Dominions 3 Q&A

[undercovergeek]

A word of caution about blood slaves: Unlike gems, they are actually represented as units on the field in combat, and thus can be killed before they're "used" by the mage.

youre thinking of the wrong game but chhers huw

does the summons appear where the mage is?

[Phobos]

Yes, units summoned by rituals appear in the same province as the mage casting the spell.

There are some exceptions.  For example, the spell 'Call of the Wild' summons a werewolf and some wolves.  This spell can be targeted at a remote province.  If you target it at a province your nation does not control, the summoned werewolf will lead an attack against that province.

There are combat summons, that only work in battle.  Things like illusions and elementals.  These units always disappear after the battle.

There are also some big, global rituals.  Things like Carrion Woods and Enchanted Forest.  These spells summon units in every province that your nation controls (and has Dominions in).  It summons these units every turn, until the commander that cast it dies, or the spell is dispelled.

[Bison]

OK.  Huge Newb question.  Why am I not seeing my battles play out?

[mikeck]

When you end your turn you get some messages. If there was a battle, one of the messages will be "there was a Battle in Bison land" . To the right will be two options "go to province" and "watch battle"

[Bison]

Thanks Mikeck.

Huh.  I figured it'd be like Conquest of Elysium where you watched the battle play out during the turn.  This seems rather anti-climatic. 

[W8taminute]

It's not that bad actually and is kind of fun to see the reports at the beginning of each new turn.  I always like to watch the battle first then read the text report summarizing the result.  It's sort of suspenseful in a way.

[mikeck]

Yeah, I actually like it. This way, I can look at the summary of each battle and the province it occurred in and THEN decide which battle I want to watch. I don't need to sit through 4 battle reads of me hammering indies when all I really want to watch is the huge battle I lost to the Pangeans to figure out why I lost

[JasonPratt]

Thanks Mikeck.

Huh.  I figured it'd be like Conquest of Elysium where you watched the battle play out during the turn.  This seems rather anti-climatic.

I prefer to think of it as horribly tense. It's only anti-climactic if you move off the message screen to see the results on the map.

[undercovergeek]

Thanks Mikeck.

Huh.  I figured it'd be like Conquest of Elysium where you watched the battle play out during the turn.  This seems rather anti-climatic.

I prefer to think of it as horribly tense. It's only anti-climactic if you move off the message screen to see the results on the map.

yeah, click on show results or watch battle - i usually fold to get a quick snap with results and then watch the battle to find out where it all went wrong

[JasonPratt]

There is another special summoning rule, or what amounts to summoning anyway: when bidding on mercenaries for hire, they will be slated to arrive (if you win the bid) in the last province you right-clicked.

So if you check the merc list and look them over and see someone you want to bid on, be sure to go back to the map first and right-click in the territory you want them to pop into before making your bid.

[JasonPratt]

A few factions will also auto-spawn random units in enemy territories on occasion; you may get control of them if they survive any resulting fight.

[Bison]

Well I've been messing around with the Caelum or whatever the ice angel dudes are called.  I have no idea what I'm doing.  I really need to peruse the manual.

How do I create different squads under my leaders?  Can I put leaders under other leaders?  How do I find out what spells if any my leaders can cast?  I had a priestly type leading an army that got destroyed, but on the bright side he cast spells I just don't understand how/why or where the spells came from.

[Bison]

I am playing through the tutorial now so I suspect my questions will be answered there as well.

[mikeck]

Click on the unit and it will become highlighted. Then left click on the commanders chit and the unit will form a new squad. Highlight any unit and click in that squad to add it. It's really easier to play the tutorial than to explain. It's short and easy but the tutorial will get you going

[JasonPratt]

No, leaders cannot be grouped under other leaders in this game.

Almost all priests have access to the same general holy spells, which don't have to be researched (although some require more holy-path strength than others), and they'll tend to autocast those unless you tell them specifically otherwise. Some priests also-or-instead have holy spells specific to their faction.


On the main game screen, look for "Army Management" (or something like that) button on the right; clicking that will bring up all commanders and movable troops (not any bought garrison troops though) currently in the province you've selected (but only in that province).

