"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.
There are a few things unique to Ur in the Early Age.
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).
Special Race Attributes | Military | Magic Access | Priests | Buildings |
---|---|---|---|---|
Prefer +1 Half-Giants | Giant Medium Infantry Sacred Mages Foreign Rec Giants Swamp Raider Giants | 3 (uncommon 4, rare 5)* 2 (uncommon 3, rare 4)* 2 (uncommon 3) 2 (50%) 1 (uncommon 2)* 1 (uncommon)* | Strong (3) 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; 3 and up and 4 are only found in fort-less provinces, 1 and up are only found in swamps, and 1 is found only underwater. On forts in standard terrain, the actual magic access is slimmer:
The First City
Enables recruitment of
Entu
Ensi
The House of Water
Enables recruitment of
Enki's Chosen
Produces 21 per turn
The Swamps of Ur
Enables recruitment of
Mushussu
Produces 3 per turn
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).
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.
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 |
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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 | 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. |
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Sal-Me 100 1 2 | 111 9 sacred Female | Relatively better than Galas if not using the Recalling god strategy. A faster researcher and the 1 gives them some more versatile spam like Frozen Heart. A cheap and reliable way to fluff with Mossbody and Quickness in the early game. |
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Gudu 155 2 2 | 12200% 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. |
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Ishib 195 2 2 | 221100% 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 scales. |
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Entu 265 1 4 Capital Only | 2131100% 13 sacred inspirational (2) Female | One of the two Holy 3 capital mages. Usually, the better pick as it can random 3. Air randoms can cast Rain of Stones but it is recommended to cast Arrow Fend first. |
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Ensi 290 8 4 Capital Only | 2131100% 13 sacred inspirational (1) | Your other Holy 3 Mage. Better prophet chassis as it can lead large armies. |
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. |
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Enkidu Shaman 275 2 2 +Rec Foreign Only | 231100% 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. |
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). |
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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. |
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Enkidu Bone Reader 120 2 2 +Rec Swamp Only | 111100% 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. |
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. |
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Kulullu King 145 10 2 +Rec Underwater Only | 12 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 | 21100% 15 Aquatic | Fast researchers. Astral randoms can make low-level Astral items. | |
Kuliltu Queen 195 1 2 +Rec Underwater Only | 111100% 11 sacred Aquatic Female | Has underwater Nature and other situational low-level crosspaths. |
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).
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.
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. |
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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. |
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. |
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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. |
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. |
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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. |
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.
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!
Sprite | Unit Name | Special Attributes | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
EnHedu'anna - Entu of the Moon | 1133 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 5 spells. | |
Utnapishtim - Favored of Enki Hero Turn Arrival Limite: 5 | 32 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 | 4323 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 65 spells with boosters. |
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
Sorceries
Notable cross-paths
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.
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 gems to boost to 3, you can summon Faery Queen with nature to summon Ugallu. Summon Great Eagles to break down walls.
Gudu also love to Cloud Trapeze.
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.
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 150 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.
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.
List some example expansion strategies here. If a strong bless or pretender is required then leave the specifics for the pretender section.
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: 2122
Bless: None
Scales: 5003323
See The Virtues of Expansion Titans
*Dominions 5 Nation Guide: EA Ur by Perun
Nations | |
---|---|
Early Ages | Arcoscephale • Ermor • Ulm • Marverni • Sauromatia • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Mictlan • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Agartha • Tir na n'Og • Fomoria • Vanheim • Helheim • Niefelheim • Rus • Kailasa • Lanka • Yomi • Hinnom • Ur • Berytos • Xibalba • Mekone • Ubar • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Therodos |
Middle Ages | Arcoscephale • Ermor • Sceleria • Pythium • Man • Eriu • Ulm • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Asphodel • Vanheim • Jotunheim • Vanarus • Bandar Log • Shinuyama • Ashdod • Uruk • Nazca • Xibalba • Phlegra • Phaeacia • Ind • Na'ba • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Ys |
Late Ages | Arcoscephale • Pythium • Lemuria • Man • Ulm • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Jomon • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Midgård • Utgård • Bogarus • Patala • Gath • Ragha • Xibalba • Phlegra • Vaettiheim • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia |