About trample: Size difference is not a factor at all, since base trample damage is simply 7+size of the trampling unit. The size of the unit getting trampled is not a factor. (Except that it can of course only get trampled if it is smaller that the trampling unit) The reason that you do well against elephants is that your units is only 2 per square (So less damage per trample), have lots of hp (Will almost never die to a single trample) and do good damage (Elephants have decent protection, so fewer high damage attacks is better than more low damage attacks)

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

I did a double take on this one, and went to check the manual. You are right. I have a distant memory of trample, but perhaps I was confusing the damage calculation!

I think this video style is good idea! To comment briefly on water magic, it is better in Dom 6 I believe. Cold Bolt is AoE 1 now, there is a bigger AoE freeze spell called Winter Chill, and a bigger AoE version of slow called Crawl. Also, there are new types of water in Thaumaturgy that appear to be able to get enemy berserkers out of berserk. I haven't got to use that yet but that is completely new mechanic to Dom series

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

Nice, those do sound like good improvements for water. Anti-berserk could be really interesting for counter thugs/supers depending on the spells!

Ur and Uruk are two of my favourite nations ever, so I'm deeply grateful to you for this discussion! I've thought about this nation more than is probably healthy, and it's interesting to see another's thoughts. Personally, I think they've been buffed overall due to the game changing around them rather than them changing themselves. For one, the economy changes - foreign recruitment is more viable in general now, and Ur has most of its unit roster available as foreign rec. City Palisades are also much better now that forts are more expensive - they didn't increase in cost by that much and when compared to the cost of building and upgrading a regular palisade, you're actually saving quite a lot of money, and now you're saving two turns instead of just one (it used to be 5 turns compared to 4 + 2 in Dominions 5, now it's 6 turns vs 5 + 3). One thing that's easy to miss is that Ur has not lost access to any of its key spells. Yes, they could cast Foul Vapours, Wooden Warriors and Marble Warriors before, but so could any nation with decent Earth/Nature magic. Now those spells have been made more limited or harder to use - the buffs have been made 20 squares instead of army-wide, with the army-wide version now coming later and requiring higher paths to cast. Not every nation that used to be able to cast those army-wide E/N buffs can still reach that high, but Ur can still do so effortlessly. In other words, all the Really Good Buffs were put up to a higher shelf, but Ur is tall enough that it can still reach them comfortably, which not everyone can say. I'm not as sure that big scales are super important for Ur. Certainly I can see the value given the high cost of Enkidu Shamans and forts, but I think that spamming forts simply isn't as possible or necessary as it used to be in Dominions 5. I personally rarely recruit anything but the basic Enkidu, as the armoured Enkidus don't offer enough extra survivability to be worth it, in my opinion - I'd prefer to simply have more bodies on the field and rely on my high HP + E/N buffs. An Awake Expander is also something I'm very partial to on this nation - not only does an Awake make a strong expansion (and therefore economy) much easier to get, it also acts as very valuable insurance against an early year 1 war from a neighbour who might have better troops than you. The ability to throw your Pretender into combat far more liberally than usual will let you hit far above the weight class that many would expect from you. Also, the Golden Lion is kind of overpowered now due to the change to Kithaironic Lion Pelts, I'd rate it very highly as an expander. All it needs is Regen and it can comfortably take on almost any indie province. Having Regen on your bless is also neat because it makes it possible to thug with your high HP priest-mages (slap a piece of armour on, cast some Water/Earth self buffs, bless yourself, and you have a solid raiding thug).

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing your detailed thoughts! I have not tried the Golden Lion yet, but you make a good case for it. I've been poking around other nations and man some of them feel the loss of those buffs. I agree that the econ changes have come down in Ur's benefit. I tend to like the bit of extra protection, but you are right that sometimes, its more about getting mass bodies on the field.

I'm new both to your channel and the game (30 odd hours into Dom 6) and I love the idea of a public planning session for the play through. In any game like this I find theory crafting to be half the fun, and getting to hear/share ideas is a good time for all. Looking forward to the stream!

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

Hope to see you there! All the little things from the previous streams really got me thinking about doing this. Hopefully, I can refine both to hold value for people checking out the game/nation!

Great video! As for the mushussu, I don't think you can build around it as a major thing, but you have a lot of sacred summons that like the same kinds of things as the mushussu, so it can be worth taking a bit of a bless to make them all better. They like eg hard skin or regen.

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

If only the mushussu were at least 1/fort/turn they would be great! They really cry our for a regen bless, but at least we can natively cast regeneration on them.

@Timlagor

5 ай бұрын

The number of Sacred Summons really struck me. If your pretender comes in with Air 3 (I have no idea at all if that's any good for anything else but it looks like Storms could be a thing) he can summon the first of those commanders who then summons more. Sacred Scorpions probably rely on you finding some Fire mages somewhere by luck though (Disclaimer I may be suggesting absolutely horrible ideas!) -I just think it could be cool to try in Single Player @@BabelBuilder

your videos are all so wonderful and informative and you're very nice and pleasant to listen to. thank you for that

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

You are too kind, but thank you! I hope I can help more people enjoy the game!

