Game write-up

[AStott]

Introduction
Seeing that it seems to be so hard to find any game writeups for Dominions 2, I have decided to undertake one myself. I will theoretically end up playing at a higher skill level due to forcing myself to think ahead a little as I write down what happens, and what I was thinking at the time.

One word of note. I'm pretty new at this whole thing. I've played a single game with Ulm to nearly the end, but other than that, I've only played about 3 partial games (counting one game with the demo). Don't expect to see any brilliant play, but hopefully you will enjoy reading about me (hopefully) having some fun.

I welcome your comments about things that have happened, and your speculation about what may yet come. I think though that I will have more fun learning by doing, and so I ask that you restrain yourself when it comes to making strategic suggestions. Of course, if I ask for suggestions on a particular topic, feel free to chime in.

Creating a Pretender:
The first step of course is creating a pretender. I've tried C'tis and Ulm before, and I'd like to try something different. Since I'm not really sure what I might find interesting, I decide to pick a nation at random. I pull a 20 sided die from my dice bag, and find that fate dictates I should play... Mictlan. Hmm... I'm not sure I'm ready to try out blood magic yet. I've barely got a basic grasp on normal magic. At the risk of irritating Fate, I roll again... T'ien Ch'i. Right. We'll give that a shot.

"T'ien Ch'i is a bureaucratic empire. Versatile mages of the Way, Celestial Masters, and Religios ministers serve the emperor. The cavalry of the empire is well known and sacred celestial beings form an elite core of the armies."

Ok. I've always liked cavalry. That will be good. I will also want to keep a close eye on my bless effects when creating my Pretender. A quick peek at the excellent quick reference sheet shows me that T'ien Ch'i has some water magic and a bit of astral, air, and fire. I think I'll take a shot at a semi-rainbow Pretender with blessable levels in those areas and low levels in most of the rest.

After some thought, I settle on the Arch-Mage, figuring that the high strategic movement could be useful for moving around to do searches. The cheap magic path cost will be useful for picking up the magic types I need.

After being completely unable to come up with an appropriate sounding name given the nation, I am at Last able to introduce you to... Tai, Lord of the Winds, Rule of the Ocean's Surface, Keeper of the Celestial Records. He has 4 levels in the Path of Fire, 4 levels in the Path of Air, 4 levels in the Path of Water, 4 levels in Astral magic, and 1 level in the Path of Earth. (The Last was taken to use up a few extra points and to gain the extra point of protection.)

My dominion's scales are set to Order 1 (for the conscription benefit), and Cold 1 (for a few extra points). Dominion strength is set to 5. I'd like it higher, but just couldn't afford it. For my castle, I am using a Fortress. Despite the higher cost compared to other castles, I feel I will need the higher Admin level in order to be able to more heavily recruit my sacred troops.

Oh, and in case you are wondering... Tai is the name of my somewhat vicious cat.

Creating a New Game
I've only played once before on The Desert Eye, and that was in the demo. I think I'll give it another shot. Strength of Independants is set to 5, and the rest of the Game Settings are left on the default. Some more random dice rolls indicate that I will be fighting against the following (Normal AI) nations: Abysia, Pythium, Ulm, Arcoscephale, Ermor, Marignon, Vanheim, R'lyeh, Mictlan, and Machaka. I am a little nervous to see Ermor on that list, as I've read scary things about them. I guess we'll just have to see what happens. I've also never played with Normal AIs before. I expect I'll get trounced in this game, but I suppose that's ok.

Tune in later for the opening moves of the game.

[Psitticine]

You should have a pretty good match up there, and with Marignon in the mix, you may not even have to deal with Ermor personally if they start out near to each other!

Good luck! We'll be reading along!

[Gandalf Parker]

TIP: If Marignon (or some others) are between you and Ermor then make "Herald Lances" and send them. Marignon with herald lances will kick Ermors tail for you but those wont do much good against you when the time comes later.

[Targa]

I will also want to keep a close eye on my bless effects when creating my Pretender

Erm...huh? I tried a search and it came up with crazy-lots of threads, and I didn't see anything listed. What bless effects when creating a pretender? And what's this "9" bless thing ppl keep talking about? And Lastly, what the heck is "IIRC"?? Thanx!

edit-added:

TIP: If Marignon (or some others) are between you and Ermor then make "Herald Lances" and send them. Marignon with herald lances will kick Ermors tail for you but those wont do much good against you when the time comes later.

What's a herald lance, and how could you make some and give them to an AI enemy to use against another AI enemy? The only thing any AI's ever sent me are seeking arrows, hurricanes, and locust swarms! (no search results for "Herald Lance")

[ January 28, 2004, 03:25: Message edited by: Targa ]

IIRC = If I recall correctly, a CYA measure in case you are wrong

In the Manual on page 5 it lists the blessing effects.

