OpenDominion - User contributions [en]

Glossary

2023-06-16T18:27:24Z

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This page aims to collect and present concise definitions of the terms used in [[OpenDominion]].



{{Compact ToC|num=yes}}

== 0-9 ==

;5<nowiki>:</nowiki>4 : Also known as "suiciding". An attacker that sends the maximum OP they can (the 5:4 OP:DP ratio), typically leaving themselves very underdefended and likely to get invaded multiple times.
;9-hour Attacking : Also '''9hr attacking''' and '''9hring''' - See [[9-hour Attacking]].

== A ==


;Acre : One unit of barren land, terrain or one specific [[Land Type]].
;Adept : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dark Elf]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1000 platinum and 55 ore, it has 2 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Increases power by 1 for every 10% Wizard Guilds for defense, 10% Wizard Guilds for offense. Also counts as 1/2 a Wizard on defense, 1/5 Wizard on offense (cannot be targeted by Wizard Assassination). Maximum bonus of +5/+5 (making the Adept maximum 7/9). See [[Percentage Calculations]]
;Advisor : This is part of your Castle, where you can see the progress about Production, Military, Land, Construction, Magic, Rankings and Statistics.
;Alchemy : One of the [[Buildings]], produces 45 platinum per hour.
;AM : ArchMages. See [[Military Units]].
;Attacking : [[Play Style]] which involves training an offensive army and [[Invasion|invading]] other [[Dominion|dominions]].
;Atteching : Attacking at a slower pace while focusing on unlocking technologies through a large number of schools
;Archer : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Human]] it is an [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 10 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Arrive : Buildings, Land, Troops arrive by the hour. When you construct a building it is going to "arrive" in 12 hours: its title turns into "owned" from "constructing", and it begins producing benefits.


== B ==

;Barracks : Houses 36 trained or training military units. Does not increase capacity as other buildings do for population bonuses.
;Basher : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Troll]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1000 platinum and 100 ore, it has 5 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Automatic regeneration causes fewer casualties, against [[Goblin]], [[Wood Elf]] and [[Kobold]] it has 6 attack and 3 defense.
;Beast : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Kobold]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 975 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: For every one Beast, if you have one Overlord at home to match the Beast, then defensive power of the Beast increases by 2. As an example, if you have 100 Beasts at home, and 50 Overlords at home, 50 of your beasts are 0/5, while the other 50 are 0/3. If you had 100 Beasts at home, and 200 Overlords at home, all 100 Beasts would be just 0/5.
;BF : Bottom feeding is when you attack dominions below 75%. This is sometimes necessary for certain races, like Undead and Lycanthropes since they convert units and taking the hit to prestige can be worth it. It can also be worth it for Firewalkers and Halflings since they have reduced casualties.
;Black Ops : Also '''black-ops''' and '''ops''' - [[Espionage|spy]] and [[Spells|wizard]] operations that damage opposing [[Dominion|dominions]].
;Blops : Short-hand for Black Ops
;Bone Breaker : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Orc]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1050 platinum and 105 ore, it has 7 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Offensive power is reduced by 1 for every 10% guard towers of defender, maximum -2. See [[Percentage Calculations]].
;Bonuses : There are two types increased benefits in the game, and bonuses are one-time only or expire after some time. These should not be confused with [[Improvements]] which are permanent.
;Bounce : Also '''bouncing''' - Failing an [[Invasion|invasion]] by not sending enough OP. See [[Bounce]].
;Brute : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Troll]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 350 platinum and 25 ore, it has 4 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Buildings : This where most of the [[Basic Resources]] are created, and except [[Homes]] they must be placed on one, and only one, of the seven [[Land Types]]. Buildings may also have a set of properties to limit or enhance game functions - for example, [[Temples]] of the attacking player going to reduce the efficiency of your defenses.

== C ==
;Castle : Your castle consists of certain parts of you screen, such as the [[Improvements]] section with access to boost Science, Keep, Towers, Forges, Walls, Harbor, or the screen to access the Advisor.
;Cavalry : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Human]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1250 platinum and 100 ore, it has 6 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Returns 3 hours faster from battle.
;Cavern : This is a [[Land Type]] with [[Homes]] for the [[Dark Elf]], [[Firewalker]], [[Lycanthrope]], and [[Buildings]] for [[Diamond Mine]] and [[School]].
;Chameleon : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lizardfolk]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 900 platinum and 0 ore, it has 4 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: counts as 1/5 spy (cannot be targeted by Disband Spies spell), no boats needed.
;Centaur : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Sylvan]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 900 platinum and 90 ore, it has 5 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Returns 3 hours faster from battle, 15% fewer casualties.
;Cleric : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dwarf]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 800 platinum and 0 ore, it has 4 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: reduces combat losses. See [[Undefined]].
;Converting : [[Play Style]] which involves exploring the first part of the round, and then attacking the second part.
;CS : Clear Sight

== D ==


;Daily Bonuses : Every 24 hour you are able to claim two bonuses - 20 acres of your home land type, and a combined platinum bonus (4 times your current peasant population & 350 Research Points
;DB : Daily Bonus
;DE : Dark Elf
;Defender : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Halfling]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Diamond Mine : One of the [[Buildings]], and also one of the few which equally benefits all [[Races]]. Produces 15 gems per hour, and this may be increased with [[Bonuses]] or [[Improvements]].
;DM : Diamond Mine
;DP : Defensive Power.
;Dock : One of the [[Buildings]], each dock produces, on average, 1 boat every 20 hours. Each dock also produces the equivalent of 35 bushels an hour due to fishing gains. Each dock will protect 2.5 boats you own from being sunk.
:Dorf - Dwarf
;Dominion : The player's country, built upon explored or occupied acres of [[Land Types]].
;Draftees : Used to create military. Draftees also needed for Exploring [[Land Types]], but once the land arrives the draftees turn back into peasants.
;Draft Rate : The percentage of the arriving peasants to be turned into draftees instead of workers in buildings.
;Druid : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Wood Elf]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1100 platinum and 0 ore, it has 3 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Increases power by 1 for every 20% forest (buildings inclusive). See [[Percentage Calculations]].
;Dryad : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Sylvan]] it is an [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 1050 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: counts as 1/2 wizard on defense, 1/5 wizard on offense (cannot be targeted by Wizard Assassination). See [[Percentage Calculations]].

== E ==

;EG : Elite Guard. See [[Guards]].
;EM : Energy Mirror. See [[Spells]].
;EQ: Earthquake. See [[Spells]].
;Exploring : One of the three [[Play Styles]], this one focuses on training a defensive army and exploring land. The [[Exploration]] of land itself is one of the main features, and must be used by all play styles.

== F ==
;Factory : One of the [[Buildings]], and this one have multiple benefits by default. They reduce building construction costs by 4 * (Factories / Total Land)% to a maximum of 75% bonus. They reduce re-zoning costs by 3 * (Factories / Total Land)% to a maximum of 75% bonus. Not all [[Races]] and [[Play Styles]] benefit the same amount so they are built in different numbers and priorities.
;Farm (1): Produces 80 bushels of food per hour (each person eats 1/4 of a bushel an hour)
;Farm (2): An account set up - often as a secondary/multi account - in order to deliberately "feed" acres to its main account. This is in violation to the rules.
;Fast Attacking : See [[Fast Attacking]].
;FB : Fireball. See [[Spells]].
;Fire Sprite : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Firewalker]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 0 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Fiend : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[The Nox]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 325 platinum and 25 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Flamewolf : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Firewalker]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;FoL: Factory of Legends. See [[Wonder]].
;FoY: Fountain of Youth. See [[Wonder]].
;Forest : This is a [[Land Type]] with [[Homes]] for the [[Orc]], [[Sylvan]], [[Wood Elf]], and [[Buildings]] for [[Lumberyard]] and [[Forest Haven]].
;Forest Haven : Gives 20 peasants .75 defense each. Reduces losses on failed spy operations by 3 * (Forest Havens / Total Land)% to a maximum bonus of 30%. Reduces fireball damage by 8 * (Forest Havens / Total Land) % (based on total population at home), to a maximum bonus of 80%. Reduces stolen platinum by 8 * (Forest Havens / Total Land) %, to a maximum of -80% stolen.
;Frostmage : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Icekin]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 850 platinum and 100 ore, it has 3 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Increases by 1 for every 20% mountains (buildings inclusive), maximum +3.
;FW : Firewalker

== G ==
;Gargoyle : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lycanthrope]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1100 platinum and 110 ore, it has 6 offensive and 0 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Some enemy units killed in battle turn into Werewolves and join your army IF BATTLE WON. See [[Undefined]]
;Garou : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dwarf]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1250 platinum and 110 ore, it has 7 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: none.
;Ghoul : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Undead]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 225 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 2.5 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: this unit [[Never Dies]]
;GMM : Gnomish Mining Machine. See [[Wonder]].
;GN : Gryphon Nest. See [[Buildings]]
:Gobbo : Goblin
;GT : Guard Tower
;GTC : Global Town Crier
;Guard : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Orc]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 25 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Guard Tower : One of the [[Buildings]], increases Defensive Power by 1.75 * (Guard Towers / Total Land)% to a maximum of 35% bonus.
;Grunt : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Kobold]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 235 platinum and 15 ore, it has 2 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Gryphon Nest : One of the [[Buildings]], increases Offensive Power by 1.75 * (Gryphon Nests / Total Land)% to a maximum of 35% bonus.

== H ==
;Halfer : Halfling
;HCT : High Clerics Tower. See [[Wonder]].
;Hill : This is a [[Land Type]] with [[Homes]] for the [[Goblin]], [[Halfling]], [[Kobold]], and [[Buildings]] for [[Barracks]], [[Factory]], [[Guard Tower]] and [[Shrine]].
;Hobgoblin : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Goblin]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1000 platinum and 80 ore, it has 5 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Plunders resources on Attack. See [[Undefined]].
;HoK : Hall og Kings. See [[Wonder]].
;Homes : One of the [[Buildings]] that is automatic / mandatory for all [[Races]], and it is the only building not anchored to the same [[Land Type]] for every race. Homes house 30 [[Peasant]] or [[Draftees]], and unlike some other buildings homes do not employ.


== I ==
;Icebeast : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Icekin]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 0 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Ice Elemental : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Icekin]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1100 platinum and 80 ore, it has 4 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Increases by .85 * Raw Wizard Ratio (Wizards Per Acre), maximum +3. See [[Percentage Calculations]].
;Imp : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[The Nox]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 0 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Icer : Icekin

== J ==
;Juggernaut : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Gnome]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 775 platinum and 550 ore, it has #VARIABLE offensive and 6 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Juggernaut's offensive strength is 5 if your target has less than 75% of your land. If your target has between 75% and 85% of your land, Juggernaut's offensive strength is 6. Over 85% of your land, the Juggernaut's offensive strength is 7.

== K ==
;Knight : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Human]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1000 platinum and 75 ore, it has 2 offensive and 6 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: 25% fewer casualties
;Kobbo : Kobold
;Kraken : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Merfolk]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 600 platinum and 0 ore, it has 4 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: sinks boats when attacking, no boats needed

== L ==
;Land Types : These are, in alphabetical order, the [[Cavern]], [[Forest]], [[Hill]], [[Mountain]], [[Plain]], [[Swamp]], [[Water]].
;LB : Lightning Bolt. See [[Spells]].
;Leviathan : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Merfolk]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1350 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 7 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Sinks boats when defending.
;Lich : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[The Nox]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1050 platinum and 0 ore, it has 5 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: 50% fewer casualties.
;Liz : Lizardfolk
;Lizardmen : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lizardfolk]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1050 platinum and 0 ore, it has 6 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: No boat needed.
;Longbowman : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Wood Elf]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 325 platinum and 10 ore, it has 0 offensive and 4 defensive strength.
;LS : Land Spy
;Lumberyard : One of the [[Buildings]], produces 50 lumber per hour.
;LY : Lumberyard
;Lyc : Lyanthrope

== M ==
;Masonry : Once of the [[Buildings]], increases ALL Castle Bonuses by 2.75 * (Masonries / Total Land)%, no maximum. Reduces Lightning Bolt damage by 0.75 * (Masonries / Total Land)%, maximum 25% reduction
;Master Thief : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Halfling]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 900 platinum and 30 ore, it has 2 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Also counts as 1/5 of a Spy on offense, and 1/3 of a spy on defense (but cannot be targeted by the Disband Spies spell)
;Merf : Merfolk
;Mermen : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Merfolk]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 0 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: they do not need boats.
;Military : The total number of trained Units and Trainees. Although Trainees and units still returning from combat cannot be used to attack or defend, they still count into the total.
;Miner : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dwarf]] it is an [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 350 platinum and 25 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: every 2 miners also produce 1 ore per hour.
;Mod building : Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples. See [[Buildings]].
;Mountain : This is a [[Land Type]] with [[Homes]] for the [[Dwarf]], [[Gnome]], [[Icekin]], and [[Buildings]] for [[Gryphon Nest]] and [[Ore Mine]].
;Mystic : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Wood Elf]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1075 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Increases power by 1 for every 20% forest (buildings inclusive). See [[Percentage Calculations]]

== N ==
;Never Dies : This is an ability of a few [[Military Units]] and should not be taken literally. There are several ways in which the undead / spirit units may be killed, including by Humans using the Crusade spell, Goblin Shamans and Dwarven clerics. Also, attacking an enemy force and losing by at least 20% power will cause these units to die.
;Nightshade : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[The Nox]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 875 platinum and 100 ore, it has 0 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Increases by 1 for every 10% CONSTRUCTED swamp buildings, maximum +4.
;NW - Networth

== O ==
;OD : [[OpenDominion]].
;Ogre : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Troll]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 25 ore, it has 3 offensive and 2 defensive strength.
;OM : Ore Mine
;Ore Mine : One of the [[Buildings]], produces 60 ore per hour.
;OOP : Out of [[Protection]].
;OP : Offensive Power.
;Overlord : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Kobold]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 875 platinum and 55 ore, it has 3 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: For every one Overlord, if you have one Grunt being sent on the attack to match the Overlord being sent on the attack, the offensive power of the Overlord increases by 2. As an example, if you have 100 Overlords attacking, and 50 Grunts attacking, 50 of your Overlords are 5/2, while the other 50 are 3/2. If you had 100 Overlords attacking, and 200 Grunts attacking, all 100 Overlords would be just 5/2.

