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ur-ea

EA Ur, the First City

Lore

"Ur came to be as a result of Trade & Taint, an earlier unfinished Illwinter project. I made the first Enkidus and Sobeks for that game. Shame, bone readers and reavers were some of the possible career paths for the Enkidu race. In Dominions 5 the Enkidus were given a nation influenced by Mesopotamian history. They had it in Trade & Taint as well, but in Dominions 4 it became more pronounced. After Dominions 4 was released we took up work on Trade & Taint again and ideas on the enkidus were developed.

"Hinnom is to some extent Sumerian, but I wanted the backstory of Ur to have a more Sumerian feel. I like the concept of a single center of civilization surrounded by lands inhabited by wild men roaming around tending goats and hunting game.

"This led to the development of the mechanic where some of a nations units are recruitable, not in their home or fortresses, but in their surrounding lands. It gave the nation a troop rooster that accentuated the backstory of the nation. And of course they had to have sirrushes, the wingless dragons of the Ishtar Gate.

"The nations' shamans and bone readers are also influenced by some shamanistic concepts, Caananite ideas on veneration of the dead and probably a dose of some old RPGs." – Illwinter

Originating from Dominions 4, the nation of Ur is based on the Sumerian Bronze Age city-state of the same name, in present-day southern Iraq. Its "First City" of Eridu was another. The inhabitants of the nation are large, horned, wild creatures called Enkidus; they are based on a character from the Epic of Gilgamesh named Enkidu, who is depicted as a large hairy man with the head of a bull.

Most of Ur is still shamanic and uncivilized (a bit like Ulm or Pangaea), with Eridu itself being a relatively-recent addition. After Hinnom was seeded and corrupted by the six Grigori, seven different angels known as the Apkallu brought their own wisdom to the Enkidus, and named their first King. Farming and appreciation of Water were among their gifts; whether the Apkallu taught them architecture is less certain, though, for some claim that Eridu is modeled after the Hinnomite slave market of Gomorrah. Indeed, many rural Enkidus still associate "civilization" with Hinnomite slavers, and escaped Enkidu slaves still (sometimes) arrive with the stolen tools of their masters.

Ur's three heroes are based on mythical and semi-mythical characters in Sumerian history; the Favored of Enki is the Sumerian Noah, the Apkallu U'an is the first royal advisor in Ur's canon, and the Entu of the Moon EnHedu'anna was the daughter of Sargon the Great. In Dominions 5, EnHedu'anna or a later high priestess of a similar position would eventually bring spiritual authority out of Eridu, completing the nation's transition to Uruk. As for the Apkallu, at least one serves as the game's mascot.

General Overview

There are a few things unique to Ur in the Early Age.

  • All of their fort-borne Mages are also priests.
  • All but one of their land-borne units are Enkidu (and only Hinnom has other Enkidu).
  • They have sea-borne units, all of whom are "Kullulu" who resemble Enkidus with the lower bodies of carp.
  • Their Pretender does not lose or gain magic paths when recalled from the dead. Dominion score also cannot decrease.
    • This does not work for disciples of Ur.
  • They have a special mage-priest who is very efficient at recalling dead gods.

Ur also boasts a reasonable degree of magic diversity for the Early Age, having recruitable access to five paths at at least the second level (Air, Water, Earth, Death, Nature).

National Features

Special Race Attributes Military Magic Access Priests Buildings
Prefer Heat scales +1
Half-Giants
Giant Medium Infantry
Sacred Mages
Foreign Rec Giants
Swamp Raider Giants
nature 33 (uncommon 4, rare 5)*
earth 22 (uncommon 3, rare 4)*
water 22 (uncommon 3)
air 22 (50%)
death 11 (uncommon 2)*
astral 11 (uncommon)*
Strong (holy 33)
All have Magic
Good Recallers
Recalled Gods don't lose power
Fortified Cities
Can build Underwater Forts

Paths marked with an asterisk are found only in certain places; nature 33 and up and earth 44 are only found in fort-less provinces, death 11 and up are only found in swamps, and astral 11 is found only underwater. On forts in standard terrain, the actual magic access is slimmer:

