Newbie questions

[CJN]

Greetings everyone. I'm quite new to Dominions 2 and have still problems. But first I want to thank the people at Illwinter for creating a good game that works under Linux, Bruce Geryk for creating a good intro walkthrough and Gandalf Parker for creating the Starter files.

Onward to the questions:
1. What is the best way for infantry nations (Abysia, Jotunheim, ...) for dealing with enemy cavalry? Spearmen if available? Mages? Summons?

2. I have had problems with Abysian troops that have broken early in the battle. Cause unknown, my guess is enemy spells. What is the best way to increase morale? Priests?

3. Research strategies, I have none yet. Blood nations should go for blood early of course, but the rest? Fire, evocation? Nature, conjuration? Death, enchantment?

[deccan]

1) Not many people use cavalry as they are generally don't very worth the gold/resources. With Abysia I just use brute force against cavalry. With Jotunheim, it is harder since they are so big, have poor attack stats, and cavalry generally has good defense.

2) Priests are good. But maybe you should try getting a bigger squad of Abysian troops together.

3) Depends on your nation and pretender setup of course.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

CJN said:
1. What is the best way for infantry nations (Abysia, Jotunheim, ...) for dealing with enemy cavalry? Spearmen if available? Mages? Summons?

(Assuming 'cavalry' refers to HC/knights

Spearmen: they were a very effective counter to shock cavalry in ancient warfare, not so in Dominions. High damage weapons (like battleaxes) is what you want.

Mages: Abysia's magic is good vs armor (many fire-based evocations deal armor-piercing damage). And Incinerate is a 99% guaranteed dead HC/cast. Jotunheim (especially Utgard) can use the Eagle Eyes/Tangle Vines to good effect very early - a Jotun spearman can kill an entangled knight with a single blow ~80% of the time.

Summons: my Favorites when dealing with HC are actually battle summons. Will o' Wispes for Abysia, and Swarm with Jotunheim.

2. I have had problems with Abysian troops that have broken early in the battle. Cause unknown, my guess is enemy spells. What is the best way to increase morale? Priests?

Level 3+ priests, berserk-type spells, big squads, fighting in your dominion.

3. Research strategies, I have none yet. Blood nations should go for blood early of course, but the rest? Fire, evocation? Nature, conjuration? Death, enchantment?

This depends on a lot of things. Obvious ones in the beginning: nation, theme, pretender, game setup (map size, site richness, VCs). Think of a global strategy, focusing on your strengths. Then adapt depending on what happens in the game (immediate or latent threats, alliances, gem income, indy mages).

[tinkthank]

That's good advice so far, here's just a tiny addition:

In general, the answer to almost all of your questions is "it depends", but here goes:

1. Fodder + spells also helps; tie up those enemy cav with some cheap screens of militia or cheap summons (manikin, who also cause nice fatigue, or vine men, or whatever) and hit them with flares, fireballs, or missile fire.

2. Priests help against acute moral drop, but net average morale can be raised by simply having larger squads of troops. Or you can break up your troops into lots of smaller squads, knowing well that a few will route, but others will be there to take their place.

[Gandalf Parker]

Against cavalry I tend to create a wall of infantry, spears if possible. Slingers are cheap and can cause rout. In any case I have them HOLD and attack closest. Then I use some fast moving units (cavalry, summons, usually anything if its 4 legged or flying) which I set off to the sides with orders to attack archers or attack rearmost. If they are REAL fast (such as flyers) I might have to hold them up long enough to make sure that the enemy cavalry is going against my sword-fodder troops. You can do that by assiging them to guard a commander, and have that commander set to hold/hold/attack rearmost

You can mix in high-morale units into the same squad in order to help morale rolls. Many nations have some sort of cheap infantry that has a slight morale increase. Or use something like vinemen which are cheap to make.

[FarAway Pretender]

Yeah, about that heavy cavalry, they typically get one charge attack with a lance which does extra damage at the start of a battle. Let them use those Lance attacks up on fodder (units with light armor tend, predictably, to have higher defense and lower protection, which is good because the lances tend to do enough damage that armor doesn't always help).

As for spell research, it depends very much on what spellcasters you have. My preferred approach is to get one or two good combat spells first, then do research to enable a more powerful Ritual spell and/or Magic Item. Different disciplines have different payoffs. Some of my faves:

Fire: Evocation Level 2 (Fireball)--unless you're Marignon, who starts out with Holy Pyre, just as good in most situations
Water: Alteration Level 2 (Quickness), Enchantment Level 1 (Breath of Winter)
Death: Enchantment Level 3 (Raise Skeletons/Dead)
Astral: Thaumaturgy Level 2 (Mind Burn)
Earth: Construction

Different spells work well in different combos. Blood Level 2 works great for Jotunheim or Abysia, because of Frost Fiends and Devils.

[marc420]

Hi, I'm a newbie too, so here's a contribution and a question. Take the contribution for what its worth.

c) The one advantage pikes or spears seem to get is ther length. That would seem to be something that could negate a favorable attack from cavalry.

q) I've been trying to figure out the small squad vs large squad idea. I've been trying the idea that by splitting my infantry into small squads, I'd minimize the routing of all the squads at once. But reading this I'm learning the part about a large squads might be harder to route. So what's the conventional wisdom about which is better. Splitting your troops out into the five or more squads that a leader or leaders can handle, or bunching the troops up into one big squad that's harder to rout?

[Foom]

Hey marc420, welcome to the addiction.

The thing with the spears makes a lot of sense, and they do have a "repel" attack in Dom2. But sadly, this doesn't work well against heavy cavalry.

My favorite tactic against these buggers is: Large block of heavy infantry with orders to "hold and attack", backed up by a group of mages casting damage spells. Having crappy troops like Mictlan slaves or Maenads absorb the initial lance charge helps too.

I don't think there's a definite answer to small squad vs. large squad. That's the beauty of Dom2: You have to adapt to your enemy and the situation.

[deccan]

Another advantage of having multiple squads instead of one big block is that if you spread the multiple blocks across the battlefield it makes it less likely that enemy non-flying flankers will be able to get to your rear where the vulnerable mages are likely to be.

[Boron]

marc420 said:
q) I've been trying to figure out the small squad vs large squad idea. I've been trying the idea that by splitting my infantry into small squads, I'd minimize the routing of all the squads at once. But reading this I'm learning the part about a large squads might be harder to route. So what's the conventional wisdom about which is better. Splitting your troops out into the five or more squads that a leader or leaders can handle, or bunching the troops up into one big squad that's harder to rout?

If you have morale 50 troops afaik they never rout . Morale 30 troops almost never rout as well .

So undeads , devils , mechanical men , vine ogres and the likes can be used in very small squads and still fight normally until extinction .
The common troops with morale of 8-12 should better be used in large squads otherwise they might run from the first volley of missiles .

As Gandalf has said you can mix in your low morale troops a few vinemen or undead or similiar to increase the squad morale a lot .

With many nations it is important to quickly replace your national troops by summoned ones . Mictlan is a good example for this unless you run a good blessing .
Most national troops become rather obsolete in midgame .
Vans , Jotunheims Gigants and a few other national troops are exeptions .
In general the bigger part of your upkeep is better spent for mages though .