Q: How many Forts do you build? How many Temples?

[HJFudge]

I know I am new so this is more of a question on if what I do is sound strategy then advice...

What I like to do in the SP games Ive been playing is to find any chokepoints. If there are, I'll use my initial army to get there in 2-3 turns and build up a second army at my base to take points around my fort. If there arent really any I'll just expand around my fort to get more resource income so I can make more guys.

I get my 2nd fort either at a chokepoint or just behind it and keep my army at the chokepoint. I will build temples at chokepoints too even if I dont have a fort there because, honestly, my army is gonna be there and if I am expanding out of my fort I wont really need to defend the territory because I will be taking all adjacent ones and hitting the enemy hard. Yeah it sucks 400 bucks worth if they are able to break through but I play MA C'tis, and the dominion spread also makes swamp and heat and I find the harm that does to the enemy nations around it more than makes up for any risk.

It's a valuable 'cold war' type weapon because I dont have to actually attack to damage the enemy. Who wants an army thats all diseased?

Take it or leave it I dont know if thats actually good strategy.

[ExitJudas]

Good and insightful posts all around.

I agree that recruiting is the primary factor in deciding when and where to build a fortress.

However I would have thought that spreading your dominion would be more important (hence requiring a larger focus on putting up temples) than what seems to be the case. You get a hitpoint and morale buff in your own territory. furthermore, against many opponents you also get a fatigue bonus since you can keep them fighing in temperatures of your liking. Are these factors too minor to actually influence the outcoming of a battle? Is it more worthwhile to just spend the 400 gold on units instead?

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Speaking from a tactical perspective, there's no difference between dominion 3 and dominion 8. Excepting only pretenders, prophets, and certain nation(s) such as Agartha, Golem Cult or R'lyeh for the spawn.

Scales will shift faster with higher dominion (as result of more temples leading to greater max and spread), and be harder for the enemy to counter, yes.

Having your dominion in hostile territory (even w/o scales) will rob that nation of any positive effects from the scales. It can also perma kill gods and combo with certain spells.

Those factors are not too minor- but can often be achieved other ways, i.e. through temperature-changing spells or simply by maintaining a defensive stance and letting the enemy come to you. This means that just enough temples are a good idea, and a temple boom/dominion push needs to have a specific objective in mind, and defensive plans in place. It's not like economics, where its always a good idea. Go for balance, then skew to one direction once you're planning a war.

[ExitJudas]

Agreed. In my first MP game, as EA Arco, Ive encountered Abysia at a choke, but it is my only expansion point over ground. I had sorta decided that a defensive, dom-spread strategy might be the best, especially because Abysia seems to get so many more bonuses when fighting in heat, both spell-wise and unit-wise. But I'm not really sure yet. Oh well we will just have to see what happens. Maybe I get bored with waiting and decide to attack anyhow.

[Twan]

I build forts each time I have a province which may have decent ressources surrounded by my territory and neighbouring no other forts.

I build temples only in forts most of the time (except the first one, built as soon I can near my capitol to help my dominion and recruit some indie priests).

I often build labs without forts on the borders of my realm when I hope a long peace but don't really trust my neighbour ; I send most of my mages scripted for battle to fronteers, and they forge/research there. Also if I play an astral nation, labs on fronteers are cool for surprise gateway spells.