Fortresses and Production

[Wendigo]

Somehow I disagree with the general feeling that a newbie might get from this thread that 'forts are a bad investment'.

Raiding warfare is an important part of Dominions, and without forts your temples, gem sources & indep mages recruiting spots will fall to your enemies raiders.

They also protect your forces from surprise attacks: I have many times in Dom I launched a magic assault vs a province full of enemy sages & pretty much cut my opponent's research in half in just one battle. Even with Gateway restricted in Dom II this is still possible in the mid game due to cloud trapeze/teleport/faery trod.

Forts provide supply to nearby armies: they will help the early stages of an offensive campaign without need of supply items.

Forts allow for the recruitment of national mages & commanders, for this reason nations like Pythium & Jotunheim should build many of them to use their strength to the fullest.

Finally, forts add to income: a few forts in 100+ income provinces will do more for your income than having invested in Prod3 & Growth3 in Dom II (this has changed from Dom I)

Defending your forts is less of an issue if you can field a mobile force/pretender. With or without forts you will still need to defend your lands anyway, but it's a better deal if you do not lose your gems & temples in addition to your income when under attack.

[aldin]

Wendigo,

I find I WANT to play that way. Taking and holding provinces in an ever expanding sphere of influence. Unfortunately, I find there's a lot of give and take that happens and having forts in provinces you aren't choosing to dedicate the resources to hold means you're creating potential strongholds for an enemy on a sweep through. This diffulty becomes even more pronounced against nations like Pangaea that can "appear" in your rear areas.

Perhaps others have a different experiences though, I am still pretty new at this.

~Aldin

[Wendigo]

I am not saying that you should just turtle forward, if you do that you run the risk of falling behind those that hyperexpand.
What I am saying is that, once borders are more or less set, you either go to war immediately or grow inside your current bounds, otherwise you will stagnate.
The 3 ways you can grow inside your borders in Dom II is via site searching, bloodhunting & building forts.

Regarding armies sneaking far behind your lines, if that happens you have likely done something wrong...sneaking armies are much easier to spot by patrollers/local defense than lone infiltrators.
Even if an army gets to your backyard, you will be much safer if your more valuable provinces are protected with a fort. The forts will give you both time to mount a counterattack, and protect temples & gem sites. Raiders just cannot afford to stay for a couple turns sieging a fort, their strength is usually in staying mobile but they are unlikely to be strong enough to face a serious army, and are vulnerable to magic assasination (kill the commander, and the raiding force is gone).

[ December 26, 2003, 20:25: Message edited by: Wendigo ]