Help needed: How to defend? / Guides to nation

[fabio80mi]

I would like to thank you guys
I've tried to follow your advice , both as faster/better expansion both as trying to build a 2nd fortress soon and increase ind strenght.

My game style seems to have improved a lot and i'm beginning to do very good on game with only AI , at least till mid game. in late game i'm still quite lost but i'll work on it =)

Another matter.. is there some specific map which is particularly good/enjoyable to learn and improve the game? i usually generate new one each time but they seem quite dull and always the same, and i can't find many good map like there was in dominions 2, advice are always welcome =)

[Ironhawk]

Mid to Late game is tricky for a new player. You are presented with so many options in terms of spells/summons/forging that it can be difficult to form a coherent strategy. My suggestion to you is to look up a standard strategy for whatever nation you are playing on the forums. Use that strategy as a guide for how to get through the mid game and gain experience with the whole process.


Aran is the traditional first-game map since it comes with dominions. And while it is not a good map in the sense of balanced starting positions, it actually is a good map in terms of terrain training. It will teach you how to get into the water, how to survive in waste, why farmlands are so prized, etc.

[MaxWilson]

I enjoy Glory of the Gods (multiplayer), and I also had a lot of fun with world3 from Illwinter's map page. I tend not to use random maps, or if I do I generate one and use it multiple times. Of course you're aware that you can still use Dominions 2 maps?

Edit: one more thought. You're aware that when the AI has a really big army, it tends to rout before they're all dead. If you cut off his retreat provinces the same turn, all those routed troops have nowhere to flee to and die. This can be the difference between, say, 83 out of 284 enemy troops killed (and 0 of 6 commanders), and 284 out of 284 killed (and 6 of 6 commanders, some of them mages). This is another reason it's important to be able to split your army when necessary, so you don't have to keep defeating the same army over and over again (until it gets whittled down small enough to be defeated by PD). BTW, if you cut off the retreat provinces the battle will still tell you that 83 out of 284 were killed, but you'll know by looking at the map that the other 201 died, too.

-Max

[Edratman]

I also had difficulty learning the game. I tried to play it like Civilization and got crushed pretty much. I also tried playing real big maps because I thought they would be more interesting, but I found myself getting too tied up moving troops and ignoring the details of the game.

So I started playing small maps with 2 foes, 8 or 9 independent strength, normal AI, easy magic, 75 site frequency and high cash and resource factors. This accelerated a lot of factors and the reduced number of provinces I owned allowed me to play more with the magic, forging and other aspects of the games. This enabled me to learn much more about the game and incorporate a lot of what I read in the forums but never used because I was overwhelmed with micromanagement of the vast maps.

I'm now up to medium maps with 4 or 5 opponents and I'll probably stop there because it takes me 2+ weeks to complete a game. I have no idea how I would ever finish a 120+ province map. Now I have the opponents 1 level up from normal AI and magic back to normal. I leave the independent strength at 8 or 9 and use high cash, resources because I like them and don't feel a need to try other settings. I made my first SC's a couple weeks ago (wraith lords) and was pleased to no end with their success.

If you try to learn on a big map you will probably get frustrated like I did when you find yourself fighting on 3 fronts without enough armies to handle all the action and no real knowledge of the magic system to handle this much activity.