Why am I not able to win the Orania Map ?

Ironhawk · #1 July 1st, 2006, 01:03 PM

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 · #2 July 1st, 2006, 09:33 PM

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 · #3 July 7th, 2006, 01:45 AM

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 · #4 July 7th, 2006, 06:06 PM

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 · #5 July 18th, 2006, 05:21 PM

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 · #6 July 19th, 2006, 05:28 AM

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)

Gandalf Parker · #7 July 19th, 2006, 10:34 AM

I believe the taxes go down with unrest? Or population (and therefor taxes)? Generally 100% can be maintained but cranking it to 200% is quickly damaging.

I find it a particularly handy thing when seiging a home castle. Drive up the unrest so that even if he does manage to get it back he wont be able to develop a response force. Another quick rush often grabs it again.