I'd imagine water magic being quite usefull when conquering the water. The shambler skin is still pretty easy to forge with a bit of water. Speaking of crafting, nature should enable quite a few supply bonus items. And with earth... think the drawn hammer still exist for a bonus smithing and you do have earth.

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

The supply items with probably be necessary as the enkidu do like to eat a lot.

Great format, like it

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

Glad you like it!

I tried Ur expand and here are my thoughts: 1. You can lead your expansion parties with elders, perhaps even 2 elders per party. It's still cheaper than single commander(or recruiting indies) and you need tons of commanders to also shuffle around your foreignrec stuff. You have standards and generally morale isnt too important to your guys, if anything its much more important to have 2 leaders in opposite corners in case one gets killed 2. I tried expanding with longbows and it was so-so because missile weapons still don't do well against shields (hitting enemy troops) and at long range (hitting enemy archers). So its only really good against like tribes and cav. With the increased price of mages, I'm not sure bringing buff mages is even worth it since you could just buy more longbows instead of a mage - at least until you have big AoE buffs 3. Thus, I suspect recruiting melee foreignrec guys is actually a lot better than longbows for expansion. They should contribute a lot more meaningfully during the melee clash 4. I took an imprisoned mage bless because scales. I forget the specifics, it was something like Reinvig x5 Heroism x4. Especially spell singers should be able to cast nonstop entire battle with this

@CantusTropus

5 ай бұрын

Only spell singers are N1, they're not great combat mages now that Swarm got nerfed

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

I need to do some more swarm testing.

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

Expansion composition also depends of what you are having to smash into.

@danshabash

5 ай бұрын

@@BabelBuilder I tried expand with just foreignrec spear guys and ended up with 22 provs by turn 12. Only made longbows to clear a barb province. I think spear guys are noticeably better because they give you melee advantage

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

Interesting, I've been finding the ax guys a bit more killy, as they have +1 attack and high enough str to make use of the slash damage bonus. Could be differences in indie types.@@danshabash

Great idea for video! I don't have much experience with the game to throw any ideas about setup. From viewer perspective i'd like to see leaders beeing renamed to have easy understanding what their assigned job is.

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

Let's see if I can remember to turn on the setting when setting up the game! I wish that it was defaulted on for single player.

I wonder if you could take Big Death on your pretender and pivot into a Death lategame? You have Death mages recruitable in swamps, so you can certainly build up enough gem income for it.

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

I do wish Ur, was a swamp. I've had a couple test games with no reachable swamps at all. This make Enkidu sad. :(

Personally, I think the lack of helmets is overhyped. Yes, it's a weakness, but unless your opponent is massing archery or slingers, all it really means is that your troops have a slightly higher attrition rate than you might expect given their high HP. Elves are more vulnerable to archery than Ur is (mass arrows pop Glamour easily, and without that their troops are expensive and relatively frail), but nobody holds that as a major weakness for Elf nations.

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

Enkidu don't believe in safety first; they believe in getting things done! Not having helmets isn't the end of the world, but I do think it is something to keep in mind.

I love the pretender that have 4 paths he is unique for the nation and he is a great researcher I would have put him dormant tho so he can start the research faster

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

Perhaps I am undervaluing the research bonus, as I showed in the test game, getting mages out is slow for Ur, despite them being decent.

@CantusTropus

5 ай бұрын

He's cool, but then you're relying on troops for your expansion and early defence, and personally, I'm not sure I'd want to do that.

I saw this absolutely wacky strat someone used to win as ur or uruk involving DESTROYING THRONES by sending horrors using their god, and then instantly calling the god back.

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

I think I remember that. Great example of thinking outside the box!

@Yarkoonian

5 ай бұрын

@@BabelBuilder totally. I think it was posted to Imgur or something. I think he mentioned the tolerances being painfully tight on the build tho. Hardcore research rush. Doubt it would work in 6. Though maybe the new way blesses are detached from paths would give some flexibility

I've come to disagree with my previous conclusion, Scales Ur is indeed very good, and expands comfortably even without the help. I also highly underestimated the armored Enkidu and the Mushusshu, I was working on bias and bad advice. Both are worth making as many as you can afford.

@BabelBuilder

4 ай бұрын

I think Ur can work scales expanding or with the awake. Those Enkidu are good chassis with mid equipment. If only the Mushisshu where 1/fort and not 1/turn they would be great!

I also rate having Air 4+ on your pretender if possible. You have sacred, flying Air 3 mages, but you can't natively summon them without empowering. A Big Air pretender (or Ugallu with an Air booster) casting Storm also makes Air random Gudus able to cast Thunder Strike and Air Elementals easily.

