Another Dominions thread

[Sandman]

Jotunheim commends Ulm for storming the stronghold of the nefarious Marignonese, in particular the clever use of Ulmish siege units to ensure a quick victory. A fire-resistance item for Hildegard is also suggested.

Turn #20 sent.

[LDiCesare]

Arco's hypaspists + elephants works well but emerald guards have even better morale than the hypaspists, so in the long run, they bet Arco. I said I was disappointed by Arco and Tien Chi because they are quite good.
I played magicless, so I didn't use the sacred powers. It's clear that sacred flagellants (probably better played with air bless to avoid them being punctured by arrows from the start) can be effective, but sacred they must be.

Mictlan's armies are useful mostly for patrolling anyway. They patrol, you blood hunt, and you summon demons. Jaguar warriors could be useful when berserk I suppose (because their morale is not that great), but then you can't produce many sacred troops at once, which limits their usefulness - the same goes for flagellants - you need high dominion in order to produce many and for them to be useful you must have a high magic.

Ermor can be very powerful if you let them start. Ermor needs a very big death dominion, so it can kill all the population in the nearby provinces, making enemy troops who would attack them starve.

[quantum_mechani]

Originally posted by LDiCesare
Arco's hypaspists + elephants works well but emerald guards have even better morale than the hypaspists, so in the long run, they bet Arco. I said I was disappointed by Arco and Tien Chi because they are quite good.
I played magicless, so I didn't use the sacred powers. It's clear that sacred flagellants (probably better played with air bless to avoid them being punctured by arrows from the start) can be effective, but sacred they must be.

Mictlan's armies are useful mostly for patrolling anyway. They patrol, you blood hunt, and you summon demons. Jaguar warriors could be useful when berserk I suppose (because their morale is not that great), but then you can't produce many sacred troops at once, which limits their usefulness - the same goes for flagellants - you need high dominion in order to produce many and for them to be useful you must have a high magic.

Ermor can be very powerful if you let them start. Ermor needs a very big death dominion, so it can kill all the population in the nearby provinces, making enemy troops who would attack them starve.

Pythium's troops are indeed good. It was the first nation Illwinter designed for Dominions, and they decided to use it as the high end marker when balancing other nations (i.e. not give anyone else better troops, for the price). I actually prefer a Fire, Water, Astral or Nature bless for flagellants (or both fire and astral 9 from the baphomet). It is fairly easy to confuse the archer AI by placing some small sqauds of something else at the front set to 'hold and attack' while the flagellants close. Also, putting just 3 air magic on your pretender means they could probably forge a staff of storms (the best archer counter) by turn 20 or so.

Blessing is indeed a balancing act between dominion and magic. It is offset a lot though by taking a castle that can be built for 300 gold. Also, since full order scale is practically a given for most nations, it is easy to scrape up free points with misfortune. I also usually take full sloth and death for whatever pretender design, as the penalties are not very severe. Ermor killing most of it's pop usually happens even with low dominion, I usually wish the pop would die slower so I could get more gold out of them. The real reason for wanting high dominion with Ermor is increasing free troop spawning.

BTW, anyone playing the special multiplayer scenario Illwinter is hosting? It looks great for anyone that ever wanted more storyline in dominions game. You can find info here (the sign up thread is on the offical shrapnel forums).

Lastly, Maringnon Budget Province Defense co. would like to take this opportunity to tell Arco "neener-neener-neener"

[LDiCesare]

I would play that scenario if I could sned turns more often than durign the week-end.

The Astral blessing is indeed very cool. Staff of Storms is very good, but Marignon may want to rely on their crossbowmen too.

[solo]

Originally posted by quantum_mechani


Lastly, Maringnon Budget Province Defense co. would like to take this opportunity to tell Arco "neener-neener-neener"

I thought an epic battle ot two might be good for some entertainment. Hopefully, it makes up for not having a clue how to play this game well.

[Sandman]

So, Marignon seems to have built up an incredible network of spies - my provinces are literally falling apart. But such a huge intelligence network has resulted in a lack of battlefield commanders; just a load of friars, it seems.

With such great intelligence, Marignon pin-pointed a key province of mine, containing a library and a lab. And he teleported his ultra-powerful pretender into it.

Turn 21 sent.

[quantum_mechani]

Originally posted by Sandman
And he teleported his ultra-powerful pretender into it.

...who was shredded by mere imps. At least I have plenty of priests to call him back.

[Sandman]

Still waiting for quantum. Maybe he's having modem trouble again.

[quantum_mechani]

Originally posted by Sandman
Still waiting for quantum. Maybe he's having modem trouble again.

You didn't get turn 21? It shows as sent and didn't bounce back as undeliverable. Oh well, resending.

[General Ludd]

Er.... it's turn 22 that we're waiting for.

[quantum_mechani]

Originally posted by General Ludd
Er.... it's turn 22 that we're waiting for.

ah, that would explain it, I never got turn 22.

[Sandman]

Trying again. Probably my fault.

[quantum_mechani]

Ok, sent back turn 22.

[Sandman]

Turn twenty-something dispatched. And the war is really hotting up... or should that be cooling down?

[solo]

Maybe it's over!

My mail is not working, so I have zipped my #23 turn and have attached it here.