== P ==
;Paid to : Your current OP or DP plus your incoming OP or DP added together - often stated with timing e.g. X Dom is paid to 100k OP in 7 hours
;Pez : Peasants. When employed they produce 2.7 platinum each hour. See [[Population]].
;Phoenix : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Firewalker]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 925 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 4.5 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Cannot be killed except by Icekin.
;Plat : Platinum. See [[Resources]].
;Plain : This is a [[Land Type]] with [[Homes]] for the [[Human]], [[Troll]] and [[Buildings]] for [[Alchemy]], [[Farm]], [[Masonry]] and [[Smithy]].
;Progency : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Undead]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 900 platinum and 0 ore, it has 2 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: some enemy units killed in battle turn into Ghouls/Skeletons and join your army IF BATTLE WON WHEN YOU ATTACK. No need for boats (they fly). See [[Never Dies]]. See [[Undefined]].
;Protection : The first 72 hours after you created you Dominion, as you cannot attack or be attacked. After the 72 hours you are Out of Protection (OOP).

== Q ==

== R ==
;Races : The good races include [[Human]], [[Dwarf]], [[Wood Elf]], [[Gnome]], [[Merfolk]], [[Firewalker]], [[Sylvan]] and [[Halfling]]. The evil races span [[Icekin]], [[Troll]], [[Goblin]], [[Dark Elf]], [[Kobold]], [[Lycanthrope]], [[Lizardfolk]], [[The Nox]] (note the Nox are only selectable by premium account holders) and the [[Undead]].
;Raider : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Goblin]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 325 platinum and 25 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Ranger : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Wood Elf]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 25 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Ratman : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lycanthrope]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 250 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Raw : Value of production, OP or DP before bonuses/modifiers are applied
;Rax : Barracks
;Raze : Intentionally failing an attack to weaken the target.
;Realm : Each players is randomly placed in a Realm with a maximum of 11 other players (12 players total). These 12 Dominions are in inherent alliance, and should work together in attacking other players in other Realms.
;Reptile : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lizardfolk]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 0 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: do not need boats.
;Rev : Revelation. See [[Spells]].
;RG : Royal Guard. See [[Guards]].
;RP : Research Points
;R/R : Aka 'reroll' - Changing buildings by destroying them, optionally rezoning the barren land and then constructing something else.
;Rockapult : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Gnome]] it is an [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 675 platinum and 330 ore, it has 2 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Increases by 1 for every 20% Mountains (buildings inclusive), maximum +2. See [[Percentage Calculations]]

== S ==
;Salamander : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Firewalker]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 925 platinum and 0 ore, it has 5 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: 50% fewer casualties when attacking
;Satyr : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Sylvan]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 0 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Savage : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Orc]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 375 platinum and 0 ore, it has 4 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Scavenger : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lycanthrope]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 25 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;School : One of the [[Buildings]], it produces EITHER Schools/2 research points OR Schools * (1 - (Schools / Total Land)), whichever is HIGHER.
;Shaman : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Goblin]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 375 platinum and 15 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: reduces losses in combat. See [[Undefined]].
;Serpent : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lizardfolk]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Shrine : One of the [[Buildings]], it reduces casualties on offense by 4 * (Shrines / Total Land)% to a maximum of 80% bonus. Some [[Play Styles]] and [[Races]] see limited or no benefit from it. Increases chance of hero level gain by 2 * (Shrines / Total Land) % to a maximum of 40% bonus. Increases Hero Bonuses by 2 * (Shrines / Total Land) % to a maximum bonus of 40%.
;Sirens : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Merfolk]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Skeleton : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Undead]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 225 platinum and 0 ore, it has 2.5 offensive and 0 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: this unit [[Never Dies]]
;SL : Shadow League
;Slinger : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Halfling]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 15 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Smasher : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Troll]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1450 platinum and 150 ore, it has 7 offensive and 7 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Against Goblin and Kobold its offensive strength is 8.
;Smithy : One of the [[Buildings]], it reduces [[Military Units]] costs (except for Wizards, ArchMages, and Spies) by 2 * (Smithies / Total Land)% to a maximum of 36% bonus. Note that platinum costs reduction benefit all [[Races]], while ore costs reduction benefit all races but the Gnomes.
;Snow Witch : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Icekin]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 350 platinum and 25 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: reduces losses in combat. See [[Undefined]]
;Soldier : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dwarf]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 25 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;SoW : School of War. See [[Wonder]].
;Spearman : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Human]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 25 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Spec - Specialist units. The first and second units listed under each race that take 9 hours to train.
;Spies : One of the [[Military Units]] available to all [[Races]], it cost 500p and 1 draftee to build.
;Spirit Warrior : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dark Elf]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1050 platinum and 55 ore, it has #VARIABLE offensive and 0 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Flight (no need for boats). Against Dominions less than 75% of your size, Spirit Warrior has 5.5 offense and dies like any other unit. Against Dominions of 75% - 95% of your size, Spirit Warrior has 6 offense and ALMOST Never Dies. Against Dominions of 95% of your size or greater, Spirit Warrior has 6.5 offense and ALMOST Never Dies. Spirit Warriors are NOT considered to be 'undead' units. Thus they are not affected by anything that would normally affect UNDEAD/SPIRIT units. However, attacks that fail by at least 20% will cause these units to die.See [[Never Dies]].
;Sprite : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Sylvan]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Staff Master : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Halfling]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 900 platinum and 25 ore, it has 5 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: 40% fewer casualties.
;Suicide : Making an attack while leaving significantly less DP (limited by 5:4 rule) or sending while expecting to be invaded easily/repeatedly
;Suicide Squad : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Gnome]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 50 ore, it has 4 offensive and 0 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: suffers a mandatory 50% casualties regardless of bonuses.
;Swamp : This is a [[Land Type]] with [[Homes]] for the [[The Nox]], [[Undead]] and [[Buildings]] for [[Temple]], [[Tower]] and [[Wizard Guild]].
;Swordsman : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dark Elf]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 325 platinum and 25 ore, it has 4 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;SPA : Also '''SR''', '''Spy Ratio''' - Spies Per Acre
;Spud : Spirit / Undead. Note - previously these were near identical races that have since been altered to be more unique.

== T ==
;TC : Town Crier
;Temple : One of the [[Buildings]], increases population growth rate by 6 * (Temples / Total Land)%. Reduces defensive bonuses of a target dominion during invasion by 1.5 * (Temples / Total Land)% to a minimum of 0 defensive bonus (maximum reduction 25%)
;Tinker : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Gnome]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 5 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Top OP - The Dominion with the highest offensive power
;Tower : One of the [[Buildings]], produces 25 mana per hour.

== U==
;Underling : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Kobold]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 245 platinum and 20 ore, it has 0 offensive and 2 defensive strength.

== V ==
;Vampire : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Undead]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1000 platinum and 0 ore, it has 4 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: ALMOST Never Dies. Attacking a target 65% of your land size or larger, and some enemy units killed in battle turn into Progeny and join your army IF BATTLE WON WHEN YOU ATTACK. Attacking a target 50% - 65% of your land size, and some enemy units killed in battle turn into Ghouls/Skeletons (Undead) or Phantoms/Banshees (Spirit) and join your army IF BATTLE WON WHEN YOU ATTACK. Flight (no need for boats). See [[Never Dies]]. See [[Undefined]]
;Voodoo Magi : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Orc]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 800 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Defensive power is increased 1 for every 600 prestige, maximum +2.

== W ==
;Water : This is a [[Land Type]] with [[Homes]] for the [[Lizardfolk]], [[Merfolk]] and [[Buildings]] for [[Dock]].
;Warrior : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dwarf]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1250 platinum and 110 ore, it has 7 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: none.
;WE : Wood Elf
;Werewolf : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lycanthrope]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 875 platinum and 55 ore, it has 3 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: 25% fewer casualties on offense, 50% fewer casualties on defense.
;WG : Wizard Guild
;Wiz : Wizard
;Wizard Guild : One of the [[Buildings]], increases Wizard Strength refresh rate by 1% for every 10% guilds, up to a refresh bonus of 2%. Decreases cost of Wizards and ArchMages by 2 * (Wizard Guilds / Total Land)%, to a maximum bonus of 40%. Decreases cost of spells by 2 * (Wizard Guilds / Total Land)%, to a maximum bonus of 40%.
;Wolf Rider : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Goblin]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1300 platinum and 130 ore, it has 6 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Returns 3 hours faster from battle.

;WPA: Also '''WR''', '''Wizard Ratio''' - Wizards Per Acre.

== X ==
== Y ==
== Z ==

Glossary

2023-06-16T18:26:29Z

DCLCp: /* B */

This page aims to collect and present concise definitions of the terms used in [[OpenDominion]].



{{Compact ToC|num=yes}}

== 0-9 ==

;5<nowiki>:</nowiki>4 : Also known as "suiciding". An attacker that sends the maximum OP they can (the 5:4 OP:DP ratio), typically leaving themselves very underdefended and likely to get invaded multiple times.
;9-hour Attacking : Also '''9hr attacking''' and '''9hring''' - See [[9-hour Attacking]].

== A ==


;Acre : One unit of barren land, terrain or one specific [[Land Type]].
;Adept : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dark Elf]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1000 platinum and 55 ore, it has 2 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Increases power by 1 for every 10% Wizard Guilds for defense, 10% Wizard Guilds for offense. Also counts as 1/2 a Wizard on defense, 1/5 Wizard on offense (cannot be targeted by Wizard Assassination). Maximum bonus of +5/+5 (making the Adept maximum 7/9). See [[Percentage Calculations]]
;Advisor : This is part of your Castle, where you can see the progress about Production, Military, Land, Construction, Magic, Rankings and Statistics.
;Alchemy : One of the [[Buildings]], produces 45 platinum per hour.
;AM : ArchMages. See [[Military Units]].
;Attacking : [[Play Style]] which involves training an offensive army and [[Invasion|invading]] other [[Dominion|dominions]].
;Atteching : Attacking at a slower pace while focusing on unlocking technologies through a large number of schools
;Archer : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Human]] it is an [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 10 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Arrive : Buildings, Land, Troops arrive by the hour. When you construct a building it is going to "arrive" in 12 hours: its title turns into "owned" from "constructing", and it begins producing benefits.


== B ==

;Barracks : Houses 36 trained or training military units. Does not increase capacity as other buildings do for population bonuses.
;Basher : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Troll]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1000 platinum and 100 ore, it has 5 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Automatic regeneration causes fewer casualties, against [[Goblin]], [[Wood Elf]] and [[Kobold]] it has 6 attack and 3 defense.
;Beast : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Kobold]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 975 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: For every one Beast, if you have one Overlord at home to match the Beast, then defensive power of the Beast increases by 2. As an example, if you have 100 Beasts at home, and 50 Overlords at home, 50 of your beasts are 0/5, while the other 50 are 0/3. If you had 100 Beasts at home, and 200 Overlords at home, all 100 Beasts would be just 0/5.
;BF : Bottom feeding is when you attack dominions below 75%. This is sometimes necessary for certain races, like Undead and Lycanthropes since they convert units and taking the hit to prestige can be worth it.
;Black Ops : Also '''black-ops''' and '''ops''' - [[Espionage|spy]] and [[Spells|wizard]] operations that damage opposing [[Dominion|dominions]].
;Blops : Short-hand for Black Ops
;Bone Breaker : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Orc]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1050 platinum and 105 ore, it has 7 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Offensive power is reduced by 1 for every 10% guard towers of defender, maximum -2. See [[Percentage Calculations]].
;Bonuses : There are two types increased benefits in the game, and bonuses are one-time only or expire after some time. These should not be confused with [[Improvements]] which are permanent.
;Bounce : Also '''bouncing''' - Failing an [[Invasion|invasion]] by not sending enough OP. See [[Bounce]].
;Brute : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Troll]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 350 platinum and 25 ore, it has 4 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Buildings : This where most of the [[Basic Resources]] are created, and except [[Homes]] they must be placed on one, and only one, of the seven [[Land Types]]. Buildings may also have a set of properties to limit or enhance game functions - for example, [[Temples]] of the attacking player going to reduce the efficiency of your defenses.

