In Dominions 5, there was no way to give orders to units with the undisciplined tag or to place them in formations. Now in Dominions 6, a limited number of commanders have the “Tight Rein” ability that essentially overrides the undisciplined tag for the purposes of scripting This guide will discuss its implications for planning and scripting.
Contents
Tight Rein Ability Explained
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Commanders
Only four nations have access to commanders with this ability:
- EA Machaka on the Voice of Lion
- EA Sauromatia on the Hydra Tamer
- MA Pythium on the Hydra Tamer
- LA Pythium on the Serpent Acolyte and Serpent Priest
The Cub Mother for MA Nidavangr appears at first glance to have a similar ability that even shares the same icon, but this ability only applies to the Nidavangr national unit called the Cub Warrior, which is otherwise undisciplined if led by another commander).
EA Machaka and LA Pythium are the best suited to exploit undisciplined units because they can recruit a commander with Tight Rein out of every fort, while Sauromatia and MA Pythium are limited to a capital-only commander that competes for recruitment turns with other capital-only mages and commanders.
Leadership and Morale
The Voice of Lion and Serpent Priest have 50 leadership and can command two squads without a morale penalty. Both versions of the Hydra Tamer and the Serpent Acolyte only have 10 leadership, and will apply -1 morale to troops under their command. Note that the Hydra Tamers have the Beastmaster (2) ability, so this will counteract the -1 morale from poor leadership if the troops under their command have the animal tag.
You may find a need to give more leadership and morale to commanders with Tight Rein, especially for the capital only Hydra Tamers, both of which have poor leadership and no ability to lead magical or undead units. There are two main ways to do this:
Blesses
Inspirational Presence is a passive bless that can stack multiple times to give sacred commanders +50 mundane leadership and +1 morale each time. Undead Command similarly gives +50 undead command, and Astral Command gives +25 magical command to commanders who already have magical leadership, but only 10 for those that don’t have any. These blesses will work immediately on the Voice of Lion, Serpent Acolyte, and Serpent Priest, but the Hydra Tamers will have to be issued a Shroud of the Battle Saint from Construction 5. Fortunately, both Sauromatia and MA Pythium have ample access to Astral.
Leadership items
These include the Sceptre of Authority (Fire 1) at Construction 3, Whip of Command (Nature 1) at Construction 5, Crown of Command (Astral 2) at Construction 5, and Crown of the Titans (Earth 2 Fire 1) at Construction 7. If you need undead leadership, both the Rod of the Leper King at Construction 3 and the Crown of Bones at Construction 5 give ample undead command, but keep in mind that the Rod of the Leper King will poison its user. This is less important for EA Machaka and LA Pythium who have recruitable mages with disease healing on their national rosters.
Independent Undisciplined Units
There are a variety of independent recruitable units that are undisciplined that you may want to consider recruiting even more now that you can issue them commands. Strong candidates include:
- Bakemono – size 2 goblins with a two-handed length 4 spear.
- Barbarians – hit for 24+ damage and are especially notable for Sauromatia as they lack heavy hitters on their unit roster.
- Bekrydes – new independents that can appear in caves and have access to the sticks and stones ranged attack, as well as innate fire and cold resistance and 50% darkvision.
- Bone Tribe – berserkers with a 20+ damage length polearm.
- Cavemen – size 4 demi-giants with innate fire and cold resistance, 50% darkvision, and a 30+ damage attack.
- Cynocephalians – berserkers with 20 HP and two attacks, 50% darkvision.
- Horse Tribe – hybrid ranged-melee units with an 11 precision short bow, lance, and shield, but a poorly armored horse.
- Tribal archers – Deer Tribe, Lion Tribe, Wolf Tribe, and Woodsmen indie population types have short bows that cost fewer recruitment points than other independent archers and some national archers – this is especially notable for MA Pythium and LA Pythium who do not have archers on their national unit roster.
Notable Generic Summons
There are many generic summons under Conjuration and a few in other schools that create undisciplined units. I will discuss some of them and list in parentheses which of the four nations are best equipped to capitalize on them due to having access to those paths on recruitable mages; of course any of these units could be summoned should you take the appropriate paths on your pretender or find the right independent mages.
Conjuration Levels 1-3
Cave Grubs: (Machaka) You get 100 siege strength out of a single cast, but Cave Grubs are terrible in combat. Tight Rein allows them to be assigned to guard commander or otherwise placed out of the way.
Killer Mantis: (Machaka, Sauromatia, LA Pythium) These mindless animals have two 13-attack claws, but at 16 combat speed they usually run away before they can be buffed. With Tight Rein, you can order them to Hold and Attack, giving mages opportunity to buff them with strength or attack skill.