Though there is a discrepency. I'll post them here so you don't have to RTFM

This is based off the initial magic levels of a Nation/Themes pretender. This is hardwired into your nation and even if you Empower or your Pretender dies and the value is changed for his magic, the blessing will stay the same as when the Pretender was created.

ALL - Morale +3

Fire 4 - Attack Skill +2
Fire 6 - Attack Skill +3
Fire 8 - Attack Skill +4
Fire 9 - Flaming Weapons (8 AP Fire Damage added to weapons)
Fire 10 - Attack Skill +5

Air 4 - Air Shield (20%)
Air 5 - Air Shield (30%)
Air 6 - Air Shield (40%)
Air 7 - Air Shield (50%)
Air 8 - Air Shield (60%)
Air 9 - Shock resistance (75%), Air Shield (70%)
Air 10 - Air Shield (80%)

Water 4 - Defense Skill +2
Water 6 - Defense Skill +3
Water 8 - Defense Skill +4
Water 9 - Quickness (50%)
Water 10 - Defense Skill +5

Earth 4 - Reinvigoration 2
Earth 6 - Reinvigoration 3
Earth 8 - Reinvigoration 4
Earth 9 - Armor value +4
Earth 10 - Reinvigoration 5

Astral 4 - Magic Resistance +1 (Max 18)
Astral 6 - Magic Resistance +2
Astral 8 - Magic Resistance +3
Astral 9 - Twist Fate (protection from first hit)
Astral 10 - Magic Resistance +4

Death 4 - Lesser Fear
Death 6 - Lesser Fear
Death 8 - Lesser Fear
Death 9 - Life after Death (Non-undead units who die are animated as souless and retain most of their abilities (magic paths) but lose their resistances), Cause Fear* (Undead beings only)
Death 10 - Lesser Fear

Nature 4 - Berserk +1
Nature 6 - Berserk +2
Nature 8 - Berserk +3
Nature 9 - Regeneration, Poison Resistance (50%)
Nature 10 - Berserk +4

Blood 4 - Strength +2
Blood 6 - Strength +3
Blood 8 - Strength +4
Blood 9 - Death Curse (The unit that kills the blessed unit will be *Cursed* as the spell of the same name)
Blood 10 - Strength +5

Originally posted by Targa:
What's a herald lance, and how could you make some and give them to an AI enemy to use against another AI enemy? The only thing any AI's ever sent me are seeking arrows, hurricanes, and locust swarms! (no search results for "Herald Lance")

The Herald Lance is a magic item. Find a reference here http://www.illwinter.com/dom2/docs.html

In order to give opponents item, there is a "Messages" tab on the main interface. If you click on it allows you to send Messages, items, gems, gold, and blood slaves to any one opponent.

This is a good way to play 'diplomacy' in single player games, as nations are less likely to declare war on a nation that is feeding them gems, money or slaves.

[Aikamun]

Lab-forged Magic Items can be found at this link:

http://ulm.illwinter.com/dom2/MIpdfv2.5.pdf

Sacred troops are automatically improved by Bless effects if your pretender begins the game with level four or nine of any magic path. These different benefits show on page five of the game manual.

Thanks for the write-up AStott. I have fewer turns under my belt than you, so look forward to your updates.

Aikamun

[ January 28, 2004, 03:51: Message edited by: Aikamun ]

[rabelais]

(snip)

Originally posted by Zen:
Death 9 - Life after Death (Non-undead units who die are animated as souless and retain most of their abilities (magic paths) but lose their resistances), Cause Fear* (Undead beings only)
Death 10 - Lesser Fear

I never play ermor, so I'm curious...

a) does the unit have to be sacred to get raised into undeath?
b) does it have to be blessed at the time of death?
c) does it retain its normal leader status if a mage etc.

Thanks,

Rabe the Thanatonic

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by rabelais:
I never play ermor, so I'm curious...

These are the death blessing effects, they don't have anything in particular to do with Ermor, especially since Ermor doesn't have any living sacred troops for "life after death" to work with.

a) does the unit have to be sacred to get raised into undeath?

Of course, is a bless effect, and they only apply to sacred units.

b) does it have to be blessed at the time of death?

Again, yes it has to be blessed, as it's an effect caused by the blessing.

c) does it retain its normal leader status if a mage etc.

Yes.

You should note Rabe, that undead (I.E. Souless) have no upkeep. And a strategy was to take a 9 Death blessing, go into battle with your sacred mages, cast Breath of Winter and have your mages clustered around after being blessed, die and presto, no upkeep mages, priests, prophets, etc.

Also any sacred unit that becomes a soulless Version (Like Jotun Woodsmen, Battle Vestals, etc) gain the "Undead" blessing effect of Cause Fear and can suddenly turn the tide of a battle if a large section of blessed units are killed at the same time.

[ January 28, 2004, 05:10: Message edited by: Zen ]