Site-search capital & Patrol Noob Questions

cool_hc · #1 November 25th, 2010, 10:26 PM

Hi

I just recently got dominions 3 and I was interested in some of the mechanics of the game:

1. Is it necessary to site-search your starting capital? Or are all the magic sites automatically revealed in the capital ?

2. Does anyone know how the patrol mechanic work, in regards to reducing unrest ? In the manual it just states more troops means more unrest removed, but that is really ambiguous. How many troops do I actually need to remove each point of unrest ?

3. How much does my population grow by each turn ? I know the growth scales increase pop by 0.2% per scale, but if I leave growth/death at 0, does that mean my population never increases? Or is there an automatic hidden growth rate ?

Thanks in advance

thejeff · #2 November 25th, 2010, 11:41 PM

1) No. The only sites at a capital are the nation-specific capital sites. Events may add other sites, mines most often, but they will be visible.

2) I don't know precisely, but I rarely patrol for unrest. Occasionally when blood hunting or to overtax my capital on the first turn. In either case, I'll patrol with whatever I've got available. Usually troops have better uses. Most often your starting army can patrol down the effects of ~150% taxes, but it is random. Sometimes you get nothing.

3) Default scales is no growth.

Kobal2 · #3 November 26th, 2010, 12:14 AM

2) Patrolling efficiency is based on the precision and action points of the units patrolling, the number of guys, and of course the patrol bonus if applicable. High precision and/or flying units are better at it, but they're also usually more expensive.

I find that, as a general rule, 10 average humans' worth of patrollers can reliably sort out the monthly unrest caused by a 10% tax hike. The real question is, of course : is it still worth it when it will cause the population to drop, and the patrollers' upkeep eats into the profits ?
Usually the answer is no, but a few nations can work with a high Growth, full on patrol & constant overtax strategy. Machaka, Bogarus, MA Tien Chi, Pangea and LA Man come to mind for example.