Unassigned troops will be collected at the top of the page. Commanders will be listed under them. Each commander can have up to five groups at once (minimum one unit per group); every time you select a unit and click on the commander the unit will be assigned to a new group. If you click on a group, selected units will go into that group instead. (The order of the units in the group doesn't matter.)

You can also transfer units between commanders or back to the province garrison bar instead. Each type of commander has a built-in max# of troops he can command: if he can only command 10 troops, you can only assign ten troops to him (although still up to five groups, of two units each in this case). Garrison can have an infinite number of troops.

(In fact, you'll buy permanent garrison troops separately on the main screen looking at the info window for a province, using the button for "garrison level". I think garrison troops are faction specific, not territory specific, but it's been a while since I had to watch someone invade one of my territories so I don't recall for sure. Anyway, once you spend money on them, they're permanently bought and will be instantly replaced next season at no extra charge after they die, and they don't cost upkeep, BUT you can't affect exactly how many or what kinds of units will be assigned to the garrison, or even know for sure what they are. Any units you individually buy will start off assigned to help out the normal garrison, until you assign them to a commander.)


You can assign exactly one general initial order to each group of a commander (once at least one unit is assigned to make a group of course); and you can place that group on the field (other than dead center where they default start) by clicking the grey square map next to the group bar. (Garrison doesn't get this advantage, even for individually bought units.) The orders and placements stay permanently assigned so long as the group exists under that commander, until you change the orders or the commander dies or anyway until the units leave the group. New units added to the group will default to the assigned initial command, so be careful about adding archers to the cavalry group you told to go melee the nearest monster!

You can assign field placement and initial actions to each commander, too, but commanders typically have a few more options available, and you can assign up to five initial actions before the AI takes over. Hero and monster units function like commanders this way, too, even if they cannot command troops.

So for example, you can tell your pretender and two other mages to sit in the back (by placing them there initially) while you have a group of spearmen up front, a group of archers behind them, and two cav groups one on each side (each of the five groups assigned to the pretender in this example). You order your spearmen to "hold and attack", so they stand still two turns and then charge ahead. (No command for permanently standing in place unfortunately, to make a frontline spearwall for example.) You order your archers to "fire and flee", which is one command that sets them to shoot two rounds and then retreat off the board. (You can assign each of those groups general target classes like "rearmost enemies" or "closest air", but the AI will default to closest enemies if no other targets are feasible.) You tell your cav groups to "attack" "rearmost enemies" meaning they'll run for the back line and then try to flank whoever is furthest back when they get there, which will take a couple of turns. Meanwhile you tell your pretender to "hold""hold" (hold twice) "cast""firestorm" (a third action) "change form" (because your pretender is really a badass dragon when he isn't busy being a mage) and "attack""rearmost enemies". The other two mages you tell to spend the first two turns casting fire protection spells on your troops and otherwise buffing them up, and then to "stay behind rearmost" where they will automatically keep throwing spells in support until they get tired.

What happens ideally then is that turn one your archers shoot at nearest cav (or whatever you told them) while the support mages buff the troops with resist fire; turn two, another archer volley, more buffing; turn three the archers start retreating off the field, as your spears advance to "attack closest target", meanwhile by now your cavalry has been running up the sides of the field and has reached the back line, your support mages move up behind the furthest troop and start casting whatever spells the AI thinks is feasible, and your pretender nukes the field with a firestorm. Turn four, your cav units are moving to the center of the field to finish flanking, maybe setting up a charge; your spears have started engaging the enemy's frontline; your support mages are probably meandering around the backfield randomly according to whichever retreating archer is farthest back, throwing long-range support spells; and your pretender has changed to an ass-kicking red dragon. Turn five, the cav units complete their flanking charge, the red dragon basically teleports to attack the enemy's rear, too (because "flying" == "instant teleport" for tactical purposes), and now the support mages are going to start moving closer to the fighting as the spearmen become the rearmost allies on field (the archers having perhaps fully retreated by now).


You can see how things would be likely to go horribly horribly wrong in all this, I hope. :)

(Dom3 fights tend to be about which side goes more horribly wrong in its tactics more quickly. ;) )