== C ==
;Castle : Your castle consists of certain parts of you screen, such as the [[Improvements]] section with access to boost Science, Keep, Towers, Forges, Walls, Harbor, or the screen to access the Advisor.
;Cavalry : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Human]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1250 platinum and 100 ore, it has 6 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Returns 3 hours faster from battle.
;Cavern : This is a [[Land Type]] with [[Homes]] for the [[Dark Elf]], [[Firewalker]], [[Lycanthrope]], and [[Buildings]] for [[Diamond Mine]] and [[School]].
;Chameleon : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lizardfolk]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 900 platinum and 0 ore, it has 4 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: counts as 1/5 spy (cannot be targeted by Disband Spies spell), no boats needed.
;Centaur : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Sylvan]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 900 platinum and 90 ore, it has 5 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Returns 3 hours faster from battle, 15% fewer casualties.
;Cleric : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dwarf]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 800 platinum and 0 ore, it has 4 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: reduces combat losses. See [[Undefined]].
;Converting : [[Play Style]] which involves exploring the first part of the round, and then attacking the second part.
;CS : Clear Sight

== D ==


;Daily Bonuses : Every 24 hour you are able to claim two bonuses - 20 acres of your home land type, and a combined platinum bonus (4 times your current peasant population & 350 Research Points
;DB : Daily Bonus
;DE : Dark Elf
;Defender : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Halfling]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Diamond Mine : One of the [[Buildings]], and also one of the few which equally benefits all [[Races]]. Produces 15 gems per hour, and this may be increased with [[Bonuses]] or [[Improvements]].
;DM : Diamond Mine
;DP : Defensive Power.
;Dock : One of the [[Buildings]], each dock produces, on average, 1 boat every 20 hours. Each dock also produces the equivalent of 35 bushels an hour due to fishing gains. Each dock will protect 2.5 boats you own from being sunk.
:Dorf - Dwarf
;Dominion : The player's country, built upon explored or occupied acres of [[Land Types]].
;Draftees : Used to create military. Draftees also needed for Exploring [[Land Types]], but once the land arrives the draftees turn back into peasants.
;Draft Rate : The percentage of the arriving peasants to be turned into draftees instead of workers in buildings.
;Druid : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Wood Elf]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1100 platinum and 0 ore, it has 3 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Increases power by 1 for every 20% forest (buildings inclusive). See [[Percentage Calculations]].
;Dryad : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Sylvan]] it is an [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 1050 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: counts as 1/2 wizard on defense, 1/5 wizard on offense (cannot be targeted by Wizard Assassination). See [[Percentage Calculations]].

== E ==

;EG : Elite Guard. See [[Guards]].
;EM : Energy Mirror. See [[Spells]].
;EQ: Earthquake. See [[Spells]].
;Exploring : One of the three [[Play Styles]], this one focuses on training a defensive army and exploring land. The [[Exploration]] of land itself is one of the main features, and must be used by all play styles.

== F ==
;Factory : One of the [[Buildings]], and this one have multiple benefits by default. They reduce building construction costs by 4 * (Factories / Total Land)% to a maximum of 75% bonus. They reduce re-zoning costs by 3 * (Factories / Total Land)% to a maximum of 75% bonus. Not all [[Races]] and [[Play Styles]] benefit the same amount so they are built in different numbers and priorities.
;Farm (1): Produces 80 bushels of food per hour (each person eats 1/4 of a bushel an hour)
;Farm (2): An account set up - often as a secondary/multi account - in order to deliberately "feed" acres to its main account. This is in violation to the rules.
;Fast Attacking : See [[Fast Attacking]].
;FB : Fireball. See [[Spells]].
;Fire Sprite : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Firewalker]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 0 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Fiend : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[The Nox]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 325 platinum and 25 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Flamewolf : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Firewalker]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;FoL: Factory of Legends. See [[Wonder]].
;FoY: Fountain of Youth. See [[Wonder]].
;Forest : This is a [[Land Type]] with [[Homes]] for the [[Orc]], [[Sylvan]], [[Wood Elf]], and [[Buildings]] for [[Lumberyard]] and [[Forest Haven]].
;Forest Haven : Gives 20 peasants .75 defense each. Reduces losses on failed spy operations by 3 * (Forest Havens / Total Land)% to a maximum bonus of 30%. Reduces fireball damage by 8 * (Forest Havens / Total Land) % (based on total population at home), to a maximum bonus of 80%. Reduces stolen platinum by 8 * (Forest Havens / Total Land) %, to a maximum of -80% stolen.
;Frostmage : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Icekin]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 850 platinum and 100 ore, it has 3 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Increases by 1 for every 20% mountains (buildings inclusive), maximum +3.
;FW : Firewalker

== G ==
;Gargoyle : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lycanthrope]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1100 platinum and 110 ore, it has 6 offensive and 0 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Some enemy units killed in battle turn into Werewolves and join your army IF BATTLE WON. See [[Undefined]]
;Garou : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dwarf]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1250 platinum and 110 ore, it has 7 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: none.
;Ghoul : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Undead]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 225 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 2.5 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: this unit [[Never Dies]]
;GMM : Gnomish Mining Machine. See [[Wonder]].
;GN : Gryphon Nest. See [[Buildings]]
:Gobbo : Goblin
;GT : Guard Tower
;GTC : Global Town Crier
;Guard : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Orc]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 25 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Guard Tower : One of the [[Buildings]], increases Defensive Power by 1.75 * (Guard Towers / Total Land)% to a maximum of 35% bonus.
;Grunt : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Kobold]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 235 platinum and 15 ore, it has 2 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Gryphon Nest : One of the [[Buildings]], increases Offensive Power by 1.75 * (Gryphon Nests / Total Land)% to a maximum of 35% bonus.

== H ==
;Halfer : Halfling
;HCT : High Clerics Tower. See [[Wonder]].
;Hill : This is a [[Land Type]] with [[Homes]] for the [[Goblin]], [[Halfling]], [[Kobold]], and [[Buildings]] for [[Barracks]], [[Factory]], [[Guard Tower]] and [[Shrine]].
;Hobgoblin : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Goblin]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1000 platinum and 80 ore, it has 5 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Plunders resources on Attack. See [[Undefined]].
;HoK : Hall og Kings. See [[Wonder]].
;Homes : One of the [[Buildings]] that is automatic / mandatory for all [[Races]], and it is the only building not anchored to the same [[Land Type]] for every race. Homes house 30 [[Peasant]] or [[Draftees]], and unlike some other buildings homes do not employ.


== I ==
;Icebeast : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Icekin]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 0 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Ice Elemental : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Icekin]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1100 platinum and 80 ore, it has 4 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Increases by .85 * Raw Wizard Ratio (Wizards Per Acre), maximum +3. See [[Percentage Calculations]].
;Imp : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[The Nox]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 0 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Icer : Icekin

== J ==
;Juggernaut : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Gnome]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 775 platinum and 550 ore, it has #VARIABLE offensive and 6 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Juggernaut's offensive strength is 5 if your target has less than 75% of your land. If your target has between 75% and 85% of your land, Juggernaut's offensive strength is 6. Over 85% of your land, the Juggernaut's offensive strength is 7.

== K ==
;Knight : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Human]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1000 platinum and 75 ore, it has 2 offensive and 6 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: 25% fewer casualties
;Kobbo : Kobold
;Kraken : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Merfolk]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 600 platinum and 0 ore, it has 4 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: sinks boats when attacking, no boats needed

== L ==
;Land Types : These are, in alphabetical order, the [[Cavern]], [[Forest]], [[Hill]], [[Mountain]], [[Plain]], [[Swamp]], [[Water]].
;LB : Lightning Bolt. See [[Spells]].
;Leviathan : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Merfolk]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1350 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 7 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Sinks boats when defending.
;Lich : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[The Nox]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1050 platinum and 0 ore, it has 5 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: 50% fewer casualties.
;Liz : Lizardfolk
;Lizardmen : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lizardfolk]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1050 platinum and 0 ore, it has 6 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: No boat needed.
;Longbowman : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Wood Elf]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 325 platinum and 10 ore, it has 0 offensive and 4 defensive strength.
;LS : Land Spy
;Lumberyard : One of the [[Buildings]], produces 50 lumber per hour.
;LY : Lumberyard
;Lyc : Lyanthrope

== M ==
;Masonry : Once of the [[Buildings]], increases ALL Castle Bonuses by 2.75 * (Masonries / Total Land)%, no maximum. Reduces Lightning Bolt damage by 0.75 * (Masonries / Total Land)%, maximum 25% reduction
;Master Thief : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Halfling]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 900 platinum and 30 ore, it has 2 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Also counts as 1/5 of a Spy on offense, and 1/3 of a spy on defense (but cannot be targeted by the Disband Spies spell)
;Merf : Merfolk
;Mermen : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Merfolk]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 0 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: they do not need boats.
;Military : The total number of trained Units and Trainees. Although Trainees and units still returning from combat cannot be used to attack or defend, they still count into the total.
;Miner : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dwarf]] it is an [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 350 platinum and 25 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: every 2 miners also produce 1 ore per hour.
;Mod building : Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples. See [[Buildings]].
;Mountain : This is a [[Land Type]] with [[Homes]] for the [[Dwarf]], [[Gnome]], [[Icekin]], and [[Buildings]] for [[Gryphon Nest]] and [[Ore Mine]].
;Mystic : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Wood Elf]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1075 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Increases power by 1 for every 20% forest (buildings inclusive). See [[Percentage Calculations]]

== N ==
;Never Dies : This is an ability of a few [[Military Units]] and should not be taken literally. There are several ways in which the undead / spirit units may be killed, including by Humans using the Crusade spell, Goblin Shamans and Dwarven clerics. Also, attacking an enemy force and losing by at least 20% power will cause these units to die.
;Nightshade : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[The Nox]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 875 platinum and 100 ore, it has 0 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Increases by 1 for every 10% CONSTRUCTED swamp buildings, maximum +4.
;NW - Networth

== O ==
;OD : [[OpenDominion]].
;Ogre : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Troll]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 25 ore, it has 3 offensive and 2 defensive strength.
;OM : Ore Mine
;Ore Mine : One of the [[Buildings]], produces 60 ore per hour.
;OOP : Out of [[Protection]].
;OP : Offensive Power.
;Overlord : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Kobold]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 875 platinum and 55 ore, it has 3 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: For every one Overlord, if you have one Grunt being sent on the attack to match the Overlord being sent on the attack, the offensive power of the Overlord increases by 2. As an example, if you have 100 Overlords attacking, and 50 Grunts attacking, 50 of your Overlords are 5/2, while the other 50 are 3/2. If you had 100 Overlords attacking, and 200 Grunts attacking, all 100 Overlords would be just 5/2.

== P ==
;Paid to : Your current OP or DP plus your incoming OP or DP added together - often stated with timing e.g. X Dom is paid to 100k OP in 7 hours
;Pez : Peasants. When employed they produce 2.7 platinum each hour. See [[Population]].
;Phoenix : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Firewalker]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 925 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 4.5 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Cannot be killed except by Icekin.
;Plat : Platinum. See [[Resources]].
;Plain : This is a [[Land Type]] with [[Homes]] for the [[Human]], [[Troll]] and [[Buildings]] for [[Alchemy]], [[Farm]], [[Masonry]] and [[Smithy]].
;Progency : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Undead]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 900 platinum and 0 ore, it has 2 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: some enemy units killed in battle turn into Ghouls/Skeletons and join your army IF BATTLE WON WHEN YOU ATTACK. No need for boats (they fly). See [[Never Dies]]. See [[Undefined]].
;Protection : The first 72 hours after you created you Dominion, as you cannot attack or be attacked. After the 72 hours you are Out of Protection (OOP).

== Q ==

== R ==
;Races : The good races include [[Human]], [[Dwarf]], [[Wood Elf]], [[Gnome]], [[Merfolk]], [[Firewalker]], [[Sylvan]] and [[Halfling]]. The evil races span [[Icekin]], [[Troll]], [[Goblin]], [[Dark Elf]], [[Kobold]], [[Lycanthrope]], [[Lizardfolk]], [[The Nox]] (note the Nox are only selectable by premium account holders) and the [[Undead]].
;Raider : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Goblin]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 325 platinum and 25 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Ranger : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Wood Elf]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 25 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Ratman : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lycanthrope]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 250 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Raw : Value of production, OP or DP before bonuses/modifiers are applied
;Rax : Barracks
;Raze : Intentionally failing an attack to weaken the target.
;Realm : Each players is randomly placed in a Realm with a maximum of 11 other players (12 players total). These 12 Dominions are in inherent alliance, and should work together in attacking other players in other Realms.
;Reptile : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lizardfolk]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 0 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: do not need boats.
;Rev : Revelation. See [[Spells]].
;RG : Royal Guard. See [[Guards]].
;RP : Research Points
;R/R : Aka 'reroll' - Changing buildings by destroying them, optionally rezoning the barren land and then constructing something else.
;Rockapult : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Gnome]] it is an [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 675 platinum and 330 ore, it has 2 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Increases by 1 for every 20% Mountains (buildings inclusive), maximum +2. See [[Percentage Calculations]]

