Dominions 5 Wiki

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
====== Records of Failure ======

History is written by the victor! And so most AARs detail the author's road to victory. But maybe there is as much, if not more, to learn from reading the annals of those who lost. What fatal decisions led to their eventual demise? What could have been done differently?

I hope to give an honest account of a game that I failed. As people come to lavish every detail of my failure I will incorporate any useful feedback I receive into this AAR. Happy reading.

<WRAP box 670px>
==== Records_of_drainage on Immersion ====
<WRAP column 100px> {{ :nations:flags:ma_vanarus.png |}}</WRAP><WRAP column right 100px> {{ :nations:flags:ma_vanarus.png |}}</WRAP>**Author:** Naaira \\
**Nation:** MA Vanarus \\
**No. of players:** 12 \\
**Map:** Vanilla map (15 provinces/player) \\
**Mods:** BetterArena_1_3.dm, ImprovedCastingAIv1.04.dm, \\ LucidsThematicGemGenV163.dm, WH_6_24.dm
</WRAP>
===== Nation Analysis =====
<WRAP box 180px right>**Opponent nations** \\
//(in order of pick)//
  * Na'Ba
  * Ashdod
  * Ys
  * Phaeacia
  * Asphodel
  * C'tis
  * Atlantis
  *  Xibalba
  * Pangaea
  * Vanarus
  * Marignon
  * Pythium
</WRAP>
I had wanted to try out Vanarus for a while. I hadn't played a lot of human nations previously and the combination of a light touch of elves, chud berserkers and human mages seemed interesting to me.

Vanarus belongs to the northern group of nations. All units except the elven ??Vanabog?? have cold resistance (5) and most units have snow move. The regular troops have prot values around 11-13 and javelins to chug at people. A cheap shortbow archer can also be recruited. The nation features no recruitable cavalry whatsoever so mobility is an issue.

<WRAP column 80px centeralign> {{ :nations:ma:vanarus:chud_hirdman.png?18&nolink |}} //So Chud!//</WRAP>In line with the northern theme the nation features two hardhitting dual-wielding berserker units: The 15g ??Vanarusian Berserker?? and the 35g ??Chud Hirdman??. The ??Chud Hirdman?? is a significant upgrade with +5 hp, +4 Prot, +2 attack... but it is it worth more than twice the cost? They also have the glasscannon shapeshiting ??Chud Skinshifter??.

Finally they have ??Oath-Bound??, a 16 Prot elven shieldbearer with decent stats, glamour, stealth and sacred, all for the price of 35g.

The mundane commander lineup features a scout, 60 leadership herse, 80 leadership jarl, a 10 leadership priest and the 80 leadership H1 ??Chud Jarl??. Notably neither priest nor Jarl are stealthy so cannot lead stealthy parties of ??Oath-Bound??.

<WRAP column 30px centeralign> {{ :nations:ma:vanarus:vanarusian_sage.png?nolink |}}</WRAP>The mage lineup is wide but shallow. The anyfort ??Vanarusian Sage?? has lots of randoms. There is a potential to random {{path>A3}} but most of the time you end up with {{path>A1}} or {{path>A2}} and some other 1-level paths. A fair few sages will have {{path>B1}} for //some// blood hunting and blood communions. Other mages have the {{path>F1D1}} crosspath for ??Fire Skull??s, and some have {{path>A1D1}} for ??Corpse Construct??s.

The nation also features two forest-recruit mages: The ??Vyedma?? and the ??Vyedun??, named similarly to keep the player ever confused. The difference between them is miniscule but significant: Vyedmas are natural ??Mossbody?? casters with 1/4 being ??Foul Vapors?? capable. Vyeduns trade the W path for chance of {{path>A2}} and (more importantly) {{path>F2}} for ??Sulphur Haze?? and ??Summon Fire Elemental??.

<WRAP column 50px centeralign> {{ :nations:ma:vanarus:vanabog.png?nolink&40 |}}</WRAP>Finally the cap-only ??Vanabog?? adds thug potential, magic phase capability and guaranteed {{path>A2}} with a chance for {{path>A3}}. The {{path>A2D2B1H2}} can cast ??Wailing Winds?? later on with a ??Skull Staff?? which is huge. They are also stealthy priests so they can potentially lead stealthy groups of Oath-Bound. Potentially.

