you in a positive way as I always lose, but I can sure point out things to avoid.
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: MetalDog on October 11, 2020, 11:54:53 PM
Gave up on the second game.  Got much farther conquering territories.  Even had two Thrones of Ascension.  Just couldn't get into the water and the water province causing all the trouble literally touched five of my Provinces.  With no way to stop them from using that Province, it was just a matter of time.  Killed one of the AI Pretenders duking it out for the second Throne.  His worshippers didn't like that and vowed to wipe my civ from the planet.
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: al_infierno on October 12, 2020, 12:46:39 AM
Quote from: MetalDog on October 11, 2020, 11:54:53 PM
Gave up on the second game.  Got much farther conquering territories.  Even had two Thrones of Ascension.  Just couldn't get into the water and the water province causing all the trouble literally touched five of my Provinces.  With no way to stop them from using that Province, it was just a matter of time.  Killed one of the AI Pretenders duking it out for the second Throne.  His worshippers didn't like that and vowed to wipe my civ from the planet.

95% of my Dom5 experience is giving up on games I spent a stupid amount of time building a pretender for.   O0
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: SophiaDJames on October 12, 2020, 01:01:06 AM
First you check the option of the menu then if you want some need to upgrade the walls maybe you gain access to the water units I am playing DOMINIONS many time but i didn't faced this type of problem. but i sure that it must be dominions rules issue.
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: Yskonyn on October 12, 2020, 05:15:38 AM
Quote from: al_infierno on October 12, 2020, 12:46:39 AM
Quote from: MetalDog on October 11, 2020, 11:54:53 PM
Gave up on the second game.  Got much farther conquering territories.  Even had two Thrones of Ascension.  Just couldn't get into the water and the water province causing all the trouble literally touched five of my Provinces.  With no way to stop them from using that Province, it was just a matter of time.  Killed one of the AI Pretenders duking it out for the second Throne.  His worshippers didn't like that and vowed to wipe my civ from the planet.

95% of my Dom5 experience is giving up on games I spent a stupid amount of time building a pretender for.   O0

Lol! I can relate to that. Makes you wonder why many claim the AI is rubbish.
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: W8taminute on October 14, 2020, 03:01:07 PM
MD definitely look at the game setup options carefully each time you create a new game.  I would set the strength of independents to 5 or below if you want to have a chance while still learning the game.

In the beginning don't be afraid to recruit a boat load of trash troops.  They may be trash but they are cheap and a bunch of them are usually more than enough to wipe out independents.  In the early game land grab is king and you need to do it fast.

Don't forget to recruit research mages at least every other turn and get a fort up and running before turn 12.  More forts = moar money, more research mages, and more troops.
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: MetalDog on October 14, 2020, 07:23:58 PM
Thanks for the tips, W8!  What exactly constitutes a, "research mage"?  And for that matter, is it better to pick a few lines of Research and go hard at leveling up?  Or is it better to just start at Conjuring and work down the list, gaining one level at a time and then starting back over at the top?
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: JasonPratt on October 14, 2020, 08:22:01 PM
I see that the Touring Test has been failed recently... ;)

Quote
First you check the option of the menu then if you want some need to upgrade the walls maybe you gain access to the water units I am playing DOMINIONS many time but i didn't faced this type of problem. but i sure that it must be dominions rules issue.

:2funny:
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: al_infierno on October 14, 2020, 08:25:35 PM
There are 2 different kinds of "research mages."

There's the low-level "research monkeys," which are cheap and quick to recruit and have basically no use besides providing research points.  These are useful to recruit in the early game, but their usefulness has a dropping return on investment the further into the game you get.

Then there's your mainline mages, which are usually the best ones you have available.  Some take multiple turns to recruit.  These are always good to get, since they're super useful in mid/late-game combat in addition to sitting around in your forts reading books.

As for research priorities, it mainly depends on what magic types you're working with and what spells you want to use.  For example, some nations like C'tis favor rushing 1 spell tree (Enchantment in their case) because of their specialty in water/nature cross-paths for using the spell Foul Vapors.  If you press various hotkeys on research screens (S for astral, F for fire, D for death, etc.) it will help you narrow down spells you have access to once you fulfill the research.

Oh, and remember to never bother with Blood Magic unless you're a nation that specifically has blood mages.  O0
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: MetalDog on October 14, 2020, 10:03:44 PM
Quote from: al_infierno on October 14, 2020, 08:25:35 PM
There are 2 different kinds of "research mages."

