The Ages

[noname]

The early era is one in which magic is proportionally more powerful, technology is primitive, totemic tribes still wander around in great numbers, each nation is rather homogeneous, blood magic is widespread, and although mages tend to be powerful, they also tend to be specialized in culturally-specific fields. Humans aren't the most common race in many nations, and in some cases, humans are ruled over by other races. Although blood magic is common, it is fair to say that otherwise, this era is the most innocent, as Ermor hasn't fallen yet, Acroscephale is in it's golden age, the star which would bring the illithids hasn't fallen yet, and the great empires of the future which would be built over the broken bodies of the conquered haven't risen yet.

The middle era is balanced; magic and technology are roughly even in their importance. Humans have begun to take over the world and magic creatures are more rare in certain nations (like Agartha.)The star which brings the illithids has fallen, and the seas have changed. The nations in this era are becoming more heterogenous, and some nations shown are hybrids of previous ones (such as Pythium being descended from Ermor and Sauromatia.) Blood magic is most rare in this era, as civilization has been built up, and hasn't yet fallen apart.
Empires (Ermor, Pythium, Tien Chi, etc) dominate the world at this time. The world is, however, less innocent than in the early era.

The late era is when everything falls apart; Ermor has fallen totally into darkness, Tien Chi has been conquered by barbarians, and Mictlan has returned to its bloody past. Two dominions are automatically destructive; Ermor's dominion kills people and turns them into undead warriors, and R'lyeh's dominions kills people and turns the survivors into madmen. Magic weaker but more broad, as the mages have had plenty of time and experience from the previous two eras two build up their knowledge, but have grown proportionally weaker as technology has advanced. In this era, blood magic makes a return to a level of similar importance as it enjoyed in the early era, but death magic is now perhaps the most widespread. Needless to say, this is the least innocent of all eras, as everything is falling apart.

[Edratman]

Noname, that is a superbly written post. Do you write professionly?

[noname]

No, but I am taught how to write analytically at my college, Fordham University. Thanks for the comment.

[Sombre]

I personally really enjoy middle and late eras and I'm not a fan of early, which really does have some sick magic flying around.

[Fate]

More general than ages, here is a list of nations you DON'T want to start out playing against:

Ermor Ashen Empire (3rd age)
any underwater nation (especially LA R'lyeh)

mostly because they take a radically different strategy from normal to play. You probably also don't want to begin with EA or LA Mictlan because they have wacky dominion spread.

In Dom2 Ulm (now MA Ulm) was the most often suggested starting nation.

I'd agree that it is good to just pick random nations that look fun, play the first 15 turns, then switch if you run into trouble. If you find a nation you can start beating AI's with, try playing around with your god and strategy (maybe play a full game or two against an AI).

Welcome to DomIII, I hope you enjoy it.

[noname]

I find that nations which are more human tend to be easier to play as (usually), but lack an immediate punch to them; one has to build up and summon creatures in order to get the "razzle-dazzle" of the game. Nations comprised of non-humans (giants, lizardmen, agarthans, atlanteans, tritons, illithids, abysians, etc) require different strategies due to their different strengths and weaknesses (giants need more food, abysians radiate heat, agarthans only have one eye, tritons can't leave the sea, etc )but usually have access to flashy units early on. This is so because non-human nations ARE made up of flashy units, though some are more flashy than others (Badar Log's apes really aren't so flashy, neither are the lizardmen of C'tis.)

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

The nation I suggest picking as your first AI opponent is MA Ulm. They're a bit atypical, but their general low speed and low diversity makes them easier to adjust to than a random nation. Their armor is another thing, but I'd rather be faced in my first game with black steel, than a magically diverse nation who could cast dozens, if not hundreds of spells I've never heard of before.

So... the limited variety in a computer controlled Ulm makes it, IMO, the best learning partner. As a plus, their low MR means most of your spells will work as well.

If you want an easy time of learning, set both your nation and Ulm's to human controlled. Design for them a crone with no scales, extra magic, or anything, just the bare chassis. Then set them to AI, play _your_ turn and then host.

When I first picked up the game, and was determined to play with some of the less flexible races such as Agartha, my first enemy was not the AI. It was learning my own troops, and what really is viable against those independents litering the landscape. Once I learned the basics, and stopped sending entire armies on suicide missions (knights, anyone?) then I gave myself a real AI opponent, without any handicaps.

[Kristoffer O]

Nice post noname. You have earned yourself a bachelors degree in dominionology

I think I would recommend starting in the mid era. The game was designed from here, and the other eras were added in dom3. Thus the early and late eras deviate from the more basic balance of the mid era. Playing mid will give you basic knowledge of how the game and nations works, and less surprises from specialized nations. I think some of the descriptions on early and late nations refers to the mid era, so it might be thematically reasonable to test the mid era first. This is not true to all nations however. Agatha and the japanese inspired nations are new to dom3 and are probably thematically easier to follow from beginning to end.

Ulm was suggested as an opponent. Probably a good choice.

I think MA Man might be a good starter. Some diversification in human troops: longbows, medium infantry and knights. Some specialists to explore: bards, stealthy mages and wardens, elite knights. No unique national summons that steer research away from the basics. Air magic to test counters vs Ulm and offensive battle magic. Nature magic for some buffing, summoning.

[Stryke11]

I second that. Good work!

[Edratman]

Great thread. Would it be possible to make a sticky of noname's and KO's responses? Between the two of them there is significent insight to the game.

And I'll throw in my two cents. After reading all the inputs, I think a real god starting setup for a new player would be to play MA Bandar Log vs an AI Ulm. Bandar Log offers great troop diversity, and one can learn a lot by watching your inexpensive monkeys get shredded. Acceptable magic diversity,great national summons, maybe the best diversity in troops available in secondary castles.