Of note is that all of your non-cap mages are very good researchers - and none of them are sacred. All of the mages have a lot of randoms, so you need to recruit a lot to get the magic diversity you want. Thus, you get a lot of mages out the gate with little infrastructure but you pay for that with high upkeep and lots of randoms that you might not have a good use for. 

Finally, and most importantly, Vanarus non-cap mages peak at {{path>F2}}, {{path>A3}}, {{path>W1}}, {{path>E1}} **!**, {{path>N2}}, {{path>D1}} and {{path>B1}} with many mages being stuck with no 2-path. The nation screams magic boosters, many of which it can create natively... at Construction 6.  Thus for a majority of the early to mid game your magic is limited to the paths available. Also not having access to a single {{path>E2}} natively means that you pay a premium for using E magic. Every gem counts. 

The end effect is that Vanarus can eat gems like no other nation. Your wide but shallow magic diversity comes with a cost later on as you need gems and boosters to use all the magic your research unlocks.

===== Pretender Design =====
When I joined the game I had a few goals in mind:
  * I wanted to practice being more aggressive in the early game. My goal was to be in a war around turn 14, using my ??Vyedma?? to pointbuff with Alteration 3 magic.
  * I did not want to do a lot of diplomacy, favoring loose understandings above NAPs. I would try to go for 1v1s preferably.
  * I wanted a decent bless and not only rely on scales troops.

Going into the game I wanted to use the ??Oath-Bound?? to carry my early game. I thought (and still think) that it's a very solid unit. 35g for a 14 hp, 16 Prot sacred with good stats and glamour is a bargain in my opinion. I also wanted to practice being more aggressive early. So I decided early that I wanted to build a bless around the ??Oath-bound??. After extensive debate with some of the mentors in my mentee channel on Immersion I settled on this god:

God picture

<WRAP box 800px center> ==== Failure #1: No Fire Resistance ====
Not taking Fire Resistance was a major mistake. This meant that my whole unit lineup was incredibly vulnerable to Fire Shield. Berserkers are excellent blenders... until they meet a big fat ??Fire Elemental?? and blend themselves to death super quickly. Fire Resistance would have given me a frontline that could tank Fire Elementals.

Fire Resistance would also have made it much easier to buff my Oath-Bound with ??Protection?? and ??Wooden Warriors??.
</WRAP>
<WRAP box 800px center> ==== Failure #2: No Magic Weapons ====
With the dual-wielding berserkers magic weapons is not mandatory on Vanarus, since the berserkers will have an attack density of 6 per square so they can bypass ??Body Ethereal?? more easily than most. However, missing both Fire Resistance **and** Magic Weapons meant that one spell, ??Summon Fire Elementals?? essentially countered three cornerstones of my army: The Oath-Bound, the berserkers and mages casting ??Summon Air Elemental??. Fire Elementals are the natural counter to Air Elementals who like to attack the big blobs of fire and kill themselves on their fire shields.
</WRAP>
In hindsight I should have realized what the Oath-Bound are - really high-value blockers - and built around that. I should have picked up Fire Resistance, Magic Weapons and maybe even more Defense. Johnny's excellent guide features a sample pretender for Vanarus that, given my choice of first war target, would have been much better for this game.

Picture of Johnny's god

===== Expansion Phase =====
This was my starting position:
Picture of starting position
<WRAP box 800px center> ==== Failure #3: Vanilla map and map settings ====
What can I say? I hate vanilla map making. I also did not notice until later that the magic sites setting was higher than usual at 69.
</WRAP>

Expansion went really smoothly using mainly ??Oath-Bound?? and ??Chud Jarl??s with ??Chud Hirdman??, ??Vanarusian Berserker??s and ??Chud Skinshifter??s recruited occasionally to bolster the line. From expansion testing I found that around 10-12 dudes in a line prevented most commander snipes.

{{ :aar:records_of_failure:typical_expansion_party.png?nolink&800 |}}

Despite some rivers that just would not freeze and a bit of backtracking because of low-connection provinces in the south by turn 12 I had 21 provinces. 