There's the low-level "research monkeys," which are cheap and quick to recruit and have basically no use besides providing research points.  These are useful to recruit in the early game, but their usefulness has a dropping return on investment the further into the game you get.

Then there's your mainline mages, which are usually the best ones you have available.  Some take multiple turns to recruit.  These are always good to get, since they're super useful in mid/late-game combat in addition to sitting around in your forts reading books.

As for research priorities, it mainly depends on what magic types you're working with and what spells you want to use.  For example, some nations like C'tis favor rushing 1 spell tree (Enchantment in their case) because of their specialty in water/nature cross-paths for using the spell Foul Vapors.  If you press various hotkeys on research screens (S for astral, F for fire, D for death, etc.) it will help you narrow down spells you have access to once you fulfill the research.

Oh, and remember to never bother with Blood Magic unless you're a nation that specifically has blood mages.  O0

Thank you, sir, for the helpful advice.  If I could impose upon the group mind again, is there a general strategy for spreading dominion?
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: al_infierno on October 14, 2020, 10:08:19 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on October 14, 2020, 10:03:44 PM
Quote from: al_infierno on October 14, 2020, 08:25:35 PM
There are 2 different kinds of "research mages."

There's the low-level "research monkeys," which are cheap and quick to recruit and have basically no use besides providing research points.  These are useful to recruit in the early game, but their usefulness has a dropping return on investment the further into the game you get.

Then there's your mainline mages, which are usually the best ones you have available.  Some take multiple turns to recruit.  These are always good to get, since they're super useful in mid/late-game combat in addition to sitting around in your forts reading books.

As for research priorities, it mainly depends on what magic types you're working with and what spells you want to use.  For example, some nations like C'tis favor rushing 1 spell tree (Enchantment in their case) because of their specialty in water/nature cross-paths for using the spell Foul Vapors.  If you press various hotkeys on research screens (S for astral, F for fire, D for death, etc.) it will help you narrow down spells you have access to once you fulfill the research.

Oh, and remember to never bother with Blood Magic unless you're a nation that specifically has blood mages.  O0

Thank you, sir, for the helpful advice.  If I could impose upon the group mind again, is there a general strategy for spreading dominion?

Generally speaking, if you pick a Dominion rating of 5 or higher in Pretender creation, you shouldn't have to worry about spreading dominion.  That's basically considered the bare minimum for MP.  If you're finding yourself encroached by a player with aggressive dominion, you can pump out some priests to preach in your outlying regions, but generally that shouldn't take precedence over producing mages.
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: W8taminute on October 15, 2020, 09:00:52 AM
Yes al is correct.  Make sure you dump some points into dominion when you're creating your pretender. 

Another thing you can do is build temples in key provinces.  The temples also help push your dominion out.  The only downside is that temples cost 400 gold each and if you lose the province to an enemy the temple is destroyed. 
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: solops on October 15, 2020, 01:11:19 PM
Metaldog, you are asking the right questions. Answers are not easy because the game has such diverse races and many strategies are available for each just from Pretender creation. But the biggest parameter is single player vs multi-player. SP is NOTHING like MP. You can get away with all kinds of strategies in SP. In MP, while all things matter, the two biggest factors affecting success are early expansion and diplomacy. Failing to stake a claim to an adequate area in the early game most likely dooms you. Over-expansion will likely cause an equally deadly backlash. Ignoring the other players will isolate you and make you an early victim. These are just the first and most obvious ways to fail in MP. There are lots more and I am busily exploring them. Each game I find new and creative ways to fail.  With all of that said, the SP game is vital to learn because you have to learn the basics somewhere. When designing a pretender/race combination, have some goal in mind that will allow you to crush your foes. Most often this is some along the lines of a rapidly snowballing mass that will swamp the map or a spell combination that will annihilate your foes without getting a hangnail. Or maybe you think you can create an unstoppable Dominion spreading machine. Also, the game set-up is critical -  small map=early wars. Don't create a pretender that needs time to research his essential stuff or is imprisoned. Big map - you have options. What kind of victory is set? Thrones? All of that impacts what you might want to design.  Some of the races are so different that each one is almost ike a new DLC for the game, adding another new way to play. Lastly, there are all kinds of players. You get some like <censored> who are experienced and wiley and will mercilessly crush you by knowing the assorted magic combinations. And then you others like <censored> who diligently research and practice the possibilities and will mercilessly crush you by knowing the assorted magic combinations. I.E. there is a lot of knowing and crushing in anyone's future.  All you can do is jump in and PLAY! Ask questions and learn by doing. I look forward to having a new fellow crushee to share my woes with.
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: MetalDog on October 15, 2020, 06:30:18 PM
Thanks, solops!  Misery shared is misery halved.  :)  You brought up a couple of concepts I need answered, generally or specifically, by the group mind if you please.  First, what is the purpose of all the Research?  I understand it gets you access to spells, but, who uses them?  When are they used?  I haven't explored the descriptions of 99% of them, so, I guess my questions would be answered by doing some research of my own, but, I figured I'd lean on y'all for the basics.

