Help my start

[Minrhael]

I think I have a problem with not expanding fast enough, always have played too defensively in most games. Figured I'd put a typical 10turn start up here and see if anyone had suggestions to help me out.

I play with independents6, sites60, 9 impossible AIs, everything else normal. Playing as Tuatha with a water9 blue dragon, order 1 magic 1 luck1, fortress, dominion 4.

Turn1:
Bid 175 on Heavy Inf merc company with 150 asking price.
Train bard, 11 longbowmen.
Set tax to 150.
Set castellan to patrol, scout sneak to nearest farmland, pretender to research construction.

T2:
got the mercs. Surrounding independents all look tough except one that says 50light inf. decide to hold a turn just in case that 50 is a low estimate.
Set bard to research.
Train bard, 11 longbowmen.
Set merc to patrol.
Scout moves in direction of a black candle.

T3:
Tax to 100.
Merc and castellan with all longbows to attack weakest province. Longbows to rear flank, others to guard commander in front and to side of longbows (mercs in front, personal infantry to side).
Set bard to research.
Scout spots Caelum just 3 provinces away, on a choke point so scout has to backtrack. Will ignore scout moves from here on unless something relevant is found.
Train Sidhe Champion & 2 Daoine.

T4:
enemy forces overstated, easy victory.
Brangwen joins (not normal, so I won't do anything with her other than research)
Sidhe lord to research
Will finish construction 2, rest to alteration.
Retain mercs for 95 gold.
ignore 2nd HI merc comp avail.
2armies attack weakest province.
PD+5 in new province.
Move scout, train 1 daoine, 0 gold left.

T5:
Win fight, haven't needed mercs yet, PD+5.
Sidhe champ forges owl quill.
all RP to alteration.
Train 4 daoine, Monk to send scouting.
Ignore archer merc group avail. Armies move to capital as nothing attackable that I'd beat.

T6:
Caelum declares war. casts CotW on province that had the 2 armies in, easily repelled.
PD to 12 in both provinces.
equip bard with owl quill, forge another.
Train 1 daoine, monk to scout. Attack weakest province with 2armies.

T7:
PD12 beat CotW. Capital beat CotW. Conquered easily, PD to 12.
Bid 95 on merc.
Equip owl quill, forge another. Alteration 2 researched, now put 20 into enchantment leaving rest in alteration. Attack weakest province with 2armies.

T8:
Vampire count takes province. Boo!
Conquered province, PD to 12, still haven't needed mercs.
Equip owl quill, champion researches now as will need air gems to forge anti missile charm.
Assign enough RP for alteration 3, rest into thaumaturgy. Pythium found, also not too far away.
Attack weakest province with 2armies.

T9:
Beat CotW.
Conquered province, STILL haven't needed mercs. PD to 12.
Enough RP into Thaumaturgy for level 2, rest into construction.
Have Brangwen forge amulet of missile protection. Usually at this point I recruit my Sidhe Lord to forge the amulet and become prophet. I then get construction to 4, forge a storm staff, head out with 25 or so daoine under the prophet with the storm staff and a wineskin.

The dragon gets the amulet and conquers provinces the monks and scout are finding easy enough, avoiding lizard provinces as learned Finally after multiple defeats Amazing how 15 or 20 longbowmen will mow down the lizard provinces but the fearsome dragon gets cursed and crushed. The 2 armies continue to expand, I get monks building temples to increase number of daoine I can recruit, and recruit maximum daoines every turn.

I usually get a 2nd and perhaps 3rd castle built in a forest province around the 10th-15th turns, and focus on knights in that castle, using leftover resources on longbows. I also recruit another Sidhe Lord and a Tuatha; these sit around casting Auspex and Haruspex every turn.

Right around turns 15-20 I generally start to come under at least 1 serious attack though, and never seem to have quite enough army to hold them off, especially Vanheim which always seems to have a huge army.

So am I putting too much into research initially, or not sending dragon out soon enough, or not using gems wisely? Usually I would not have spent so much on PD right away, but whenever I see Caelum I always drop 12 in every province, less seems to lose too frequently and saving a couple turns lost income and the irritation of having to backtrack behind my lines seems worth the cost. Any advice appreciated, thanks!

[Zeikko]

In my opinion you use too much money on province defense.

[Cohen]

Don't waste Mercs in patrolling, when you start, avoid PD and patrol ... if unrest is too high lower tax rate for some turns, til unrest drops to an acceptable level.

[Scott Hebert]

OTOH, he's facing Caelum, who he knows has CotW. In that scenario, buying PD isn't that bad. Of course, having a distaste for Man (I don't know why), I don't know much about their PD. I doubt it is as good as Ulm or Jotunheim, but it's still effective at deterring CotW.

Bayushi Tasogare

[st.patrik]

The main things I'd take issue with (at least on first glance) are the following:

your scales. I think Tuatha theme is better off with Order 2 and Sloth 1 or 2. You don't need a ton of resources especially with a fortress, since your best troops are Daoine Sidhe, and longbows. Order 2 will give you more money = more longbows early. Sloth will give you the points to put into a higher dominion, so you can churn out more than 4 Daoine Sidhe per turn.

your research. constr.2 then alt.3 then thaum.2 then constr. I always head straight to alt. 4 for wind guide - it makes a difference in how effective your longbows will be, and only costs 1 gem per cast. I can understand a side trip for owl quills, but Wind Guide would be a priority for me.

what you're building. If you're using Mercs (which is a great idea) I would spend build max possible longbows. Daoine Sidhe are great, but IMO they are for later, once you have taken the indie provinces. 40-50 wind-guided longbows can take on most any indie province, with just a small force of Mercs to soak up arrows.
of course Caelum and longbows isn't the best combo, unless you have a staff of storms, in which case it's ok, but not great, so that might change things.

I wouldn't waste my time with Sidhe Lords much beyond the first few turns - the Tuatha are that much more able to cast the spells you want, even though they cost a bit more. but even then, you get 3 more levels of magic for 110 gold.


The only other thing I'd say is that Caelum were breathing down my neck like that, I'd take them out. Caelum isn't that tough early game, you would probaby be more than a match for them.


As far as getting into trouble around turns 15-20 my question would be whether or not you are maintaining a force on your borders. Often a declaration of war can be averted by keeping a strong military presence on your border - which gives you time to build more troops etc.


hope some of that's helpful/thought-provoking.

[st.patrik]

Originally posted by Bayushi Tasogare:
OTOH, he's facing Caelum, who he knows has CotW. In that scenario, buying PD isn't that bad. Of course, having a distaste for Man (I don't know why), I don't know much about their PD. I doubt it is as good as Ulm or Jotunheim, but it's still effective at deterring CotW.

Bayushi Tasogare

Man's PD is terrible - slingers and militia - but it can usually turn away a CotW