Early Game, Mid Game, and End Game... What's the goal of each?

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Spacepain:
Well, the tricky part is one can only be beaten by the easy AI so many time before one is slightly discouraged...

And this is why you need to get your *** beat by real people. So you can be owned in entirely new and different ways!

And....wait, the *EASY* AI is beating you?

Well, in that case, first, I'd suggest taking a nation that is fairly conventional, so you'll get a decent level of exposure to how the game works, and is also fairly difficult to attack. Try Atlantis, or R'lyeh. That will impede the AI's ability to rush you, and you'll be able to experience a full game without being swarmed. Once you get that down, try and go faster. Then move onto land.

[NTJedi]

Originally posted by Spacepain:
.....why I am being beaten even by the easy AI....

Wow... from what I've been seeing the AI opponents are pinned down or dead by mid-game. Ermor is the only challenging AI opponent and with 2.08 he seems more peaceful(he had 1200 units just sitting in his castle mid-game).

Perhaps the developers could make the easy difficulty easier and the harder difficulties harder.

Maybe because you have been playing for 3 Months and this guy has been playing for a week?

Or it might be he hasn't found the AI weaknesses yet to exploit.

[Argitoth]

EARLY GAME - Expand as quickly as possible and defensively as possible.

MIDDLE GAME - Find counters for everything your closest enemy can throw at you

END GAME - Give up because the micromanagement is too harsh and you've just lost your pretender for the second time and realize you overlooked a few things of your enemy.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Argitoth:
END GAME - Give up because the micromanagement is too harsh and you've just lost your pretender for the second time and realize you overlooked a few things of your enemy.

Well that's certainly worthless advice. Giving up is cowardly, and teaches one nothing, so one just goes on repeating mistakes. One learns the most from struggling on, the worse the challenge, the more one should learn. That is, if one is open to learning, instead of whining about losing and how unfair life, the universe, and everything is.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Argitoth:
END GAME - Give up because the micromanagement is too harsh and you've just lost your pretender for the second time and realize you overlooked a few things of your enemy.

You're just sore that you got your sorry little butt whooped by Mivayan. Your empire could not POSSIBLY have THAT much micromanagement. Although you did very well at getting your butt kicked piecemeal, from what reports I saw from my scouts.

Spacepain, I suggest you ignore the little man. Winners never quit, and quitters never win. Never give up, never surrender! A warrior fights to the death! Next time, stand up and die like a man!

[ March 15, 2004, 05:24: Message edited by: Norfleet ]

[PhilD]

Originally posted by Spacepain:

quote:

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Originally posted by Norfleet:
Like in life, the objective of Dominions II is to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women.

Sounds like somebody has been playing TOO much dom2...

Well, the tricky part is one can only be beaten by the easy AI so many time before one is slightly discouraged... I've taken an estudious approach to becoming rather good at many other game and been met with considerable success, so why not apply that to this game? Whilst, I certainly don't plan on becoming a pro by being simply book smart, I do hope to figure out the general outline behind a "good way" to play dom2.

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Learn which independent provinces you can take easily and early. These are not the same for all nations. After a few games (preferably with the same nation), you should be able to take the first provinces with very few losses.

Hint: Barbarians hit pretty hard, but they have little protection; they're perfect targets for archer nations, but will inevitably cause losses to melee troops (even with good protection). Knights and Longbowmen are tempting as they're good to recruit, but they're hard to kill early; avoid them until you can swamp them quickly.

What constitutes the early/mid/end game will depend a LOT on the map size and number of AIs. With large maps or few AIs, you'll probably have to fight a single AI instead of a multi-war; what this will look like will depend a lot on which nation this is (although AIs tend to not use their national forces enough, with the exception of Dead Ermor).

Try to build Fortresses. If you're like me, you're not building enough. Yes, they're expensive, but for most nations, your national troops should be most of what you buy, so this means building fortresses. Don't build them next to each other, still, as this gets counter-productive.

Oh, and send scouts around. Even if you hear that the AI is predictable. Shield your armies and borders with scouts; that way, you'll know if an enemy army is likely to reinforce the province you're planning on attacking, and you'll see the enemy moving to attack you.