Game Guide for a Newbie

[Thraxas]

New to Dom 4 - I like in depth turn based strategy and can see there is a lot in Dom 4 that I am likely to love once I get to grips with it.


That however is the problem, getting to grips with this game is a cliff like learning curve, the manual at 397 pages long that has been bulked out throughout with lovely to read but entirely unhelpful 'context'/ history makes it an inpenetrable wall of text. I guess this will be a nice reference once I've worked out how to play but is entirely unhelpful in leanring the game.

Most of the guides out there I've found are not a lot better (though some of the ones on steam are easier to read but do have a habit of making huge jumps or missing basic stuff).

I have managed to win my first game, on easy with a tiny map ignoring all magic research and items etc. just working on grunt rush tactics but I have to hope there really is far more to the game than that.

Does anyone have an 'idiots guide to ' Dom 4 or similar resource I can work with?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Hawk]

there is a tutorial in the game and manual you can try if that helps?

[Mormacil]

The tutorial in the manual is rather easy and in depth.

[Thraxas]

I worked throught he tutorial (once I found it), while helpful even that skirted over some quite basic stuff I was really hoping for something more than that, perhaps with some level of explanation.

[Mormacil]

Like what? What points lost you? Perhaps we can shed light on those points instead of giving a full in depth tutorial.

[Hawk]

also, It might be recommendable to watch some of the dom 4 LP videos (though that is kind of a standard answer).

[Thraxas]

"Like what? What points lost you?"

well for a start:
how do you move across water?
why can my mountain warriors not move across mountains?
when faced with recruiting either shield maiden or alternatively a shield maiden or just for variety I could recruit a shield maiden which should I choose?
When starting the game what do all the icons mean - the tutorial says which to pick but not why or how they affect play - just that they are a key strategical decision
When choosing what to research the tutorial says to research evocation but not why nor what it will achieve nor what the other options will alternatively give.
Do different commanders have some advantage with particular troop types?
How do I know how much research each commander will provide before I recruit them?

I've lots of questions like this that are really quite basic stuff, I'm sure the answers are probably hidden somewhere in the 397 page manual but finding them is a pain.

I'll spend some time this eveing with the videos and see if they throw light on it.

Thanks for your answers.

T

[Thraxas]

... every time I try and forge an item it says 'you dont have enough gems' how do I get gems?

[Hawk]

quick answers
I believe several of your problems are easy to fix: Right click on the unit / commander you are trying to recruit to see its stats, research ability, magic paths etc. Also right clicking on the abilities the commanders have in that screen will give you a short (usually) informative description of that ability.

Mountains
Your mountain warriors not being able to move across mountains could be because those are impassable mountains (no passes to neighbouring provinces). Both troops and commanders need to have mountain survival if there is a pass.

Research
Pressing F5 shows you how you are allocating your research, left clicking the name of the school (e.g. evocation) gives you a screen with all the spells in that school, their respective research levels and path requirements, clicking the spell gives you some info about the spell.

Commanders and leadership
Certain commanders have more natural leadership and will improve the morale of their troops and/or can lead more troops, other than that there rarely are any specific advantages to using specific commanders (an example of such an advantage is using a flying commander with a group of flying troops to cross multiple enemy provinces in a single turn).

Maidens
about the maidens question: I believe you are referring to the three different type of maidens that exist for ea ulm? A warrior maiden has a short bow and a short sword which allows her to fight from a distance , a shield maiden has a short sword and a shield which allows them to avoid more damage (and counter missiles better) and a steel maiden has two short swords which allows them to do more attacks per turn (which can be very useful when facing giants for example)

Pretender creation
The icons (dominion) when creating your pretender should get a short explanation box in the bottom of the screen when hovering your mouse over them for a short time, furthermore their effects are summarised directly below them.
The icons (magic) are the paths your pretender god has, these give access to the associated spells when they are researched. Furthermore there are some other effects that have to do with something called your bless, basically getting any magic path at 4 during pretender creation gives a minor bonus to your troops that keeps on scaling up the higher you get that magic path, getting it at 9 gives a major bonus that generally has a big impact on your bless. To use this bless you need to recruit sacred troops and make sure they are blessed by priests during fights.

Gem Income
To increase gem-income you can use mages to sitesearch in conquered provinces (this is a special command you can give units with magic paths). The mage can find magic sites (which are pre-generated but hidden) up to his path level (highest site requirement is 4). Some sites give bonuses besides gems as well!

[Mormacil]

Water: You can't unless your commander has sailing or flying. Sailing requires the units to be a maximum size so no giants or cavalry. Flying on the other hand require all units to be abloe to fly, commander and units. Some items like flying carpet also allow your commanders to move small group of enemies.
Mountains: Winter/cold effects can freeze up a pass, blocking it. Check the Heat/Cold scale. Also the commander needs to have the same skill.
Research: What to research depends on your faction, pretender and strategy. There is no clear choice here. Well get what makes your mages work is generally best. Either complement your strengths or find something that nullifies your weaknesses. Right Mouse Button almost always opens more info, if it fails hover over the text.
Commanders with a bonus: Most units have a purpose though some are just lore and flavor. With the RMB you can indeed view their talents, skills and perks. Some units for example inspire animals thus have a bonus leading those. Other inspire all while some even have a negative impact on morale. Some heal troops in their stack and others provide supplies to feed them.
Only sacred troops benefit from a bless. Thus having a bless matters more to factions that has access to them. Some factions will barely use them thus should focus on a different strategy.

Really though use the right mouse button, it has a ton of information.

[Hawk]

Originally posted by Mormacil:

Mountains: Winter/cold effects can freeze up a pass, blocking it. Check the Heat/Cold scale. Also the commander needs to have the same skill.

actually, iirc mountain survival allows units to ignore the heat/cold of the mountain as long as all units in the army and the commander have it.

[Mormacil]

Originally posted by Hawk:

Originally posted by Mormacil:

Mountains: Winter/cold effects can freeze up a pass, blocking it. Check the Heat/Cold scale. Also the commander needs to have the same skill.

actually, iirc mountain survival allows units to ignore the heat/cold of the mountain as long as all units in the army and the commander have it.

I wasn't sure honestly. Could be.

[Maerlande]

Here is shameless self promotion. My son and I are doing a video series on youtube where I teach an 8 year old Dominions. It's specifically targeted at all those little things players with experience assume. It's a work in progress and progress is not very fast. We have a busy life.

You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXa4InahZRZmT0PL_zzmbebWnTa5IxK4m

I have tried writing beginner guides before and it's really tricky. I find it easier to do with the question and answer format with a beginner.

[Maerlande]

Originally posted by Hawk:

Originally posted by Mormacil:

Mountains: Winter/cold effects can freeze up a pass, blocking it. Check the Heat/Cold scale. Also the commander needs to have the same skill.

actually, iirc mountain survival allows units to ignore the heat/cold of the mountain as long as all units in the army and the commander have it.

This is general with Dominions. If all units in an army do not have the same movement mode, survival, flying, etc, the entire army moves by foot at the slowest pace with no discounts. This is a serious challenge with putting move 3 cavalry with fliers. The result is not very satisfying.

[Maerlande]

One more thing: This post from Desura is I think exactly what you are looking for: http://www.desura.com/games/dominions-4-thrones-of-ascensions/forum/thread/how-to

[Othello]

I would really recommend checking out pages 50-56 in the manual for a good bit of info on Pretender creation. I would also continue to skim down from there a short bit and you will find some more excellent info on regular army units. Following that you can read all about movement starting on page 69.