Computer Enemy Dominion Spread Is So FAST!

apples · #1 September 21st, 2007, 02:46 AM

Hi,

I am still a noob in this game. I've playing single player games vs computer players and I'm finding the computer dominion spread is like wtf so fast and so quick while the dominion in my provinces increases at a crawling speed!

Is the computer cheating or what???

apples · #2 September 21st, 2007, 02:51 AM

Just wanted to add that the computer player army size also seem to grow ridiculously fast even though the province probably don't have that kind of resources. WTF!!!

Lazy_Perfectionist · #3 September 21st, 2007, 02:54 AM

Did you remember to boost your dominion score when you designed your pretender?

Tuidjy · #4 September 21st, 2007, 03:31 AM

If the AI has a very low max dominion, it will spread widely - the temple check
will see that the local province is at max, and will go somewhere else.

High level AIs get a bonus to their resources, and thus amass troops very quickly.
Do not forget about mercenaries, as well. That's one way to really put early
expansion in overdrive.

(By the way, what's up with the overdrive idiom? The overdrive gear is the one you
no not want to be in if you are trying to accelerate quickly... am I missing
something as a non-native speaker?)

Panpiper · #5 September 21st, 2007, 09:26 AM

I remember having the same problem when I first started playing Dom2. In fact I lost my first game because of it. (I had not yet read the manual.)

After reading up on what had happened I made sure that my next pretender had a higher dominion than just one. I went for dominion three. (Veterans will now laugh.) However that actually worked for me given what else I did. The first leader I bought on turn one was a priest. He moved into the first conquered province and built a temple. Then he started preaching and the new temple built another priest (freeing the capital to produce researchers,etc.). That new priest built another temple in the next conquered province while still more priests got recruited in the temples. Essentially, I build a temple in every province and put priests in any province that can benefit from preaching and have them preach.

I wind up with a lot of priests. However I also ultimately equip them with Rods of the Phoenix, Spirit Helms, Elemental armor and Clams of Pearls (I play Ulm with a rainbow pretender finding lots of gem sites and I love my empowered smiths). I build labs wherever I station priests. I wind up with armies of priests casting incinerate and automatically launching volleys of lightning in addition to their casting. Needless to say I fear no undead or demons (or much else for that matter). Ulm lacks diverse magic casters and has no holy troops (letting me get away with a rainbow pretender and drain 3). However the forge bonus smiths (not affected by drain) with all my rainbow found gems allow me to field truly awesome numbers of Rods of the Phoenix and Spirit Helms which completely compensate for the lack of blessable troops and diversified spell casting.

The drain 3 helps me in that it does not hurt my guys given my strategy but can really mess with enemy spell casters. However the fight needs to be under the influence of my dominion for the drain to have effect. This can be difficult given my meager starting dominion (nowadays typically four or five). A trick I like is to give stealthy scouts a Stone Idol and send them into enemy territory to reduce the enemy's dominion, making it that much easier for mine to spread. If I worry about the scout getting caught and killed I also give him an Armor of Virtue so if he takes any damage, he T-ports back to my capitol. I also like to station Juggernauts on the borders of my territory (Juggernauts act as much on dominion as do prophets).

As for armies growing fast, it seems to me that the AI always favors going for large numbers of cheap troops while I the player always favor small numbers of very survivable elite troops (nobody beats Ulm for that). The difference in numbers can get quickly extreme. I always make sure to have at least my best leader always with a maximum compliment of those elite troops. That gives me one army that can come close to matching numbers. Their eliteness allows that army to utterly crush whatever it meets and come through virtually unscathed (troops gain experience and troops in this army gain experience fast). They can then crush another AI stack. The AI may build lots of cheap troops but with them loosing a stack every turn, it doesn't add up to much. (When I can, I equip that leader with O'al Kan's Sceptre and a Crown of Command so I can add another 100 troops and the Sword of Aurgelmer to give luck to all his army. I also give him the Chalice so his troops aren't overly hampered by afflictions. This army fears nothing.)

Lazy_Perfectionist · #6 September 21st, 2007, 11:24 AM

RE: Tjudy, Overdrive

Language is hardly logical, but here's my guess on the overdrive thingamajig. Now, it goes without saying Im neither a linguistic or automotive expert, but this is the internet, so I'm saying it anyways.

Overdrive was like the last gear in transmission, and offered some improved fuel efficiency by Lowering the RPMs. But it could only be reached at 45 mph. So...

I guess that putting early expansion into overdrive does not refer to the acceleration, per se, but getting your expansion going fast enough it becomes efficient? Or rather, going fast enough you can coast along on less effort?

Hmm... also, stationing a prophet strategically within your borders can also help push your dominion in the right directions. If you have a very high dominion score, then make sure to designate a prophet ASAP. Your pretender generates two temple checks, your prophet... I'm not certain. But if you start with an awake pretender and get a prophet, then counting your starting temple your dominion will spread four times as fast as a start with only the temple.

Edratman · #7 September 21st, 2007, 01:27 PM

RE Overdrive

I can't say with any certainty the derivation of the idiom, but my theory is based on the fact that most people have no idea how a car (or anything else) actually works, and the actual intricacies of the overdrive gear was a mystery wrapped in an enigma. But everyone knew that if you were going fast that you wanted to be in "overdrive", thus the term became synonymous with high speed. Any additional factors, such as acceleration, were complications beyond most people.

As for the original inquiry from Apples, I suspect you made the same mistake I did in my first couple of games. You either didn't want to waste points on dominion or because the candles for dominion are located in the upper left on the scales chart you didn't even realize that they were available to be modified.

apples · #8 September 24th, 2007, 12:13 AM

I think my god's dominion is like 4 and the computer AI was set to advanced. Guess that explains my weak dominion and computer player's army.

llamabeast · #9 September 24th, 2007, 01:41 PM

A common recommendation is to take at least 6 in dominion.

Lazy_Perfectionist · #10 September 24th, 2007, 03:23 PM

There are several common reasons people go for less dominion.

Bad scales that they want to outrun.
Cheap, quality priests of at least level 2 (Ctis), and somewhere specific to put the rest of their points.

As an interesting fact, priests can raise your dominion above your pretender's natural level. With a temple and t2 priests preaching, you may see this, but with t1 priests, you're out of luck, unless you have a ridiculously bad dominion scale.