Terrible Player.

[Bananadine]

I never had major trouble with the Normal-level AI, even starting out... but personally, I rather like the 125 PD thing in games against harder AI's. A maxed-out PD is a maintenance-free grinder that the foolish AI will throw large armies into, one after another. It can pay for itself by wasting enormous amounts of enemy gold, even though it's a hugely expensive investment for you! (But I don't mean to say that turtling behind extreme PD is the BEST strategy to use against the AI, or that Ivy would do well to focus on it--I'm just saying that it does work.)

Surely six or so D2 or better necromancers, with a modest number of guards, can defeat most armies that a Normal-level AI would use? Surely it isn't too hard to blast across the map early with EA Abysia's sacred units and a strong blessing in nature, water, etc. Many, many things can defeat Normal-level AI....

[Gandalf Parker]

With PD, particularly in the early learning-the-nations days, its best to keep in mind that not all Province Defense is the same. Recruiting the locals to help out is a good idea. Especially if its not just guard duty but actually a spot that is likely to get attacked by a strong force. Key chokepoints and such.

I find that "lots and lots" of PD isnt as good as just one "lots" with one unit of added support. Some PD just needs a couple of extra commanders. Some do fine but really lack some heavy hitters such as a few mounted knights. And many of them can really do two or three times as effective if they only had more archery support. If that province, or one nearby, can provide just one full-time force with instructions added to the PD it can make all the difference. And of course casters but that tends to be a whole different subject.

Also keep in mind that the PD seems to fight like an unpracticed local militia. They all just seem to start in the middle and charge forward. So its the other formations I concentrate on. A strong front line. Or flanking fire set to concentrate on a certain group such as archers. A large fast group set to attack rear. Or a heavy mounted flanking group set to hold-&-attack rear.

[K]

Dominions takes a long time to learn. I'm not talking about "40 hours", which is most games. Its more like "several months", or even a year.

The reason is that each spell has a niche. Some are rather broad, and some are vanishingly small, but troops are only the first step in winning battles.

My suggestion is the read some of the strategy guides which have been posted. Also, try scripting specific spells and watching the battles to see how each interacts with the combat.

Also, some nations are easier to play than others. Try a bless nation like Neiflehiem and choose strong magic on your pretender. Several excellent guides can tell you the details.

[Knai]

Plus a few small multiplayers, high speed, with other people couldn't hurt. Or a slower one, though quick, pseudo-hotseat style play would probably be best. Any local friends into the game?

[Gandalf Parker]

Yes, the Manual does a real good job of being a Manual.
But a Strategy Guide would have to be a set of encyclopedias.

Even one for each nation wouldnt quite cover everything. My own favorite EA Pangaea has two very different flavors (vine and maenad), and multiple full-blown strategies within those (stealth, or horde, or turtle).

[Bananadine]

Originally Posted by Bananadine

Surely it isn't too hard to blast across the map early with EA Abysia's sacred units and a strong blessing in nature, water, etc. Many, many things can defeat Normal-level AI....

Out of curiosity I have tried this. I started a game against four AI nations (they turned out to be Niefelheim, Ermor, Lanka, and Marverni), and default settings. My god was a Master Druid with E9N4 and dominion 7. My scales were Death 1, and maximal Order, Productivity, Heat, Misfortune and Drain.

At the start of the game, I told my starting commander to patrol. I made my starting assassin a prophet and told him to preach, and I had my god research Evocation and Alteration equally. I did not change these orders ever again, except to rebuild my lab, which was randomly destroyed early on.

Every turn (except at the end when it obviously wasn't necessary anymore), I recruited one Anathemant Salamander; I also continuously recruited as many Burning Ones as I could afford. I did not recruit any units other than this. Every turn, I told every mage to lead all the Burning Ones present into some semi-random neighboring province (or to besiege, break a siege, etc.). All mages were always scripted to cast Blessing five times. No troops were ever specially positioned within the battlefield.

It took me about 10 in-game years, and about an hour and a half of real time, to win. I lost many battles, but I was never in danger. I never deliberately cast any spell other than Blessing. I never built any buildings, except for that one lab, and I never used any province defense. My biggest difficulty was in fighting Bogus, who got right in my way toward the start--but that was only because I wasn't trying to be very smart about massing my troops.

At the end of the game, my income was over 3000 gold and my upkeep was about 650. I had almost 4000 gems.

Conclusion: IT IS INDEED not very hard to beat the AI, even if you play very stupidly and follow an extremely simple plan. So long as it's the right plan! (And I imagine there are lots of right plans!)