  • water 22 (25% chance of water 33)
  • earth 22 (25% chance of earth 33)
  • air 22 (50% chance)
  • nature 11 (25% chance of nature 22)

Capital Special Sites

The First City

Enables recruitment of


Entu


Ensi

The House of Water

Enables recruitment of

Enki's Chosen

Produces 2watergem1earthgem per turn

The Swamps of Ur

Enables recruitment of

Mushussu

Produces 3naturegem per turn

National Units

Ur is made up of Enkidu Half-Giants which have high HP, high strength, and powerful attacks. Giants cost more gold than size 2 creatures, and you need to keep economics in mind when playing Ur. A lack of helmets makes projectiles (especially sling stones) the leading cause of death for Enkidus, so investing in alternative arrow protection (whether that's increased protection overall or just Mist) is a good idea. Given their Size, lacking helmets is a bit less of a concern for your Enkidus in melee combat, but not against all foes; Size 5 and Size 6 opponents will be twice as likely to play Whack-a-Mole (see Hit-Location).

Commanders

Ur has a lot of mages. They all (except one underwater one) have priest levels. This means that they are generally more expensive than mages with similar paths on other nations. However, being priests means that all the mages are also sacred, allowing all the mages to bless themselves and benefit from Ur's bless. It also means reduced upkeep, making it more feasible to mass mages late game.

Forts

Img Unit Name Abilities Comments
Enkidu Elder
15
2
1
inspirational (-1)
Defence Organizer(1)
old age(71/50)
tax collector
One of the cheapest commanders in the game.
Don't give a morale bonus but still let your troops use formations and they already have Ok morale.
Being a Defence Organiser will save you a lot of gold as he will give PD.
Having a bunch of them roaming is more efficient than directly buying the PD.
Watch out, he's old
Enkidu Commander
45
13
1
Lead smaller armies than the elder but less likely to die in battle or when winter comes.
Gala
75
1
2
nature 11holy 11 7
sacred
elegist(2)
Spell Singer
Female
An important mage if you're using your god very aggressively.
Able to resurrect your god in fewer turns. Able to do it in 2 turns with 10 Gala (or sooner if you made more Gala).
Also are efficient cheap researchers and can spam swarm in battles.
Sal-Me
100
1
2
water 11nature 11holy 11 9
sacred
Female
Relatively better than Galas if not using the Recalling god strategy.
A faster researcher and the water 11 gives them some more versatile spam like Frozen Heart.
A cheap and reliable way to fluff with Mossbody and Quickness in the early game.
Gudu
155
2
2
holy 11random2200% 9
sacred
50-50 if they are army support mages or Thunderstrikers.
The Air and Earth also make them ideal thugs on top of being Half-giants.
Ishib
195
2
2
water 22holy 22random1100% 11
sacred
Adds water 2 to your arsenal.
Not many uses for them outside of looking for water sites.
Their uses skyrocket if your going for or fighting in Cold scales scales.
Entu
265
1
4
Capital Only
earth 22nature 11holy 33random1100% 13
sacred
inspirational (2)
Female
One of the two Holy 3 capital mages.
Usually, the better pick as it can random earth 33.
Air randoms can cast Rain of Stones but it is recommended to cast Arrow Fend first.
Ensi
290
8
4
Capital Only
water 22nature 11holy 33random1100% 13
sacred
inspirational (1)
Your other Holy 3 Mage.
Better prophet chassis as it can lead large armies.

Foreign

Img Unit Name Abilities Comments
Enkidu Scout
30
2
1
+Rec Foreign
Stealthy(40)
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
You don't want to spend gold for extra HP that scouts don't use, but he doesn't need fort turns to be recruited.
Enkidu Chief
45
4
1
+Rec Foreign Only
Beastmaster(1) A Commander that doesn't take up Fort turns.
Can lead early game expansion parties, and reinforced with foreign recruit chaff.
Enkidu Shaman
275
2
2
+Rec Foreign Only
earth 22nature 33random1100%
10%
13
Beastmaster(2)
Poison Resistance(5)
Your Nature Earth Powerhouse.
No reason to not recruit them except for upkeep.
If you rush, can cast Mother Oak with a Thistle Mace before other nations.

