Recently new players have been commenting that it's hard to find the lingo and slang used a lot discussing the game. This wiki page is a good start and feel free to post questions in the discussion page. Commonly Used Shorthands

Your first step will likely be to decide if you want to play alone, in single player (SP), or with other human beings, multiplayer (MP). A common idea is try playing the game on basic difficulty in single player with a nation you like to get a feel for the core ideas of the game. There are many long time, even expert players, who only play SP. Preferably, our community does not disparage that choice as it's fully valid and includes players who helped in the beta test of Dominions 4 and 5.

Let's get started with single player.

Your first step is start Dominions 5 and choose "Create World."

That leads to choosing a map. A few maps are included with the bare install of the game but not many. You may want more maps. There are two ways to add maps to your game.

• You can download maps from the steam workshop. The workshop automatically installs the maps to the correct folder in your steam installation.
• You can also manually install maps you find on forums or other sources. To install maps manually you can locate the directory using the built in function within the game. From "Tools & Manuals" on the title page, select "Open User Data Directory." Maps and mods have folders within that section. I find it helpful to set a shortcut on my desktop to that directory in file explore (or your system equivalent) to help manage mods, maps, and saved games.
• You can also generate a random map. The options for that deserve another page and discussion.

The common choice for size of map is 15 provinces per player for multiplayer games. In single player you can clearly choose smaller or larger although the game has trouble with the start location finder algorithm with less than 10 provinces per player.

For more information on the details of map choice try this section Map Selection Details

The choice of era determines which version of each nation group you will play although there are a few single age nations. The choice has the following general effects:

1. Early Age: Magi have higher levels of magic power. Magic sites are more common. Troops have less armour and lighter weapons so short bows, spears and javelins are more common.
2. Middle Age: Magi have average levels of magic power and magic site frequency is average. Troops more often have medium armour like mail and some heavier weapons like crossbows are more common.
3. Late Age: Magi have the least levels and sites are rare. Crossbows are very common with breastplates or heavier armour.

This is mostly your taste or something that grabs your interest.

This is largely a matter of choice although it's possible to sum up a few basic recommendations. Some types of nations and magic are significantly more difficult and beginners may want to leave them for a while. It is a large topic to list nations by ease of play and popularity and is a issue with a lot of subjectivity that generates many long discussion in the community. I have a couple rules of thumb for nations that are easier to play as a beginner. Avoid astral and blood magic. Both are extremely powerful but add a lot of complexity to research, spells and scripts for combat. Look for nations with a few strong types of magic. Early Age Agartha comes to mind with one of the best and simple magic choices in earth. Nations with giant troops can be easy to learn with. And nations like Ulm with excellent basic troops are simple.

Some simple suggestions may help for beginners. A list of nation categories (archtypes) has been prepared which will help to choose. The list of types is at the bottom.

Here I'll fastly cover the settings that really matter for a new player.

• I'd recommend to play with random events set on rare for a beginner.

Events are affected by many factors and it can prove fatal under certain circumstances. Let's agree that to begin you might want to focus on the game itself and not lose by turn 4( or two with Early Age Mictlan) because you played with fire in the settings. :)

• In the same light I'd recommend to keep the story events disabled. Story events often lead to disastrous ends if not handled correctly.

• Thrones of Ascension: Clicking on this will enable to choose the victory condition, the most common being victory by thrones of ascension. Although there are other settings, going with the classic victory setting of the game can never go wrong :)

• In this pop up you'll want to ensure that Cataclysm is disabled. Although it is a setting often used in multiplayer to avoid games that never ends, let's say you don't want the end of the world to just end your very first playthrough.

• Then probably the most Important aspect of this selection : The number of ascension point required. And number of thrones of each level present in the game. I'd recommend to set the thrones to level 2 or 1 being as many as the total nation count for the game and divide the total value of those throne +1 as the required number of ascension point required. It'll ensure a fairly doable game condition for you, and a defeat that won't come too fast either otherwise.

The game includes a nice feature to make reviewing each nation quick. From the "Choose Participants" screen in starting a new game, after you have set your nation, click "Ok" and a screen opens with your nation shown with the lore, a summary of it's key features and icons for all the commanders, units, and sites. A feature many do not know when new to the game is that each of those icons has a tool tip giving most detail about the unit. Click on any icon to open a detailed description. And most of the listed statistics or attributes can be clicked for more detail. Try it out.

* What makes a nation easy, or hard, to play.
* How to quickly review the commanders and troops of a nation.
* Things to look for on commanders and troops.  Sacred, research efficiency, durability, killing power.

• Pretenders Archetypes There are a few main options for competitive Pretenders you can choose from. Scales builds, Bless builds, Expander builds, Specific Spell builds, and Rainbow builds.

Your first priority will be [expansion] – capturing land from independents (indies) – and setting up basic infrastructure.

Almost all nations start with a scout plus a commander with a small army. If you've chosen an awake pretender, you will start with it, too. On your first turn, you will generally want to recruit more troops and designate one of your starting two commanders as your prophet.

On your second turn, once you see what the indies around your capital are, you can start expanding.

There are essentially three ways to expand; you should pursue all of them that your nation is capable of:

Pretender expansion: Many pretenders, such as dragons, are capable of taking many indie provinces solo. If you have chosen one of these and it is awake, it can clear provinces on its own. Beware of barbarians and heavy cavalry; these things do enough damage to threaten even pretenders.

Sacred expansion: If your nation has powerful sacred troops, and you have chosen a strong bless, they can often clear indies even if they are heavily outnumbered. Since the limiting factor for sacred troops is often holy points, rather than resources (which are in short supply very early), heavily-blessed sacreds can be excellent early expanders. In particular, sacred cavalry and centaurs are excellent at this.

Troop expansion: If your nation has strong troops in general, especially those that do not cost too many resources, you can use those to expand. This is easier with good scales, in particular production. If you are expanding with troops and are at all limited by resources, it is a good idea to clear the provinces adjacent to your capital quickly to get more resources.

As you begin expanding, you will generally want to begin producing mages from your capital as soon as possible and setting them to research and/or search for magic sites. If you are new to Dominions, the magic system may seem intimidating. The best way to learn is to experiment with it!

More info!

Pretender Design and Analysis by Maerlande

Common Beginner Mistakes

Taorec's All Nations Guide