Why am I not able to win the Orania Map ?

[Arker]

ulm troops are spendy, in resources as well as gold, and I haven't been doing very well with production, apparently. And not lasting very late into the game, either. So yeah, ~60+30 and maybe 5-6 leaders (1 or 2 actually functioning as leaders, the rest casters) was my main army last game when I gave up, somewhere around turn 25-30 I think. I think one problem was spending too much on local defense. But I'm not actually sure of that, it seemed a good idea at the time, and I'm not sure I can spot the error really... when I have three fortresses, two at least are pumping out troops as fast as their resources will allow, and I have spare cash, why not buff up the local defenses on border provinces?

The big limitation I ran into with ulm was resources. The troops are great, but even when gold is no problem there just aren't enough resources to pump them out at a rate above agonisingly slow. Playing the Brittania map against 2 opponents, I could grab a chokepoint or two and manage things so that my tiny little army just kept kicking butt, with minimal casualties that could be easily replaced, even get it growing slowly while continuously pruning back the enemies forces until I could finally move in and finish them. But on Orania, I couldn't get any chokepoints, any small defensible frontiers, so my army had to be split into 2 or 3 and then it was just too small to deal with the enemy assault when it came.

Doing better as R'Lyeh now, got to the place the turns are just taking sooo long I can't take anymore tonight though

[Sandman]

Take max productivity, it's as simple as that.

[Graeme Dice]

Arker said:
I think one problem was spending too much on local defense.

Was this the game where you had provinves where you had more than 20 defense? If so, then you spent too much.

when I have three fortresses, two at least are pumping out troops as fast as their resources will allow, and I have spare cash, why not buff up the local defenses on border provinces?

Buy mages instead of province defense. You should be buying a master smith in every single province that has a castle every single turn. If you still have more gold, buy more castles, they double the amount of resources available in a province, so you do not lose anything by putting them close together. (Unless you happen to want as many guardians as possible in your capital.) Buy temples and labs as well if you have extra gold.

The big limitation I ran into with ulm was resources. The troops are great, but even when gold is no problem there just aren't enough resources to pump them out at a rate above agonisingly slow.

This is why you want a high administration castle and productivity 3.

A pretender that can work against the AI with Ulm, but would be hopelessly weak in all but the longest multiplayer games is a great sage with 2 in every magic path, a castle, dominion strength of 6, order 3, productivity 3, misfortune 2, and drain 3. This pretender should start site searching as soon as possible.

An even better pretender to use against the AI is a Ghost King with Water 4, Earth 4, and Death 4. Pick a castle, dominion 6, order 3, productivity 3, misfortune 2, and drain 3. Then, research up to alteration 3 as quickly as possible. Have your pretender cast quickness, ironskin then attack archers. Forge him a cheap one-handed earth weapon. Then research enchantment 2 so you can add breath of winter to your script. Then research up to construction 4 for black steel plate mail (not full plate), a lead shield, and other items. Your early game research targets are thus alteration 3, enchantment 2, construction 4, conjuration 3 (Summon Earthpower), evocation 4 (Blade wind) and thaumaturgy 2 (Gnome Lore). After that, there are a number of spells that you can go for, such as invulnerability at alteration 5, and soul vortex at alteration 6. You'll also want to research magma eruption at some point. There are any number of ways to make this pretender even more powerful, but this is a good start.

[Saxon]

Last night I played Oriana again. One thing that stood out was that you run into AI empires pretty quick and have fighting on all sides. Many of the suggestions on this thread are excellent, but most focus on how to build a stronger nation, rather than how to deal with the particular map.

Can anyone share how they deal with the multiple front war? It was mentioned that the AI tends not to attack when the PD is set around 11. That can help stabilize a front, but not stop a grumpy army. What other tactics and strategies have people found useful?

[Ironhawk]

Whatever map you are on doesnt really matter after a certain point as the tactics are pretty much all the same. Once you know how to handle the AI you should be able to do it anywhere. In your case, the best advice is the old adage: the best way to win a two front war is not to get in one.

-Keep your PD high on all AI or potential AI borders.
-Keep your troop numbers at #2 or #3 rank.
-When you do declare war on an AI (or they do on you) go straight for the throat! Take thier capital and crush thier production capacity and then mop up the rest of thier provs.

If you do find yourself in a two front war (as i agree is often the case vs. AI) the best things to do are to just get to the chokepoints and fortify them. Place good sized garrisons there and just let the AI impale itself trying to attack you every 5-10 turns there. It doesnt know any better. Keep the defensive posture until you are finished with your primary opponent. Only then come back and wipe out the secondary.

One other note about fighting the AI. Try to keep the size of your front to as few provinces as possible (like 2-3 if you can do it!). This will keep the AI from randomly breaking out and wandering around aimlessly in your backcountry. Use lulls in the fighting after big battles to capture territory and move the front forward thru wide areas (where you might need to defend 5+ front provs) and back to a more managable size.

[Tharivol_Street_Prince]

And never forget that one of the swiftest ways to subdue an enemy offense is raising Unrest to all hell in their home province. It won't win you the game, but it can sure as hell make it a lot easier on you if you have couple spies in each neighboring kingdom's capital (with a liberal sprinkling of disaster spells on their more lucrative provinces, of course

[Saxon]

Ahh! Thanks for the tip, I will try that out. Hmm, I wonder if that is going to be nerfed in Dom III, as it seems too simple. Most very powerful things in Dom are a bit more complex.

[Gandalf Parker]

One of my favorite tactics involves PD. Using stealth armies of Pangaea I would take a province, crank the tax to the max, buy as much PD as I can and maybe recruit units if they are good, then fade my army back into the woods to move a few provinces off and do it again. By the time he kills the PD there he finds that they are too unhappy to allow building any units or tax.

I could tie up alot of his armies trying to stop me until he figures out to buy lots of PD. Its not really a winning strategy but its a very useful ally strategy.

[JimKnopf]

As the starter of this thread I have to thank you all. I was really frustrated with this game. I wasn´t able to win this map. But now I am able to do so.

Regarding the PD discussion: I think 10 should be the minimum. In border provinces I usually raise it to 25 (supported by mages) if my AI neighbour hates me and I´m not able to deal with him/her the way he/she deserves.

[Saxon]

Gandalf,

Are you sure that you don’t get taxes when unrest goes over 100? I was sure I was getting some in my current game. If you are right, I need to makes some changes…

On PD, I like 11 everywhere, as it will usually hold off Call of the Winds and Call of the Wild. I still argue that if you really need PD, you better get Mechanical Milita. If you have not tried that spell, you will be impressed. (At least in single player)