Scorpion Beast: (Machaka) With 16 protection, 44 HP, and a stinger that applies 35 poison damage, this unit is begging for regeneration, attack skill, and other buffs.
Call of the Wind: (MA Pythium) This creates a flying commander with 50 size 3 birds with two attacks that can be passed off to a commander with Tight Rein. Usually this spell is only used to create patrollers or siege chaff, but with the ability to order the birds to attack rear or attack archers, this has additional value.
Bog Beasts: (LA Pythium) Similar to a hydra hatchling, this unit has a poison cloud aura that can be deadly to allies when it is running amok as an undisciplined unit. A tight rein commander can order them to hold and fire their poison spit to keep them away from friendlies without poison resistance.
Conjuration 4
Fire Drakes: (Machaka, LA Pythium) Fire Drakes love a defensive buff, and having the ability to give hold and fire orders makes it easier to apply buffs like Luck, Stoneskin, Ironskin, Mossbody, Regeneration or Body Ethereal.
Ice Drakes: (Sauromatia, MA Pythium, LA Pythium) Ice Drakes love a defensive buff, and having the ability to give hold and fire orders makes it easier to apply buffs like Luck, Mistform, Mossbody, Regeneration or Body Ethereal.
Swamp Drakes: (Sauromatia, LA Pythium) Swamp Drakes love a defensive buff, and having the ability to give hold and fire orders makes it easier to apply buffs like Luck, Mossbody, Regeneration or Body Ethereal.
Storm Drakes: (MA Pythium) Even more than the other drakes, Storm Drakes greatly benefit from Tight Rein because they are flying and otherwise will jump to the enemy lines on the first turn. Having the ability to give hold and fire orders makes it easier to apply buffs like Mistform, Gift of Formlessness, or Body Ethereal.
Gryphons: (MA Pythium) Gryphons received an additional attack in Dominions 6, and having the ability to order them to attack rear or archers makes them even more useful.
Kithaironic Lion: (Machaka) This is a very powerful unit with 25 invulnerability and physical resistances, but could use additional buffs like Regeneration. Without the ability to order them to hold and attack, it will require skilled positioning and timing to buff them since they are so fast.
Conjuration 5+
Undisciplined units are less common in these levels, but a few to mention:
Spirit Mastery: (Sauromatia, Machaka, LA Pythium) This spell creates 25+ size 2 ethereal Dispossessed Spirits. This is one of the few undisciplined undead units that could benefit from Tight Rein. The tag spiritform tag means that they cannot receive many protection buffs, and undead cannot be affected by Luck, so most of the benefit will come from being able to order them to hold and attack specific types of enemies.
Fire Snakes: (Machaka, LA Pythium) These units have an AoE 1 fire attack and a poison bite, but are held back by their poor protection. They could benefit from buffs like Regeneration, Luck, and Body Ethereal.
Forest Giants: (Machaka, Sauromatia, LA Pythium) Very strong size 8 units with 66 HP that are absolutely begging for a Regeneration buff, and could also use some attack skill from Furious Warriors to give their 37 damage, length 3 club better chance to hit and repel. This is also a good unit to assign to guard commander and then move forward with the Tight Rein commander as bodyguards after five rounds of buffs.
Hill Giants: (Machaka) Very strong size 9 units with 106 HP that are absolutely begging for a Regeneration buff, and could also use some attack skill from Furious Warriors to give their 42 damage, length 3 club better chance to hit and repel. This is also a good unit to assign to guard commander and then move forward with the Tight Rein commander as bodyguards after five rounds of buffs.
Calydonian Boar: (Machaka, LA Pythium) It is unusual to have a single undisciplined unit at such a high level like Conjuration 7, but this new monster has some great innate resists, trampling, fear aura, and a very powerful fire breath that scales 1:1 for strength. Without Tight Rein, it will be hard to buff this unit with its 20 combat speed. Hold and attack gives two rounds for mages to point buff the boar with Regeneration, Body Ethereal, Mossbody, and other spells to increase its survival chances, or Strength of Giants, Beast Fury, and Enlarge to boost its offensive capabilities.
Enchantment
Carrion Reanimation: (Machaka, Sauromatia, LA Pythium) This spell converts up to 200 corpses into various types of soulless, which are undisciplined, unlike Longdead. Having the ability to give orders to soulless is of dubious value but you can still do it with undead leadership blesses or items.
Blood
All of the summoned demon units are disciplined, but where Tight Rein comes in is with certain units you get as a result of Cross Breeding at Blood 3 and Improved Cross Breeding at Blood 8. All of them are undisciplined, and most are of limited usefulness even when given orders. However, a few standouts include the Draco Lion, which flies and has a fire breath, the Basilisk, which has an armor negating beam attack, and the Foul Beast, which has a fear aura and four armor negating attacks.
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