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

I have been considering how much Ur might want to lean into storm. I just don't think they have enough A2 to warrant it, but I could definingly be underestimating it.

It'd be cool if you went over MA Pyrene, for a new nation it seems no-one is really messing around with them (at least on the KZread scene)

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

Hopefully, I will get there, but I haven't even touched the new nations yet! Game has years worth of content! :P

Beena ehile, but last time I took Ur to a multipayer game (back in dom 5 so take with a grain of salt) I went with a dormant or imprisoned, don't remember which, anunaki of love and war meant to be a menace supercombatant in the late game. I remember thinking that I didn't have a good supercombatant chasis readily available, so with the better ability to recall god with no path loss, i decided to use my pretender for that. IIRC the paths were 4A 4E 7N which is probably not as optimal in 6

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

Yeah, she is an interesting chassis. I remember using her before, but I don't remember the bless.

In Dom 5 you used to be able to recruit hunters and bone readers in forted swamps as well. Seems like an unnecessary nerf to what is already one of the weaker nations in the game. Makes me sad because I am really partial to Ur. At least your A2 randoms can cast mistform on your low prot troops now. Gives them something to do in battles besides just casting lightning bolt. Edit: Just saw your overview of their national summons. You are spot on everything except for the Kusarikus. They are actually really good. They are a sacred that doubles your attack density and also have a magic weapon that paralyzes demons along with the spirit sight. If you take a regen bless they rock late game.

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

Interesting, I'll take a second look at them. I am really hesitant on a regen bless with such low-mid sacreds though. Perhaps I am not giving it enough weight.

@CantusTropus

5 ай бұрын

I mentioned this elsewhere, but one easy way do this is to simply take an Awake Expander with Regeneration, that way the Bless isn't useless for most of the game.

You mention early in this video that a lot of smart people play Dominions. I have yet to meet a single regular Dominions player that isn't on the right side of the bell curve.

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

I do think Dominions is a game that rewards thoughtful play. It encourages both mastering the basics, but also thinking outside the box. Someone who just wants to recruit the strongest unit and charge things with it will probably not enjoy the game much.

Entu still would have a use leading magical beings. The Inspirational bonus overriding the malus from the poor standard leadership.

I said this already buried deep in my other comment, but I genuinely don't think I agree with this being a scales nation. Much though I love them, Enkidu troops aren't so fantastic that I would want to mass them in huge numbers in order to expand. IMO, minor Sloth scales is fine, because I don't believe that the armored Enkidu are enough of an upgrade over the basic ones to be worth buying. If you're relying on the armored guys you need scales, and if you have high scales it's difficult to take an Awake. I strongly support taking an Awake Expander and really leaning into the nation's unique features. Why would you want to force yourself to rely on troops that we all admit aren't great? If you take an immobile, you're relying on troops and you're never going to make use of the Elegist ability. You can take a Titan, sure, but you have to invest a lot of gems into making them good at fighting, and if you do that, they're no longer expendable - you still suffer a serious loss if they die. A Monster not only makes expansion easy, it acts as a powerful weapon in wars. It makes you nearly immune to early rush wars by people with better troops, and even later on you should never underestimate the utility of having a completely expendable monster to throw at people. At the bare minimum, it will keep the homeland safe from raiding parties and thugs, even if you can't send it into hostile dominion.

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

Good arguments for awake expanders.

Since you are going with an imprisoned pretender, and don't expect to use him much in combat, why not go with a rainbow pretender (dom level 1 human)? I am pretty sure you could get better scales that way, or better magic paths. You would not get growth 3, but you could get luck and better temperature scales. Speaking about temperature scales, getting heart 3 is a pretty bad idea, as you will get heat 4 each summer, and heat 4 gives you a rather big negative growth modifier (- 0.4%)

@CantusTropus

5 ай бұрын

Rainbows aren't good for Scales, because you have to pay more and more for your Dominion candles when you start low. Low dominion means difficulty getting your scales spread as you are likely to be dompushed by enemy dominion. Rainbows are best when looking for lots of magic path variety.

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

I am trying not to fall into the rainbow pretender groove too soon. One of the design goals was to weaken them and add some oomf to other chassis. That said, there is definingly nothing wrong with a rainbow!

the pronounciation of enkido kills me.

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

Oh am I way off?

@nonyabisness6306

5 ай бұрын

@@BabelBuilder you say it like....Inky-du's. when it's more like En-KEE-du. Not a common word unless you're into the Fable of Gilgamesh.

@BabelBuilder

5 ай бұрын

You think its too soon for Gilgamesh spoilers on youtube? ;)@@nonyabisness6306

@nonyabisness6306

5 ай бұрын

@@BabelBuilder it's only been 4500 years. I'd wait for a few centuries more.