== S ==
;Salamander : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Firewalker]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 925 platinum and 0 ore, it has 5 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: 50% fewer casualties when attacking
;Satyr : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Sylvan]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 0 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Savage : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Orc]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 375 platinum and 0 ore, it has 4 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Scavenger : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lycanthrope]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 25 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;School : One of the [[Buildings]], it produces EITHER Schools/2 research points OR Schools * (1 - (Schools / Total Land)), whichever is HIGHER.
;Shaman : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Goblin]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 375 platinum and 15 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: reduces losses in combat. See [[Undefined]].
;Serpent : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lizardfolk]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Shrine : One of the [[Buildings]], it reduces casualties on offense by 4 * (Shrines / Total Land)% to a maximum of 80% bonus. Some [[Play Styles]] and [[Races]] see limited or no benefit from it. Increases chance of hero level gain by 2 * (Shrines / Total Land) % to a maximum of 40% bonus. Increases Hero Bonuses by 2 * (Shrines / Total Land) % to a maximum bonus of 40%.
;Sirens : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Merfolk]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Skeleton : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Undead]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 225 platinum and 0 ore, it has 2.5 offensive and 0 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: this unit [[Never Dies]]
;SL : Shadow League
;Slinger : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Halfling]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 15 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Smasher : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Troll]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1450 platinum and 150 ore, it has 7 offensive and 7 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Against Goblin and Kobold its offensive strength is 8.
;Smithy : One of the [[Buildings]], it reduces [[Military Units]] costs (except for Wizards, ArchMages, and Spies) by 2 * (Smithies / Total Land)% to a maximum of 36% bonus. Note that platinum costs reduction benefit all [[Races]], while ore costs reduction benefit all races but the Gnomes.
;Snow Witch : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Icekin]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 350 platinum and 25 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: reduces losses in combat. See [[Undefined]]
;Soldier : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dwarf]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 25 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;SoW : School of War. See [[Wonder]].
;Spearman : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Human]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 25 ore, it has 3 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;Spec - Specialist units. The first and second units listed under each race that take 9 hours to train.
;Spies : One of the [[Military Units]] available to all [[Races]], it cost 500p and 1 draftee to build.
;Spirit Warrior : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dark Elf]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1050 platinum and 55 ore, it has #VARIABLE offensive and 0 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Flight (no need for boats). Against Dominions less than 75% of your size, Spirit Warrior has 5.5 offense and dies like any other unit. Against Dominions of 75% - 95% of your size, Spirit Warrior has 6 offense and ALMOST Never Dies. Against Dominions of 95% of your size or greater, Spirit Warrior has 6.5 offense and ALMOST Never Dies. Spirit Warriors are NOT considered to be 'undead' units. Thus they are not affected by anything that would normally affect UNDEAD/SPIRIT units. However, attacks that fail by at least 20% will cause these units to die.See [[Never Dies]].
;Sprite : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Sylvan]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Staff Master : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Halfling]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 900 platinum and 25 ore, it has 5 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: 40% fewer casualties.
;Suicide : Making an attack while leaving significantly less DP (limited by 5:4 rule) or sending while expecting to be invaded easily/repeatedly
;Suicide Squad : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Gnome]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 275 platinum and 50 ore, it has 4 offensive and 0 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: suffers a mandatory 50% casualties regardless of bonuses.
;Swamp : This is a [[Land Type]] with [[Homes]] for the [[The Nox]], [[Undead]] and [[Buildings]] for [[Temple]], [[Tower]] and [[Wizard Guild]].
;Swordsman : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dark Elf]] it is an [[Offensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 325 platinum and 25 ore, it has 4 offensive and 0 defensive strength.
;SPA : Also '''SR''', '''Spy Ratio''' - Spies Per Acre
;Spud : Spirit / Undead. Note - previously these were near identical races that have since been altered to be more unique.

== T ==
;TC : Town Crier
;Temple : One of the [[Buildings]], increases population growth rate by 6 * (Temples / Total Land)%. Reduces defensive bonuses of a target dominion during invasion by 1.5 * (Temples / Total Land)% to a minimum of 0 defensive bonus (maximum reduction 25%)
;Tinker : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Gnome]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 300 platinum and 5 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength.
;Top OP - The Dominion with the highest offensive power
;Tower : One of the [[Buildings]], produces 25 mana per hour.

== U==
;Underling : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Kobold]] it is a [[Defensive Specialist]]. Cost to build is 245 platinum and 20 ore, it has 0 offensive and 2 defensive strength.

== V ==
;Vampire : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Undead]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1000 platinum and 0 ore, it has 4 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: ALMOST Never Dies. Attacking a target 65% of your land size or larger, and some enemy units killed in battle turn into Progeny and join your army IF BATTLE WON WHEN YOU ATTACK. Attacking a target 50% - 65% of your land size, and some enemy units killed in battle turn into Ghouls/Skeletons (Undead) or Phantoms/Banshees (Spirit) and join your army IF BATTLE WON WHEN YOU ATTACK. Flight (no need for boats). See [[Never Dies]]. See [[Undefined]]
;Voodoo Magi : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Orc]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 800 platinum and 0 ore, it has 0 offensive and 3 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Defensive power is increased 1 for every 600 prestige, maximum +2.

== W ==
;Water : This is a [[Land Type]] with [[Homes]] for the [[Lizardfolk]], [[Merfolk]] and [[Buildings]] for [[Dock]].
;Warrior : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Dwarf]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1250 platinum and 110 ore, it has 7 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: none.
;WE : Wood Elf
;Werewolf : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Lycanthrope]] it is a [[Defensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 875 platinum and 55 ore, it has 3 offensive and 4 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: 25% fewer casualties on offense, 50% fewer casualties on defense.
;WG : Wizard Guild
;Wiz : Wizard
;Wizard Guild : One of the [[Buildings]], increases Wizard Strength refresh rate by 1% for every 10% guilds, up to a refresh bonus of 2%. Decreases cost of Wizards and ArchMages by 2 * (Wizard Guilds / Total Land)%, to a maximum bonus of 40%. Decreases cost of spells by 2 * (Wizard Guilds / Total Land)%, to a maximum bonus of 40%.
;Wolf Rider : One of the [[Military Units]] available to [[Goblin]] it is a [[Offensive Elite]]. Cost to build is 1300 platinum and 130 ore, it has 6 offensive and 2 defensive strength. [[Special Ability]]: Returns 3 hours faster from battle.

;WPA: Also '''WR''', '''Wizard Ratio''' - Wizards Per Acre.

== X ==
== Y ==
== Z ==

Comparison of Races

2023-03-23T18:35:52Z

DCLCp: /* Table 1 */

== Racial Bonuses and Penalties ==

=== Good ===

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Dwarf
|-
| Ore Production:
| +10%
|-
| Max Population:
| +7.5%
|-
| Ore investment in Castle:
| +15% value added
|-
| Population from Barren Land:
| +5
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Halfling
|-
| Max Population:
| +5%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -30%
|-
| Spy Strength:
| +25%
|-
| Population from Barren Land:
| +5
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Kobold
|-
| Max Population:
| +40%
|-
| Population Growth Rate:
| +20%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -30%
|-
| Spy Strength:
| -10%
|-
| Wizard Strength:
| -10%
|-
| Boat capacity:
| +10
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Human
|-
| Food Production:
| +5%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Firewalker
|-
| Maximum Population:
| +5%
|-
| Lumber Production:
| -10%
|-
| Gem Production:
| +15%
|-
| Construction Platinum Cost:
| -10%
|-
| Exploration Platinum Cost:
| +10%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Gnome
|-
| Attack Strength:
| +7.5%
|-
| Max Population:
| -5%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -20%
|-
| Gem Production:
| +5%
|-
| Population from Barren Land:
| +5
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Merfolk
|-
| Lumber Production:
| -15%
|-
| Food Production:
| +5%
|-
| Attack Strength:
| +5%
|-
| Exploration Platinum Cost:
| +5%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Sylvan
|-
| Lumber Production:
| +20%
|-
| Food Production:
| +10%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Spirit
|-
| Max Population:
| +2.5%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -90%
|-
| Immortal Wizards
|-
| Mana Production:
| +15%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Wood Elf
|-
| Wizard Strength:
| +10%
|-
| Spy Strength:
| +10%
|-
| Max Population:
| -5%
|-
| Lumber Production:
| +10%
|-
| Attack Power:
| +5%
|-
| Rezone cost:
| +10%
|}

=== Evil ===

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Dark Elf
|-
| Max Population:
| -5%
|-
| Gem Production:
| +5%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Goblin
|-
| Max Population:
| +20%
|-
| Gem investment in castle:
| +15% value added
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Icekin
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -50%
|-
| Lumber Production:
| -10%
|-
| Archmage Cost:
| -100p
|-
| Platinum Production:
| +5%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Lizardfolk
|-
| Max Population:
| +5%
|-
| Spy Strength:
| +10%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -15%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Lycanthrope
|-
| Max Population:
| +10%
|-
| Defensive Strength:
| +5%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Nomad
|-
| Population from Barren Land:
| +20
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Nox
|-
| Mana Production:
| +10%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -20%
|-
| Research Points from Schools and invasion:
| +10%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Orc
|-
| Lumber production:
| +50%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Troll
|-
| Max Population:
| -5%
|-
| Spy Strength:
| -10%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| +5%
|-
| Attack Strength:
| +5%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Undead
|-
| Max Population:
| +15%
|-
| Mana Production:
| +10%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -75%
|-
| Wizards:
| Immortal
|}

=== Comparison Tables ===

==== Table 1 ====

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Bonus
! Human
! Spirit
! Dwarf
! Wood Elf
! Halfling
! Gnome
! Merfolk
! Sylvan
! Firewalker
! Goblin
! Troll
! Dark Elf
! Undead
! Lycanthrope
! Kobold
! Lizardfolk
! Icekin
! Orc
! Nox
! Nomad
|-
| Attack Power
|
|
|
| +5%
|
| +7.5%
| +5%
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Defensive Strength
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Archmage Cost
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| -100p
|
|
|
|-
| Boat capacity
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +10
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Population from Barren Land
|
|
| +5
|
| +5
| +5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +20
|-
| Ore Investment bonus
|
|
| +15%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Construction Cost
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| -10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Max Population
|
| +2.5%
| +7.5%
| -5%
| +5%
| -5%
|
|
| +5%
| +20%
| -5%
| -5%
| +15%
| +10%
| +40%
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|-
| Population Growth Rate
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +20%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Food Consumption
|
| -90%
|
|
| -30%
| -20%
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
| -75%
|
| -30%
| -15%
| -50%
|
| -20%
|
|-
| Platinum Production
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|-
| Food Production
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Gem Production
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|
| +15%
|
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Lumber Production
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
| -15%
| +20%
| -10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| -10%
| +50%
|
|
|-
| Mana Production
|
| +15%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|-
| Ore Production
|
|
| +15%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Spy Strength
|
|
|
| +10%
| +25%
|
|
|
|
|
| -10%
|
|
|
| -10%
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|-
| Wizard Strength
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| -10%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Immortal Wizards
|
| Yes
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Yes
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Research point production
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|-
|Rezone Cost
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|Exploration Platinum Cost
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Gem Investment Value In Castle Improvements
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +15%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|}

==== Table 2 ====
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Race
! Attack Power
! Defensive Strength
! Archmage Cost
! Boat capacity
! Population Bonus From Barren Land
! Construction Platinum Cost
! Max Population
! Population Growth Rate
! Food Consumption
! Food Production
! Gem Production
! Lumber Production
! Mana Production
! Ore Production
! Spy Strength
! Wizard Strength
! Rezone Cost
! Exploration Platinum Cost
! Gem Investment Bonus
! Ore Investment Bonus
! Immortal Wizards
! Platinum Production
! Research Point Production (Schools and Invasion)
|-
| Human
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Dwarf
|
|
|
|
| +5
|
| +7.5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
| +15%
|
|
|
|-
| Wood Elf
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
| -5%
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
| +10%
| +10%
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Halfling
|
|
|
|
| +5
|
| +5%
|
| -30%
|
|
|
|
|
| +25%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Gnome
| +7.5%
|
|
|
| +5
|
| -5%
|
| -20%
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Merfolk
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
| -15%
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Sylvan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
| +20%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Firewalker
|
|
|
|
|
| -10%
| +5%
|
|
|
| +15%
| -10%
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Goblin
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +20%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +15%
|
|
|
|-
| Troll
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
| -5%
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
| -10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Dark Elf
|
|
|
|
|
|
| -5%
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Undead
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +15%
|
| -75%
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Yes
|
|
|-
| Lycanthrope
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Kobold
|
|
|
| +10
|
|
| +40%
| +20%
| -30%
|
|
|
|
|
| -10%
| -10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Lizardfolk
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
| -15%
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Icekin
|
|
| -100 plat
|
|
|
|
|
| -50%
|
|
| -10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|-
| Orc
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +50%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Nox
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| -20%
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|-
| Spirit
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +2.5%
|
| -90%
|
|
|
| +15%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Yes
|
|
|-
| Nomad
|
|
|
|
| +20
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|}

Comparison of Races

2023-03-23T18:34:52Z

DCLCp: /* Table 2 */

== Racial Bonuses and Penalties ==

=== Good ===

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Dwarf
|-
| Ore Production:
| +10%
|-
| Max Population:
| +7.5%
|-
| Ore investment in Castle:
| +15% value added
|-
| Population from Barren Land:
| +5
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Halfling
|-
| Max Population:
| +5%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -30%
|-
| Spy Strength:
| +25%
|-
| Population from Barren Land:
| +5
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Kobold
|-
| Max Population:
| +40%
|-
| Population Growth Rate:
| +20%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -30%
|-
| Spy Strength:
| -10%
|-
| Wizard Strength:
| -10%
|-
| Boat capacity:
| +10
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Human
|-
| Food Production:
| +5%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Firewalker
|-
| Maximum Population:
| +5%
|-
| Lumber Production:
| -10%
|-
| Gem Production:
| +15%
|-
| Construction Platinum Cost:
| -10%
|-
| Exploration Platinum Cost:
| +10%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Gnome
|-
| Attack Strength:
| +7.5%
|-
| Max Population:
| -5%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -20%
|-
| Gem Production:
| +5%
|-
| Population from Barren Land:
| +5
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Merfolk
|-
| Lumber Production:
| -15%
|-
| Food Production:
| +5%
|-
| Attack Strength:
| +5%
|-
| Exploration Platinum Cost:
| +5%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Sylvan
|-
| Lumber Production:
| +20%
|-
| Food Production:
| +10%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Spirit
|-
| Max Population:
| +2.5%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -90%
|-
| Immortal Wizards
|-
| Mana Production:
| +15%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Wood Elf
|-
| Wizard Strength:
| +10%
|-
| Spy Strength:
| +10%
|-
| Max Population:
| -5%
|-
| Lumber Production:
| +10%
|-
| Attack Power:
| +5%
|-
| Rezone cost:
| +10%
|}