Swamp

Swamps are something you want as they will drastically add to your playstyle. They give you entry into death magic and Provide Stealth Raiders. Should build forts for claiming and more Commander Rec points.

Img Unit Name Abilities Comments
Enkidu Hunter Chief
50
4
1
+Rec Swamp Only
Stealthy(40)
berserker(2)
Swamp Survival
Cheaper of the swamp raid commanders.
Want to lead bigger Raiding groups.
Get a free crocodile when sitting in a swamp (~%30).
Enkidu Head Hunter
60
2
1
+Rec Swamp Only
Stealthy(40)
berserker(4)
Pillager(5)
Swamp Survival
More melee-focused, and has Pillager.
Can be a Light Thug but first needs armor.
Enkidu Bone Reader
120
2
2
+Rec Swamp Only
earth 11death 11random1100% 7
Stealthy(40)
Fortune Teller (10%)
Swamp Survival
The reason to eye Swamps.
Break you into Death.
Only 10 Ld but that's enough for leading light raiding, especially when you use spells.
Can even thug some with Water randoms with Stygian Skin.

Underwater

Building a fort to recruit them has been described as "Throwing a briefcase of gold into the ocean". You can make gear like Ring of Water Breathing to thug your way underwater but there is no incentive to bring these commanders on land. Still nice to profit from underwater resources if no other decent water nation is in-game.

Img Unit Name Abilities Comments
Kulullu Commander
45
10
1
+Rec Underwater Only
Aquatic Cheap underwater commander with more HP than most Indies.
Don't need a lab or temple.
Kulullu King
145
10
2
+Rec Underwater Only
water 11holy 22 7
sacred
Aquatic
Better 80Ld and provides additional battle field support with its water and Holy spells.
Kulullu Sage
190
1
2
+Rec Underwater Only
water 22random1100% 15
Aquatic
Fast researchers. Astral randoms can make low-level Astral items.
Kuliltu Queen
195
1
2
+Rec Underwater Only
water 11nature 11random1100% 11
sacred
Aquatic
Female
Has underwater Nature and other situational low-level crosspaths.

Infantry

Ur can recruit economical, high HP, high strength troops capable of dealing a large amount of damage to even heavily armored opponents. However, they suffer from relatively poor protection, attack, and defense scores. Ur's troops use primitive armor and weapons and rely on numbers and magic buffs rather than troop quality to carry fights. They perform well versus high armor, low damage units, and perform poorly against lightly armored, high defense, high attack units. Ur fields many different infantry units. The only thing that really unites them is that they don't wear helmets (Enkidus are too horny for helmets).

Capital Infantry

In its capital city, Ur can recruit its two sacred units.

Mushussu (150g 1res 50rec 1/turn) Only one Mushussu can be recruited each turn from the capital, and they cost more than many of Ur's Mages. It has Fear(5) and can be mixed into a squad of other infantry to cause fear in the opponent's ranks. It is powerful and sacred, but it is difficult to recruit in large numbers due to its high cost and recruitment restriction.

Enki's Chosen (29g 17res 18rec) These units are very essentially an upgraded version of Ur's normal infantry. Slightly higher hitpoints and stats in exchange for a significantly higher cost. The greater protection and stats mean that Enki's Chosen are useful during expansion, where rec points and gold are rarely a limiting factor. However, without a blessing, Enki's chosen are outperformed by having a larger volume of infantry later in the game. In the Pretender section, possible blesses are discussed. With the correct blessing, Enki's Chosen can be mighty.

Fort Infantry

Although Ur can recruit national infantry in every province, Ur's most well-armed and armored infantry are recruitable only in its forts.