"Don't create a pretender that needs time to research his essential stuff or is imprisoned."  I understand the concept of imprisoned, I imagine it's kind of like, "Get out of jail on x turn."  But, what is, "essential stuff"?  Again, I understand the words and what they mean, but, as pertains to the game, and specifically pretenders, what is, "essential"?

Any help you folks can give is appreciated.
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: al_infierno on October 15, 2020, 07:14:13 PM
Quote from: solops on October 15, 2020, 01:11:19 PM
You can get away with all kinds of strategies in SP. In MP, while all things matter, the two biggest factors affecting success are early expansion and diplomacy. Failing to stake a claim to an adequate area in the early game most likely dooms you. Over-expansion will likely cause an equally deadly backlash. Ignoring the other players will isolate you and make you an early victim. These are just the first and most obvious ways to fail in MP.

Very well put in general, but this point especially rings true.  I find that the typical newbie learner MP experience is in this order: Die from lack of expansion; Die from too much expansion; Really try to balance expansion and be political while not building a coalition against yourself, but in doing so you play too passively and get crushed by the leading player.  :clap:

That's my experience, anywho  :D
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: Myrmidon on October 15, 2020, 07:18:07 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on October 15, 2020, 06:30:18 PM
First, what is the purpose of all the Research?  I understand it gets you access to spells, but, who uses them?  When are they used?  I haven't explored the descriptions of 99% of them, so, I guess my questions would be answered by doing some research of my own, but, I figured I'd lean on y'all for the basics.

Spells are used by mages and pretenders.  Mages include beings that can be summoned later on down the line as you research things, specifically down the conjuration line.  They are indeed the key to the game, and your strategy in what to research and what to use your mages for varies greatly depending on what nation you pick, and your play style.

In the early part of the game, generally speaking (varies according to nation), your troops will do the lion's share of the work in expanding and fighting.  The number and quality of those troops, along with the your methods of using them, and whom they are fighting are critical.  Add to this, that some people utilize their Pretender as an "Awake Expander", or a SC that can take on entire provinces of independents on their own.  This helps form the shape of your empire in the early game (Turns 1-around 15-20?). 

The same awesome stack of troops you have and that has been winning you battle after battle may get it's *** handed to it in the middle game(Turn 15-35-40ish?).  Another stack using a small number of front line troops and some rear guard troops along with properly scripted mages can cast spells that will annihilate said stack, perhaps with some powerful Evocations (think lightning bolts blasting your troops, or massive fireballs or meteors)... or maybe those mages are scripted to summon some uber powerful Elementals that wipe the field(Conjuration line), OR those mages cast a number of buffs on their own troops, making their armor values and magic resistances super charged(Alteration)... or perhaps several death mages start spamming out undead chaff quicker than you can kill them, and overwhelm the battlefield(Enchantment). 

On the other hand, those same mages may choose to summon powerful SuperCombatants(Conjuration again), that when properly equipped with magically forged items(Construction), can by themselves wipe out an army out without proper mage support. 

Point is, all that is only possible with magic.  Magic used by mages, that can only use those spells if they have been researched.   Without it, you are toast.  Early game tactics will not survive the middle game. 

The spell list is huge. and the possibilities nearly endless.  But each nation has it's own strengths and weaknesses that have to be accounted for.  The Pretender design is a whole other dimension to the game... tomes can be written about all these things.  As Solops mentioned, jumping in is the best way to learn. 

     
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: al_infierno on October 15, 2020, 07:20:22 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on October 15, 2020, 06:30:18 PM
First, what is the purpose of all the Research?  I understand it gets you access to spells, but, who uses them?  When are they used?  I haven't explored the descriptions of 99% of them, so, I guess my questions would be answered by doing some research of my own, but, I figured I'd lean on y'all for the basics.