=== Evil ===

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Dark Elf
|-
| Max Population:
| -5%
|-
| Gem Production:
| +5%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Goblin
|-
| Max Population:
| +20%
|-
| Gem investment in castle:
| +15% value added
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Icekin
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -50%
|-
| Lumber Production:
| -10%
|-
| Archmage Cost:
| -100p
|-
| Platinum Production:
| +5%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Lizardfolk
|-
| Max Population:
| +5%
|-
| Spy Strength:
| +10%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -15%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Lycanthrope
|-
| Max Population:
| +10%
|-
| Defensive Strength:
| +5%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Nomad
|-
| Population from Barren Land:
| +20
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Nox
|-
| Mana Production:
| +10%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -20%
|-
| Research Points from Schools and invasion:
| +10%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Orc
|-
| Lumber production:
| +50%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Troll
|-
| Max Population:
| -5%
|-
| Spy Strength:
| -10%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| +5%
|-
| Attack Strength:
| +5%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Undead
|-
| Max Population:
| +15%
|-
| Mana Production:
| +10%
|-
| Food Consumption:
| -75%
|-
| Wizards:
| Immortal
|}

=== Comparison Tables ===

==== Table 1 ====

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Bonus
! Human
! Spirit
! Dwarf
! Wood Elf
! Halfling
! Gnome
! Merfolk
! Sylvan
! Firewalker
! Goblin
! Troll
! Dark Elf
! Undead
! Lycanthrope
! Kobold
! Lizardfolk
! Icekin
! Orc
! Nox
! Nomad
|-
| Attack Power
|
|
|
| +5%
|
| +7.5%
| +5%
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Defensive Strength
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Archmage Cost
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| -100p
|
|
|
|-
| Boat capacity
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +10
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Population from Barren Land
|
|
| +5
|
| +5
| +5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +20
|-
| Ore Investment bonus
|
|
| +15%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Construction Cost
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| -10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Max Population
|
| +2.5%
| +7.5%
| -5%
| +5%
| -5%
|
|
| +5%
| +20%
| -5%
| +5%
| +15%
| +10%
| +40%
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|-
| Population Growth Rate
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +20%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Food Consumption
|
| -90%
|
|
| -30%
| -20%
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
| -75%
|
| -30%
| -15%
| -50%
|
| -20%
|
|-
| Platinum Production
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|-
| Food Production
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Gem Production
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|
| +15%
|
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Lumber Production
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
| -15%
| +20%
| -10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| -10%
| +50%
|
|
|-
| Mana Production
|
| +15%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|-
| Ore Production
|
|
| +15%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Spy Strength
|
|
|
| +10%
| +25%
|
|
|
|
|
| -10%
|
|
|
| -10%
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|-
| Wizard Strength
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| -10%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Immortal Wizards
|
| Yes
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Yes
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Research point production
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|-
|Rezone Cost
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|Exploration Platinum Cost
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Gem Investment Value In Castle Improvements
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +15%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|}

==== Table 2 ====
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Race
! Attack Power
! Defensive Strength
! Archmage Cost
! Boat capacity
! Population Bonus From Barren Land
! Construction Platinum Cost
! Max Population
! Population Growth Rate
! Food Consumption
! Food Production
! Gem Production
! Lumber Production
! Mana Production
! Ore Production
! Spy Strength
! Wizard Strength
! Rezone Cost
! Exploration Platinum Cost
! Gem Investment Bonus
! Ore Investment Bonus
! Immortal Wizards
! Platinum Production
! Research Point Production (Schools and Invasion)
|-
| Human
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Dwarf
|
|
|
|
| +5
|
| +7.5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
| +15%
|
|
|
|-
| Wood Elf
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
| -5%
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
| +10%
| +10%
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Halfling
|
|
|
|
| +5
|
| +5%
|
| -30%
|
|
|
|
|
| +25%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Gnome
| +7.5%
|
|
|
| +5
|
| -5%
|
| -20%
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Merfolk
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
| -15%
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Sylvan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
| +20%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Firewalker
|
|
|
|
|
| -10%
| +5%
|
|
|
| +15%
| -10%
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Goblin
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +20%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +15%
|
|
|
|-
| Troll
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
| -5%
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
| -10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Dark Elf
|
|
|
|
|
|
| -5%
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Undead
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +15%
|
| -75%
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Yes
|
|
|-
| Lycanthrope
|
| +5%
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Kobold
|
|
|
| +10
|
|
| +40%
| +20%
| -30%
|
|
|
|
|
| -10%
| -10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Lizardfolk
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
| -15%
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Icekin
|
|
| -100 plat
|
|
|
|
|
| -50%
|
|
| -10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +5%
|
|-
| Orc
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +50%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Nox
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| -20%
|
|
|
| +10%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +10%
|-
| Spirit
|
|
|
|
|
|
| +2.5%
|
| -90%
|
|
|
| +15%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Yes
|
|
|-
| Nomad
|
|
|
|
| +20
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|}

Dark Elf

2022-12-30T22:35:58Z

DCLCp:

{{Race_info

| race = Dark Elf
| race_id = dark-elf
| aliases = DE, DElf
| introduced = [[Round 13]]
| round_wins = 2

| attacker = Beginner
| converter = Intermediate
| explorer = Beginner

| alignment = Evil
| land_type = Cavern

}}

'''Dark Elf''' is an evil race of Dominion. They are one of the three wizard-races (the other two being [[Sylvan]] and [[Icekin]]).

== Racial Bonuses ==

* Max Population: -5%
* Gem Production: +5%

== Military Units ==

{{Race_units(Dark_Elf)

| spec1_name = Swordsman
| spec1_op = 4
| spec1_dp = 0
| spec1_plat = 460
| spec1_ore = 25
| spec1_gems = 0
| spec1_special =

| spec2_name = Gargoyle
| spec2_op = 0
| spec2_dp = 3
| spec2_plat = 300
| spec2_ore = 15
| spec2_gems = 0
| spec2_special =

| elite1_name = Adept
| elite1_op = 0
| elite1_dp = 6
| elite1_plat = 1150
| elite1_ore = 60
| elite1_gems = 0
| elite1_special = Each unit counts as 1/4 of a Wizard on both offense and defense

| elite2_name = Spellblade
| elite2_op = 6.5
| elite2_dp = 2.5
| elite2_plat = 1200
| elite2_ore = 50
| elite2_gems = 10
| elite2_special = 15% fewer casualties. Each unit plunders 5 mana on attack (max 1 hour of target's raw production)

}}

== General information ==

=== Racial Spell ===

'''Ascendance''': 8% of surviving Swordsmen return from battle as Spellblades (75%+ hits only)

=== Pros ===
* Efficient elite OP & DP
* 4 OP spec OP
* Very unique spell converting spec OP into elites
* High wizard power

=== Cons ===
* Very expensive troops
* Only race with a unit that requires three resources

== See also ==
[[Dark Elf (Legacy)]]
[[Category:Race]]

User talk:DCLCp

2022-12-22T23:07:43Z

DCLCp:

Goals:

1) Migrate all missing relevant original wikis to this wiki
Here is a partial list of some of the most relevant links found from the [[https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/* 378 pages]] the waybackmachine was able to crawl but which may or may not have been fully implemented as of yet:

<s>[[https://web.archive.org/web/20131226013425/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/The_Complete_Newbie_Guide The Complete Newbie Guide]]</s>
<s>[[https://web.archive.org/web/20141018034515/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/Converting Converting]]</s>
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20110512110144/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/Atteching Atteching]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20110512103147/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com:80/wiki/index.php/OOP_attacking OOP_Attacking]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20131224194521/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/The_Dominion_Encyclopedia:Guidelines Guidelines]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20131224194521/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/Sparticus%27_Guide_to_Simming Guide to Simming]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20120501131922/http://igalaxie.net/dominion/attack_calc.php Attack calc]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20140419043337/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/Fast_attacking Fast Attacking]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20110509015313/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com:80/wiki/index.php/Simulations Simulations]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20110512002525/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com:80/wiki/index.php/Simulators Simulators]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20110512110043/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com:80/wiki/index.php/Scripting Scripting]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com:80/wiki/index.php/The_Dominion_Encyclopedia:General_disclaimer General Disclaimer]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com:80/wiki/index.php/The_Dominion_Encyclopedia:Privacy_policy privacy policy]]

2)

Update, merge, and otherwise organize the wiki, including new original resources, into a comprehensive, accurate, and coherent resource for future users

3)

Create policies and procedures to update the wiki contemporaneously with the game as it continues to evolve

4)

Organize a backup scheme so that future iterations of the wiki will not have to rely on archive.org but rather a seamless handoff

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T23:04:33Z

DCLCp: /* Defending */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

<blockquote> z = 72 - x - 1 </blockquote>

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[Military#Elites | elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[My_First_Protection_Guide | this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[buildings | build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle | castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Castle#Castle_Parts | Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[My_First_Round#Defense | Defense]] and [[My_First_Round#Growing_Safely | Growing Safely]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See [[attacking]].

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[military | unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[buildings | build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[Population#Homes_vs_Barracks | this]] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20110512060054/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/Population#Homes_or_Barracks.3F this] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod [[buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your [[Elite Guard]]-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you [[prestige]] (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[My_First_Round#Defense | Defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* '''Spies''' to perform [[Espionage | information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).
* '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[Magic | information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).
* A '''calculator''' or (as is recommended) [https://web.archive.org/web/20131226013425/http://www.igalaxie.com/dominion/attack_calc.php Talium's attack calculator].
* An '''army'''.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. You can use the Search for a dominion tool. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attacking | Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of [[exploring]] and then converting to become an [[attacker]]. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild [[homes]]/[[barracks]] (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See [[converting]].

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your [[DP]] is safe is to have more [[DP]] than [[OP]] of the strongest attacker in your [[range]].

To do this, see the [[Attacking | attack guide]] but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[espionage]].

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[spells]].

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T23:04:07Z

DCLCp: /* A Little Attack Guide */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

<blockquote> z = 72 - x - 1 </blockquote>

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[Military#Elites | elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[My_First_Protection_Guide | this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[buildings | build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle | castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Castle#Castle_Parts | Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[My_First_Round#Defense | Defense]] and [[My_First_Round#Growing_Safely | Growing Safely]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See [[attacking]].

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[military | unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[buildings | build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[Population#Homes_vs_Barracks | this]] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20110512060054/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/Population#Homes_or_Barracks.3F this] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod [[buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your [[Elite Guard]]-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you [[prestige]] (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[My_First_Round#Defense | Defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* '''Spies''' to perform [[Espionage | information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).
* '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[Magic | information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).
* A '''calculator''' or (as is recommended) [https://web.archive.org/web/20131226013425/http://www.igalaxie.com/dominion/attack_calc.php Talium's attack calculator].
* An '''army'''.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. You can use the Search for a dominion tool. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attacking | Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of [[exploring]] and then converting to become an [[attacker]]. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild [[homes]]/[[barracks]] (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See [[converting]].

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your [[DP]] is safe is to have more [[DP]] than [[OP]] of the strongest attacker in your [[range]].

To do this, see the [[attack guide]] but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[espionage]].

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[spells]].

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T23:02:10Z

DCLCp: /* How To Attack */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

<blockquote> z = 72 - x - 1 </blockquote>

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[Military#Elites | elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[My_First_Protection_Guide | this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[buildings | build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle | castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Castle#Castle_Parts | Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[My_First_Round#Defense | Defense]] and [[My_First_Round#Growing_Safely | Growing Safely]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See [[attacking]].

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[military | unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[buildings | build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[Population#Homes_vs_Barracks | this]] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20110512060054/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/Population#Homes_or_Barracks.3F this] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod [[buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your [[Elite Guard]]-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you [[prestige]] (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[My_First_Round#Defense | Defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* '''Spies''' to perform [[Espionage | information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).
* '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[Magic | information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).
* A '''calculator''' or (as is recommended) [https://web.archive.org/web/20131226013425/http://www.igalaxie.com/dominion/attack_calc.php Talium's attack calculator].
* An '''army'''.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. You can use the Search for a dominion tool. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of [[exploring]] and then converting to become an [[attacker]]. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild [[homes]]/[[barracks]] (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See [[converting]].

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your [[DP]] is safe is to have more [[DP]] than [[OP]] of the strongest attacker in your [[range]].

To do this, see the [[attack guide]] but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[espionage]].

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[spells]].

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T22:54:41Z

DCLCp: /* What To Attack */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

<blockquote> z = 72 - x - 1 </blockquote>

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[Military#Elites | elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[My_First_Protection_Guide | this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[buildings | build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle | castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Castle#Castle_Parts | Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[My_First_Round#Defense | Defense]] and [[My_First_Round#Growing_Safely | Growing Safely]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See [[attacking]].

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[military | unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[buildings | build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[Population#Homes_vs_Barracks | this]] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20110512060054/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/Population#Homes_or_Barracks.3F this] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod [[buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your [[Elite Guard]]-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you [[prestige]] (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[My_First_Round#Defense | Defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* '''Spies''' to perform [[information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).
* '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) [[Talium's attack calculator]] ([[mirror]]).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a [[premium account]] you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of [[exploring]] and then converting to become an [[attacker]]. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild [[homes]]/[[barracks]] (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See [[converting]].

