Order of Expansion

[MythicalMino]

How do you all determine in what direction to expand?

I used to go in a circular expansion, but found that that puts me in a tough spot for defense.

I remember reading somewhere that it is a good idea to get the provinces around your capital, 1-3 provinces deep....then choose a direction (north, south, east or west).....

how do you guys determine what direction to move in though?

[Scott Hebert]

For me, all things being equal, I prefer to do a spiral. Things are rarely equal.

In general, I would attack the single richest province adjacent to my army that I thought I could take. The flip side of this would be attacking the weakest province.

I remember a discussion a while ago by Gandalf and a few others about this. Some do well with circles, some with lines, while Caelum can do something of a 'dipping toe' method of expansion.

For me, though, once I have an 'indy crushing' army, I take a spiral.

[Argitoth]

Well, I hope the expansion doesn't cost too much. Maybe like 30$ for the most.

The expansion should have lots of new content like a few new nations aaand back-compatability.


I'll order the expansion as soon as it comes out, so I'm saving my money.

[Cheezeninja]

I'm going to assume that was a joke and chuckle...

[Gandalf Parker]

I recommend taking every province you can take without too much damage if it directly connects to your castle.

While you are doing that send out scouts in all directions. Keep in mind that they can only give troop info on the province they are in, but they WILL spot other players and castles and red candles (someone elses dominion) in provinces next to the one they are in. So if you have a choice between moving a scout to a province connecting to 3 provinces, or one connecting to 6, take the 6. Move in ways that give you a glimpse on as many as possible.

By the time you have gotten your castle circled for maximum admin effects, you may have an idea where the nearest enemy is. Expansion after this has alot to do with your style and nation.

If I need indepents (Ulm?, Atlantis?) then I hope my dominion, or scouts, has shown me where resources are high near me, usually mountains too. If Im a hungry army or one needing gold (Jotunheim?) then Id look for population and farmland terrain.

A magic or gem hungry nation might prefer scrub and swamp. (higher chance of sites)

If Im not good on province defense I might look for a weak province sandwiched between 2 rough ones. I take the weak one, buy lots of PD and keep an army there. Leave the 2 rough ones as free flanking defense.

If I have the ability I might skip over a nasty province completely so that it can buffer my retreats. Man, Pangaea, Vanheim, Caelum, Ulm (Black Forest) can use this tactic well. Skipping across the map can make best use of those nations advantages.

Spiral can be done 2 ways. The tight-spiral which always stays connected. Your kingdom appears to grow like an amoeba spreading. There are pros and cons to this. Good for gains but hard to defend. This makes efficient use of mercs.

Spiral can also be a loose spiral where you keep one unconquered province seperating your loops. Less gains but easier to do a defending retreat if you have to pull back. Also good if you have flight support (a flying combat god can be enough to make this work)

[LintMan]

I'm an SP-only guy, so I don't know how well this translates to MP, but my preferred mode of play is to agressively pursue "peaceful" expansion (ie: only going after indeps, no wars with other races) for as long as possible, while expanding my power base, research, and gold/gem income, while trying to maintain peaceful borders with any races I encounter). I've had pretty decent luck with the AI maintaining peaceful borders with me if I put up some respectable defense nearby and don't provoke them. (Also keep in mind I like to play on bigger maps where there is more room for everyone to expand before fights break out over territory. I hate it when I find an enemy castle 2-3 provinces away because you're at war almost immediately.)

Anyway, first I try to take all the surrounding provinces to my castle. After that, I might try to take a second layer around my castle, or I might set my army off expanding in one direction:

That depends mostly on my position on the map, and whether I spot any enemy candles. If I'm near a map edge or other more-isolated territory that is unlikely to be grabbed by anyone else in the near future, I'll try deprioritize taking those in favor of territory that might be snapped up by an enemy. Similarly, if I spot some enemy candles in one direction, I'll try to expand over that way to grab some/all of intervening territory before the enemy expands into all of it. More provinces for you, less for them.