{{ :aar:records_of_failure:turn_12_expansion.png?800 |}}

<WRAP box 800px center> ==== Failure #4: Infrastructure delay ====
I was swimming in gold but did not have a lot of infrastructure in place yet. By turn 12 I still had two turns left on my second fort and I just could not find a good place to build my third fort. I did not want to build any coastal forts because of Ys being located very close by. I also wanted to keep forests clear of forts and make sure I did not drain forests completely of resources so I could recruit my forest mages... but all of that led to a delay in infrastructure which in turn might have delayed my early game timings.</WRAP>

Despite the delays in getting up forts, I still felt very satisfied about my early game. Getting 21 provinces by turn 12 in a multiplayer game is above expectations, and I had secured three forests to act as mage recruitment centers.

===== Early diplomacy and picking my first war =====
As my scouts gave me more information of the world I began to get a picture of who my neighbors were. My coastal position meant that I was faced with three choices:
<WRAP group 800px center centeralign>
<WRAP column third>{{ :nations:flags:ma_asphodel.png?nolink&64 |}}Asphodel to my south-west.</WRAP>
<WRAP column third>{{ :nations:flags:ma_naba.png?nolink&64 |}}Na'ba to my west</WRAP>
<WRAP column third>{{ :nations:flags:ma_pythium.png?nolink&64 |}}Pythium to my north.</WRAP></WRAP>

My scouting suggested that Pythium had had a rough expansion phase and was significantly smaller than me. Asphodel had not done spectacularly either, but on the other hand the prospect of taking control of his population-depleted lands was not an attractive prospect. In the end I decided to attack Na'Ba. My reasoning was three-fold:
  * Na'Ba just gets more and more cancerous with time. With excellent high-path mages, good magic diversity, decent summons and the potential for ??Shaytan??s in the late game I felt it would be better to deal with Na'Ba early.
  * I had fought the player before and knew I would be in for a challenge. It just seemed more fun.
  * The Thrones placement in the game meant that any contender would have to go to the belt of land north of Na'Ba where Ashdod resides. I could approach that land either from the north through Pythium or west through Na'Ba.

With that in mind I reached out to Asphodel and Pythium and declared my intention of not attacking them at this stage. When Na'Ba reached out to settle borders and asked for a NAP I answered ambiguously. The stage was set for a war with Na'Ba....... What a mistake!


<WRAP box 800px center> ==== Mistake #4: Picking First War Target ====
While there were plenty of reasons to go to war with Na'Ba I missed some key reasons **not** to go to war with them.
  * Remember my bless? No fire resistance was a fatal vulnerability in my lineup that Na'Ba's fire mages could easily exploit.
  * Na'Ba's lands were located far away from my capital which meant that it took longer to amass troops on the border.
  * Geography was awkward with a mountain range that meant that my initial movement would be very predictable.
  * The delay in infrastructure meant that I did not have the research advantage I was banking on to win my first war. As I discovered much too soon, Na'Ba was never behind in research to any significant degree. They might even have had the lead.

What I should have done is attack Pythium instead. They looked weaker with a much smaller expansion, were closer to my cap, had fewer answers to what I could bring. Had I set out to win the game at any cost I should have accepted the NAP from Na'Ba and gone north, researched the Fire resistance buffing spells and my midgame suit of magic like Wailing Winds.

.... or I should have played the diplo game and formed a coalition against Na'Ba. 
</WRAP>

===== Analyzing my opponent =====
So let's have a look at my opponent nation. Na'Ba is one of the more powerful nations in MA with some amazing tricks up its sleeve once it gets its research online. I have played it two times before using a build similar to [[150-proof-guide-to-na-ba-by-baalz|Baalz' Na'Ba guide]] but adapted to vanilla with the help of Txoumin. Let us have a quick look at what I think are Na'Ba's strengths and weaknesses:
<WRAP box 800px center>
==== Na'Ba Strength and Weaknessess ====
<WRAP column half>**Strengths**
  * **Amazing mages with high paths:** 
    * ??Malikah??, 
    * ??Sahir??, 
    * ??Hermit Sahir??
  * Decent half-giant scales troops:
    * ??'Adite Archer??
    * ??'Adite Elite Warrior??
  * Foreign recruit options:
  * Great mobility and lots of stealth
  * Vision: ??Nabaean Scout??
  * Scaling
  * Blood potential
  * Decent summons
</WRAP>
<WRAP column half>
**Weaknesses**
  * Research-reliant
    * Mages need to "come online"
  * Weak early game
  * Mediocre sacreds:
  * {{path>N1}} only on cap-only malikah
</WRAP></WRAP>
Dominions 5 Wiki

User Tools

Site Tools

Page Tools