Img Unit Name Abilities Comments
Enkidu Soldier
16
7
9
Same stats and price as the Spear Guard, but with light armor and a higher damage weapon. Very massive if resources are the production bottleneck and capable of serious damage versus low defense targets. However, due to light armor and poor stats, they take a lot of attrition in battle.
Enkidu Horn Blower
35
2
21
Standard(1)
Ur's morale-boosting unit, useful to put one in every squad to stop premature routing. Always good to have someone around who knows how to blow a horn.
Enkidu Spear Guard
16
13
9
Compared to the Ur-guards, Spear Guards are easier to mass when recruitment points are a limiting factor and have a longer weapon for purposes or repelling. However, they have a much lower damage output and may have trouble dealing enough damage to sufficiently heavily armored or high defense targets. Preferably when the goal of infantry is to be a bulwark primarily.
Ur-Guard
19
13
13
Castle Defence Bonus (1)
Compared to the Spear Guard, Ur-guards boast slightly better stats and a higher damage weapon. However, Ur-Guards are more expensive in gold and recruitment points. Preferable when dealing with high defense and high protection targets and when damage output is the primary infantry goal.

Foreign Infantry

Ur can recruit several infantry units from every province it owns. This means that in a pinch, Ur can very quickly create a large army of light infantry. However, these units have poor stats, arms, and armor while not being cheaper than the units recruitable from forts. One interesting point is that Ur's only national ranged unit is a foreign recruit.

Img Unit Name Abilities Comments
Enkidu
16
2
9
Rec Foreign only
The two Warriors and the Enkidu are lightly armed and armored infantry. They are all fragile units for their gold cost but cheap in terms of resources and recruitment points.
Enkidu Warrior
16
5
9
Rec Foreign only
Enkidu Warrior
16
5
9
Rec Foreign only
Enkidu Archer
16
7
9
Rec Foreign only
The archer is Ur's only recruitable dedicated ranged unit. The high strength shared by all Enkidu means their bows do a reasonable amount of damage. These units are difficult to amass because they cannot be recruited in forts but can be useful against enemies that are weak against missile weapons.

Swamp Infantry

Ur has a couple of units that can only be recruited in swamps. They are both lightly armored and stealthy and Ur's only source of stealth raiders. Because of the low population and low recruitment points in most swamps, they can be difficult to get in large numbers but can serve as effective raiders. If Ur's cap is on a swamp, it becomes possible to recruit many of these troops, and Ur's playstyle can change considerably.

Img Unit Name Abilities Comments
Enkidu Hunter
16
4
9
Rec Swamp Only
Stealthy(40)
berserker(1)
Swamp Survival
The same stats and weaponry of the Enkidu Warrior, but with javelins instead of a shield and berzerker(+1). Hunters are not powerful troops, but they can be used strategically as raiders because of their low recruitment point cost.
Enkidu Reaver
26
4
23
Rec Swamp Only
Stealthy(40)
berserker(3)
Pillager(1)
Swamp Survival
Similar to but more powerful and more expensive than hunters. With higher stats, a higher damage weapon, and berzerker(+3), Reavers are Ur's most elite non-sacred troops. They boast a greater damage potential, survivability, and a higher cost than any other non-sacred unit Ur has access to. Due to their very high recruitment point cost, it is challenging to recruit a significant amount of Reavers unless Ur's capital is located on a swamp.

Underwater Infantry

Ur has a set of underwater infantry (and mages) called Kullulu, similar to their terrestrial counterparts: Lots of HP and strength, not much else. However, these troops are not strong enough to compete with any other amphibious nation.

Kulullu Big guy with a spear and no armor.

Kulullu Soldier Big guy with a spear and some armor.

Conclusion

Ur's troops stand out in the age in terms of Hit Points and Strength, boasting some of the best in this field for their costs in gold and recruitment points. Ur's troops generally outperform similar high strength size three troops such as the Bandar Swordsmen of Kailasa and the Cavern Guards of Agartha. However, as stated above, due to Ur's troops' relatively low attack density and other stats, Ur's troops perform poorly against units with high defense. To effectively deal with such things, you are going to need mages!

