I should tell everyone in the game, then, that:
A) I’ve never played Agartha before
B) I don’t know what I’m doing
C) I’m not sure what an Umbral is but they have a really cool name so I’m gonna get me one
D) Maybe I’ll get me a bunch
You whipped me good in the battle for your capital…I’ll give you that! But I’m afraid we’re enjoying the show so much that we just don’t want to get off the stage! Not off the left side nor the right!
Crom - yes the cursed giants are indeed cursed. the agartha/arco axis is grinding us down after a promising start against the attacking agartha (my first major battle victory as a noob) faded into poor scripting (i mean let’s just set archer to attack closest shall we?) and tactics (no worries, i can retreat sailing. er, right). so come on Nog and Sauro!!!
Hetzer
4804
Ok Nick i´ll call you on that…
So everybody how´s it with a new game… my suggestion is either a new Dawn of Dominions game with jason´s cute map… nations there are hardcoded and its an early game OR a real new one, then i would suggest early and i want to try mictlan early but its not a must…
So gimme your suggestions…
Yeppers, I totally underestimated the toughness of Fomorian regulars and didn’t realize they had such heavy armor (my scouts have been flogged for poor intel)–ie, scripting “Blade Wind” spam against heavy armor! But the worst of it (for me) was your sneaksie army that sailed across the pond, assaulting the province with my fort and cutting off my routed troops! That really hurt since I’d lost some expensive commanders outfitted in phat l00t!
Anyway, it was a good war! I thought you had me a couple of times.
Well I’m out. My national troops are so stupidly inferior to Midgard’s skinshifters that with both of us having about 230 men, and my troops having the defender’s advantage and 30 strong PD for another 70 men or so, I only killed 30 of them and lost 180. It was kinda funny seeing the two-thirds of my army that were crossbowmen start the battle by turning a giant chunk of his guys into werewolves though.
Pythium invading me from the other side didn’t help, but I don’t think he made any difference. It was just a matter of time since I literally couldn’t do anything to stop mass skinshifters in this early stage of the game.
Do keep in mind me having 230 skinshifters represents twice the gold investment then your mixture of crossbowmen, barbarians, and flaggies. Crossbowmen are great units, but the attack only every other round definitely hurts them against units with regen. Also, the fact I never saw any magic from you meant you weren’t really trying. Its dominions, mages win battles, troops are just place holders.
You didn’t see any magic from me because my best mages are fire 2 blood 2 and couldn’t cast anything worthwhile in battle until I researched up the construction tree for some path boosting. Sadly you overran me before I could forge anything or start trying to blood hunt seriously.
Also I had about 15 barbarians, so I don’t know why you speak like I was using them as my front line.
Rollory
4809
Eh. I think that’s overstating it, particularly in the early game. I mean, look at my research curve. I put all my early money into elephants and sacreds instead of mages and it worked out ok - Caelum was using some pretty damaging magic on me (with his pretender as the caster!) and it wasn’t decisive. The only spells I cast against him other than divine magic were Twist Fate and - once, in the last battle - Personal Luck.
Some nations are definitely better at early expansion: all the elephant nations, Midgard, Pythium maybe. Their neighbors with more conventional forces need to watch out and use other methods to buy time, if possible.
Rollory
4810
BTW. Is C’tis attacking Pangaea via dominion? That does seem to be what the dominion graph indicates, even though no provinces are being exchanged.
Overstating it? Definitely. Still, I’m not sure we’re in the early game anymore, meaning LSB needed to have some sort of battle magic going. I beat a much larger force sieging my capitol with selective use of magic, not through massed skinshifters. Those came later, after I had gotten sloppy and lost a bunch to much larger armies.
By which you mean spamming thunder strike? It’d be nice if I had that as an option. ;)
But seriously, what is considered the early vs mid game anyways? Inquisitor is in the mid-twenties turnwise.
Rollory
4813
I consider up to turn 20 the early game, 20-40 or maybe 50 the midgame. We’re on 27.
I did deliberately plan on minimal research for quite a while and picked a very strong bless to balance that out. Patala is one of the few late nations where strong blessings are worthwhile, I think.
Not necessarily. Battle magic can a big factor but it’s a tool and not always the best one. Mages are spendy, gems are sparse, and there’s always that one opponement (usually me) that loves to use assassins and swarming tactics instead of lining up for a big set piece battle. A player who relies too heavily on their battle magic and think troops are just to screen can be forced to pay for that reliance.
Nick is right. Mages can be (and often are) a very powerful tool, but they have many weaknesses as well. In addition to what Nick said, they die very easily too, esp. to battle-wide magic. A simple single battle wide damage spell, that tough troops would laugh at due to their hitpoints/armor, can be catastrophic for mages. And these spells are very difficult (and often impossible) to protect against, esp. during middle/late game. I am not even mentioning “artillery” global spells.
The best general uses all tools in his possession. The “Combined Arms” approach is the most efficient one, both in real life and in Dominions. Neglecting troops, just as neglecting mages is a mistake, which will likely to cost you dearly when you are facing a strong opponent.
“Lookout, Earthquake!!!” RUMBLE RUMBLE CRACK “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…” WHOOOSH
“Hey, where’d all our mages go?”
If this dramatization sounds familiar, pick up the phone and call 1-888-go-mages. We are a full-service Mage temp agency and can refill your ranks quickly, inexpensively, and without lots of paperwork. Call within the next 30 minutes and get FREE AIR DELIVERY!
wahoo
4817
Crom:
"the agartha/arco axis is grinding us down after a promising start against the attacking agartha (my first major battle victory as a noob) faded into poor scripting (i mean let’s just set archer to attack closest shall we?) and tactics (no worries, i can retreat sailing. "
Formoria did pretty well considering your first multiplayer experience. I saw the battle where I thought you had a decent chance and then I saw your archers marching forward. Not good. You should feel pretty good about your showing and some of your mistakes you can learn from. I’d rely less on Pd and more on troops (even though the Form PD can get pretty good). Also, diplomacy is the most important factor in multiplayer games. When you’re sandwiched between 2 other folks you should expect getting doubleteamed unless you have some good diplomacy going.
Anyway, a pretty stout defense especially against Agartha!
In other news, the Tir presence in the south has been eliminated but they’ve popped up and scored a major win in the north. bummer for me.
Mercutio
4818
Could this please be put on hold from Saturday through to next Tuesday? I’m going off on holiday.
That reminds me, I’m off for vacation from Feb 21-27 but might be able to take my turns (Crom and Inquisitor), assuming I can find a hotspot near my mother-in-law’s apartment (she only has AOL dial-up).
If you can connect through the dialup (and already have a game started on your laptop) you can actually play a turn of Dominions just fine, FYI.
(I’m not suggesting that we don’t pause things, but I used to play over a 28.8 line; after the initial download, everything else worked fine.)