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your [[DP]] is safe is to have more [[DP]] than [[OP]] of the strongest attacker in your [[range]].

To do this, see the [[attack guide]] but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[espionage]].

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[spells]].

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T22:53:01Z

DCLCp: /* What To Build */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

<blockquote> z = 72 - x - 1 </blockquote>

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[Military#Elites | elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[My_First_Protection_Guide | this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[buildings | build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle | castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Castle#Castle_Parts | Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[My_First_Round#Defense | Defense]] and [[My_First_Round#Growing_Safely | Growing Safely]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See [[attacking]].

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[military | unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[buildings | build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[Population#Homes_vs_Barracks | this]] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20110512060054/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/Population#Homes_or_Barracks.3F this] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod [[buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your [[Elite Guard]]-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you [[prestige]] (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* '''Spies''' to perform [[information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).
* '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) [[Talium's attack calculator]] ([[mirror]]).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a [[premium account]] you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of [[exploring]] and then converting to become an [[attacker]]. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild [[homes]]/[[barracks]] (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See [[converting]].

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your [[DP]] is safe is to have more [[DP]] than [[OP]] of the strongest attacker in your [[range]].

To do this, see the [[attack guide]] but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[espionage]].

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[spells]].

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T22:46:01Z

DCLCp: /* What To Train */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

<blockquote> z = 72 - x - 1 </blockquote>

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[Military#Elites | elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[My_First_Protection_Guide | this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[buildings | build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle | castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Castle#Castle_Parts | Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[My_First_Round#Defense | Defense]] and [[My_First_Round#Growing_Safely | Growing Safely]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See [[attacking]].

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[military | unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[this]] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called [[mod buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your [[Elite Guard]]-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you [[prestige]] (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* '''Spies''' to perform [[information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).
* '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) [[Talium's attack calculator]] ([[mirror]]).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a [[premium account]] you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of [[exploring]] and then converting to become an [[attacker]]. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild [[homes]]/[[barracks]] (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See [[converting]].

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your [[DP]] is safe is to have more [[DP]] than [[OP]] of the strongest attacker in your [[range]].

To do this, see the [[attack guide]] but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[espionage]].

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[spells]].

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T22:45:08Z

DCLCp: /* What To Train */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

<blockquote> z = 72 - x - 1 </blockquote>

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[Military#Elites | elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[My_First_Protection_Guide | this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[buildings | build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle | castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Castle#Castle_Parts | Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[My_First_Round#Defense | Defense]] and [[My_First_Round#Growing_Safely | Growing Safely]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See [[attacking]].

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[this]] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called [[mod buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your [[Elite Guard]]-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you [[prestige]] (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* '''Spies''' to perform [[information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).
* '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) [[Talium's attack calculator]] ([[mirror]]).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a [[premium account]] you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of [[exploring]] and then converting to become an [[attacker]]. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild [[homes]]/[[barracks]] (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See [[converting]].

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your [[DP]] is safe is to have more [[DP]] than [[OP]] of the strongest attacker in your [[range]].

To do this, see the [[attack guide]] but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[espionage]].

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[spells]].

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T22:34:58Z

DCLCp: /* Protection */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

<blockquote> z = 72 - x - 1 </blockquote>

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[Military#Elites | elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[My_First_Protection_Guide | this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[buildings | build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle | castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Castle#Castle_Parts | Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[Defending]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See [[attacking]].

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[this]] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called [[mod buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your [[Elite Guard]]-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you [[prestige]] (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* '''Spies''' to perform [[information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).
* '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) [[Talium's attack calculator]] ([[mirror]]).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a [[premium account]] you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of [[exploring]] and then converting to become an [[attacker]]. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild [[homes]]/[[barracks]] (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See [[converting]].

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your [[DP]] is safe is to have more [[DP]] than [[OP]] of the strongest attacker in your [[range]].

To do this, see the [[attack guide]] but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[espionage]].

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[spells]].

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T22:30:52Z

DCLCp: /* What To Build */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

<blockquote> z = 72 - x - 1 </blockquote>

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[buildings | build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle | castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Castle#Castle_Parts | Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[Defending]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See [[attacking]].

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[this]] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called [[mod buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your [[Elite Guard]]-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you [[prestige]] (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* '''Spies''' to perform [[information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).
* '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) [[Talium's attack calculator]] ([[mirror]]).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a [[premium account]] you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of [[exploring]] and then converting to become an [[attacker]]. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild [[homes]]/[[barracks]] (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See [[converting]].

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your [[DP]] is safe is to have more [[DP]] than [[OP]] of the strongest attacker in your [[range]].

To do this, see the [[attack guide]] but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[espionage]].

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[spells]].

= The End =

That's all, folks!

User talk:DCLCp

2022-12-22T22:01:38Z

DCLCp: Created page with "Goals: 1) Migrate all missing relevant original wikis to this wiki Here is a partial list of some of the most relevant links found from the https://web.archive.org/web/*/h..."

Goals:

1) Migrate all missing relevant original wikis to this wiki
Here is a partial list of some of the most relevant links found from the [[https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/* 378 pages]] the waybackmachine was able to crawl but which may or may not have been fully implemented as of yet:

[[https://web.archive.org/web/20131226013425/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/The_Complete_Newbie_Guide The Complete Newbie Guide]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20141018034515/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/Converting Converting]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20110512110144/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/Atteching Atteching]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20110512103147/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com:80/wiki/index.php/OOP_attacking OOP_Attacking]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20131224194521/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/The_Dominion_Encyclopedia:Guidelines Guidelines]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20131224194521/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/Sparticus%27_Guide_to_Simming Guide to Simming]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20120501131922/http://igalaxie.net/dominion/attack_calc.php Attack calc]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20140419043337/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/Fast_attacking Fast Attacking]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20110509015313/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com:80/wiki/index.php/Simulations Simulations]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20110512002525/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com:80/wiki/index.php/Simulators Simulators]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/20110512110043/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com:80/wiki/index.php/Scripting Scripting]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com:80/wiki/index.php/The_Dominion_Encyclopedia:General_disclaimer General Disclaimer]]
[[https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com:80/wiki/index.php/The_Dominion_Encyclopedia:Privacy_policy privacy policy]]

2)

Update, merge, and otherwise organize the wiki, including new original resources, into a comprehensive, accurate, and coherent resource for future users

3)

Create policies and procedures to update the wiki contemporaneously with the game as it continues to evolve

4)

Organize a backup scheme so that future iterations of the wiki will not have to rely on archive.org but rather a seamless handoff

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T21:34:45Z

DCLCp: /* Protection */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

<blockquote> z = 72 - x - 1 </blockquote>

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[Defending]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See [[attacking]].

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[this]] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called [[mod buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your [[Elite Guard]]-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you [[prestige]] (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* '''Spies''' to perform [[information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).
* '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) [[Talium's attack calculator]] ([[mirror]]).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a [[premium account]] you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of [[exploring]] and then converting to become an [[attacker]]. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild [[homes]]/[[barracks]] (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See [[converting]].

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your [[DP]] is safe is to have more [[DP]] than [[OP]] of the strongest attacker in your [[range]].

To do this, see the [[attack guide]] but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[espionage]].

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[spells]].

= The End =

That's all, folks!

Template:Main Page/Header

2022-12-22T21:29:09Z

DCLCp:

<div class="mainpage-box" style="text-align: center">
Welcome to {{SITENAME}}!

With the brains of the OpenDominion community, this wiki holds more information than [[The Scribes|the scribes]] (well not yet). 
There are currently '''{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}''' [[Special:AllPages|articles]] available.

</div>

<div class="mainpage-box" style="text-align: center">

Gameplay Topics 
''this section is under construction'' 
[[Glossary]] | [[Attacking]] | [[Exploring]] | [[Converting]] | [[Atteching]] | [[NPDs]]

{{div col|style=column-count:3|colwidth=20em}}
Basic 
[[Buildings]] 
[[Land]] 
[[Population]] 
[[Production]] 
[[Races]] 
 
Intermediate 
[[Castle]] 
[[Military]] 
[[Protection]] 
[[Realm]] 
[[Round]] 
 
Advanced 
[[Espionage]] 
[[Guards]] 
[[Invading]] 
[[Magic]] 
[[Monarchy]] 
{{div col end}}
</div>

Converting

2022-12-22T21:21:26Z

DCLCp:

= Converting =

Converting is a style of play by which you explore to a certain point and ''convert'' into attacker. The point is to convert when your economy peaks, to be able to convert as quickly as possible into a very powerful dominion.

== Race Selection ==

Converting can be done with many races.

* [[Gnome]]
* [[Halfling]]
* [[Human]]/[[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Kobold]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Troll]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

== Building Selection ==

This varies depending on race on method. Some converters choose to [[tech]] while some go for Diamond Mines, Ore Mines or Lumberyards and very high [[Castle Improvements]]; some do both. A common factor for many converters is that they leave protection with max Smithies and explore to nearly the size they want to convert at and at this point they re-build full Smithies. Wood Elf converters don't necessarily use Smithies at all or only max them out when leaving protection and once more when converting, never building anymore after that. Trolls, on the other hand, are likely to run max Smithies all the time since Smashers are such expensive units.

A converter normally avoids [[mod building]] and instead relies on very high efficiency and power. Not until late-round do they start building Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples since speed and swiftness are more important than efficiency at that point.

== Unit Selection ==

Same as [[explorers]] before converting. Same as [[attackers]] after converting. Converters are rarely seen using any noteworthy amount of specialists, save for [[Gnomes]], which are seen using their powerful and cheap specialist attack unit Suicide Squad.

== General Information ==

=== Pros ===
* A good way to get to know the game and its dynamics.
* Arguably easy and fun.
* Not very time consuming.

=== Cons ===
* Hardly gets to use heroes.
* If not done properly, can lead to a rather stale round.

=== Recommendations ===
* Anyone who has played a few rounds and has pretty good understanding of Dominion.

Converting

2022-12-22T21:13:54Z

DCLCp: Created page with "= Converting = == Race Selection == == Building Selection == == Unit Selection == == General Information =="

= Converting =
== Race Selection ==
== Building Selection ==
== Unit Selection ==
== General Information ==

Template:Main Page/Header

2022-12-22T21:12:23Z

DCLCp:

<div class="mainpage-box" style="text-align: center">
Welcome to {{SITENAME}}!

With the brains of the OpenDominion community, this wiki holds more information than [[The Scribes|the scribes]] (well not yet). 
There are currently '''{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}''' [[Special:AllPages|articles]] available.

</div>

<div class="mainpage-box" style="text-align: center">

Gameplay Topics 
''this section is under construction'' 
[[Glossary]] | [[Attacking]] | [[Exploring]] | [[Converting]] | [[NPDs]]

{{div col|style=column-count:3|colwidth=20em}}
Basic 
[[Buildings]] 
[[Land]] 
[[Population]] 
[[Production]] 
[[Races]] 
 
Intermediate 
[[Castle]] 
[[Military]] 
[[Protection]] 
[[Realm]] 
[[Round]] 
 
Advanced 
[[Espionage]] 
[[Guards]] 
[[Invading]] 
[[Magic]] 
[[Monarchy]] 
{{div col end}}
</div>

Template:Main Page/Featured Article

2022-12-22T21:09:10Z

DCLCp:

<div class="mainpage-box">

<h2 style="margin-top: 0;">Featured Article: [[My First Round]]</h2>

New to [[OpenDominion]]? Not sure where to start?

This [[My First Round|guide]] will go over some high-level concepts of your first [[dominion]] during the [[round]]. Different playstyles, your economy, the different buildings and use cases, military and the basics of invading and more.

[[My First Round|Read the whole guide here]]

</div>

Main Page

2022-12-22T21:02:09Z

DCLCp: /* See also */

{{Main Page/Header}}

<big>The current round is [[Round 32]].

Always check the #announcements channel on [https://discordapp.com/invite/mFk2wZT Discord] for the latest updates.</big>

{{Main Page/Featured Article}}

'''The OpenDominion Encyclopedia''' aims to contain all the information you could possibly need for your [https://opendominion.net OpenDominion] needs.

If you encounter something that is inaccurate or unclear, simply register and edit. This is a wiki and not a museum; ''it relies on user input''. All contributors are asked to read and follow the [[Project:Guidelines|official guidelines]] to maintain a high standard of the articles. If you do make some edits be sure to drop into the #wiki channel in the Discord and let us know!

If you are new to [[OpenDominion]], a good place to start is the [[The Complete Newbie Guide]] on this wiki or [https://web.archive.org/web/20131226013425/http://dominion.lykanthropos.com/wiki/index.php/The_Complete_Newbie_Guide The original Complete Newbie Guide]

'''Note''': The wiki has been getting a lot of updates lately but there’s is plenty of room for more information and strategies. Feel free to contribute!

<hr style="margin-bottom: 0.5em;">

== See also ==
* [[List of rounds]]
* [[Round Winners]]

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T21:00:21Z

DCLCp: /* Wizardry */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[Defending]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See [[attacking]].

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[this]] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called [[mod buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your [[Elite Guard]]-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you [[prestige]] (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* '''Spies''' to perform [[information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).
* '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) [[Talium's attack calculator]] ([[mirror]]).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a [[premium account]] you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of [[exploring]] and then converting to become an [[attacker]]. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild [[homes]]/[[barracks]] (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See [[converting]].

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your [[DP]] is safe is to have more [[DP]] than [[OP]] of the strongest attacker in your [[range]].

To do this, see the [[attack guide]] but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[espionage]].

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[spells]].

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:59:56Z

DCLCp: /* Espionage */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[Defending]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See [[attacking]].