Heroes

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
EnHedu'anna - Entu of the Moon water 11earth 11astral 33holy 33 15
sacred
inspirational (2)
elegist(3)
Female
A reason to take luck scales, as she is a way to forge Astral boosters to cast Call Apkallu and other astral 55 spells.
Utnapishtim - Favored of Enki
Hero Turn Arrival Limite: 5
nature 33holy 22 11
Sacred
inspirational (-1)
immortal
Poison Resistance(5)
Supply Bonus(30)
Immortal nature mage. Make use of that Immortality as a thug but look out for Soul Slay.
U'an - Apkallu
Hero Turn Arrival Limite: 10
water 44earth 33nature 22holy 33 33
Sacred
resist cold(7)
Disease Healer(1)
Inspiring Researcher (1)
adept researcher (10)
Supply Bonus(20)
Amphibious
Powerhouse researcher, likely to zoom through some of your research goals when he shows up.
Also a powerful mage in water and earth, getting to water 66earth 55 spells with boosters.

Magic

Research Goals

  • Alteration 5: Mistform, Destruction, Maws of the Earth, Wooden Warriors, Mother Oak
  • Enchantment 3: Strength of Giants, Gift of Flight, Cloud Trapeze (at Ench4)
  • Conj 5:

Magic Access

Ur has a wide array of mages with a variety of requirements - capital-only, fort required, foreign-only, swamp-only, and underwater only. Much of their highest-level path access is limited to some subset of these mages.

Elemental

  • No at all.
  • air 22 in forts on Gudu. Ur has no native way to reach air 33 other than Faerie Court, but if you can get a single air 33 mage somehow Summon Ugallu can provide more.
  • water 33 underwater on Kulullu Sage, water 22 in forts on Ishib and cap-only Ensi. Easily boostable to water 44 with a Water Bracelet and Robe of the Sea or water 55 underwater, and with water summons water 77 is achievable. U'an - Apkallu provides water 44 on a hero.
  • earth 33 outside of forts (rare earth 44) on Enkidu Shaman and on cap-only Entu. Easily boostable to earth 44 with Earth Boots; at Construction 8 Ur can forge The Tome of Gaia to reach earth 55

Sorceries

  • astral 11 only underwater on Kulullu Sage and Kuliltu Queen. astral 33 is available on the hero EnHedu'anna - Entu of the Moon, who can wear Earth Boots to forge a Crystal Coin and Starshine Skullcap to reach astral 55 for Call Apkallu, which provides a air 33water 33earth 22astral 44nature 22holy 22 mage.
  • death 22 only in swamps on Enkidu Bone Reader. Easily boostable to death 33 with a Skull Staff.
  • nature 44 (rare nature 55) on Enkidu Shaman. Easily boostable to nature 66 by using a Thistle Mace to forge a Treelord's Staff, and Awaken Treelord can provide a native nature 55 mage.
  • No at all.

Notable cross-paths

National spells

  • Herd of Buffaloes: nature 22 Conj 3 for 10 (summon 5+ Buffaloes). Animal tramplers, not the best thing to spend your nature gems on, but sometimes you need more bodies when being rushed. Also evocation magnets. Work well at countering a siege if you properly time when they reach the gates.
  • Summon Kusarikkus: earth 11 Conj 4 for 6 (summon 2 Kusarikkus). Powerful Sacred summon, High HP, and two attacks with one being an anti-demon weapon, they become one of your strongest units when they have a Giants bless and the fact that you have many of the buffing spells.
  • Summon Ugallu: air 33 Conj 5 for 24 (summon Ugallu). Need a God or spend a lot of air gems for empowerment to get. Gives you a flying air 33, for all that important Air utility. Can also be geared to be a Storm caster for that air 55 combat magic.
  • Call Anzu: air 44 Conj 7 for 4 (summon Anzu). Needs to climb higher into Air for a Great Eagle with two breath attacks. Comes too late in research but can be used in flying raider forces.
  • Call Apkallu: astral 55 Conj 8 for 60 (summon Umu-apkallu). A powerful late game mage. An embodiment of all of Ur's magic paths. Just summoning one greatly improves your chances of reaching your other research goals. Ur can't summon natively without a god speccing into a path you don't otherwise need.

Notable Generic Magic

Combat Magic

Ur has a lot of high path mages both in and out of forts.

