House Rules against the AI

[JonBrave]

Originally Posted by Knai

I have killed a bunch of impossibles with the 1 researcher restriction using these keys multiple times, on varying maps. That includes Dawn of Dominions, playing as Caelum.

I bow, scrape & grovel Fair enough, that was what I asked for. You are a much better player than I am

I do take your points --- still not sure how you manage it early --- thanks.

I am retrying against AI @Impossible, but this time not losing my Pretender on turn #3 and then having to pray for her return, and I must admit it is going better......

[Makinus]

I never managed to defeat Impossible AIs using the 1 researcher/lab rule, but i can half the time do it against Mighty AIs and consistently against Difficult ones...

I like to play with all empires in a given era, so the maps are normally large (i specially like the Latus one, it is good for some epic games).

I rarely finish the games i start with, normally ending the game when i´m at 1st place with a considerable lead on the 2nd place empire.

As others have said, some empires/tactics make it easier than others... bless factions have a clear advantage here, also a good SC pretender from the start (or at least dormant) will make you go a long way.

Even with the 1 researcher/lab rule i notice that the AIs rarely get ahead of me (with some exceptions when playing AIs above Difficult level), specially since i use all research boosters possible. Lately, instead of building labs everywhere i´m also restricting myself to build labs only where i can recruit a mage type commander (either from a castle, indys or sites).

Finally, i noticed that a higher number of mages in combat will make, at least in the beggining, a good boost to conquering indy provinces... massed fire flies/darts are fun...

[triqui]

Originally Posted by Makinus

I like to play with all empires in a given era, so the maps are normally large (i specially like the Latus one, it is good for some epic games).

Very big maps benefit the AI in my experience. If only becouse boredom makes micromanagment very unfun at large scales, so I tend to overlook a lot of things in the late game, do half-arsed turns and so on.

[JonBrave]

Originally Posted by Makinus

I never managed to defeat Impossible AIs using the 1 researcher/lab rule, but i can half the time do it against Mighty AIs and consistently against Difficult ones...

Well hello there, Makinus! I resurrected this thread because, ever since reading your starting post when I started playing Dom, I have been very disturbed by my inability to win Impossible with just 1 researcher/lab..... I had assumed you had (shame on you!), now I hear you haven't I'm a lot happier