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[this]] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called [[mod buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your [[Elite Guard]]-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you [[prestige]] (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* '''Spies''' to perform [[information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).
* '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) [[Talium's attack calculator]] ([[mirror]]).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a [[premium account]] you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of [[exploring]] and then converting to become an [[attacker]]. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild [[homes]]/[[barracks]] (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See [[converting]].

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your [[DP]] is safe is to have more [[DP]] than [[OP]] of the strongest attacker in your [[range]].

To do this, see the [[attack guide]] but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to [[war]].

See [[espionage]].

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:59:41Z

DCLCp: /* Defending */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[Defending]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See [[attacking]].

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[this]] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called [[mod buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your [[Elite Guard]]-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you [[prestige]] (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* '''Spies''' to perform [[information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).
* '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) [[Talium's attack calculator]] ([[mirror]]).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a [[premium account]] you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of [[exploring]] and then converting to become an [[attacker]]. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild [[homes]]/[[barracks]] (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See [[converting]].

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your [[DP]] is safe is to have more [[DP]] than [[OP]] of the strongest attacker in your [[range]].

To do this, see the [[attack guide]] but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:58:54Z

DCLCp: /* Converter */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[Defending]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See [[attacking]].

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[this]] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called [[mod buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your [[Elite Guard]]-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you [[prestige]] (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* '''Spies''' to perform [[information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).
* '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) [[Talium's attack calculator]] ([[mirror]]).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a [[premium account]] you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of [[exploring]] and then converting to become an [[attacker]]. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild [[homes]]/[[barracks]] (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See [[converting]].

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:57:45Z

DCLCp: /* Attacker */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[Defending]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See [[attacking]].

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense ([[Defensive Power]]; DP) and offense ([[Offensive Power]]; OP). Be sure to read the [[Scribes]] for your race to see what [[unit]] has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your [[population]] and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to [[build]] is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read [[this]] closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called [[mod buildings]]) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your [[Elite Guard]]-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you [[prestige]] (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of [[defense]]. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* '''Spies''' to perform [[information gathering espionage operations]] (spy-ops, info ops).
* '''Wizards''' (or ArchMages, see units) to cast [[information gathering spells]] (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) [[Talium's attack calculator]] ([[mirror]]).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a [[premium account]] you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low [[networth]] (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:53:07Z

DCLCp: /* What To Train */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your [[range]] (most commonly 75-133% your size). See [[Defending]].

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:52:30Z

DCLCp: /* What To Explore */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join [[Elite Guard]] (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:52:11Z

DCLCp: /* What To Build */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not [[build]]. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on [[castle improvements]]. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else ([[R/R]]). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement [[Science]].

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:51:08Z

DCLCp: /* Explorer */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See [[exploring]].

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:50:51Z

DCLCp: /* Protection */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because [[elite units]] take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read [[this article]]). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:49:18Z

DCLCp: /* Protection */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when [[registration]] was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called [[protection]]. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:48:44Z

DCLCp: /* Logout */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see [[Activity]].

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when registration was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called protection. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:48:31Z

DCLCp: /* Town Crier */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new [[wonders]] are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.

== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see Activity.

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when registration was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called protection. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:47:55Z

DCLCp: /* Diplomacy */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
[[Monarch]]s can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See [[Diplomacy]].

== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new wonders are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.
== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see Activity.

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when registration was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called protection. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:47:17Z

DCLCp: /* Government */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the [[monarch]] of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the [[Royal Guard]] / [[Elite Guard]]

== Diplomacy ==
Monarchs can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See Diplomacy.
== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new wonders are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.
== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see Activity.

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when registration was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called protection. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:46:46Z

DCLCp: /* Op Center */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See [[Op Center]].

== Government ==
Here you vote for the monarch of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the Royal Guard / Elite Guard
== Diplomacy ==
Monarchs can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See Diplomacy.
== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new wonders are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.
== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see Activity.

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when registration was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called protection. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:46:17Z

DCLCp: /* Espionage */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform [[espionage]].

== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See Op Center.
== Government ==
Here you vote for the monarch of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the Royal Guard / Elite Guard
== Diplomacy ==
Monarchs can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See Diplomacy.
== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new wonders are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.
== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see Activity.

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when registration was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called protection. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:46:06Z

DCLCp: /* Magic */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast [[spells]].

== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform espionage.
== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See Op Center.
== Government ==
Here you vote for the monarch of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the Royal Guard / Elite Guard
== Diplomacy ==
Monarchs can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See Diplomacy.
== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new wonders are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.
== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see Activity.

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when registration was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called protection. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:45:52Z

DCLCp: /* Defense Calculator */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator.

== Magic ==
Here is where you cast spells.
== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform espionage.
== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See Op Center.
== Government ==
Here you vote for the monarch of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the Royal Guard / Elite Guard
== Diplomacy ==
Monarchs can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See Diplomacy.
== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new wonders are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.
== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see Activity.

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when registration was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called protection. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:45:31Z

DCLCp: /* Battle Calculator */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three [[units]]. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your [[offensive power]] (shortened OP) and at the same time [[defensive power]] (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.

=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator which is only available to players with premium account. It is however rarely used.
== Magic ==
Here is where you cast spells.
== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform espionage.
== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See Op Center.
== Government ==
Here you vote for the monarch of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the Royal Guard / Elite Guard
== Diplomacy ==
Monarchs can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See Diplomacy.
== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new wonders are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.
== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see Activity.

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when registration was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called protection. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T20:44:33Z

DCLCp: /* Military */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your [[army]]. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set [[draft rate]] (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.

== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three units. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your offensive power (shortened OP) and at the same time defensive power (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.
=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator which is only available to players with premium account. It is however rarely used.
== Magic ==
Here is where you cast spells.
== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform espionage.
== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See Op Center.
== Government ==
Here you vote for the monarch of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the Royal Guard / Elite Guard
== Diplomacy ==
Monarchs can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See Diplomacy.
== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new wonders are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.
== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see Activity.

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when registration was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called protection. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

Main Page

2022-12-22T20:43:04Z

DCLCp:

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T19:52:55Z

DCLCp: /* Improvements */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your [[Castle Improvements]] (see the linked article). If you are [[teching]] (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See [[wonders]] for more details.

== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your army. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set draft rate (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.
== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three units. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your offensive power (shortened OP) and at the same time defensive power (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.
=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator which is only available to players with premium account. It is however rarely used.
== Magic ==
Here is where you cast spells.
== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform espionage.
== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See Op Center.
== Government ==
Here you vote for the monarch of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the Royal Guard / Elite Guard
== Diplomacy ==
Monarchs can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See Diplomacy.
== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new wonders are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.
== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see Activity.

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when registration was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called protection. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T19:52:03Z

DCLCp: /* Advisors */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's [[production]] and [[Population#Employment|employment]].
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your Castle Improvements (see the linked article). If you are teching (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See wonders for more details.
== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your army. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set draft rate (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.
== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three units. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your offensive power (shortened OP) and at the same time defensive power (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.
=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator which is only available to players with premium account. It is however rarely used.
== Magic ==
Here is where you cast spells.
== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform espionage.
== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See Op Center.
== Government ==
Here you vote for the monarch of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the Royal Guard / Elite Guard
== Diplomacy ==
Monarchs can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See Diplomacy.
== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new wonders are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.
== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see Activity.

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when registration was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called protection. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T19:48:49Z

DCLCp: /* The Menu */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu, and if at any time you get lost or confused about something, check out the in game help files called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's production and employment.
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.
*

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your Castle Improvements (see the linked article). If you are teching (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See wonders for more details.
== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your army. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set draft rate (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.
== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three units. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your offensive power (shortened OP) and at the same time defensive power (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.
=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator which is only available to players with premium account. It is however rarely used.
== Magic ==
Here is where you cast spells.
== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform espionage.
== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See Op Center.
== Government ==
Here you vote for the monarch of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the Royal Guard / Elite Guard
== Diplomacy ==
Monarchs can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See Diplomacy.
== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new wonders are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.
== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see Activity.

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when registration was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called protection. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T19:47:39Z

DCLCp: /* The Menu */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: '''Don't panic!'''

Let's begin by exploring the menu.

Almost all menu items contain links called About... and Help for x. Click these to read the game's own description of something, called the [https://www.opendominion.net/scribes Scribes].
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's production and employment.
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.
*

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your Castle Improvements (see the linked article). If you are teching (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See wonders for more details.
== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your army. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set draft rate (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.
== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three units. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your offensive power (shortened OP) and at the same time defensive power (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.
=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator which is only available to players with premium account. It is however rarely used.
== Magic ==
Here is where you cast spells.
== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform espionage.
== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See Op Center.
== Government ==
Here you vote for the monarch of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the Royal Guard / Elite Guard
== Diplomacy ==
Monarchs can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See Diplomacy.
== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new wonders are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.
== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see Activity.

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when registration was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called protection. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!

The Complete Newbie Guide

2022-12-22T19:42:24Z

DCLCp: /* Daily Bonuses */

= Introduction =

Welcome to the The Complete Newbie Guide! This guide is intended for the complete newbie to [[OpenDominion]]. Absolutely no prior knowledge is necessary. While there are links to other articles in this text, you will most likely not understand what they say until you have read this entire guide, so please read the whole guide as some things are clarified further below from where they are first mentioned. '''Dominion is a difficult and challenging game so it will take a while for everything to sink in'''. However, to use the words of the late Douglas Adams: Don't panic!

= Structure =

The game is structured into [[round]]s with each round lasting 50 days. When a round is over, the final rankings for that round are entered into [[Valhalla]], the game is reset and a new round begins.

When you register, you are assigned a dominion (comparable to a nation). Your dominion starts 250 acres large and with a minute army. The 250 acres are in turn split into different [[land]]types, whose purpose is to build [[buildings]] upon. Different buildings can only be built on a certain landtype. You defend your land with your [[military]]. What you build and what army you train depend on your play style and race.

Your dominion is placed in a [[realm]] (comparable to a region). Realms typically contain 10 or 15 dominions (including yourself) but may contain less. Realms are numbered from 1 and up. You interact with your realm mates (realmies) using the Council, which is a simple messageboard only accessible within your realm.

The game is based on an hour-system, which means that everything moves forward every hour. It, for instance, takes 12 hours to construct a building, meaning that if you construct a building at 7 AM, it will be complete at 7 PM. Every hour, you gain new resources from your production.

= Getting Started =
So you just signed up and someone was kind enough to throw you this link (or maybe they did it before you even signed up)? Excellent! Let's Begin by Picking a Style.

== Style ==

Before picking a race, you must know what style you will be playing. Style is the most fundamental part of a strategy. There are three basic styles of playing:

* Exploring
* Attacking
* Converting

There is a fourth style called <nowiki>'</nowiki>''atteching''<nowiki>'</nowiki> which is most definitely not recommended for new players. It will not be discussed here.

=== Exploring ===

Exploring is the act of growing by simply exploring for land. To play as explorer means that you will not train any offensive army and solely train enough military to defend your land.

This is a very easy and simple way to get to know the game but you will not get the thrills of attacking. It is also good if you will not be able to be very active in your playing.

=== Attacking ===

Attacking is the act of growing by invading other dominions. When you invade another dominion, a portion of their land will become yours (they lose some and you gain some). This is by most considered much more difficult than to explore. You have to train a military capable of both defending your own land while also having an offensive military strong enough to break other, less fortunate, dominions' defenses.

This is recommended if you want to have fun and will be able to be active during the round.

=== Converting ===

Converting is the act of first exploring and then converting into an attacker. A converter will normally explore the first half or so of the round, training only a defensive army. When they have reached their converting point, they will cease to explore and instead of it, train an offensive army and invade other dominions for the rest of the round.

This is recommended if you want to try out both exploring and attacking. It will give you the benefit of learning and studying the game as an explorer and then the thrills as an attacker.

== Race ==
Once you have decided what style to play, it's time to pick a race. In theory, you can play any style with any race but chances are it will be a terrible experience. To make it easy for you as a newbie, here are lists of suitable races for the three play styles.

'''''The races described here are the only ones that will be discussed in this guide.'''''

=== Exploring ===

* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Icekin]]
* [[Merfolk]]
* [[Nox]]
* [[Sylvan]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Humans, Nomads and Merfolks have the advantage of not being dependent on a landtype. Icekin, Nox*, Sylvan and Wood Elf have defensive units whose strength depends on what percentage of a certain landtype your dominions consists of (mountain, swamp, forest and forest respectively). Keep this mind and remember that different [[buildings]] can only be built on certain landtypes and you will realize that you will be able to have a more diverse build layout with Human, Nomad or Merfolk than with the other races. However, the other races' defensive units are really good. In the end, it's entirely up to you what race you pick.
* Nox Nightshades actually depend on built/constructed acres of swamp.

=== Attacking ===
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Lizardfolk]]
* [[Merfolk]]

Humans and Nomads have very strong units but their offensive units are on the expensive side but while other attack units take 12 hours to return home from an invasion, the Human and Nomad units will return in 9 hours. This is a great advantage.

Lizardfolks however have cheap offensive units, but bothersome defense. Their main advantage is that their defensive units act as partial spies which will help you greatly. Their units swim and do not require boats to be sent out on invasion.

Merfolks are similar to Lizardfolks in that they have expensive defense, cheap offense and do not need boats. They do however not have the espionage advantage but they have more efficient DP, which means that you have to train fewer (but more expensive) units which pay off in the long run.

=== Converting ===
*
* [[Human]] / [[Nomad]]
* [[Wood Elf]]

Surprise, surprise - Humans and Nomads are on this list too. They are excellent explorers and fine attackers so they naturally make for great converters.