Spells are used for Mages (e.g. commanders with access to magic paths like Death, Air, Fire, Water, etc.).  There are 2 kinds of spells: Ritual spells, which are cast on the strategic layer and usually have high-level effects (i.e. global enchantments and offensive/defensive province enchantments); and there are battle spells, which you use to crush your enemies in combat.  Generally you want to edit your army layout settings, put your mages behind your troops, and script them to cast the best spells you have.  For Nature and Earth, that's usually buffing your troops, but Earth has some pretty good Evocations.  Fire and Air are heavily Evocation-focused trees and can absolutely annihilate armies, but Fire in particular is easily countered once players know you're using it, while Air is counterable but still dangerous.  Death, predictably, gives you access to UNLIMITED SKELETONS.  Then Blood and Astral are a bit more esoteric, but still very useful.  Etc.

Also, Construction specifically gives you access to forging better items, so this is generally worth taking, but usually shouldn't be prioritized over mainline spell research unless you have a specific goal in mind, like unlocking Dwarven Hammers to lower the gem cost of future item forging.


Quote
"Don't create a pretender that needs time to research his essential stuff or is imprisoned."  I understand the concept of imprisoned, I imagine it's kind of like, "Get out of jail on x turn."  But, what is, "essential stuff"?  Again, I understand the words and what they mean, but, as pertains to the game, and specifically pretenders, what is, "essential"?

Any help you folks can give is appreciated.

It really depends on the pretender you make.  If you have a big supercombatant who's kitted up with fire or air magic, you generally want them to start available ASAP so they can make a difference in the early game.  In this case, low-level evocations are a good early research goal.  On the other hand, you can make a "scales" pretender (i.e. a cheap pretender chassis with all your points dumped into pumping up your Dominion scales, while spending a little bit on buffing your magic), and in this case you can usually take them imprisoned and focus your research on spells that are immediately useful to the mages you can recruit.

Hope this is clear as I'm a couple beers deep.  If you have more questions I'm happy to answer em O0
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: Myrmidon on October 15, 2020, 07:40:10 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on October 15, 2020, 06:30:18 PM
"Don't create a pretender that needs time to research his essential stuff or is imprisoned."  I understand the concept of imprisoned, I imagine it's kind of like, "Get out of jail on x turn."  But, what is, "essential stuff"?  Again, I understand the words and what they mean, but, as pertains to the game, and specifically pretenders, what is, "essential"?

Any help you folks can give is appreciated.

OK... this is a huge topic.  Pretender design is simple to play around with, but takes eons to master.  Basically put (and this is a super surface and general description), the options boil down to this:

Take an awake pretender:  This guy is available from day one, and is typically used either as an awake expander to help build your empire quickly, or maaaybe to help jumpstart your research from day 1.  The downside to this strategy is that you lose a lot of design points, ergo potential, for your pretender.

Dormant Pretender:  These guys show up around turn 12.  I would say this is the typical option to try to use.  If you've got some decent troops that can handle expanded your empire and being able to handle someone that rushes you, this gives you a lot more potential for your pretender.

The Imprisoned pretender doesn't show up until turn 36ish... it's a big gamble.  You get a lot more points to use, but their no good if you're not around to use them.  On small maps, or with aggressive people, it can be difficult.  Again, it can work, but you need to have a plan and be willing to accept the risks.

Generally pretender design hinges around this (super general and surface again):

Awake Expander:  Ready to go right away and win fights vs indies.  Also, nice to have around to discourage, or smash, an early rush

A "Scales" Pretender:  A pretender who will spend many points on buffing their scales, namely Order, Productivity, Growth, Luck and Magic.  These values affect all the provinces under your dominion, and can make a HUGE difference in the long term when it comes to income and gems for your nation.  A good nation with strong scales will in the long run be in a good position as the game goes in to the mid and later portions.

A "Bless" Build.... the magic your pretender is designed to use can bestow "bless" benefits on any sacred your nation may have.  There is a huge list of give and takes, depending on how much points you want to spend.  Suffice to say, for certain nations, their sacred troops can becoming uber-powerful when they have a powerhouse bless.  Or that powerhouse bless can make your sacred mages better equipped to resist magic, become lightning, fire, cold or poison resistant.

