Lucky Start
 

I'm still waiting for the full version to arrive. In the first game I started outside the Southern Seas, I took 2 provinces (1 with mostly mercs, 1 with my prophet and starting army), and Ogon the hero showed up in my home province, all in turn 2. The troglodytes rejoice!

That's better than my last game, where my only lab burnt down in an accident.

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...nions/ogon.jpg

Re: Lucky Start
 

Heh.

Any questions about rules and stuff, while you're waiting for the manual? Make sure to keep fatigue low on your units; every 20 fatigue is -2 to defense and -1 to attack, and an increased chance of critical hits (halved protection) on that unit.

-Max

[Edit: fixed a typo]

Re: Lucky Start
 

'Grats. Unfortunately, two provinces on turn 2 is about par for the course for most MP games. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Lucky Start
 

it looks like 3 provinces on turn 2 and that is not too bad. (The homeprovince is selected, and selected provinces blink, and it looks like the screenshot is taken while the flag was away)

Re: Lucky Start
 

Thanks for the offer, MaxWilson, but the game arrived two days ago. Happy days are here for me! Or at least unproductive ones http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.

I'll have to practice up in SP a bit before MP. I'm mostly playing Agartha (because it's fun!) with a W9-E4 god and a mix of Trogs, Ancient Ones, and whatever indy archers/holies (jade maidens) I can scrounge up. But I find my support goes through the roof just trying to protect my borders from the AIs. Is more summons the answer? I'm so busy fighting my research isn't progressing, and low level undead doesn't seem to last long.

Re: Lucky Start
 

That's an issue I've been grappling with, too, since I'm still learning the game. Check out the SC vs. richer nation thread, for example.

Summons do help, but I'm finding that the real answer has to do with how you play the strategic game. The fact that Dominions is WEGO instead of IGO-YOUGO has implications when you're trying to guard borders against an enemy; you have to think hard about the geography of whatever map you're trying to play on and decide where you want to hold your border (although that shouldn't stop you from raiding out beyond that border as a distraction, as long as you don't get psychologically committed to holding that no-man's-land). I have also found that low-level undead summons aren't worth much, except for taking down castles (although Call the Wind is even better. +100 siege bonus for 20 gems better than Crumble or that Horn of Whatever thing).

-Max

Re: Lucky Start
 

Oh, and you need to develop a sense for when your armies are "strong enough" to beat the opposition. Military strategy encompasses economy of force, but you can't do that when you don't *know* when more troops are just overkill. I spent a while playing around with games vs. myself, or even (should I blush to admit this?) cloning my saved games to a directory called "Test" so I could test out new magic items or tactics quickly, and also see how much of a role chance played in a given victory.

-Max

Re: Lucky Start
 

The best way to defend yourself against the AI is with province defense (PD). Just increase the "defense" counter next to the "tax" counter in a province. It has no upkeep and regenerates if it's not completely wiped out in a battle, and reasonably high defense (20 or 30) can really hold the AI at bay.

Re: Lucky Start
 

If I remember correctly, 21 is a magic number so use it instead of 20