Wood Elves are among the strongest converters in the game and thankfully also one of the easiest. Their defensive units are, as mentioned above, landtype dependent but unlike any other race, their offensive unit too depends on a landtype (forest). This means that the more forest you have, the stronger your entire army becomes. Their units are however too expensive to attack with, but for converting they are superb.

== Registration ==
*
* The fields First Name, Last Name and Age are completely unimportant and can be anything you want (although age has to be a number and if you are under 13, you will be told to ask your parents' permission and have them send an email to the game administrator). Email is important and must be a working one since you will receive a verification mail. Be sure it's correct.
*
* Username is the username with which you log in. It is not visible to anyone else and is not important. You can vary this from round to round if you wish. The same goes for password. If you specify a password with special characters (other than A-Z and 0-9), the game will strip these without letting you know. The final password will be in the verification mail.
*
* Dominion Name is the name of your dominion and it will be what other players see you as. A-Z, 0-9, !, -, . and : can be used to form a Dominion Name.
*
* Ruler's Name is the name of the ruler of your dominion. It is suggested to not use your Username as Ruler's Name, nor is it recommended to use the alias or nick you use otherwise. The latter is to avoid people from finding out who you are. What title(Lord, General, Duchess) you use has no significance at all other than determining gender of your ruler (see [[Valhalla#Titles|titles]]).
*
* Race should be a piece of cake to pick by now.
*
* The next and final option is Realm. Here you can pick if you want to be randomly put in a realm, if you have a pack that you are going to join or if you are going to create a pack for you and a group of friends. Since this is a newbie guide, you probably should stick to the default selection.
*
* Click Submit.
* Confirm the information.
* Click Submit this Information.
* Log in and specify your authentication code. Click Verify.
* Done!

= The Menu =
So you have now signed up and are looking at something you may not be able to quite understand. This is normal and you will be guided through it. Again: Don't panic!

Let's begin by exploring the menu.

Almost all menu items contain links called About... and Help for x. Click these to read the game's own description of something, called the Scribes.
== Status ==
Here is an overview of your dominion. It will say how long is left of protection (more about that later), how much of the different resources you have and how great your army is.
== Advisors ==
Under the various advisors you can see how your dominion is doing and what is going on.

* Production Advisor tells you about your dominion's production and employment.
* Military Advisor shows your military in detail. (This is not where you train.)
* Land Advisor shows how your land is broken down into different landtypes and it shows any incoming land.
* Construction Advisor shows what buildings you have, what percentage they make up and any incoming buildings. Barren land is land that is not yet built or does not have buildings in progress.
* Magic Advisor shows spells currently affecting your dominion.
* Rankings Advisor (also linked to on the Status page) shows how you are fairing compared to the rest of the game.
* Statistics Advisor shows unreliable information about offensive power, defensive power and defense/acre. Wizard and Spy Ratios are interesting numbers. The rest are solely trivia.
*

== Daily Bonuses ==
Every day, your dominion is given two bonuses.

* Platinum bonus: you gain 4*peasants platinum.
* Daily bonus: you can 20 acres of your home landtype.

== Explore ==
Here is where you explore for land. You will also see a simplified version of your Land Advisor.
== Construction ==
Here is where you build on your land. It is broken down into landtypes and you will see what buildings go where. Incoming buildings are shown here, but not in as much detail as in the Construction Advisor.
== Re-zone Land ==
Rezoning is mostly something attackers do. They may have conquered landtypes that do not entirely suit their needs and will hence want to rezone. Rezoning comes at a cost depending solely on your landsize and you can rezone any landtype into another landtype.
== Improvements ==
This page serves two purposes. The main one is to manage your Castle Improvements (see the linked article). If you are teching (not recommended for newbies though) it will say here if your dominion has enough research points to obtain (take) a new technological advancement. If you click View Your Dominion's Technological Advancements you will see more details about your teching status.
=== Wonders ===
Below your castle, there may or may not be a wonder, depending on whether your realm has taken one. See wonders for more details.
== National Bank ==
The national bank is used scarcely and only in emergencies (such as when in dire need of food). Races (aside from Nox) that depend on a certain landtype will be producing a lot of lumber or ore, which they initially will be using for Improvements. But later into the round, it will typically pay off more to exchange the excessive ore and lumber into platinum using the National Bank.
== Military ==
Here is where you maintain your army. You will see what percentage of your total population your army is and how many peasants you have. This is also where you set draft rate (see linked article).

All units cost 1 draftee except ArchMages which cost 1 wizard.
== Invade ==
This is where attackers go to have fun. Here is also where you accurately can calculate your own offense and defense (unlike the unreliable numbers found in the Statistics Advisor). To do so, click Calculate your Attack with the Battle Calculator.
=== Battle Calculator ===
Target Race does not matter for any of the recommended attacking races, nor does Target Land Total. War Status only matters if your realm is at war with another realm.

Below, you will see a list of two or three units. If you see two or three depends on if your elite defender (Human: Knight, Nomad: Blademaster, Lizardfolk: Chameleon, Merfolk: Leviathan) has any offensive power. These units should however extremely rarely be used for offense.

To calculate your offensive power (shortened OP) and at the same time defensive power (shortened DP), specify how many offensive units you want to send and click Calculate. You will see a table with two columns; one showing OP and one showing DP and all bonuses applying to them.
=== Defense Calculator ===
There is also a Defense Calculator which is only available to players with premium account. It is however rarely used.
== Magic ==
Here is where you cast spells.
== Espionage ==
Here is where you perform espionage.
== Messages ==
On this page you can read messages you have received as well as send messages to other dominions. Messages are deleted after 7 days if not deleted manually.
== Council ==
A mini-messageboard for your realm only.
== Op Center ==
Informative operations (spells and espionage) are stored here. See Op Center.
== Government ==
Here you vote for the monarch of the realm, usually agreed upon in the council. This is also the place where you can apply for or leave the Royal Guard / Elite Guard
== Diplomacy ==
Monarchs can declare war or peace here. Other dominions can see current relations with other realms. See Diplomacy.
== The Realm ==
This page is sometimes referred to realm view or realm browser. Clicking the menu item will bring up an overview of your realm and all dominions in it. You can either click Previous or Next to see an overview of other realms, or specify a certain realm's number to see it.
== Rankings ==
A page containing all current rankings of the game.
== Town Crier ==
The town crier (usually called TC) shows you what is happening in your realm. If someone in your realm attacks or is attacked, this will show up in the Town Crier. When new wonders are discovered or when a wonder is taken by a realm, this will be shown in the Town Crier.
== Logout ==
Pathway to RL.

However, see Activity.

= Protection =
Note: In this guide it is assumed that you started when registration was opened. If you started in the middle of the round, read this and then the appendix to this chapter.

The first 72 hours of the round (or the first 72 hours since you registered) are called protection. Read the entire linked article. Where the examples say hour x the game in fact displays You are under a magical state of protection for z hours. The value of z is defined according to the following equation:

z = 72 - x - 1

So hour 60 (when units must be trained) is when the game says there are 11.?? hours left of protection. This is because elite units take 12 hours to train so if you train them with 11.?? hours left of protection, they will arrive the very hour you go OOP (which you should know what it means had you read this article). Specialist units (specs) take 9 hours to train and should hence be trained with 8.?? hours left of protection.

Hour 0 is the time before protection even started.

A rather decent guide to protection can be found under the menu item Strategy Guide, which however will disappear after 15 logins so if it is no longer in your menu, you have to access it from Status, click The Scribes and then click Celtillus's Basic Dominion Strategy Guide.

== Out of Protection ==

This is when the game truly begins.

= Explorer =

As an explorer you will spend the rest of the round exploring for more land while building enough defensive power (DP) to be defend your current and incoming land.

See exploring.

== What To Build ==

Let's begin with what to not build. Do not build Guard Towers. Any seasoned player has seen a lot of tiny explorers go for Guard Towers early on while this in fact does nothing but damage the dominion. These explorers tend to finish very small which is something that this guide is intended to prevent. Never build Forest Havens (not even as Wood Elf or Sylvan). They are the worst building in the game and it is unclear why they have not been removed entirely. While they give you a short-term tiny addition to your defense, it is better to build something else.

Many explorers focus heavily on castle improvements. Humans/Nomads and Merfolks do this by building Diamond Mines (DMs). Icekins do it by building Ore Mines (OMs). Wood Elves and Sylvan do it by building Lumberyards (LYs). While Humans/Nomads need ore, they should never build more OMs than necessary to train units and excess ore is saved for future training. All races need LYs but only Sylvans and Wood Elves should build more than a minimum.

Smithies are a building used heavily by attackers (they always have maximum smithies) but they are not as important for explorers. It is common practice to have full smithies for OOP but what an explorer does then varies. Most let them fade (they do not build more) or destroy them and use the land to build something else (R/R). Some few maintain them at maximum or near-maximum. Races that have landtype dependent units are rarely seen building smithies after protection is over and they often destroy smithies to build farms instead of exploring for plains.

Alchemies are used by most races for protection but they are rarely built later on. Exploring Humans, Nomads and Merfolks are sometimes seen with lots of alchemies, in conjunction with a lot invested in the castle improvement Science.

== What To Explore ==

First of all, do not join Elite Guard (EG). If you feel an urge to join any guard, it should be the Royal Guard (RG). EG increases exploration cost by +25% and is meant only for attackers. To be in RG means -2% platinum production and since platinum is your main resource for growth and the protection RG offers is minuscule there really is no point in joining guard.

Explore the landtypes you need and do it either in one large batch after which you train defense as much as possible for 12 hours until your land comes in. Optionally, explore a little for a few hours and then train for a few hours. Avoid going up in landsize by a lot without having adequate DP trained or incoming.

== What To Train ==

Other than explore and build, you have to maintain a defense. How much defensive power do I need? There is only one answer: More than the highest offense in your range (most commonly 75-133% your size). See Defending.

= Attacker =

As an attacker your goal is to grow by taking land from others by invading them with your army. That's the sole principle.

See attacking.

== What To Train ==

As an attacker, you have to train both defense (Defensive Power; DP) and offense (Offensive Power; OP). Be sure to read the Scribes for your race to see what unit has what purpose.

The typically recommended thing to do is to only train the two cheaper units (specialists, specs) early in the game and late. If you train too many of these they will end up costing too much of your population and that is bad. For the rest of the round, train the two more expensive units (elites). They cost more but since every unit costs one draftee which in turn costs one peasant and every peasant produce 2.7 platinum (plus bonuses) per hour, elites are more efficient and they end up paying for themselves repeatedly.

== What To Build ==

Aside from always having full smithies, what to build is up to the strategy of the attacker. Recommended however is to build enough barracks to house your military and homes to get many peasants. (Read this closely.)

Guard Towers, Gryphon Nests and Temples (so called mod buildings) are used extensively by attackers. As a general rule of thumb, if your race has cheap and inefficient DP but expensive/efficient OP, you should build Guard Towers more than Gryphon Nests. If your race has cheap and inefficient OP but expensive/efficient OP, you are better off with Gryphon Nests rather than Guard Towers. Temples can be used at any point but rarely seen used above 5-6%.

Do absolutely not start building mod buildings too early. Early on, you do better by building homes or barracks to increase your population.

== What To Attack ==

You should attack people in your Elite Guard-range (that is 75-133% your size). Attacking dominions within this range will give you prestige (which is an ambrosia to attackers) and the land you conquered can be built at half cost.

To attack, you must find a suitable target and send your army and defeat his defenses. Normally, attackers will attack explorers or other attackers who have their armies out. It is very rare that an attacker is able to invade another attacker whose offensive units are home. Why? Because most offensive units have a certain amount of defense. This amount varies from 2 to 3 defensive points per offensive unit.

== How To Attack ==

To find a target and attack you need the following:

* Spies to perform information gathering espionage operations (spy-ops, info ops).
* Wizards (or ArchMages, see units) to cast information gathering spells (wiz-ops).
* A calculator or (as is recommended) Talium's attack calculator (mirror).
* An army.

"How, pray tell, do I find a target?" you may ask. Well, there are a number of ways. If you have a premium account you can use the Search for a dominion tool but must newbies do not acquire a premium account their first rounds. In your Town Crier, you can see if someone in your realm has attacked or been attacked. If their target or the person who hit them is within your 75-133% range then you may have a target. Other than that, you can simply use the realm view to browse through realms for dominions that look weak or attackers that may have sent out. Someone looks weak by having a low networth (NW), but remember that explorers will have an inherently low NW as they do not have any offensive units.

== A Little Attack Guide ==

See [[Attack Guide]]

= Converter =

Converting is simply put the act of exploring and then converting to become an attacker. As a converter, you want to decide on beforehand when you convert. It is common to explore up to 2500 acres and convert there, trying to reach that point by day 25 or so, at which point you should have full Smithies (the percentage needed for maximum bonus) and you should also overbuild homes/barracks (have more than you need when you first reach there so that you can house all the new troops).

See converting.

= Defending =

What most newbies have the earliest problems with is defending. The only way to know that your DP is safe is to have more DP than OP of the strongest attacker in your range.

To do this, see the attack guide but instead of calculating the DP, calculate the OP. Be sure to include incoming units and remember that the person may not be able to send everything since he too has to defend his lands.

= Espionage =

Spies can be used for more than gathering information. They can be used to slay enemy draftees, sink boats and steal from other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See espionage.

= Wizardry =

Just as with spies, wizards can be used for more than information gathering. Wizards can be used to cast damaging spells on other dominions. Many are exclusive to war.

See spells.

= The End =

That's all, folks!