What makes a skillful Dom 3 player?

[Sombre]

I don't think you can have 'poor diplomacy' and beat anyone who has 'good diplomacy' unless you're playing a duel. Diplomacy is by far the most important factor in MP. The number of times a clear winner has continued to win throughout the midgame, extended it into the lategame and, surprise surprise, won in the end simply due to them persuading people not to attack them is pretty staggering. Meanwhile people with 'poor diplomacy' scrap amongst themselves until they get flattened by someone who hasn't been in a vicious bloody stalemate for the past turns.

[Edi]

Renojustin said:
Edi is so right that it's not even funny. Just from a casual glance at the database, I learned things about my situation ingame that led to large differences in gameplay.

Encyclopedic knowledge is key.

It's not the be-all, end-all, but it certainly helps. I'm a complete MP newbie, really, but in this department I have an advantage over most people simply because I put the DB together. Meaning I had to dig deep enough into the game and doublecheck that I got everything right that I know substantial portions of it from memory. Not perfectly, but close enough that it doesn't make a difference.

I've gotten best results through diplomacy in all the three MP games I've played.

[ArkhanTheBlack]

BTW, is it possible to create a fixed team in a MP game where you define teams at the start and then see his area? I don't think I want a game decided by the fact that you suddenly have to face a 2 : 1 or worse opposition. It's just unfair!

[Edi]

Not possible at the moment.

[Fal]

Luck is also very important in MP games.

and above all, loads of time...

[DonCorazon]

Diplomacy is the most directly correlated to how long you can survive in an MP game. It fades in importance as the number of players decrease. In the end, even the smoothest diplomat will still need to face at least one enemy to win, and that is when you need the deep knowledge of the game.

I survived many MP games and did well on all the graphs based on diplomacy but in the end would get slaughtered (see Endgame Slaughter Moves thread) because of lack of knowledge of these endgame tactics (or in that case, it turned out to be a bug exploit).

Now I understand many endgame strategies but still am learning specific tactics - spell combos that are effective, units to deal with specific situations, etc.

So I think there is a learning curve you need to move up and the important skills shift throughout the game, but diplomacy is the most important until the very end when your ability to handle endgame clashes will determine whether you can win or not. Of course, you will never get to that point without some diplomatic success.

[Twan]

Winning without more diplomacy than "ok NAP 3" and "I end the NAP" is perfectly possible. It's just a matter of luck, and success to look like a medium threat (too big for one neighbour alone, too small to have a big coalition against you).

I think early game luck (like being surrounded by rich badly defended indy provinces, finding good indie mages early, having one neighbour trying to rush another guy and not succeeding well so you can expand quietly, or a nation weak against yours to rush) is mosty what decide who are the players who can compete for victory, it's very rare to be in the list after a bad start.

Then midgame reduce the list to the people who have also a good knowledge of their national magic possibilities and a good execution of their plans (how many battles are won/lost because of a gem forgoten somewhere or a cancelled move order ?), and like I said above, succeed to avoid a coalition against them.

Then if there are still several competitors, late game limit one more time the list, to people who know well the limitations of the engine and the imbalances of the game, using standardized strategies winning against anything else (magical economy items, diversification to death/astral magic, tartarians, art of defensive round one casting, knowing the big list of summons/spells/units not worthing to be used at this stage of the game, etc...).

Finally in this group victory goes to the one who know the better how the others play, and is able to predict some crucial ennemy moves, going to the good provinces with the good units and scripts is crucial as it's often a matter of "if I go there and he send force X I win, but if I go there and he send force Y I lose".

[theenemy]

"What makes a skillful Dom 3 player?"

Not loosing your temper when getting beat up by other nations is a good thing. It's when you loose it that bad things start to happen...

[Ironhawk]

A couple of people have mentioned "encyclopedic" knowledge as being neccessary for a skilled player and I just wanted to reiterate that this is definitely not the case. It doesnt *hurt* to have that knowledge but it is not a requirement. Since the advent of Dom3 I have routinely entered and thrived in games where I had basically no idea of the stats and abilities of any units of the nations of other players.

What is more important is to learn how to look at a given unit that you've never seen before and tell from its stats - ok this unit is Light Infantry, Cavalry, etc. And to know how to compensate for certain stats - high defense means use arrows or massed attacks, high prot means AP or high strength/dam attacks. Stuff like that.

[Dedas]

Expect the unexpected.
Read on the forums that building more than 1 in PD is a waste of money? Do not get surprised if the enemy takes all your provinces at once with small stealth armies.

Always have a plan B.
What will happen if you do not win that big battle? See to it that you know and that you have a backup plan.

Do not put all your eggs in one basket.
One big army is as vulnerable to your miscalculations as two smaller armies but at least you get a second chance when those bombard rituals starts falling.

Know your enemy.
Use scouts.
Use diplomacy so that through other players you will get knowledge of how your enemy fights and if he is trying to betray you soon.

And so on...