Your main paths are Earth and Nature, which have a lot of signature army buff and enemy hindering spells like Howl, Marble Warriors. Strength of Giants, and Mass Regeneration.

Bone Readers are your death mages, having Horde of Skeletons and Enfeeble, even Stygian Rains for important battles with boosters. Being sneaky makes it hard to predict where to find them.

Water is more situational until late game when you get your late-game research goals. Early on you have a recruitable mage that can shut fire damage down with Rain. With a booster many useful army-wide spells become available: Fire Resistance, Freezing Mist, Frost Fend, Wave Warriors, Falling Frost, and even Grip of Winter and Quickening.

Air Gudu can thug with Mistform and Mirror Image but they can also cast some non-self-buff spell-like Gift of Flight and Lighting Bolt. Ugallu take air farther by airdropping in with Summon Air Elementals and fix the national hat problem with Arrow Fend.

Ritual Magic

You are a contender in EA to get Mother Oak. This will fuel your Nature expenditure, like putting up other nature globals like Gift of Health. Summoning Troll Shamans can be redundant but gets you Nature/Death cross paths, which allows things like boosting up to Lamia Queen for Blood access.

Transformation on Shamans is up to your luck - it can remove their high upkeep and may boost their magic paths, but at the cost of nature gems and possibly losing the Shaman.

If you can't get enough airgem gems to boost to air 33, you can summon Faery Queen with nature to summon Ugallu. Summon Great Eagles to break down walls.

Gudu also love to Cloud Trapeze.

Magic Items

Many of your mages have the chassis and paths to thug, and you have access to many of the good forging paths (Air, Water, Earth, Death, Nature). Kithaironic Lion Pelt is a cost-effective helmet/body armor combo. Shademail Haubergeon and Shadow Brand are strong thug items you can make.

National Discount Items

  • Headdress of the Bull 5naturegem nature 11. Grant the user +2 strength and a retinue of a Buffalo. Great on a mage thug as it's a cheap item that boosts their damage and gives them a trampling animal to buy time for buffing. Also, Buffaloes are able to run over any would-be assassin.

Strategy

Early Game

FIXME How to expand, potential pitfalls and how to get around them, obvious weakness strength, how much do you have to focus on war/infrastructure

Your troops are not that good against most other more numerous or elite troop types. Ur's ability to more quickly resummon their slain pretender makes an expander Pretender expander or a defensive Titan a more viable early game strategy.

It will cut into your mage turns, but you should be recruiting several Enkidu Elders during expansions - not only are they great and super cheap commanders, but they will also save you gold in the long run as they passively raise the PD strength each turn for free. They should be the guys building forts if possible.

You can use 15-ish Ur-Guard with a well-positioned Mushussu for that Fear aura as your initial expansion expeditions.

When making forts you're paying an extra 150Gold and one more turn to build your cities. They suck at defense for the price but you're getting that bonus commander recruitment right away (so actually faster and cheaper in the grand scheme of why you're building forts). You could also upgrade to walled cities to be just as defensive as other fortresses, but that is more money and turns than you need to spend.

Power Curve

This is probably the most difficult section to get consensus for. Describe how strong the nation is during expansion, the early, mid and late game, and what makes it strong/weak at each of those points. This should give readers an idea of where the weaknesses of a nation lie (if they have not been shown already) and when to take advantage of a nation's strengths.

Expansion Strategies

List some example expansion strategies here. If a strong bless or pretender is required then leave the specifics for the pretender section.

Pretender

Annunaki of Love and War
This Ur build has magic phase movement, physmoss (Mossbody + Temper Flesh), Ironskin, Foul Vapors, Flying Shield, Breath of Winter, Personal Regeneration, Mirror Image, Mistform, and built in awe! Beware though that you can fluff most of these effects later on so play accordingly.

Chassis: Awake
Annunaki of Love and War
Paths: air 22water 11earth 22nature 22
Bless: None
Scales: Dominion strength5Order0Productivity0Heat3Growth3Misfortune2Magic3
See The Virtues of Expansion Titans

Guides

ur-ea.txt · Last modified: 2024/07/09 04:30 by johnnydown