Struggling with spells

[thedimery]

Hey all
I’ve got a firm grasp on the controls and concepts here, but I’m struggling with when I choose my nation. I look at the nations mages and see their magic paths.
Do you then plan and go for specific spells that will be relevant to your nations skills?
They just seem to be so many spells, I’m just not sure what I need, what will be good. It’s very overwhelming! Thank you

[Mormacil]

Yes firmly a case of It Depends. What you need depends on who you play as, who you fight etc.

Generally cheap A2 or F2 mages suggest researching Evocation. Then with Air access it might be good to pick up Storm so your mages can cast Storm Power as well. Access to D2 can mean that Horde of Skeletons under Enchantment is a good goal instead. E3 or higher? Probably a good idea to look into the Earth spells that buff weapons and armor, mostly found under Construction.

There some common research goals but a lot depends on your nation. Muspelheim has D magic on their mages but they're all expensive so it makes little sense to invest in Horde of Skeletons, C'tis on the other hand has cheaper D mages so it's easier to get the critical mass to do so.

[Sombre]

You're right it can be overwhelming. It's why a lot of nation guides have very specific research targets, like getting to cast Horde of Skeletons, or group buffing spells, or a certain expensive global spell.

Generally what you first want as a research target is something that your most common mid tier battlemage can cast, then you want things that your higher tier mages can cast which are very impactful, but knowing which spells are good and when is definitely a matter of experience.

[Draken]

I would suggest just going through the spell list with a filter for the paths you have available.
Note down a few spells that looks interesting to you, then research them and try them out.

Experiment a bit.

Watch your and enemy mages during battles and try to remember impactful spells.

It's definitely a chase with just having to learn it. It can be overwhelming at first, hence my suggestion of focusing on small parts of the spell system.

You might even find a good application for spells that the big guides missed. XD

[Kamiyama]

You certainly should plan ahead of time what spells your pretender will cast. The pretender should be the strongest mage in your nation so your spell research should pretty much revolve around him.

For example pretenders with earth/astral like Monoliths are great for doing a teleport + earthquake combo which is pretty good in the early and mid game. It requires thaumaturgy 4 and evocation 5 to pull off, so it doesn't take long to research it.

Also you might want to get a gem generator spell online like earth blood deep well, or gale gate. You will probably want a gem generator spell that matches your national mages so they have an abundance of gems for crafting or summoning.

Conjuration and Construction are generally useful for pretty much any nation - but they are gem dumps. You're either going to summon powerful monsters or craft powerful equipment, or both. Usually you will want your national mages to cast these spells so your pretender is free to do other things. Unless you're going for a particularly powerful summon or artifact, and then sure your pretender could do that.

Also keep in mind you can boost your national mages with magic items. For example earth mages can craft earth boots to boost their earth magic and cast stronger spells, or craft more powerful items.

There isn't a Dominions 6 mod inspector yet, but you can look at the Dominions 5 mod inspector to get an idea of what spells and items there are. A lot of stuff from Dominions 5 is still in the game.

https://larzm42.github.io/dom5inspector/

[Kamiyama]

Don't get scared though if it seems too complicated.

A great first time nation is MA Ulm. If you pick a monster pretender like the giant boar and get some production scales, all you need to do is attack provinces with the boar and your Ulmish troops in black plate.

Ulm is a great first time nation. I already beat a game with MA Ulm in Dom 6. They're still really simple to play.

[Draken]

Originally posted by Kamiyama:

You certainly should plan ahead of time what spells your pretender will cast. The pretender should be the strongest mage in your nation so your spell research should pretty much revolve around him.

For example pretenders with earth/astral like Monoliths are great for doing a teleport + earthquake combo which is pretty good in the early and mid game. It requires thaumaturgy 4 and evocation 5 to pull off, so it doesn't take long to research it.

Also you might want to get a gem generator spell online like earth blood deep well, or gale gate. You will probably want a gem generator spell that matches your national mages so they have an abundance of gems for crafting or summoning.

Conjuration and Construction are generally useful for pretty much any nation - but they are gem dumps. You're either going to summon powerful monsters or craft powerful equipment, or both. Usually you will want your national mages to cast these spells so your pretender is free to do other things. Unless you're going for a particularly powerful summon or artifact, and then sure your pretender could do that.

Also keep in mind you can boost your national mages with magic items. For example earth mages can craft earth boots to boost their earth magic and cast stronger spells, or craft more powerful items.

There isn't a Dominions 6 mod inspector yet, but you can look at the Dominions 5 mod inspector to get an idea of what spells and items there are. A lot of stuff from Dominions 5 is still in the game.

https://larzm42.github.io/dom5inspector/

Honestly, I would count all of those as already pretty advanced tips. You kind of need to know a bit of the item and spell systems already before you can plan things out ahead like that.

I definitely would not suggest things like boosting up a path with multiple items and summons to someone just starting out. Or using your god as spellcasting SC.

[Kamiyama]

Originally posted by Draken:

Originally posted by Kamiyama:

You certainly should plan ahead of time what spells your pretender will cast. The pretender should be the strongest mage in your nation so your spell research should pretty much revolve around him.

For example pretenders with earth/astral like Monoliths are great for doing a teleport + earthquake combo which is pretty good in the early and mid game. It requires thaumaturgy 4 and evocation 5 to pull off, so it doesn't take long to research it.

Also you might want to get a gem generator spell online like earth blood deep well, or gale gate. You will probably want a gem generator spell that matches your national mages so they have an abundance of gems for crafting or summoning.

Conjuration and Construction are generally useful for pretty much any nation - but they are gem dumps. You're either going to summon powerful monsters or craft powerful equipment, or both. Usually you will want your national mages to cast these spells so your pretender is free to do other things. Unless you're going for a particularly powerful summon or artifact, and then sure your pretender could do that.

Also keep in mind you can boost your national mages with magic items. For example earth mages can craft earth boots to boost their earth magic and cast stronger spells, or craft more powerful items.

There isn't a Dominions 6 mod inspector yet, but you can look at the Dominions 5 mod inspector to get an idea of what spells and items there are. A lot of stuff from Dominions 5 is still in the game.

https://larzm42.github.io/dom5inspector/

Honestly, I would count all of those as already pretty advanced tips. You kind of need to know a bit of the item and spell systems already before you can plan things out ahead like that.

I definitely would not suggest things like boosting up a path with multiple items and summons to someone just starting out. Or using your god as spellcasting SC.

I agree in general newbies should be steered towards a simple nation. But the OP was specifically asking about spells and what spells to plan for, so I gave examples.

[Big Dog]

Magic has two purposes in this game.

Win conditions.

Counters.

A good strategy is generally to rush some early game win condition magic for your nation before engaging in any wars.

Dominions 6 has lots of new spells and magic changes and game pacing changes so this might not be 100% but here are some examples.

Ironskin - win condition on high protection armor units.

Poison ward - counter to poison damage

Summon elemental - win condition

Tangle vines - counter to high defence units

Wrathful skies - win condition if you have shock resistant units

Lightning bolt - counter to high prot / iron skin