Some design their pretenders to have lots of magic in a path that may not normally be available to their nation.  I've seen pretenders designed to be able to pull off a specific powerful global spell as soon as possible.  Or able to cast a super powerful battlefield spell. 

Designs can incorporate any of the above in any combination.  It's mind boggling at first, but epic fun, and allows for limitless replay and tinkering.  Many forums or discord groups have entire sections on designing Pretenders. 

Hope that wasn't too wordy... please feel free to keep the questions coming.

(Edit:  Sorry Al... didn't mean to repeat too much LOL)

   
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: JasonPratt on October 15, 2020, 07:48:09 PM
Remember, SC equals SuperCombatant. SCs which aren't Pretenders (your character) are commonly known as "thugs".

I once, back in a Dom4 multiplayer game (here on Grogheads!), trolled my fellow players as my empire collapsed by managing to summon two or three "ghidoras" (in effect, not called that, Zmeys I think), and flying them around the map laying waste to my foes despite my doom. Thugs are great, I should play that strategy more often...!

One general strategy I like, is to come up with calcs to figure out your most cost-effective units, and then tailor your magic strategy accordingly -- which will vary from game to game (a little or a lot) based on different initial setups, of course.
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: MetalDog on October 15, 2020, 07:56:35 PM
You guys are AWESOME!  ALL of that is super helpful!  I should have some time this weekend to put as much of that advice into practice as I can.  I am sure I will be back with more questions soon enough ;)
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: JasonPratt on October 15, 2020, 07:57:40 PM
There is also a whole strategy branch dedicated to figuring out (1) what high-level spell effects you want to focus on; and then (2) what bootstrapping paths (considering your setup conditions) will get you there asap: what combination of training and summoning mages and leveling up those mages gets you an amphibious commander (with bodyguards) you can thug out to enter and conquer some water regions to start training and summoning full water-based armies, for example?
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: Myrmidon on October 15, 2020, 08:14:15 PM
Quote from: JasonPratt on October 15, 2020, 07:48:09 PM
Remember, SC equals SuperCombatant. SCs which aren't Pretenders (your character) are commonly known as "thugs".


I may be mistaken, and at the end of the day, it's all semantics, but it's my understanding that SCs (Pretenders or otherwise, such as Golems, Elemental Kings, Arch Devils, Wraith Kings) refer to anything capable of wasting an army on it's own (typically when properly equipped or with the right magic researched). 

Thugs are units that can't typically handle armies on their own, but are specifically equipped to take out a SC.  A Thug might be equipped or have the magic to work over an undead Wraith king, or better yet, Soul slay it so it can't return.  Or perhaps a Moonblade to take out a Magic being SC.  A Golem can waste armies pretty easily when properly equipped, but a cheap Thug that can get it in with a Shatter Spell can send it packing. 

The scripting and equipment of a Thug is tailored to take out a SC giving a person grief, or at least force the owner of the SC to be more cautious in it's usage.  However, said Thug won't do much to a standard army otherwise.
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: solops on October 16, 2020, 11:07:23 AM
A Thug is a lower level tough combatant with a scar on his face. A super-combatant (SC) is much higher level and has a cape.
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: JasonPratt on October 16, 2020, 05:40:46 PM
Ah! -- Myrm may be actually correct.  :notworthy:
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: W8taminute on October 17, 2020, 09:47:45 PM
This is a great thread.  Should be stickied!   :)
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: TheMeInTeam on December 23, 2020, 01:57:30 AM
Usual distinction is thug is purpose built (either to take some PD or to kill something specific).  SC can kill infinite PD and also armies with no/limited mage support.

A couple SCs is usually enough to defeat the AI.  However, no SC has enough item slots to be unkillable.  There will always be weaknesses, and if opposing players have the correct research they will find them eventually.

Imprisoned pretenders aren't necessarily a risk.  More scales = more national troops, and you can stack up a fair amount of bless points using non-incarnate bless (okay with some sacreds).  Also some nations are very hard to rush down in year 1 no matter what (MA Ulm, EA Abysia etc) so you can make a case for imprisoned on some of these.

Try to get to 15-20 provinces by end of year 1 (turn 12), with 2nd/3rd forts under construction.  That's the starting point for a competitive position against other players, and something you can aim for in SP as practice.
Title: Re: Took the Dominions 5 plunge, now what do I do?
Post by: W8taminute on December 23, 2020, 02:41:54 PM
How's your latest opinion of the game MD?  Have you had a chance to spend any more time with it?